On 15 August, ANU Community Day brings the Kambri precinct to life with interactive workshops, exhibitions, presentations, music, and real scientific projects, alongside works by ANU student artists and musicians. It's a chance to experience our beautiful campus and discover the rich stories of the ANU community.

As part of the day's program, acclaimed political thinker John Keane will be in conversation with Andrew Leigh about John's new book, Demagogues and Despots: Democracies on the Brink.

Democracy and despotism live closer together than you’d expect. John Keane reveals why that should alarm us all. We live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend gaining the upper hand everywhere: the triumph of despotism not only in countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in states run by popularly elected demagogues –Erdoğan, Netanyahu and Trump.

John Keane shows why this new despotism defies the laws of political gravity. Instead of relying on fear or raw force, it fosters a strange, pseudo-democratic type of government, led by rulers skilled in winning public loyalty through government handouts, election-rigging, legal trickery, weaponised lying and talk of enemies. And, alarmingly, these leaders hunt in packs.

What’s so good about democracy? Keane explains that it’s much more than popular self-government based on free and fair elections. Democracy is a collective insistence that unaccountable power is always dangerous – and that it’s the best way to stop demagogues and despots from ruining life on our planet.

‘John Keane is one of the world’s leading thinkers on democracy – past, present and future. As becomes clear from this extraordinary book, democracy is under threat as never before, both from external threats but also, and more alarmingly, from the internal threat of despotism and demagoguery. A must-read for anyone who cares about how contemporary events are conspiring to underline the democratic inheritance.’ – Simon Tormey, author of Populism: A beginner’s guide

John Keane is Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney. For over two decades, he held the position of Distinguished Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), one of Europe’s largest and most respected social science research institutions. His many books include i the best-selling Tom Paine: A Political Life (1995), Václav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts (1999), The Life and Death of Democracy (2009), which was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Power and Humility (2018) and The New Despotism (2020).

Andrew Leigh FASSA is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT He holds a PhD from Harvard University, and before elected in 2010, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. His numerous books include The Shortest History of Innovation, The Luck of Politics, Battlers and Billionaires and Randomistas.

Professor Frank Bongiorno AM FAHA FASSA, Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas at the University of Canberra, will give the vote of thanks.

Books will be available for signing from 11 AM and again after the event.

There’ll be food trucks and fun activities for all ages, so bring the family, wander campus, and meet the people and ideas that have shaped the nation. Come celebrate 80 years together. Everyone is welcome.

Additional information:

Registration is required for this event.

Accessible parking spaces are available around campus should you require them.

By registering for this event, you are accepting our privacy policy.

A podcast will be made available after the event.

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Contact the host of Meet the Author - John Keane

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