UC Connect Public Talk: Pandemics, Protests, And Populists: The 2020 Presidential Election

On 3 November 2020, millions of Americans will go to the polls to cast a ballot for President in a country that is arguably almost as divided and partisan as it was in the run-up to the Civil War.

In an upcoming free UC Connect | Tauhere public talk, University of Canterbury Political Science and International Relations academic Associate Professor Amy Fletcher will discuss the 2020 Presidential Election in a Divided United States.

Beyond the battle between sitting President Donald Trump and former Vice-President turned Presidential contender Joe Biden, both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate are in play, with each party fighting to hold onto or to generate majorities in both chambers.

Three weeks out from this consequential election, this public talk will consider the Trump years since January 2017 and examine the causes and consequences of an America that is riven internally and ambivalent about its role on the world stage.

“The economic and social shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rage precipitated by police brutality, the uncertain economic future awaiting Gen-Z, and social media echo chambers have combined to pull Americans apart and empower ideological extremes,” Associate Professor Fletcher says.

This talk considers: are we watching a nation fall or is the United States – in its characteristically messy, chaotic and loud fashion – finding its way back to the centre?

Dr Amy L. Fletcher PhD is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Born in Huntsville, Alabama, in the 1960s, when her father was a young engineer working on the Apollo project, she completed her PhD at the University of Georgia in June 1997, and worked as a Legislative Assistant on Telecommunications and Technology issues for Representative Tillie Fowler (R-FL) in the United States Congress (1995/96). She is the Associate Editor of Politics and Life Sciences Journal (Cambridge University Press) and a Features Editor for Human Futures (World Futures Studies Federation). She completed the Professional Certificate in Foresight at the University of Houston (2019) and is currently working on a book that analyses the cultural history and politics of cryonic suspension.

UC Connect | Tauhere public lecture: Pandemics, Protests, and Populists: The 2020 Presidential Election, presented by Associate Professor Amy Fletcher, Political Science and International Relations, UC Arts, 7pm – 8pm, Wednesday 14 October 2020 in C Block Lectures theatre, University of Canterbury’s Ilam campus, Christchurch. Register to attend free.

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