Nativism & Populism: The Global Forces Reshaping Politics

The panel of experts will examine populism and nativism as central—and unavoidable—forces shaping democratic politics around the world.

Opening remarks will set the stage for a wide-ranging discussion of how debates over belonging, identity, and exclusion recur across political systems, even as their institutional expressions differ. Part of the conversation will consider that populist and nativist politics are not pathologies confined to particular countries, but durable and returning features of democratic conflict. The event concludes by asking a difficult but hopeful question: Whether immigration is one of the rare political domains where compromise remains imaginable, even amid polarized polities.

Conference Date: February 17, 2026, 5:30pm – 7pm CST
Conference Location: Bush Library
Contact Information: Kevin Guillory – bushschoolec@tamu.edu

There will be a reception from 5:30pm – 6pm followed by the presentation.

RSVP