Democracy is a core value espoused in American politics. Recent debates in the political climate have sparked discussion on how democracy can best be safeguarded against those who would undermine it.
In a contribution to this debate, Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Holly Ann Oberle gave a public lecture at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Oct 14. Oberle received her PhD in transnational studies from the Freie Universitat in Berlin, Germany in 2015.
In her talk, Oberle discussed the evolution of democracy throughout world history, which is traditionally understood to have begun in the Ancient Greek city of Athens, and which was further spread by the Roman Republic. She emphasized that while these are the places where democracy is claimed to have begun, that neither of these democratic systems were perfect and in fact excluded the vast majority of their subjects from participating in the political process. This led her to discuss the spectrum of democracy that political scientists use as a point of reference.
“In political science, we recognize that democracy is not a static way of existence- it should be thought of more as a sliding scale with increasing and decreasing amounts of strength and robustness,” said Oberle.
She explained that on one side there are strong democracies (sometimes called liberal democracies), which are democracies that have institutions and systems which provide protections for minorities of all kinds and ensure that their rights are not trampled on by the will of the majority. Strong democracies are those which exist by a broad based popular mandate and which have created a strong and fair balance between majority rule and minority rights. On the other hand, there are weak democracies.
“We also recognize that there are some countries that have basic accountability mechanisms like regular elections, but do not consistently uphold human rights,” said Oberle.
In a weak democracy, it is much more likely for the losing party to be persecuted by the winning party, and this can lead to regular outbreaks of social and political disruption and violence.
“Attending this lecture really helped me to understand the nuances that come along with a democratic system of government, and the delicate balance that has to be kept in order to preserve them,” said Martin Grajales, a culinary arts student.
