Lee Drutman joins the Democracy Paradox to make his case for multiparty democracy in the United States. Lee is a Senior Fellow in the Political Reform Program at New America. He discusses his most recent book Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop. Why Multiparty Democracy Madison’s Federalist 10 makes an unusual case. He argued the size... Continue Reading →
The Origins of Democracy in the Modern Era
Barrington Moore, Jr.'s classic work Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy continues to influence scholarship. Its publication in 1966 revolutionized how scholars thought about the relationship between economic, political, and social dynamics in the process of modernization. The reflection below is the work of Justin Kempf. The Origins of Democracy There is no single moment when... Continue Reading →
Democracy Without Elections Podcast #27
Hélène Landemore joins the Democracy Paradox to describe how democracy without elections or politicians is possible. Hélène is an associate professor at Yale University. Her research explores ways to reimagine institutions to better represent those governed and enhance their legitimacy. Democratic Transformation The origin of the third wave of democratization is commonly dated to... Continue Reading →
Rest, Beloved: Biopower, Narrative, and Healing
Rest, Beloved is the work of Pyar Seth. Pyar is a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University in the Interdisciplinary Humanistic Studies Program working at the nexus of Medical Anthropology and Political Science (Political Epidemiology). Broadly, he focuses on the history of Black Thought and the centuries-long struggle for the right to health in Black... Continue Reading →
Agonism in Democratic Theory
Agonism is a key component in the philosophy of radical democracy. Chantal Mouffe explains this concept in her work Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically. Its publication in 2013 developed her theory of Agonism beyond her earlier works such as Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, The Return of the Political, The Democratic Paradox, and On the Political. The discussion... Continue Reading →
Foreign Manipulation of Academia Podcast #26
Glenn Tiffert joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss the foreign manipulation of academia. He is a researcher fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. Over the past few years he has managed Hoover projects on China's Global Sharp Power, and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. The Foreign Manipulation of... Continue Reading →
On the Global Ascendance of China
Recently the Democracy Paradox featured three episodes about the Global Ascendance of China on its podcast. David Shambaugh's China Goes Global offers an early examination of this topic. So much has happened since its publication in 2013, but it remains a highly influential work to the study of China. The discussion below represent the thoughts and... Continue Reading →
Mending Democracy Podcast #25
Carolyn Hendriks, Selen Ercan and John Boswell join the Democracy Paradox to discuss how everyday citizens are mending democracy. Their work is an important contribution to the school of thought known as Deliberative Democracy. Making Democracy More Democratic There is a book that was written in 1989 called Democracy and its Critics. The renowned Robert... Continue Reading →
What Military Missions Reveal About State Capacity
Military Missions in Democratic Latin America was first published in 2016. It offered an examination of the new roles the military had begun to handle in recent years. Its author, David Pion-Berlin, is a widely known scholar of civil-military relations in Latin America. In this book, he went beyond traditional civil-military relations to consider the... Continue Reading →
William Smith on Irving Babbitt Podcast #6
William Smith joins the Democracy Paradox to explain the imperialistic tendencies of democracy. His research focuses on early twentieth century scholar Irving Babbitt, author of Leadership and Democracy (1922). William Smith on Imperialism and Democracy This episode features William Smith, author of Democracy and Imperialism: Irving Babbitt and Warlike Democracies. Irving Babbitt is an... Continue Reading →