John Matsusaki joins the Democracy Paradox to make the case for National Referendums. He is the Charles F. Sexton Chair in American Enterprise at the University of Southern California and the author of Let the People Rule: How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge An Absence of National Referendums The United States has... Continue Reading →
Don Kettl joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss the challenges of American federalism. He is the Sid Richardson Professor at the LBJ School, specializing in public management and public policy and the author of the book The Divided States of America: Why Federalism Doesn't Work. Why Federalism Remains Relevant Federalism has become marginalized in... Continue Reading →
Polarization has become known as the great challenge for American Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman include it among their Four Threats. So long as polarization is portrayed as a problem, the solution remains simple, although difficult to achieve. The solution to polarization is described as compromise and moderation. But what... Continue Reading →
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TMIBdtSDteLnLYBLuNDv4 Jonathan Pinckney is a program office with the Program on Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace and the author of From Dissent to Democracy: The Promise and Perils of Civil Resistance Transitions. This is the third part of a three episode arc called, "Resistance, Revolution, Democracy." My conversation with Erica Chenoweth explored... Continue Reading →
Jill Long Thompson has had a distinguished career in public service. She served three terms in Congress and was part of the Clinton and Obama administrations. Her new book The Character of American Democracy reflects on her experiences to explain the importance of ethics and character in politics. Our conversation discusses how character and ethics... Continue Reading →
Larry Diamond once referred to the internet as a form of "liberation technology." But his most recent writings have warned of a "postmodern totalitarianism." Most of the democracy literature on the internet has focused on social media and artificial intelligence. However, the sharing economy has had a similar impact on capitalism and society. Uber, Lyft,... Continue Reading →
"History... is far too important a topic to be left just to historians," wrote Dankwart Rustow. The methods, techniques, and theories of political science are meant to have relevance in any historical era. So it is refreshing to hear Agnes Cornell and Svend-Erik Skaaning discuss democracy during the interwar period. They examine the... Continue Reading →
Political science uses Viktor Orbán as a caricature. He is thrown around as a stock example of democratic subversion. The criticism is warranted but few political scientists have gone beyond surface level analysis to understand The Orbán Regime in Hungary. It is not enough to laundry list the undesirable policies and laws his government have... Continue Reading →
My father introduced me to the Libertarian Party in 1992. This was the year Bill Clinton defeated George Bush. Ross Perot had disrupted the two-party system with his independent campaign. But I was groomed to support a relative unknown. The Libertarian Party had nominated Andre Marrou. He was elected to the Alaskan state legislature in... Continue Reading →
I write this review during the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020. States have begun to reopen their economies, although there is no consistency from state to state nor sometimes from county to county or city to city. The world has relied on the recommendations of public health officials but have begun to rebel against their advice... Continue Reading →
