Thinking on Sunday: How to Rig an Election

Contrary to what is commonly believed, authoritarian leaders who agree to hold elections are generally able to remain in power longer than autocrats who refuse to allow the populace to vote. In their exciting and high profile new book, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas explain how counterfeit democrats are able to use elections to remain in power, and reveal the six essential strategies that dictators use to undermine the electoral process in order to guarantee victory.

Based on their first hand experiences as election watchers and their hundreds of interviews with presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, election officials, and conspirators, Cheeseman and Klaas document instances of election rigging from Argentina to Zimbabwe, including notable examples from Brazil, Kenya, India, Nigeria, and Russia. This eye-opening study offers a sobering overview of corrupted professional politics, while providing fertile intellectual ground for the development of new solutions for protecting democracy from authoritarian subversion.

Nic and Brian’s book How to Rig an Election will be available on the day.

Nic Cheeseman (@Fromagehomme) is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University. He is the recipient of the GIGA award for the best article in Comparative Area Studies (2013) and the Frank Cass Award for the best article in Democratization (2015). He is also the author of Democracy in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 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.

Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) is a Fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, American politics, and elections. He is the author of The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy, The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West is Aiding & Abetting the Decline of Democracy, and How to Rig an Election (co-authored with Professor Nic Cheeseman; Yale University Press 2018). Klaas is also a columnist for The Washington Post.

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Doors 2.45pm. Start 3pm.

Entry £8, £4 concessions (free to Conway Hall Ethical Society members, who should book these tickets in advance via the Book Now button)

Event is subject to capacity, without exceptions. Space will be reserved for ticket holders.

Brockway Room (Ground floor – accessible. Induction loop audio).