On April 12, 2019, the Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program will host a symposium, co-sponsored with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, to consider democratic institutions in the Middle East and South Asia against the backdrop of assessments of democracy in America.
In the course of the day, BBLP will convene experts on democratic institutions in the U.S. and abroad and bring them together with ClassACT HR73 affiliates, BBLP’s inaugural Fellows at HKS, BBLP Associates from the broader Harvard community, and the general public. Together and in panels and working groups, we will explore the motives and means to deliver on the ideals that drove Benazir Bhutto’s career and generate next steps for the BBLP community.
What's Wrong with Democracy?
The Challenges and Promise of Democracy in the Middle East, South Asia, and the U.S.
Modern democracy was conceived as an experiment in governance and takes a multitude of forms across the globe. In South Asia, the Middle East, and in the U.S., democratic institutions are facing unprecedented challenges including the rise of populism, the influence of social media, and extreme political posturing. In light of 1) U.S. efforts to encourage and strengthen democracy abroad that have been intermittent and tempered by realpolitik, and 2) the aspirations of many from these areas for greater political participation, what might these political systems learn from one other?
Convener
| Sugata Bose |
Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Department of History, Harvard University; Faculty Associate and Chair:Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Transformations (WIGH)
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Participants
| Roohi Abdullah |
Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program Fellow; Mason Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; World Bank
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Hicham Alaoui
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Associate Researcher at the Weatherhead Center, Harvard University; Director of the Hicham Alaoui Foundation |
| Muhammad Ali |
Former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; 2018 Mason Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government |
| Ayesha Jalal |
Mary Richardson Professor of History and Director of South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, Tufts University; MacArthur Fellow |
| Sonu Jain |
Senior Communications Officer, The World Bank |
| Natasha Jehangir Khan |
Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program Fellow; Mason Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Advocate, Islamabad High Court |
| Sylvester Monroe '73 |
Senior Fellow, USC Annenberg Center on Communication, Leadership, and Policy; former Washington Post Europe and South Asia Editor
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| Cameron Munter |
President and CEO, EastWest Institute, New York; former US ambassador to Pakistan
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| Roger Myerson '73 |
The David L. Pearson Distinguished Service Professor of Global Conflict Studies, University of Chicago; Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences |
| Erum Khalid Sattar |
Visiting Fellow, Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, Harvard Law School |
