September 16, 2026
Bunker, Ballroom, Barricades:
What Should Democracies Build?
Jan Werner Müller
Professor of Politics at Princeton, author of numerous papers and books on Populism and Contesting Democracy
Bunker, Ballroom, Barricades:
What Should Democracies Build?
Jan Werner Müller
Professor of Politics at Princeton, author of numerous papers and books on Populism and Contesting Democracy
George Bustin, introducer, and Jan Werner Müller
Minutes of the Second Meeting of the 85th Year
Miquelon Weyeneth, Old Guard President, called the meeting to order and presided. Frances Slade led the invocation. Attendance at the meeting was 125. There were two guests present: Richard Staller (guest of Donald Barrack) and Joel Deitz (guest of Ronald Schnur).
President Weyeneth reminded the audience that the next Old Guard meeting (9/23) will take place at the Nassau Club. The group will return to the Jewish Center for the rest of the fall 2026 program on October 7. We are encouraged to plan for a robust greeting process there, to handle security issues. David Vilkomerson is the organizer of that Greeter committee: Two members are needed per meeting and must be able to arrive at 9:30 AM to screen members for badges. Volunteers should contact David.
President Weyeneth reminded the audience that membership dues for 2026-2027 must be paid by October 15, to prevent a penalty charge. She noted that new member intake begins in October; only members may sponsor new members. Application forms are available online. She also requested that members keep questions short and succinct in the Q&A. Michael Leopold read the minutes of the September 9, 2026, meeting. Julie Elward-Berry is the minute-taker for this talk.
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Jan-Werner Müller, recently appointed Class of 1943 University Professor and Professor of Politics, Princeton University, where he has taught since 2005. He is a renowned scholar of democratic theory and the history of political thought. Educated in Germany and the United Kingdom, he has written several books, the most recent being Democracy Rules (FSG, 2021); his newest book, Street, Palace, Square: The Architecture of Democratic Spaces, is forthcoming this fall from Penguin, and is the basis for today’s lecture. Professor Müller has written essays and public affairs commentaries extensively on populism and contesting democracy in prestigious journals.
Professor Müller began by commenting that the connection between democracy or politics and architecture may have seemed rather obscure, until the Trump era: President Trump just threatened the day before the lecture to close the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, unless his name was placed back on the building. Müller relayed that Churchill stated during the 1943 blitz over London in the House of Commons that “we shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape us.”
Populist authoritarian leaders use architecture for political purposes, to communicate and to represent. As an example of size matters, Müller introduced the world’s second largest building, the National Orthodox Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania, built on Arsenal Hill, under the leadership of the Romanian president and dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. To build it, about 40,000 people were displaced, and it is still partially empty. It sits atop a hill directly facing the parliament. (As an aside, the US Pentagon is the largest building.)
Professor Müller discussed the iconography employed on such buildings, such as an example of a relief of a sitting leader being crowned by the goddess of democracy. From a style perspective, Italian dictator Mussolini preferred to build structures with masses of columns to send a message of power. Ironically, his grandest building from the 1930s is today owned by Fendi, the Italian fashion house. Müller further described the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, which can hold 63,000 people. Originated in the sixth century as the epitome of Byzantine architecture, it had been a church, an orthodox cathedral, and a museum prior to becoming a mosque in this century. Again, it is massive and dominates the city skyline.
In contrast, Müller noted that when Notre Dame Cathedral burned in Paris in 2019, President Macron determined that no architects would be involved in creating a new design, and the reconstruction would be a replica of the original. The grand reopening occurred in 2024.
Returning to today’s Washington, Müller pointed out that Trump declared in 2020 that all future federal buildings must be built in the classical style. Interestingly, the departments in Washington that he has extensively downsized (for example: Education; Health and Human Services; and Housing and Urban Development) are all located in buildings built in the Brutalist architectural style of the mid-20th-century.
So, if large classical buildings represent dictatorial governments, then what style is suitable for a democracy? Müller stated that John Quincy Adams described democracy as “iconoclastic,” breaking down its own beliefs, values, institutions. It relies on pluralism, not on homogeneity in its population. Perhaps there is no obvious building to be a representation of democracy, but a building like The Kennedy Center, which is open to all and has presented programming for all is a start.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry
President Weyeneth reminded the audience that the next Old Guard meeting (9/23) will take place at the Nassau Club. The group will return to the Jewish Center for the rest of the fall 2026 program on October 7. We are encouraged to plan for a robust greeting process there, to handle security issues. David Vilkomerson is the organizer of that Greeter committee: Two members are needed per meeting and must be able to arrive at 9:30 AM to screen members for badges. Volunteers should contact David.
President Weyeneth reminded the audience that membership dues for 2026-2027 must be paid by October 15, to prevent a penalty charge. She noted that new member intake begins in October; only members may sponsor new members. Application forms are available online. She also requested that members keep questions short and succinct in the Q&A. Michael Leopold read the minutes of the September 9, 2026, meeting. Julie Elward-Berry is the minute-taker for this talk.
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Jan-Werner Müller, recently appointed Class of 1943 University Professor and Professor of Politics, Princeton University, where he has taught since 2005. He is a renowned scholar of democratic theory and the history of political thought. Educated in Germany and the United Kingdom, he has written several books, the most recent being Democracy Rules (FSG, 2021); his newest book, Street, Palace, Square: The Architecture of Democratic Spaces, is forthcoming this fall from Penguin, and is the basis for today’s lecture. Professor Müller has written essays and public affairs commentaries extensively on populism and contesting democracy in prestigious journals.
Professor Müller began by commenting that the connection between democracy or politics and architecture may have seemed rather obscure, until the Trump era: President Trump just threatened the day before the lecture to close the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, unless his name was placed back on the building. Müller relayed that Churchill stated during the 1943 blitz over London in the House of Commons that “we shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape us.”
Populist authoritarian leaders use architecture for political purposes, to communicate and to represent. As an example of size matters, Müller introduced the world’s second largest building, the National Orthodox Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania, built on Arsenal Hill, under the leadership of the Romanian president and dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. To build it, about 40,000 people were displaced, and it is still partially empty. It sits atop a hill directly facing the parliament. (As an aside, the US Pentagon is the largest building.)
Professor Müller discussed the iconography employed on such buildings, such as an example of a relief of a sitting leader being crowned by the goddess of democracy. From a style perspective, Italian dictator Mussolini preferred to build structures with masses of columns to send a message of power. Ironically, his grandest building from the 1930s is today owned by Fendi, the Italian fashion house. Müller further described the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, which can hold 63,000 people. Originated in the sixth century as the epitome of Byzantine architecture, it had been a church, an orthodox cathedral, and a museum prior to becoming a mosque in this century. Again, it is massive and dominates the city skyline.
In contrast, Müller noted that when Notre Dame Cathedral burned in Paris in 2019, President Macron determined that no architects would be involved in creating a new design, and the reconstruction would be a replica of the original. The grand reopening occurred in 2024.
Returning to today’s Washington, Müller pointed out that Trump declared in 2020 that all future federal buildings must be built in the classical style. Interestingly, the departments in Washington that he has extensively downsized (for example: Education; Health and Human Services; and Housing and Urban Development) are all located in buildings built in the Brutalist architectural style of the mid-20th-century.
So, if large classical buildings represent dictatorial governments, then what style is suitable for a democracy? Müller stated that John Quincy Adams described democracy as “iconoclastic,” breaking down its own beliefs, values, institutions. It relies on pluralism, not on homogeneity in its population. Perhaps there is no obvious building to be a representation of democracy, but a building like The Kennedy Center, which is open to all and has presented programming for all is a start.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry