East Asia presents: Miriam Elman

Does Democracy ‘Tame’ the Radicals? Lessons from Asia and Other Regions In a 2008, the journal Asian Security published a symposium on the topic “Faith and Security: the Effects of Democracy on Religious Political Parties”. The symposium, which Elman guest edited, explored how access to patronage, power, and policy moderates the ideologies and strategies of religious political parties over time, and identified both the mechanisms that lead to this ‘taming effect’ and the conditions under which extremism may not be quelled merely by a party’s participation in government. In this talk, Elman will provide an overview of the symposium’s findings, both with regard to the Asian region and other cases. Elman looks forward to constructive criticism on this project, and suggestions for next steps. Lunch will be served.