GCPL Newsletter - March 2026 

The GCPL successfully hosted its Spring Seminar, “Where’s the Party?”, featuring scholars who led a thoughtful discussion on populism responses in France and Italy. The event drew strong engagement and modeled the spirit of civility that defines the GCPL’s mission. Looking ahead, the GCPL will soon travel to Florence, Italy for a week of immersive academic and cultural engagement. Through meetings with political leaders, academics, and professionals, our scholars will gain valuable international perspective and continue the program’s tradition of experiential learning. 

The GCPL Spring Seminar 
On February 26, the GCPL hosted its spring seminar, titled “Where’s the Party? Analyzing the Democratic Party’s Response to the Populist Challenge by Comparing it to Populism Responses in France and Italy.” The guest speakers were Professor Brigitte Granville of Queen Mary University in London and Professor Franco Pavoncello of John Cabot University in Rome. 

We organized this event as we did for our last few events, wherein the guest speakers are posed a series of questions, then we opened it up to Q-and-A with the audience, rather than having the speakers each give a prepared “presentation” followed by Q-and-A. This has now worked very well, multiple times, and may well become our standard approach for hosting these seminars. 

Among other things, this format seems to allow the seminars to raise the most salient, useful points in the most efficient manner, and that was certainly the case with this most recent seminar. We personally found it to be one of the most intellectually useful seminars which the GCPL has run of late, and several other people informed us afterwards that they had the same perspective. 

We were also very pleased that this event was the model of civility and thoughtful discourse, given the topic and current political climate. This outcome is in line with one of our larger goals for the GCPL, which is to model civility while engaging in thoughtful dialogue.  

Upcoming trip to Italy 
Soon the GCPL will be off to Florence, Italy for our yearly international trip with the GCPL scholars for a week of immersive study and engagement. During the trip, students will participate in a diverse range of meetings with political leaders, academics, and professionals, examining contemporary issues through an international lens. These conversations will provide firsthand insight into how political dynamics unfold beyond the United States while encouraging thoughtful comparative analysis. In addition to these discussions, students will experience the rich cultural and historical context that shapes Italy. This annual international travel opportunity continues to be one of the most formative and distinctive components of the GCPL experience. 


James Thompson, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science
ThompsonJA@Hiram.edu 

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