Global democracy in focus at SOAS exhibition and public discussion
Two weeks remain for the current exhibition at the Brunei Gallery, Living Democracy, exploring themes of democracy and international relations.
The SOAS installation zooms in on global democracy as over 2 billion individuals in 50 nations prepare to exercise their voting rights in 2024. With such significant numbers heading to the polls, the resilience of democracy amidst challenges such as misinformation, the prevalence of fake news, and the enduring appeal of populism, is under the spotlight.
The Living Democracy exhibition at the SOAS Brunei Gallery, curated by social anthropologist Professor Emma Crewe, offers an exploration of political representation. The displays showcase the insights from extensive research exploring the dynamics of people taking part in elections, parliaments and politicians.
One of the installations at the exhibition is a visual timeline of "The UK expenses scandal 2009" put together by Emma Crew and Andrew Walker. Speaking about the scandal in the below video interview, Emma says: "people just assume [the scandal] was about corruption but, actually, I think a more interesting interpretation is that it's really about secrecy."
Visitors to the exhibition can also expect to see paintings by artist Heruy Aregawi Gebremariam about democratic struggles, a "Politicians on Social Media" collage by Jastinder Kaur, and a curtain of real Brazilian ballot receipts.
In response to 2024’s massive electoral undertaking, SOAS Vice Chancellor Professor Adam Habib hosted a discussion with experts on the US, Europe, India and South Africa to look at what the world will look like after one of the largest simultaneous democratic exercises in recent memory.
The Year of the Big Vote discussion took place on 27 February and featured prominent experts including Professor Leslie Vinjamuri, Dr Subir Sinha and Professor Stephen Chan OBE from SOAS, and Anthony Dworkin, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
International relations was a keen theme in the discussion. Professor Vinjamuri, one of those taking part, recently said about the US elections: “The effects of this Trump-induced chaos are sadly not containable. They have already disrupted US foreign policy at a time when the rest of the world is poorly prepared for nearly 10 months of Trump campaigning, let alone a potential victory.”
With only two weeks remaining, the Living Democracy exhibition offers opportunities for public engagement on the future of democracy and its global ramifications. The exhibition remains open to all, free of charge, until March 16.
