Fifteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Liberal democratic societies are increasingly rent by divisions correlated with level of education. Around the liberal democratic world, the norm of bounded competition is under threat, as political opponents no longer yield to the imperative of live-and-let live and accord the victor the requisite legitimacy to govern in the face of an unfavorable electoral outcome. To gain insight to this dynamic, we investigate the role of institutions of higher learning on the establishment and maintenance of the essential liberal norms of democratic deliberation. Using selected colleges and universities in Eastern Europe as case studies, we examine how these institutions reproduce democratic practices that are essential for the operation of liberal democracy. Owing to the almost concurrent transition to democracy among the states of the region, Eastern Europe provides a promising landscape to explore how the curriculums of these institutions promise to prepare graduates to promote mutual toleration across political difference and forbearance in the exercise of political power that Levitsky and Ziblatt identity as key liberal democratic norms. Through structured interviews and other means we ascertain the extent to which liberal arts college graduates in the transitioning democracies of Eastern Europe serve to facilitate and/or undermine the performance of the elite strata in protecting electoral integrity, promoting open debate, and working to filter out extreme candidates for office. The paper clarifies the role of institutions of higher learning in building habits of democratic practice and sustaining rules of deliberation.