In June 2025, Clough Center Director Jonathan Laurence participated in the pre-Assembly workshop on “Crisis in Democracy” at the International Association of Jesuit Universities, which was held in Bogotá, Colombia. This workshop aimed to address  Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J.’s call from the 2022 IAJU Assembly (Boston College) for Jesuit institutions to take action against the rise of populism and erosion of democracy worldwide. 

Inspired by Fr. Sosa’s call, this workshop emphasized the significance of the IAJU Task Force on Democracy and Human Rights, “whose goals include leading the Society’s response to the erosion of democracy, fostering global academic collaboration, and reinforcing links between universities and civil society.” The IAJU Task Force on Democracy aligns with the mission of a recently completed two-year Working Group on Democracy, Governance, and Education that Jonathan Laurence chaired as a part of Boston College’s Program on Global Ethics and Social Trust.

Along with the Clough Center’s global engagements in discussions of constitutional democracy, a delegation from the Clough Center will visit Bogotá in March 2026, this time for an event hosted by the Javeriana Pontifical University to examine “democratic resilience” in Colombia’s context.