CMU Libraries Constitution Day Lecture

September 19, 2023

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. ET

Virtual

Details

Lecture title: The personalities of presidents who lead constitutional power grabs: evidence from Latin America, 1945-2021.

In recognition of Constitution Day 2023, the University Libraries and the Division of Student Affairs invites you to learn more about constitutions in Latin American countries and the efforts of presidents to alter them.

In this lecture, Ignacio Arana Araya, assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute of Security and Technology, draws on years of studying presidential behavior to examine the characteristics of leaders who undermine their countries’ democracies through constitutional power grabs. This lecture will discuss the individual characteristics of presidents who attempt to change the constitutions of their countries to relax their term limits or increase their powers.

The event will include an introduction to CMU’s Posner copy of the Bill of Rights by Samuel Lemley, curator of special collections.