John P. Frank Memorial Lecture features Jason Stanley, expert on propaganda and power

The most consequential moments in history are not always obvious as they unfold. They often arrive slowly, normalized through routine and habit.

Jason Stanley, a philosopher, author and descendant of Holocaust survivors, has devoted his life to examining how political systems and ideologies take hold over time.

On the evening of April 13, Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation will host a lecture grounded in that kind of scholarly inquiry.

The 27th annual John P. Frank Memorial Lecture will take place at Armstrong Hall on the ASU Tempe campus and virtually via ASU Live. The event will feature Stanley, who will present a lecture titled “Is it fascism yet?”

Presented in partnership with The Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and other ASU sponsors, the event is free and open to the public, with advance registration available online.

This year’s guest speaker continues the lecture’s long-standing tradition of hosting scholarly dialogue around justice, law and democratic institutions.

Stanley’s work is shaped by both rigorous academic training and a deeply personal family history. A descendant of Holocaust survivors, he grew up with stories of displacement, state violence and the consequences of unchecked power. His father fled Nazi Germany as a child. His mother survived forced labor in Siberia before eventually arriving in the United States as a refugee.

That combination of personal history and philosophical analysis has made Stanley a widely read voice and respected public scholar in conversations about democracy and civic responsibility. Stanley is the Bissell-Heyd Chair in American studies in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto and the author of “Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future,” “The Politics of Language” and “How Propaganda Works.” He is also a Distinguished Professor at the Kyiv School of Economics, where he uses his salary to support the Come Back Alive Foundation.

The John P. Frank Memorial Lecture is the School of Social Transformation’s signature annual public event. The endowed lecture honors the life and legacy of John P. Frank, a distinguished attorney, constitutional scholar and leader in the Arizona legal community.

Throughout his career, Frank was known for his commitment to the rule of law, careful legal reasoning and public service. The lecture series reflects those values by creating space for thoughtful engagement with questions surrounding justice in the U.S. Past lectures have addressed topics in law, rights, social change and the responsibilities of democratic institutions, always with an emphasis on scholarship and public understanding.

Now in its 27th year, the lecture remains a cornerstone event for the School of Social Transformation, its justice studies faculty and students, and the broader ASU community, bringing scholarship into conversation with the public each spring.

In the below Q&A, Professor Madelaine Adelman, a faculty member in the school, shares the significance of this year’s lecture and what attendees can expect.

Question: Conversations about democracy and governance have always been relevant. Can you speak to the importance of the John P. Frank Lecture in creating space for open scholarly discussion?

Answer: The lecture series is a public forum for all attendees — those in the room and those participating via livestream — to consider critical questions about the relationship between law and justice from multiple angles.

Our world-class speakers help us to grapple with, for example, what it means to be a member of a democratic society, why media literacy matters and how to disrupt entrenched social problems. The time we gather together focuses our curiosity and attention in a purposeful manner that strongly contrasts with habitual scrolling and outrage politics.

Q: Stanley asks a big question — “Is it fascism yet?” Why is it important for institutions to engage questions like this in a way that is rigorous and grounded in academic inquiry?

A: Fascism is a term that can too easily be thrown around without an understanding of causality, context and consequences. A university program like the John P. Frank Lecture allows for rigorous engagement with historically specific fascist political formations and comparisons among them.

Rather than promote denial (There is nothing to worry about”), ahistorical distraction (“This is unprecedented”), fear-based displacement (“Well, the government is not targeting me now”) or definitional paralysis (“How would I know what it is if I saw it?”) with scholarly and thus precise approaches to knowledge, our speaker can offer explanatory frameworks that help us discern between propaganda and reality, diagnose based on evidence rather than rhetoric, and identify effective individual and collective responses to intensifying threats of fascist conditions.

Q: What kinds of questions or reflections do you hope attendees carry with them after the lecture, regardless of their background or perspective?

A: The most productive question for our time is not “Do I agree?” with what the speaker said. Instead, I hope that participants will reflect on queries such as: What assumptions have I carried that obscure my understanding of how fascism operates through law rather than against it? How do attacks on expertise contribute to fascist power? What histories, capacities and networks help us navigate fear-based and grievance politics without escalating moral panic or a doomsday sense of helplessness?

The Frank Lecture is intended to provoke democratic judgement rather than certainty and to reaffirm our collective responsibility to seek justice for all rather than pursue short-term “wins” perceived as personal gain.