Larry Diamond, an expert on establishing democracy across the globe and current professor in political science and sociology at Stanford University, gave a lecture entitled "The Global Democratic Surge and Recession" at the FedEx Global Center at 5:30pm on Thursday, March 22. He said, "In the last several decades there has been a democratic surge around the world." Later he said "I think the military coup in Pakistan in October 1999 represents a kind of inflection point in this third wave of democracy." Throughout the lecture, he displayed data and graphs that showed trends related to democracy, political rights, and civil liberties. He ended his lecture with an optimistic prediction for democracy; "I think in the long run the world will move in a democratic fashion," Larry Diamond said.