Prof John Dunn, emeritus professor at King’s College in the University of Cambridge, will critically examine Western democracy in a lecture at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) today. 
The public talk, titled ‘How Does Western Democracy Stand Today?’, will be held at 6pm at GU-Q’s Education City campus.
Representative democracy is the dominant political system of the Western world and was recently offered confidently to the globe at large as the uniquely appropriate form for modern government. But does the experience of its working over the last decade in its Western heartlands require a less sanguine assessment of its political capacities? Professor Dunn seeks to answer this question facing contemporary world politics in the lecture, GU-Q said in a statement.
Prof Dunn is a renowned historian of political thought known for his emphasis on viewing classic political texts in their historical context and more recently, for his critical reflections on democracy as a political ideal. 
“What I am going to talk about in my lecture is how misguided the way Western populations have come to think about democracy (and how it can be expected to work politically over time) has become,” he said. “It is an argument about how to think politically, if you want to understand politics better, and (I hope) an application of it not just to democracy as a distinct subject matter, but also to judging just what democracy has contributed to some momentous recent political experiences.”
Prof Dunn is the author of more than a dozen books on themes as diverse as Lockean liberalism, the comparative politics of revolutions, and state building in Africa. Throughout his writings, he has critically examined what has been happening in the world through the diffusion of democracy from Western Europe to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
His research interests cover the history of modern political thought, revolutions, regime collapse and reconstruction. He has taught in countries across the globe, including Ghana, India, the US and Japan.


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