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Lecture on Iraqi Elections
February 2, 2005
CARROLLTON, GA - With the entire world watching the election in Iraq, the question remains: will democracy take hold and prevail? Victor Konrad, chairman of the board of CODE Incorporated, an internationally recognized and award-winning company dedicated to delivering the vote in challenging election environments around the world, will speak on “In Pursuit of Democracy: Delivering the Vote in Afghanistan and Iraq” on Thursday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. in the Richards College of Business Lecture Hall at the University of West Georgia.
The International Programs Office and the International Student Club are sponsoring the presentation that will reveal some of the quiet and hard work behind delivering the vote in Afghanistan and Iraq, and suggests the fundamental conditions necessary for the establishment of democracy in these countries.
According to Konrad, the Iraqi elections and the recent participation at the polls in Afghanistan are immensely significant events at the very core of enabling democracy in parts of the world that have barely tasted its potential. They may prove to be milestones in the development of a more civil society in these countries, and models for the democratic process among other countries embarking on this path, he notes.
In 1990, Konrad was appointed the first executive director of the newly formed Canada-United States Fulbright Commission. Previously he directed the National Resource Center for the Study of Canada at the University of Maine and served as president of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS). In 2001, ACSUS awarded the Donner Medal to Konrad for his contribution to Canadian Studies and Canada-U.S. relations.
Konrad has published extensively in anthropology, geography and Canadian Studies with a recent focus on borderlands issues. He is the director of NorthWing Consulting and teaches geography at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
There is no charge for admission for this event.
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