Democracy lives: as a system of governance and a form of collective organization. Democracy breathes: in civil institutions, popular actions and the civic life of its communities. Under democracy’s protections, dreams of equality materialize; creative expression thrives; literacies multiply; social bonds deepen.
But democracy needs proper conditions to flourish: equitable distribution of resources; citizens empowered to exercise their rights; a working system of checks and balances ensuring that just decisions are made and implemented.
Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, the IHC’s public events series Living Democracy will engage perspectives from the humanities to explore the forces and conditions that imperil democracy and the political, social, and cultural interventions needed to make democracy equitable, vibrant, and just.
