Seize Russian Assets and Send the Money to Ukraine By David Bernell and Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. (Retired) The war in Ukraine is changing. Russia is seeing gains, and Ukraine is facing increasing challenges and shortages, particularly with regard to soldiers and weapons, which have resulted in the recent loss of territorial control to the... Continue Reading →
Peter Pomerantsev on Winning an Information War
Peter Pomerantsev is a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University where he co-directs the Arena Initiative. His past books include Nothing is True and Everything is Possible and This is Not Propaganda. His most recent book is called How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler. Access Episodes Ad-Free on Patreon Make... Continue Reading →
Is Democracy Still in Decline? Yana Gorokhovskaia on the Freedom in the World Report
Yana Gorokhovskaia is the Research Director at Freedom House and one of the lead authors of this year’s Freedom in the World report titled, The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict. Access Episodes Ad-Free on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Learn... Continue Reading →
When We Misread Dictators… Steve Coll on Saddam Hussein and the American Invasion of Iraq
Steve Coll is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who has served as President and CEO of New America and the Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker. His most recent book is The Achilles’ Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of... Continue Reading →
A More Perfect Union
By Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. (Retired). and David Bernell “The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” said Governor Greg Abbott of Texas on January 24, 2024. His claim is that the Biden Administration has failed to carry out the requirements of the Constitution, which says that the federal... Continue Reading →
Engaged Democracy: A Proactive Defense
A Response to Kurt Weyland by Jeffrey Hallock Near the end of the January 9, 2024, episode of Democracy Paradox, host Justin Kempf probed a recurrent theme in his conversations with Dr. Kurt Weyland—that overreacting to anti-democratic threats can, paradoxically, further democratic erosion. Kempf asked, “Why is it so dangerous to overreact to democratic threats?”... Continue Reading →
Why is the Immigration System Broken? Jonathan Blitzer on How American Foreign Policy in Central America Created a Crisis
Jonathan Blitzer is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He won a 2017 National Award for Education Reporting for “American Studies,” a story about an underground school for undocumented immigrants. His writing and reporting have also appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Atavist, Oxford American, and The Nation. He is an... Continue Reading →
The Surveillance State in China Began With Mao Says Minxin Pei
Minxin Pei is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. His most recent book is The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China. Access Episodes Ad-Free on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute... Continue Reading →
Trump, Congress, the Border, and Foreign Aid (and Biden Too): Add Contents and Stir
By David Bernell and Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. (Retired) There are many things we have learned since Donald Trump declared in 2015 that he was running for president. One of them is that no election in which Donald Trump is involved is normal. The election in 2024 is the fifth (including midterm elections) in which... Continue Reading →
After a Coup, Can the Constitutional Order Be Repaired? Adem Abebe on Rebuilding Constitutions in West Africa
Adem Abebe is a senior advisor on constitution-building processes at International IDEA. He supports transitions from conflict and authoritarianism to peace and democracy, generates cutting edge knowledge, convenes platforms for dialogue and advocates for change. Adem is also Vice President of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers, which promotes democratic constitutionalism across the continent. This... Continue Reading →