Mike Signer is a democracy scholar, author, and political leader whose work spans the critical intersections of democratic governance, extremism, and civic resilience. As a Senior Fellow at the Berggruen Institute, he helps scale citizen assemblies and deliberative democracy practices to American cities through the Federation for Innovation in Democracy – North America (FIDE).

Mike has unique experience as both a practitioner and theorist of democratic leadership under pressure. As Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia from 2016-2018, he led the city through one of America's most significant tests of democratic governance during the 2017 white supremacist rally and its aftermath. His crisis leadership during this nationally significant event drew international attention to questions of how local leaders can protect democratic institutions against extremist threats.

His publications and scholarly work examine the fundamental challenges facing democratic systems in the 21st century. Signer is the author of three critically acclaimed books that explore democracy's vulnerabilities and strengths. Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies (2009) analyzed the threat posed by authoritarian populism, offering both historical context and contemporary solutions for protecting democratic institutions. Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father (2015) provided essential insights into the intellectual foundations of American constitutional democracy through an examination of James Madison's formative years. His most recent work, Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy under Siege (2020), offers a firsthand account of democratic leadership during crisis, earning praise from The New York Times as "a worthy memoir... a reflective insider account that raises thoughtful questions with no easy answers."

Mike’s thought leadership extends through prominent publications in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Time, among others. His recent Atlantic essays, including "America Does Have a Way to Save Itself" (2023) and "Israel's Deep State Understood the Dangers of Extremism" (2023), demonstrate his continued engagement with urgent questions of democratic defense and institutional resilience. His collaborative work has included developing legal strategies to prevent extremist demonstrations, co-authoring influential pieces on protecting cities from hate groups.

As Democracy Fellow and Visiting Professor at Reichman University in Israel (2022-2023), Mike designed and taught graduate seminars on "Democracy and Dictatorship," while conducting research on defensive democracy mechanisms, sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. He has also taught at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.

Mike’s commitment to democratic innovation includes founding Communities Overcoming Extremism, a $500,000 bipartisan coalition that brought together the Anti-Defamation League, Ford Foundation, Charles Koch Institute, and New America to develop practical recommendations for addressing civil conflict. His national security experience includes helping found the Truman National Security Project and serving on President Obama's State Department transition team. He also served as an election monitor in wartime Afghanistan in 2010 for USAID, visiting Kabul and Panjshir.

He is a recipient of the Levenson Family Defender of Democracy Award from the Anti-Defamation League, the Courage in Political Leadership Award from the American Society for Yad Vashem, and the Rob DeBree & David O’Malley Award for Community Response to Hatred from the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Forward Magazine has named him one of 50 most influential Jewish leaders in America in 2017. He is a Ruderman Foundation Executive Fellow and a Rodel Fellow. He has been profiled by the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN, and The Guardian.

Mike holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Berkeley, a J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law, and a B.A. magna cum laude from Princeton University.