About the Event
Event Details
The 2026 O. Fritiof Ander Symposium brings together scholars, journalists, and public figures from Sweden and the United States to examine elections and democracy in both countries.
Through a keynote lecture and panel discussion, the symposium considers how political institutions, public debate, and changing voter priorities are shaping democracy—and what the experiences of Sweden and the United States can illuminate about the road ahead.
The symposium is free and open to the public. A public reception will follow the program.
Friday, October 23, 2026
2:00–5:30 p.m.
Wilson Center
Augustana College
Rock Island, Illinois
Symposium
2:00–4:30 p.m.
Keynote lecture and panel discussion
Public Reception
4:30–5:30 p.m.
Wilson Center
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Joakim Palme
Professor of Political Science, Uppsala University
Joakim Palme is professor of political science at the Department of Government, Uppsala University, Chairman of the Migration Studies Delegation and Vice-president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. Palme holds a PhD in sociology from 1990, Stockholm University, where he was employed at the Swedish Institute for Social Research for many years. He chaired the Swedish ”Welfare Commission” 1999-2001. From 2002 to 2011 he was the Director of the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm. He was chairman of the Board of UNRISD in Geneva from 2017 to 2021. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences 2020-2025 and Vice-rector for the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences 2025-2026. He has published extensively on the welfare state as a strategy of equality and the politics of the welfare state. Palme’s research often deals with the tensions around population change and public policy. His publications include contributions to the social investment literature as well as to migration policy and, more recently, on climate policy.
Panelists
Benjamin R. Teitelbaum
Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Colorado Boulder
Benjamin R. Teitelbaum is Associate Professor of Musicology and International Affairs and Faculty Director of the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder. He previously served as Head of Nordic Studies at CU Boulder and has been a visiting scholar at Karlstad University and the University of Campinas.
Teitelbaum studies radical politics, ideology, and culture. He is the author of Lions of the North (Oxford University Press), War for Eternity (Penguin), and Limitless (forthcoming from Verso). His writing on politics and culture has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. In 2024, Radio France named him among its “100 New Thinkers and Experts in International Relations.”
Karin Henriksson
Journalist and Author
Karin Henriksson is a journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. She spent much of her newspaper career as a correspondent for the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, first in Brussels and later in the United States. She has also been a columnist for several Swedish regional newspapers and other media outlets. Today, she contributes to Utrikesmagasinet, Axess, and Arbetsvärlden and is an occasional guest on Swedish Radio’s USApodden.
Henriksson has written several books on American politics, including Vänstern i USA, USA:s alla presidenter, and USA:s alla första damer. She has also translated the U.S. Constitution into Swedish as Vi folket….
David Loebsack
Former U.S. Representative; Professor Emeritus, Cornell College
Dave Loebsack represented Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2021. During his seven terms in Congress, he served on the Armed Services, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce committees, with particular interests including education, rural broadband, mental health, and veterans’ issues.
Before entering Congress, Loebsack taught political science at Cornell College for 24 years, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He currently serves as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Practice in the Politics and Policy Research Program at the University of Iowa’s Public Policy Center. He holds degrees in political science from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis.
Moderator and Concluding Remarks
Moderator
Wendy Hilton-Morrow
President and CEO,
United Way of the Quad Cities
Wendy Hilton-Morrow is President and CEO of United Way of the Quad Cities and Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Augustana College. During her academic career, her teaching and research focused on gender, sexuality and media, media history, and local television news. She is the co-author of Sexual Identities and the Media: An Introduction and co-editor of War of the Worlds to Social Media: Mediated Communication in Times of Crisis.
A 1994 Augustana graduate, Hilton-Morrow is also a former award-winning television journalist. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
Concluding Remarks
Dag Blanck
Director,
Swenson Swedish American Research Center
Dag Blanck is Senior Professor of North American Studies at Uppsala University and divides his time between Uppsala and the Swenson Swedish American Research Center at Augustana College. Trained as a historian, his research focuses on American immigration history and transatlantic relations between Sweden and the United States. He has taught American history, politics, race, and ethnicity and is a frequent commentator on the United States in Swedish media.
Blanck’s scholarship includes work on Swedish-American identity, migration, ethnicity, and Swedish-American relations. His recent publications include Swedish-American Borderlands: New Histories of Transatlantic Relations, co-edited with Adam Hjorthén, and “The Significance of Location: Practicing American History in Sweden.”
About the O. Fritiof Ander Lecture Series
The O. Fritiof Ander Lecture Series brings distinguished scholars and public figures to Augustana College to explore topics related to Sweden, Swedish America, and the broader Scandinavian world.
The series honors O. Fritiof Ander (1908–1977), a longtime professor of history at Augustana College and a leading scholar of Swedish-American history. Ander’s work helped establish Swedish-American studies as a significant field of scholarly inquiry and strengthened connections between Augustana and scholars in Sweden.
The lecture series continues that tradition by creating opportunities for scholarship, conversation, and public engagement across national and disciplinary boundaries.