Baylor’s Political Science Department Welcomes Speaker, Author for Lecture on Decline of Democracy

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Media contact: Terry Goodrich, (254) 710-3321

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2015) – Baylor University’s department of political science in the College of Arts & Sciences will welcome political researcher Marc F. Plattner, Ph.D., for a lecture on the decline of democracy at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the Armstrong Browning Library Treasure Room.

Plattner, the vice president for research and studies at the National Endowment for Democracy, co-chair of the Research Council of the International Forum for Democratic Studies and co-editor of the “Journal of Democracy,” will present a lecture titled “Democracy in Decline?”

Plattner will analyze how democracy is no longer regarded as the global standard for attaining economic and social progress and discuss its future in the context of current geopolitical shifts.

“Marc Plattner has been a keen observer of political changes and a long-time champion of modern constitutional democracy,” said Timothy Burns, Ph.D., professor of political science and graduate program director. “He helps his audiences step back and gain a clearer picture of the general direction of contemporary political events and the thoughts and actions informing that direction.”

Plattner graduated from Yale University and received his Ph.D. in government from Cornell University, where his principal focus was on political philosophy. He is the author and editor of numerous publications, including “Democracy Without Borders? Global Challenges to Liberal Democracy” and “Human Rights in Our Time.” He is also the chair of the International Advisory Board for the M.A. in Governance, Leadership and Democracy Studies at the Portuguese Catholic University.

“His talk will be a thoughtful and provocative meditation on democracy in decline, a matter that sooner or later will affect all of us,” Burns said.

This event is free and open to the public.

Armstrong Browning Library is located at 710 Speight Ave.

For more information, contact the department of political science at 254-710-3161.

by Ashton Brown, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

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