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The Corry Colloquium Speaker Series of the Department of Political Studies presents:

Margaret Kohn - University of Toronto

"The Promise and Perils of Participatory Democracy: Lessons from Non-profit Housing Cooperatives"

Friday, November 10, 2023 

12:00-1:30 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall | Room 334

Light lunch served

Abstract: 

Participatory democracy flourished in the 1960s and 1970s and inspired a generation of scholars who placed inclusive ideals at the core of normative theories of democracy. The defining feature of participatory democracy is the direct engagement of citizens rather than mediated forms of political activity such as electing representatives.  Non-profit housing cooperatives are governed by a mix of direct and representative democracy, and they provide a natural laboratory for studying small group democracy. This paper relies on the method of grounded normative theory, which involves original empirical research to expand the archive of relevant texts to include more diverse perspectives.

The paper shows that the real world of participatory democracy is filled with more conflict than the original proponents predicted, and participation does not always create a sense of efficacy and an orientation to the common good, but it produces beneficial outcomes such as social solidarity and spaces of decommodification. Understanding the challenges entailed in participation is part of the process of developing a capacious normative democratic theory. By de-moralizing democracy, which involves orienting deliberation away from the language of judgement and principle, and focusing on practical activity, compromise, and pluralism, a revitalized approach to participatory democracy is possible.

Biography: 

Dr. Margaret Kohn is a professor of political theory at the University of Toronto whose primary research interests are in the areas of the history of political thought, critical theory, social justice, and urbanism. Prof. Kohn will tentatively speak about the results of a study on solidarity and democracy in non-profit housing cooperatives in Canada. The project, entitled “Demoralizing Democracy," sits at the intersection of political theory and urban studies.

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA) and the Corry Colloquium Speaker Series of the Department of Political Studies present:

J. Scott Matthews - Memorial University

"Quality Control: Unpacking the Microfoundations of Retrospective Voting" 

Friday, October 20, 2023 

12:00-2:00 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall | Room 334

Light refreshments served

Abstract: 

The theory of retrospective voting – the idea that voters reward and punish incumbents at the ballot box according to their record of performance in office – is one of the dominant models in the study of voting behaviour. The model also aligns with common intuitions about how democracy ought to work. Yet, we have remarkably little credible evidence for the theory’s fundamental premises: that citizens integrate streams of performance information into manageable impressions of the state of the world during an incumbent’s term, and then form appraisals of incumbents based on those impressions. In this talk, I will advance a novel experimental framework for studying the microfoundations of retrospective voting. I will also report results from an extended series of experiments applying the framework to a range of critical questions regarding how, and how well, voters evaluate incumbent performance. I will conclude that the results suggest voters process performance information in a way that ably, if not always optimally, identifies competent incumbents.

Biography: 

J. Scott Matthews (Ph.D., UBC) is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Memorial University, where he studies elections, voting and public opinion in established democracies.  His research focuses primarily on the effects of election campaigns on political decision making, the impact of institutional context on political decision making, and retrospective voting.  His research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, among others.  He is past holder of the Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair at Vanderbilt University and a Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Mannheim.   

The Centre for International and Defence Policy, the Russian and East European Studies Network, and the Department of Political Studies' Corry Colloquium Speaker Series Present:

Marlene Laruelle - The George Washington University

"Russia at War: Political patterns and ideological change"

Thursday, October 5, 2023 

5:30-7:00 PM

Dunning Hall | Room 11

Light refreshments served

Biography: 

Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Sciences at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, and director of the Illiberalism Studies Program. She is the former director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies () and of the Central Asia Program. Dr. Laruelle received her Ph.D. in history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) and her post-doctoral degree in political science at Sciences-Po in Paris. She has widely published on Russia’s ideologies and nationalism, on Russia’s foreign policy and soft power strategies.

2023: Social Media Influencers Are Getting Political, and We Aren't Ready

The John Meisel Lecture Series in Contemporary Political Controversies Fifth Annual Lecture

Social Media Influencers Are Getting Political, and We Aren't Ready

Dr. Elizabeth Dubois

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Lecture 4:00-5:30 PM | Grant Hall

Reception 5:30-6:30 PM | Grant Hall

Light refreshments served

Abstract:

From opinion leadership to social media influencer marketing, popular social media accounts are being integrated into election campaigns around the world. Online influencers’ ability to reach targeted and often hard to reach audiences could be a helpful advancement in campaign strategy but, if left unchecked, could also exacerbate the spread of disinformation, foreign interference, and lead to electoral interference. In this talk Dubois tackles the contentious impacts of social media on politics by focusing on online political influencers, questioning their political roles, their power, and which voices we pay attention to.

Biography:

Dr. Elizabeth Dubois (PhD, University of Oxford) is an Associate Professor and University Research Chair in Politics, Communication and Technology at the University of Ottawa where she runs the and is a member of the Center for Law, Technology and Society. She is also a Faculty Associate and former Fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University and an Affiliate at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at University of North Carolina. Her work examines political uses of digital media, including artificial intelligence, political social media influencers, and online harassment of public figures. She hosts the where political communication theory meets on the ground strategy. Find her on Twitter  and at  or check out her latest edited book, .

CORA and the Department of Political Studies are pleased to host:

Erin Tolley - Carleton University

"Survey Research on Race in Canadian Politics: A Work in Progress" 

Thursday, September 21, 2023 

2:30-3:30 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall | Room 334

Light refreshments served

Abstract: 

Researchers increasingly recognize the need for more racially disaggregated research and data, but the infrastructure for conducting this research in Canada remains under-developed, especially in politics. This talk will provide insights from two works in progress. First, I will discuss the mechanics of a collaborative project with Operation Black Vote Canada and provide early findings from a survey we conducted with Black Canadian candidates and officeholders. Second, I will introduce new work with Dr. Fan Lu and Dr. Debra Thompson, which aims to understand and improve measures of racial identity in survey research on politics. The talk will make a case not just for more research on race but better tools for doing that work.

Biography: 

Dr. Erin Tolley is the Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race and Inclusive Politics and an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is the author of the award-winning book, Framed: Media and the Coverage of Race in Canadian Politics, and received her PhD in Political Studies from Queen’s University.