Democracy, which protects freedom and citizen's rights more than any other regime, is in crisis today. In recent years, it has become exhausted in its European center and along its periphery. Citizen trust of the European Union's democratic institutions has been fading. The EU's "normative power" - its ability to spread its norms and values to other states - and its "soft power" - its ability to attract others to its point of view - are now seen as less likely to achieve the expected goals of spreading democracy within EU countries and creating a ring of well-governed states in neigboring countries. Democracy and its institutions need to adapt to these new challenges.

Respected authors and experts offer fresh and creative answers to the challenges of democracy in the European Union and its neighboring countries by offering a transatlantic perspective.

Edited by Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich.

Opening remarks and introduction: Sasha Toperich, Senior Fellow and Director of the Mediterranean Basin Initiative at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS

Speakers:

• Shaazka Beyerle, Nonresident Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University; Senior Advisor, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict
• Geoffrey Harris, Deputy Head, European Parliament Liaison Office with the U.S. Congress
• Sir Michael Leigh, Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund
• Alexander Sokolowski, Democracy and Governance Division Chief, Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, USAID
• Daniel Serwer, Professor and Director, Conflict Management Program, and Senior Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations

Moderator: Aylin Ünver Noi, Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, and Assistant Professor and Director of the European Union Application and Research Center at Gedik University, Turkey