America and Democracy: The United States in Troubling Times (NWL)

Filled with divisions of power and checks and balances, the U.S. government was structured to prevent tyranny. The Constitution’s architects presumed that people would be okay if mostly left alone and that government should act only where there was something approaching a consensus about what it would do. That elected officials are now representatives in some sense seems clear enough, but is that the same as being able to implement majority will? This nonpartisan talk will speak to some very timely questions:

• What is democracy?
• Is it failing? 
• Did we ever really have it?
• Is democracy dangerous? 
• What next?

Ken Long, a West Hartford resident, is Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Saint Joseph. He is the author of three books: The Trouble with America; Contemporary Anti-Muslim Politics; and Problems of Political Secularism. He has also published many journal articles. He was Visiting Fulbright Professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria and Concurrence Researcher at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden. He has guest lectured at various universities in Austria, China, Sweden, Turkey and the U.S.

Registration required.