The Changing Multilateral Order and the Future of Democracy

The past decade has seen increasing challenges to democratic governance around the world. The international community has watched the repression of pro-democracy protests in Iran, democratic backsliding in central Europe, and a host of military coups in countries such as Myanmar and Sudan. Perhaps most devastatingly, we have witnessed an authoritarian nuclear power, Russia, attacking a sovereign democratic state, Ukraine.

These developments raise important questions about the future of democratic governance around the world and the role that the international community should play in protecting democracy. The post-WWII international order was developed to encourage cooperation between democracies, strengthen global human rights, and facilitate democratization around the world. Yet today, powerful autocracies like China and Russia are aggressively undermining this order and some argue that international organizations have fallen short in their goals.

This talk will place these developments in a historical context. What are the linkages between global governance and democracy? What role have the international community and international organizations historically played in protecting democratic governance? What is the future of democratic multilateralism? And what can – and should – the international community do to prevent further democratic backsliding around the world?

Free and open to all, this Honors Symposium lecture is presented by Susanne Mueller-Redwood, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Montana State University.

Suzanne Mueller-Redwood Biography

 

For more information about the Honors Symposium lecture series, contact Gerda Reeb at 406.756.3889.