We live in a democracy, but what exactly does that mean? And how does the American system of government differ from others around the world?
Democracies will be under the microscope in the new spring lecture series “Frontiers of Democracy: Exploring the Past and Looking to the Future” at the Montana State University Billing Library.
Assistant political science professors Nisha Bellinger and Paul Pope put their heads together more than a year ago to come up with democracy as the focus of this spring series.
The lectures begin March 21, 2017, with a presentation Full of Variety and Disorder: The Birth and Death and Rebirth of Ancient Athenian Democracy by History Professor Tom Rust.
On March 28, Pope presents American Democracy and the Rise of the Alt-Right, while Bellinger will deliver The Global Spread of Democracy in the Posts-WWII Era on April 4.
The series will conclude on April 11 with a presentation by Sociology Professor Joy Honea, Nasty Women: The Political Becomes the Personal.
Bellinger wanted to faculty presenters from disciplines beyond political science because democracy is not just something political scientists study.
She hopes both students and the community learn something from this series.
“I just hope at a very fundamental level our students, the community get a grasp on what the meaning of democracy is and what some of the implications of living in a democracy mean,” said Bellinger.
The four week lecture series begins this Tuesday, March 21, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. at the MSUB library, room 148.
The public is invited to attend the series which is free of charge. There is a light reception following each lecture.
