How Should We Fight for Democracy? Political Engagement in a Time of Democratic Contention

The current moment of political upheaval in the United States has brought with it intense polarization and democratic contention, marked by lack of agreement on the rules of the game and a weakening of shared understandings of democratic principles. Drawing on research on democratic politics in contexts as varied as the Weimar Republic, Tahrir Square, and the United States founding, Dr. Ahmed argues that the key to navigating these tumultuous democratic moments is to fight for a vision and not for a side. 

Professor Amel Ahmed is an Associate Professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Department of Political Science and Legal Studies. Her work focuses on voting, political parties, elections, and parliaments. Her first book, Democracy and the Politics of Electoral System Choice: Engineering Electoral Dominance (Cambridge University Press, 2013), won the American Political Science Association European Politics and Society Section Best Book Award. She is the founder of the 5 Colleges Democracy Collaborative and former director of the Egypt Elections Project. Additionally, her expertise has been featured in various venues, including NPR, PBS, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Vox, and The Atlantic. More on her work can be found at: https://amelahmed.org/about

Lunch will be provided at the event.