BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Moynihan Institute’s Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Campbell Public Affairs Institute present a talk by Ilana Shpaizman from Bar-Ilan University - Israel.Abstract: Democratic backsliding—the gradual erosion of democratic institutions by elected leaders—increasingly meets r esistance from mass\, ongoing protests. While scholarship on democratic re silience has identified the importance of mass resistance\, it has largely left unexamined the emotional resources that enable ordinary citizens to mobilize and persist in protesting against democratic backsliding. This pa per argues that hope is an indispensable emotional resource for sustaining mass protest against democratic backsliding. Drawing on an original datas et of speeches delivered at 109 weekly demonstrations in Israel between Ja nuary 2023 and February 2026\, we theorize and empirically examine three t ypes of hope: endogenous hope\, which constructs the collective identity o f the protest movement\; exogenous hope\, which articulates the specific d emocratic futures protesters are fighting for\; and hollow hope\, in which hope becomes an end in itself as a bulwark against despair. Using a mixed -methods approach\, we find that overall hope increases as backsliding dee pens\, that the content of exogenous hope shifts in response to changing p olitical realities\, and that hollow hope grows markedly over time\, event ually becoming a commodity that protesters demand their government restore . These findings illuminate the dynamic\, multifaceted role of hope in sus taining long-term pro-democratic resistance\, with implications for unders tanding popular resilience to democratic backsliding.Lunch will be provide d.Ilana Shpaizman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Stud ies at Bar Ilan University. Her research focuses on the policy process\, a genda-setting\, executive politics and the civil service under democratic backsliding. She is the co-director of the Israeli Policy Agendas Project. Her recent work focuses on cabinet decision-making and civil service unde r democratic backsliding in Israel.Speaker opinions and statements are the ir own and do not imply endorsement \;by the MESP\, Syracuse Universit y\, or its constituent schools and colleges. DTEND:20260410T173000Z DTSTAMP:20260511T000347Z DTSTART:20260410T160000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Ilana Shpaizman | The Dream to Have a Dream: Hope in Mass Protests Against Democratic Backsliding UID:RFCALITEM639140402272903030 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

The Moynihan Institute’s Middle Eastern Stu dies Program and the Campbell Public Affairs Institute present a talk by I lana Shpaizman from Bar-Ilan University - Israel.

Abstract: Democratic backsliding—the gradual erosion of democratic institut ions by elected leaders—increasingly meets resistance from mass\, ongoing protests. While scholarship on democratic resilience has identified the im portance of mass resistance\, it has largely left unexamined the emotional resources that enable ordinary citizens to mobilize and persist in protes ting against democratic backsliding. This paper argues that hope is an ind ispensable emotional resource for sustaining mass protest against democrat ic backsliding. Drawing on an original dataset of speeches delivered at 10 9 weekly demonstrations in Israel between January 2023 and February 2026\, we theorize and empirically examine three types of hope: endogenous hope\ , which constructs the collective identity of the protest movement\; exoge nous hope\, which articulates the specific democratic futures protesters a re fighting for\; and hollow hope\, in which hope becomes an end in itself as a bulwark against despair. Using a mixed-methods approach\, we find th at overall hope increases as backsliding deepens\, that the content of exo genous hope shifts in response to changing political realities\, and that hollow hope grows markedly over time\, eventually becoming a commodity tha t protesters demand their government restore. These findings illuminate th e dynamic\, multifaceted role of hope in sustaining long-term pro-democrat ic resistance\, with implications for understanding popular resilience to democratic backsliding.

Lunch will be provided.

I lana Shpaizman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Politica l Studies at Bar Ilan University. Her research focuses on the policy proce ss\, agenda-setting\, executive politics and the civil service under democ ratic backsliding. She is the co-director of the Israeli Policy Agendas Pr oject. Her recent work focuses on cabinet decision-making and civil servic e under democratic backsliding in Israel.

Speaker opinions and state ments are their own and do not imply endorsement \;by the MESP\, Syrac use University\, or its constituent schools and colleges.

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