Dietlind Stolle

In today's episode, we'll be looking at why democracy is in global decline, what the biggest threats to democracy are right now, and what can be done.

So to help us dig into this, I'm very pleased to have alumnus Gerald Butts and Professor Dietland Stolle here with me in our studio.

Gerald Butts is the chairman of the Eurasia Group, an international political risk consultancy.

He was the principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from 2015 to early 2019, and he also advised Prime Minister Mark Carney during the 2025 Canadian election.

He's also the former CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, and he has a BA and an MA from McGill.

That's how I got here, yeah.

Dietland Stolle is a James McGill Professor of Political Science here at McGill and the former director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship.

An internationally recognized scholar, her current research focuses on democratic backsliding, examining why citizens come to support democratic erosion in longstanding democracies.