WCED Lecture. Elections in Hard Times: Building Stronger Democracies in the 21st Century

Why are 'free and fair' elections so often followed by democratic backsliding? Irfan Nooruddin answers this critical question, showing why even clean elections fail to advance democracy when held amidst challenging structural conditions. This lecture will open with a comprehensive, accessible synthesis of fifty years of research on elections and democratization, a resource for experts, policymakers, and students. It then develops a new theory of why elections fail in countries with little democratic history or fiscal resources, and a history of violent conflict. Nooruddin’s talk leverages an eclectic mix of cross-national data, short case studies and surveys of voters to support this theory.

Irfan Nooruddin is the Hamad bin Khalifa Professor of Indian Politics and the Faculty Chair of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. He directs the Georgetown University India Initiative, a university-wide initiative that advances research and teaching around India and its role in world affairs and creates a platform for high-level dialogue among American and Indian leaders from government, business, civil society, and the academy. He is the author of "Elections in Hard Times: Building Stronger Democracies in the 21st Century" (Cambridge, 2016) and "Coalition Politics and Economic Development: Credibility and the Strength of Weak Governments" (Cambridge, 2011). Professor Nooruddin specializes in the study of comparative economic development and policymaking, democratization and democratic institutions, and international institutions. He has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and is a Team Member with Lokniti: Programme on Comparative Democracy at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.