Have studies of democratization that inform policy and practitioners produced misleading results for 60 years?
Prof. Dr. Staffan I Lindberg, University of Gothenburg
Beyond individual case studies, essentially all studies look only at if x affects y: Is economic development good for democracy? Does democracy lower the risk of civil conflict? Is a strong civil society good for democratic survival? Yet, we know that democratization as such develops in a series of small steps and long chains of events. In this session, path-breaking new approaches building on evolutionary biology are presented that for the first time lay out the different "evolutionary" paths of failing versus successful sequences of democratization. The session also introduces the new and largest ever database of democracy: Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem).
About the speaker
Staffan I. Lindberg holds a PhD from Lund University, Sweden. He was assistant professor at Kent State University, assistant/associate professor at University of Florida, and has been at University of Gothenburg since 2010. Lindberg has published widely and won numerous international awards for his work on the nature and spread of democracy, including the American Political Science Association's Juan Linz Award for best dissertation. His main current occupation is as Director of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, consisting of a team of over 50 social scientists spread over six continents with the aim to produce better indicators, and more generally a better understanding, of democracy.
Venue: Conference room (0.16 & 0.17)
Date: 13 December 2017
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 CET
