Welcome to Di5W
Democratic Authors and Concepts in 500 Words (or Fewer!)
Democracy in 500 Words is mostly content from the ship-smart political scientists at UT-Arlington, along with occasional posts from Prof. Mark Hand (me!).
In 2023, I started looking for a quick source of easy-to-read information about different concepts and authors related to democracy. I wanted something like Paul Cairney's Policy Concepts in 500 Words, but on democracy. I couldn't find it; this began as that effort.
My students started with the list of democratic topics from the Oxford Bibliography of Democratic Theory.
In Fall 2024 we added The Runaround, an elections newsletter for the politically disinclined.
In Spring 2025, we will… well, let’s find out!
Thanks for reading. Click on the navigation tab above to read more about democratic ideas, meet some major democratic thinkers, or read some student op-eds on democracy.