Tylösandskonferensen

Susan Stokes is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy.  

She has authored or co-authored six books on topics including democratic theory, political behavior and participation and democratic erosion. Her latest book, The Backsliders: Why Leaders Undermine Their Own Democracies (2025), explains the wave of democratic erosion or backsliding that has affected many countries in the early 21st century, including the United States, several European countries, and others in the Global South. 

Stokes is the President of the American Political Science Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts Sciences. She is also a founding member of Bright Line Watch.

Jan Teorell is Professor of Political Science and holds the Lars Johan Hierta Professorial Chair at Stockholm University. He played a leading role in the development of major comparative datasets, including the Quality of Government Dataset and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, both of which have received the Lijphart-Przeworski-Verba Award for Best Dataset from the APSA Comparative Politics Section. 

Jan Teorell’s research interests include Swedish and comparative politics, comparative democratization, state making and party and legislative politics. His recent books include The Selection and Tenure of Foreign Ministers Around the World (2024), and Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change (2020).  

Teorell is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, where he serves on several committees, including the Economics Prize Committee. 

Christian Levin joined Scania in 1994 and has been President and CEO, as well as a member of Scania’s Board of Directors, since 2021. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of TRATON SE.  

Throughout his career, he has held various managerial positions within Scania and the TRATON Group. In 2025, he was appointed Chair of the ACEA Commercial Vehicles Board, representing Europe’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers. He is also a member of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the Finnish-Swedish Chamber of Commerce.

John Bew is Professor of History and Foreign Policy at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. His research focuses on grand strategy, diplomacy, and British foreign policy.  

He is the author of five books, including Realpolitik: A History, Castlereagh: A Life, and Citizen Clem, the latter of which won multiple national awards, including the Orwell Prize.  

Alongside his academic career, Bew has served at the highest levels of the British government, as a senior adviser on foreign and security policy, under four Prime Ministers. He was the penholder of the UK’s last three National Security Strategies and a key contributor of shaping the NATO Strategic Concept. In 2025, he was appointed Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to British foreign policy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and is affiliated with several international policy institutions.