The Center for Research on Democratic Resilience (CRDR) is a research center in the McCourtney Institute for Democracy that advances comparative research on democratic resilience in the United States and around the world.

By supporting faculty and student research, CRDR fosters scholarship on the political institutions, ideas, and behaviors that shape how political orders emerge, endure, and adapt—and how they promote human dignity and prosperity.

Launched in summer 2026, the CRDR’s upcoming activities include the sponsorship of a faculty fellow for the 2026-27 academic year and a research conference in spring 2027.

CRDR Director: Joseph Wright

Joseph Wright is Professor of Political Science at Penn State. His research examines how international factors influence autocratic rule and democratization.

Wright research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Minerva Research Initiative, and private foundations. This research has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Journal of Democracy, the New York Times, the Washington Quarterly, and the Washington Post.

His most recent books are Migration and Democracy (Princeton University Press, winner of the 2023 APSA Migration & Citizenship Section Best Book Award) and The Origins of Elected Strongmen (Oxford University Press).