On Tuesday, October 21st, the University of Texas’s Strauss Center for International Security and Law, Clements Center for National Security, School of Civic Leadership, and Civitas Institute, in collaboration with the Claremont Institute, hosted Christopher Caldwell, New York Times columnist and Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, as he discussed populism and censorship in Europe.

Mr. Caldwell began with a short speech discussing how across Europe, populist movements have gained widespread support, yet face growing restrictions on their political participation and exercise of speech. He focused on debates over immigration, nationalism, and cultural identity in post-Brexit England and included case studies from Poland and France.

He then joined Strauss Center Director Adam Klein for a moderated fireside chat that targeted the flashpoint decisions for law and policy designed to censor speech in Europe. The conversation ranged from President Trump and foreign policy with regard to Europe and the European Union, history of law and free speech in Europe, and differences between the United States and Western European nations with regard to free speech.

The evening ended with audience Q&A that looked at the success of European governments and institutions in responding to populist movements, and case studies that were not discussed in the speech.

Biography

Christopher Caldwell is a Senior Fellow at The Claremont Institute and one of America’s most incisive cultural and political commentators. A contributing editor at The Claremont Review of Books and a contributing Opinion writer for The New York Times, Caldwell is the author of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West and the bestselling The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, both widely praised for their bold, clarifying insight into the social and constitutional upheavals of the modern West. He is the recipient of the 2025 Henry Salvatori Prize in the American Founding.

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