[340] Can Iraq Democracy Survive Amidst Autocratic Neighbors?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081, or WMOT-FM, 615-898-2800

CAN IRAQ DEMOCRACY SURVIVE AMIDST AUTOCRATIC NEIGHBORS?
Petersen, Saunders Discuss “Clusters of Conflict” on “MTSU on the Record”

(MURFREESBORO) – With Iraq’s first national election as a fully sovereign country proceeding today through Sunday, “MTSU on the Record” and host Gina Logue examine how Iraq might fare as a democracy with guests Dr. Karen Petersen, assistant professor of political science, and Steve Saunders, interim director of the McNair Scholars Program, at 8 a.m. this Sunday, March 7, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org).
Saunders and Petersen are the authors of Prospects for Political Stability in a Democratic Iraq: A Study of the Clusters of Conflict (Edwin Mellen Press). The book posits that Iraq under a democratic form of government might not necessarily be more pacific. In fact, they write that “democracies surrounded by autocracies can be especially war-prone.” Their analysis is based on analyses of clusters of contiguous nations. To hear last week’s program with feminist Gloria Steinem, who spoke to an overflow crowd at MTSU on March 2, go to go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2010.html and click on “February 28, 2010.”
For more information about “MTSU on the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.


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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.