UBC Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum Speaker Series
International Authoritarian Challenges to Democracy
Date & Time:
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 | 12:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Location:
Online: Zoom Link to Join: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85704043756?pwd=RxosCI5ftffx1BVYBwlkN7atnUNG3V.1
Who’s it for:
While aimed at graduate students and faculty or academics, this lecture is also for people who want to understand the shifting big picture of geo-politics. This lecture helps people to understand the shift from a mono-polar world with one great superpower to a multipolar world. The question of whether we can preserve democracy for the late twenties and early thirties is on many people's minds. Anne Applebaum writes a similar review of the situation in Autocracy, Inc.: how dictatorial governments are co-operating with one another to promote their style of leadership and world engagement.
What to expect:
Democracy is wobbling in a number of countries at once. This is no accident, because no democracy is an island: countries share a complex social environment that, depending on its content, can “select for” either democracy or authoritarianism. One reason why the environment has lately come to favour authoritarianism is the rise and reassertion of the authoritarian giants, China and Russia. Dr. Owen will discuss the effects of these countries and their policies on world politics, recent developments in the United States, and finally why Christians today ought to cherish constitutional democracy and work for a world that enables its flourishing.
More Details:
More details can be found at the UBC Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum here:
Cost:
This is a free online event.
Hosted by:
UBC Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum
Questions?
Contact Gord Carkner at gcarkner@outreach.ca