The Regime Question: Foundations of Democratic Governance in Europe and the United States
Amel Ahmed, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
About the Speaker: Dr. Amel Ahmed is Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Professor Ahmed's main area of specialization is democratic studies, with a special interest in elections, voting systems, legislative politics, party development, and voting rights. She examines these issues in historical and comparative perspective and her work combines a regional focus on Europe and the United States.
The Regime Question examines the origins and development of the regime question—not only “democracy or autocracy?” but also fights over core principles of democracy such as extent of the franchise and “rules of the game”—in Western democracies and considers the implications for regime contention today. Ahmed argues that battles over the regime question were so foundational as to constitute a dimension of politics that polarized political opponents across the regime divide. She focuses on legislative politics as an essential site of democratic governance and key to understanding long-term democratic endurance. The book investigates four historical cases: the United Kingdom between the Reform Act of 1832 and World War II (1832–1939), Imperial and Weimar–era Germany (1876–1933), the French Third Republic (1870–1939), and the United States before World War II (1789–1939).
November 19th, 12:15-1:15p.m., SHH 408
For more information, contact: Jess N at polspaa@uconn.edu