Free talks at Fairhaven Retirement Community open to the public
By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Jane Gottlick, a lecturer in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, kicked off the Fall 2014 Fairhaven Lecture Series Tuesday with a talk entitled, “Challenges to the Democracies of Great Britain, India and Nigeria.”
From the start, Gottlick’s information-packed description of the challenges faced by three nations in three different continents in creating and maintaining democracies ensured that the audience of more than 50 didn’t regret taking advantage of the lovely early fall day outside Fairhaven’s Fellowship Hall.
Gottlick began by stating that the democratic form of government in Great Britain, India and Nigeria – along with the United States – are different. Great Britain and India are based on a parliamentary system, whereas in Nigeria and the U.S. it is a presidential system.
Considerable variation exists across the nations in terms of degree of consensus, amount of participation and the responsiveness and effectiveness of the national government.
At the same time, the countries all struggle to organize national conversations about the most pressing issues, to unite the people to create processes and structures capable of effective policy-making and to determine how best to respond to threats.
During her lecture Gottlick highlighted many dimensions of each nation, both past history and current events, pertaining to a democracy.
In the case of the United Kingdom, Gottlick discussed the upcoming Sept. 18 referendum on Scottish independence. Looking at India, Gottlick cited the large (1.1 billion) and incredibly diverse, divided and fragile population. For Nigeria, it is the “resource curse” of petroleum in the southern Nigeria Delta in contrast to the dry, poor and underdeveloped northern part of the country.
As different as Great Britain, India and Nigeria are, Gottlick argued, they are yet very similar in their struggle to define the shape that democratic institutions should take, their efforts to foster economic stability in an age of global competition and the serious security threats they face.
“They all struggle to create a system of decision-making by and for the people,” Gottlick maintained, “and to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.”
“It’s not just us,” Gottlick added with a smile and a little laugh.
A look at the series
“Democracy Today: An International Perspective” is the title of the Fall 2014 Fairhaven Lecture series.
In 2007, the United National declared Sept. 15 as the International Day of Democracy, and the lecturers in the Fairhaven series will be offering their answers to questions including:
– What is the state of democracy in the world today?
– Who are the advocates of democracy and how do they make their voices known in ballot boxes, in street demonstrations and via social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook?
– Can democracy find root in societies dominated by dictatorship, political exclusion, corruption and fanaticism?
Over the course of the series, democracy’s challenges and its future will be explored, from the promise of the Arab Spring to everyday witnesses of revolution.
All lectures are free and open to the public and are held on Mondays at 3 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Fairhaven Retirement Community, 435 W. Starin Rd. in Whitewater. Street parking is adjacent to the building.
Lectures for the fall series will be held on the following upcoming Mondays: Sept. 22 and 29; Oct. 6, 13 and 27; and Nov. 3, 10 and 17.
For next week’s lecture, Sept. 15, International Undergraduate Students Nana Maiga and Shirin Bouzari will present a talk entitled, “Democracy in Mali and Iran: Personal Accounts from International Students.”
Links of videos of the Fairhaven lectures, including those from prior series, can be found at www.uww.edu/ce/fairhaven.
