The Carr Center recently partnered with the HKS Human Rights Caucus to present a lunchtime conversation with Kenneth Roth, Senior Fellow at the Carr Center and former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. In this conversation with Maria Kuznetsova (MPP '25) and Jessica Sun (MPP '25), Roth explored important questions about how democracies can best respond to authoritarian regimes: Should they focus on promoting democratic values, or are there better strategies, such as focusing on international rules and human rights? He also addressed how to build alliances against authoritarian states like China and Russia, especially when some potential partners are autocratic themselves.
"We must talk about the dangers of unaccountable government, because that’s what all these autocrats are. And we’ve had now some very high-profile examples of what happens when you have an autocrat who surrounds himself with sycophants, who doesn’t tolerate dissent or debate, and who can make horrible decisions as a result. And that’s what Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was," said Roth.
The panel also discussed the risks people face when they oppose authoritarian governments, and how people in democratic countries often hold ordinary citizens of these authoritarian states responsible for their governments' actions—a notion sometimes referred to as "collective responsibility." Those who speak out against authoritarian regimes face many challenges, and their struggles often go unnoticed on the global stage. Watch the video above for the full conversation.