Lecture with author Erica Chenoweth

We are honored to welcome Dr. Erica Chenoweth (they, them) as our 2026 MacKenzie Lecturer. At a time when democracy faces unprecedented challenges and civil rights are under threat, Dr. Chenoweth’s research offers vital insight into how ordinary people can create extraordinary change through nonviolent action.

Internationally recognized for groundbreaking work on civil resistance, Dr. Chenoweth is known for articulating the “3.5% rule” – the principle, grounded in rigorous analysis of hundreds of movements worldwide, that no regime has withstood the active, nonviolent participation of at least 3.5% of its population. Their scholarship offers not only political wisdom but moral imagination and a vision for a more just and compassionate future.

Dr. Chenoweth serves as Academic Dean for Faculty Development and Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. They are also the first openly non-binary faculty dean at Harvard University. During their graduate years at the University of Colorado, where they earned both a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Political Science, Erica was actively engaged at First Congregational Church, making this homecoming especially meaningful.

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