FASS Brown Bag Seminar by A/P Benjamin Andrew Schupmann | Early Intervention against Democratic Backsliding: Rethinking Militant Democracy
Dear all,
You are cordially invited to the second session of the FASS Brown Bag Seminar Series in Semester 2 of AY25/26. A/P Benjamin Andrew Schupmann (NUS Political Science) will be presenting a talk titled "Early Intervention against Democratic Backsliding: Rethinking Militant Democracy."
Date: 9 Feb, 12pm-1pm
Venue: Zoom and in-person (FASS Research Division Seminar Room AS7 06-42)
Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.
Early Intervention against Democratic Backsliding: Rethinking Militant Democracy
Democratic backsliding today rarely takes the form of coups or outright illegality. Instead, it is driven by popularly elected leaders using legal procedures to dismantle democracy from within. This talk introduces a theory of militant democracy that explains how democracies can legitimately defend themselves against this kind of threat. Drawing on constitutional theory and contemporary cases of democratic erosion, it argues that early intervention can be both democratically legitimate and politically necessary. The talk defends the claim that constitutional unamendability and political rights restrictions – mechanisms that at first glance seem undemocratic – are in fact essential safeguards of democratic self-rule.
A/P Benjamin A. Schupmann (Political Science) is a political theorist whose research bridges the history of political thought and contemporary democratic theory. His work focuses on how democracies can respond legitimately and effectively to internal antidemocratic threats, including populism, extremism, and democratic backsliding – an argument developed in his recent book, Democracy despite Itself (OUP 2024).