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CAN DEMOCRACY MAKE A COMEBACK? This is the fundamental question of our time. The global trendline is not promising, but there are reasons for optimism. These issues were front and center the last week in Oslo at the Nobel Peace Conference, hosted by the Nobel Peace Center. Five Nobel Peace Prize laureates spoke at the conference, though two, Narges Mohammadi and Marina Corina Machado, had to present via video as they couldn’t travel to Norway. The others, Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia; Maria Ressa of the Philippines (and America); and Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, were there in person and were treated like rock stars everywhere they went.
The gathering featured 14 Gen Z activists and leaders who had an enormous impact on their countries, Kenya, Nepal, Brazil, Serbia and the U.S. (see video below).
Once again, I had the honor of co-hosting the conference with Ingvill Bryn Rambøl of the Peace Center (many of you will remember her memorable appearance on the NYT Readalong in August). I am humbled by everything I get to do with “the Nobelsphere” and they are all #lifehighlights (2021, 2023, 2024, 2025).
Here’s a two-minute highlight reel of the conference (and an official Nobel Peace Center summary by Kristian Nesvik Hovind here):
Here you will find the full four-hour recording; and at the end of the newsletter, you will find the timestamps so you can go straight to the sections you want:
Even if you don’t have time to watch most of it, please watch Maria Ressa’s stirring call to action (as well as explanation of the times we are living in). Here is the direct link to her 20-min talk. And be sure to pre-order her new book, “The Fight Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Standing Up to Dictators,” blurbed by Yuval Noah Harari and Amal Clooney.
Here’s a video about the Gen Z leaders who did a weeklong workshop ahead of the conference:
And don’t miss the remarks by the brave Gen Z leader from Nepal, Rakshya Bam, who helped oust a sitting prime minister:
Democracy has been on the brink for a while. It’s never been weaker and more distant from the people in the United States (where we are watching a president trying to steal an election right now). The far right is winning increasingly-significant swathes of power in Europe. Across the world, several billion people live under some sort of autocracy or flailing democracy.
That’s from Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report for 2025. This is the first paragraph of the preview. It’s not good out there, folks:
Global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year in 2025. A total of 54 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties during the year, while only 35 countries registered improvements.
In the end, autocracies the world over are set up for one thing: To filter as much money as possible to the most powerful people, expand that map, and protect it at all costs. One of the first costs crossed off the list are free and fair elections. They are low-hanging fruit.
There a few countries where religion is the driving force behind anti-democratic practices, but even in all of those, there exists oligarchic patronage systems that make the very idea of democracy a direct and real threat to their fortunes. The playbook is universal, and it is working—much to the detriment of billions worldwide.
It all comes down to power and money — and a bit of authoritarian solidarity. It’s that solidarity that made my week in Oslo all the more poignant. I met people who were locked up and worse by their own governments. The situations they were in were familiar to all of them—authoritarians love dealing with other authoritarians if only for the lack of drama and hand-wringing over trivialities like human rights, freedom of information, and free and fair elections.
[Those timestamps are below for easy viewing.]
— Sree / Twitter | IG | LinkedIn | FB | YouTube | Spread | TikTok
Have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let’s collaborate! sree.sreenivasan1@gmail.com
WATCH THE VIDEO USING THESE TIMESTAMPS:
02:45 Intro
03:14 Musical opening w/ Eduardo Villamizar & María Alejandra Conde-Campos
07:46 Opening Session w/ Ingvill Bryn Rambøl & Sree Sreenivasan
11:06 Kjersti Fløgstad Executive Director, Nobel Peace Center
21:45 Short film w/ Gen-Z Activists
27:25, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
41:08 Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
45:30 Ales Bialiatski, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
51:25 Maria Corina Machado, Ales Bialiatski & Andrew Regalado in coversation
1:03:02 Gina Romero, UN Special Rappoteur
1:19:35 Rakshya Bam, Activist from Nepal
Break:
1:29:05 Short film, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
1:32:17 Short film, Maria Corina Machado opens her exhibition
1:39:00 Sree Sreenivasan live from the festival
1:46:01 Short film, Mr. Papagayo
1:54:45 Sree Sreenivasan checks in on the livestream audience
Session 2:
2:04:30 Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
2:27:42 Panel w/ Juan Manuel Santos, Maria Ressa & Wanjira Wanjaru
Now for a rapid-fire look at real-world solutions: three case studies, each followed by expert questions from Haakon Gjerløw, Acting Director at PRIO.
3:01:50 Ricken Patel, Board member at D-Hub
3:15:24 Lisbeth Pilegaard, expert at the European Endowment for Democracy
3:26:58 Bryan Simms of Humanity United and Iva Dobichina of the Ford Foundation
3:38:04 Ivan Marovic, Executive Director at the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Research joined by representatives of the Gen-Z cohort
3:53:42 Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
4:02:53 Ingvill Bryn Rambøl & Sree Sreenivasan conclude the conference.
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