Congratulations to Matthew Gordner, 2012-13 Trudeau Foundation Scholar

November 6, 2012

The Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation was established in 2001 as a living memorial to the former Prime Minister by his family, friends and colleagues. Through this scholarship, the Foundation supports highly gifted individuals who are actively engaged in their fields and are expected to become leading national and international figures.

While travelling, researching, and living throughout various countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Mr. Gordner’s first-hand experiences and conversations with the people of these regions frequently referred to the desire for a form of democracy separate and distinct from Western liberal-style democracy. Mr. Gordner’s doctoral research in U of T’s Department of Political Science will examine both democratic theory and post-Arab Spring democratic processes involving the agreements, disagreements, and compromises between Islamist and secular parties, movements, and ideologies that have arisen from the ouster of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and how these sites of contest and compromise might support or limit the realization of stable and lasting democratic transition in the wider Arab world.