World Affairs Council of Sonoma County upcoming events

Can American Democracy Recover? Tues, Aug 11 3p Glaser with Tom Ginsburg (08/11/2026)

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 22:00:00 GMT

TUESDAY, August 11 at 3PM
Glaser Center, Santa Rosa
Registration Closed

Can American Democracy Recover? Lessons in Institutional Resilience

Featuring Tom Ginsburg,
Distinguished Professor of International Law,
University of Chicago

Tom Ginsburg's sponsor is Joe Leadem,
WACSC Program Committee

About the Program

Is voting still protected? Do our institutions matter anymore? Are we citizens living above a powder keg? According to many observers, our current crisis is huge: Can American democracy survive? Think if you’d been asked that 10 years ago – would you have declared it a purely alarmist question, perhaps unworthy of serious reply? No longer.

In Can American Democracy Recover? Lessons in Institutional Resilience, Tom Ginsburg will assess the state of American democracy and the experience of other countries that have suffered, as he puts it, “episodes of democratic degradation.” His thesis: that we Americans would do well to look abroad for guidance, and even courage. What other countries -- friends, foes or in between, have already faced this crisis? And what did they do? The stakes are high...VERY high.

Register HERE

Date:	TUESDAY, August 11, 2026
Time:	3:00 PM
Venue:	Glaser Center 547 Mendocino Ave. Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Cost:	$20 for Members Bring up to 2 guests at the member price. $30 for Non-Members Wine & Cheese Reception Included After the Talk
Parking:	Park on the street or in the parking garage behind the Glaser Center
Health Note:	We suggest that everyone be vaccinated and wear a mask.

Make Your Reservation Now!

Register HERE

About the Speaker

Tom Ginsburg currently co-directs the Comparative Constitutions Project, funded by the National Science Foundation to gather and analyze the constitutions of all independent nation-states since 1789. He holds BA, JD, and PhD degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, and is a widely recognized expert in constitutional law and democracy.

Previously, Dr. Ginsburg served as a legal adviser at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and continues to work with numerous international development agencies and foreign governments on legal and constitutional reform.

Widely published, Tom Ginsburg’s latest book is Democracies and International Law (2021), winner of two best book prizes. His prior books include How to Save a Constitutional Democracy (2018), written with Aziz Z. Huq, which won the best book award from the International Society of Constitutional Law; and Judicial Review in New Democracies (2003), which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award from the American Political Science Association.

We are more than pleased to bring you this very important talk.

Register HERE

Children at Risk - Lisa Frydman Sept 3, 2026 (09/03/2026)

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:00:00 GMT

Thursday, September 3, 2026 at Noon
Santa Rosa Country Club

Children at Risk -
New Hazards of
Worldwide Migration

with Lisa Frydman,
Senior Vice President,
KIND (Kids In Need of Defense)

Lisa Frydman's sponsor is Joe Clenendin,
WACSC Program Committee

About the Program

What is the fate of children on our country’s doorstep in 2026? With families in detention, care services struggling, and children forcibly separated from parents, can the situation be described as dire? Two things are certain: traditional U.S. immigrant child protection is being greatly challenged, and the massive reduction in U.S. foreign aid has dismantled humanitarian efforts world-wide.

And so we welcome Lisa Frydman, an international human rights lawyer and child-migration expert, to address all of this with Children at Risk —New Hazards of Worldwide Child Migration.

Looking past the headlines, what is the status of child migration right now? What geopolitical factors and policy changes are impacting it? And, what does this all mean for the safety and well-being of children? With a clear-eyed, empathetic look at declining guardrails, and an overview of vital services that migrants and refugees need so desperately, Lisa Frydman will lay out the full landscape of this crucial subject.

Date:	Thursday, September 3, 2026
Time:	12:00 Noon
Venue:	Santa Rosa Country Club 333 Country Club Drive Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Menu:	Meat and Vegetarian Options Available on the Buffet Table.
Cost:	$50 for Members Bring up to 2 guests at the member price. $60 for Non-Members
Health Note:	We suggest that everyone be vaccinated and wear a mask.

Make Your Reservation Now!

The Deadline is March 25th

Reserve Here

About the Author

Lisa Frydman’s organization is KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), where she serves as Senior Vice President. Her team works in Central America, Mexico, Europe, and the United States to strengthen the rights and well-being of unaccompanied and separated children and youth. Some of the initiatives she supervises include prevention of trafficking and labor exploitation, reintegration assistance for children returning to their country of origin, and gender and migration programs.

Lisa has worked to advance law and policy for refugee and immigrant women and children through direct representation, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and training/mentoring of attorneys and judges. Prior to her work at KIND she served as Associate Director and Managing Attorney at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and before that she worked at Legal Services for Children San Francisco, and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

We are honored to present Lisa Frydman on April 2^nd.

See you there!

Reserve now!