BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/Detroit X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Detroit BEGIN:VEVENT UID:31829@arabamerica.com DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20231109T173000 DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20231109T193000 DTSTAMP:20231030T175631Z URL:https://www.arabamerica.com/events/defining-democracy-democratic-commi tment-in-the-arab-world/ SUMMARY:DEFINING DEMOCRACY: DEMOCRATIC COMMITMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD DESCRIPTION:CHICAGO\, IL\n\n \;\n\nThe Middle East and North Africa is one of the least democratic regions in the world. At the same time\, decad es of research show robust support for democracy among MENA residents. A p aradox ... or is it?\n\nHannah Ridge explores the "democracy paradox" by parsing the meanings that citizens assign to the Arabic word dimuqratiyya . Drawing on Arab Barometer data from across the region\, as well as origi nal surveys in Egypt and Morocco\, she shows that democracy and dimuqrati yya are typically not the same thing. Dimuqratiyya focuses on egalitari anism and socio-economic outcomes. Conflating the two has led to misconce ptions about public support for democratic governance.\n\n \;\n\nAbout the author:\n\nHannah Ridge (she/her) is an assistant professor of poli tical science at Chapman University. She was previously a Postdoctoral Re search Fellow at the Pozen Center. She completed her PhD in Political Sci ence at Duke University\, specializing in comparative politics and politic al methodology.\n\nHer research focuses on how citizens understand democra cy\, what makes them want democratization\, and what makes them satisfied with the democracy they have. This includes their attitudes towards politi cal institutions\, like party systems and liberal values. She also examine s the role religion and ethnic hierarchies play in the state and citizens' political behavior.\n\n \;\n\nAbout the discussant:\n\nLindsay Giffor d is Assistant Research Professor at the Pozen Family Center for Human Ri ghts. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Boston University (2009)\, sup ported by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowshi p. Professor Gifford also completed a National Science Foundation Minorit y Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Anthropology at UCLA.\n\nProfessor  Gifford’s research focuses on everyday life under the authoritarian stat e in the Middle East\, and Middle Eastern refugee experiences through forc ed migration trajectories in the region and into the diaspora in the Globa l North. She is the author of “Homeland (Dis-)Engagement Processes among the New Syrian Diaspora”  in The Contemporary Middle East in an Age of Upheaval (James L. Gelvin\, ed.\, Stanford 2021) and “Middle Eastern Refugeehood in the Happiest Place on Earth: Syrians and Iraqis Entering F inland’s Welfare State Bureaucracy” in Un-Settling Middle Eastern Re fugees (Marcia Inhorn and Lucia Volk\, eds.\, Berghahn 2021)\, among othe rs. Her dissertation research focused on informal gendered civil society n etworks under the authoritarian Syrian state\, particularly working class women’s rotating credit associations. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.arabamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2 023/10/content_definingdemocracy.jpeg LOCATION:Classics 110\, 1010 E. 59th St.\, Chicago\, IL\, United States GEO:41.787882;-87.600569 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=1010 E. 59th St.\, Chicago\ , IL\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Classics 110:geo:41.787882 ,-87.600569 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Detroit X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Detroit BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR