There are more elections than ever before, and yet the world is becoming less democratic. This is the primary paradox presented by the authors of How to Rig an Election. Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas, two political scientists and preeminent experts on democracy and elections, examine how authoritarian leaders can gain and maintain political power by taking advantage of weaknesses in electoral systems. Using data collected from more than 500 interviews in 11 countries as well as a global data set of every elections held over the past 60 years, the authors lay out how gerrymandering, vote buying, repression, hacking, and ballot box stuffing are used by autocrats to ‘rig elections’ and what can be done to protect democracies.

This book discussion focuses primarily on the book and on the global state of democracy more generally. Leading the discussion is Justin Collier, PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. His research includes public diplomacy, nationalism, national identity, and ethnic conflict. The first 15 registrants from the Lewes, Delaware area to sign up can pick up a free copy of the book from the library. Note: all free copies of the book have been distributed. You may borrow a print copy or ebook from the Delaware Library System.

UPDATE: Co-author, Nic Cheeseman, has agreed to join the first part of the conversation that evening from Malawi. Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham in England and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University. He mainly works on democracy, elections and development and has conducted fieldwork in a range of African countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Professor Cheeseman is the author or editor of ten books, including Democracy in Africa, Institutions and Democracy in Africa, and Coalitional Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective. In addition, he is the founding editor of the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Politics, a former editor of the journal African Affairs, and an advisor to, and writer for, Kofi Annan's African Progress Panel.

If you have a question you would like the discussion leader to ask Professor Cheeseman, please email us.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of the book from Browseabout Books by clicking HERE. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email us.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for this session. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.

This program is sponsored by Delaware Humanities and was funded by the “Why It Matters” initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.