The Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder presents a lecture by Ryan Balot on September 12, 2019, “The Virtues of Democratic Citizenship, Ancient and Modern.” The lecture starts at 5:30 PM in Eaton Humanities 135. Please Register for this event via Eventbrite.
Many observers would agree that democracy is in crisis. Across the globe, we have witnessed a decline in free and fair elections, numerous assaults on judicial independence, the resurgence of authoritarianism and growing restrictions on civil society. In the United States, democracy’s crisis has taken a particular form. Citizens increasingly question the legitimacy of public institutions and the press. Even more salient is the erosion of civic trust and the consequent atmosphere of intense polarization. In the absence of trust among citizens, public discourse has become brittle and fragmented, a development that poses obstacles to the success of democratic self-government. Balot contends that the flourishing of democracy—even its revitalization—depends on the citizens’ possession of virtues appropriate to their civic activities. Taking a long historical perspective on the democratic virtues, one centered on classical Athens and Tocqueville’s America, he will draw attention to civic courage as the key to re-imagining a democratic ethos built on trust.
About the Series
The Benson Center promotes critical reflection on the distinctive traditions and political perspectives that characterize Western civilization. It encourages residents of Colorado and the United States to more fully understand and appreciate their past, their future and a free and creative American society within an international environment. This year’s Benson Center lecture series expands on the Benson Center’s 2019-20 theme, American Identities. For more information, please visit the website, https://www.colorado.edu/center/benson/.
About the Speaker
Ryan K. Balot is Professor of Political Science and Classics at the University of Toronto. The author of Greed and Injustice in Classical Athens (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), of Greek Political Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), and of Courage in the Democratic Polis: Ideology and Critique in Classical Athens (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), editor of A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 2009), and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), Balot specializes in classical political thought.