Introduction to Myanmar The politics of Myanmar confuse many of us (although few will admit it). Let’s start with the name. Some still call it Burma. This is the original name dating back to British colonial rule. However, its name officially changed in 1989 to Myanmar. At the time the United States refused to recognize... Continue Reading →
Mallory SoRelle joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss the politics of consumer credit. She is an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University. She is the author of Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection. Americans are expected to take on debt, because that's how we're expected to finance everything from... Continue Reading →
Potemkin Villages Catherine the Great had many lovers. Grigory Orlov led the coup d’état that brought Catherine to power. Stanisław Poniatowski became the last King of Poland. Prince Zubov, the last of her lovers, was forty years younger than her. Some of them played a part in the governance of Russia, while others merely amused... Continue Reading →
David Stasavage joins the podcast to describe early democracy and its decline before its reemergence in the modern age. He is a professor of politics at New York University. His latest book is called The Decline and Rise of Democracy. This was not a phenomenon to one specific region. This was nothing that got... Continue Reading →
What is Identity? In recent years politics has become a contestation between different forms of identity rather than interests. Identity has an almost ideological connotation. It is easy to become lost in emotions and hyperbole without any awareness of its actual role in political theory. Indeed, the earliest political philosophers did not mention identity at... Continue Reading →
Christophe Jaffrelot joins the podcast to explain the phenomenon of Hindu Nationalism and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is a professor of Indian politics and sociology and among the foremost scholars of Indian democracy. His latest book is called Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy. The police is even... Continue Reading →
Military Coups On February 1st, the Tatmadaw arrested the Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, many other politicians from the National League of Democracy, and declared a state of emergency. The Tatmadaw has formally held power in Myanmar between 1988 and 2011. But it also held power informally as early as 1962. The recent... Continue Reading →
Jan-Werner Müller joins the podcast to discuss his new book Democracy Rules. He is a professor of social sciences at Princeton University and the author of the well-known book What is Populism? It really matters how you set up conflict and how you talk about the issue and above all how you talk about your adversary.... Continue Reading →
Distinguishing the Law from the State Few political theories take the time to distinguish between the law and the state. This is a catastrophic mistake. This oversight begins with a neglect to reflect on the nature of institutions, but it also involves a carelessness with early political history. Early modern political theory did meditate on... Continue Reading →
