Course Description

The non-government organization Freedom House reports that 2020 was the 15th consecutive year of global democratic decline. The end of the post-WWII trend toward democracy has prompted thinking about the trend away from democracy. The U.S. is one of the countries with declining measures of democracy—therefore political scientists are checking the pulse of American democracy. As used here, end refers to the purposes of democracy (i.e., the legitimate purposes of government) and the prospects for democracy’s future as the model of good governance. This lecture explains the current renewed debates about voting rights. The narrow focus is on state laws making it harder to vote. The broader focus is on the reversal one of the civil rights movement’s major achievements. The civil rights movement made voting about legal rights rather than political power. The current back to the future trend expands electoral politics and contracts electoral law.