This event will be livestreamed on this webpage on January 14, 2026 at 5:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Click the play button above or click here to watch the livestream.

About the Event

The Twenty-Second Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World will be delivered by Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan prodemocracy activist and cofounder of the World Liberty Congress. The event will focus on how pro-freedom, censorship-resistant technology can sustain and grow democracy movements in the world’s most repressive settings.

The lecture will also be followed by a moderated conversation with Leopoldo López and Vera Bergengruen, National Security Reporter at The Wall Street Journal.

Inaugurated in 2004, the Lipset Lecture is a joint annual lecture sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy, the Embassy of Canada to the United States, and the University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science and Munk School of Global Affairs. View past lectures on key democracy issues.

About Leopoldo López

Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan prodemocracy activist, is cofounder of the World Liberty Congress, connecting non-violent democracy activists and leaders around the world. He was a political prisoner from 2014 to 2020 for leading peaceful protests and civil resistance to the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Prior to his imprisonment, Leopoldo was mayor of the Municipality of Chacao in Caracas and founded the political party and freedom movement Voluntad Popular (Popular Will). He received NED’s 2015 Democracy Award and the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 2017, among other accolades.

Speakers

Sara Cohen, opening remarks
Deputy Head of Mission (Foreign Policy and National Security), Embassy of Canada

Damon Wilson, welcoming remarks
President and CEO, National Endowment for Democracy

Leopoldo López, keynote speaker
Co-founder, World Liberty Congress. Former mayor of Chacao, Venezeula.

Vera Bergengruen, interviewer
National Security Reporter, The Wall Street Journal.