Cole Bunzel is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the editor of the blog Jihadica. He is the author of the book Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. The Jihadis today root themselves theologically and ideologically... Continue Reading →
Daron Acemoglu on Technology and the Struggle for Shared Prosperity
Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. He is coauthor (with James A. Robinson) of The Narrow Corridor, Why Nations Fail, and The Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. His latest book (with Simon Johnson) is Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity. Support the... Continue Reading →
James Goldgeier on NATO, its Enlargement, and its Future
James Goldgeier is a a Professor of International Relations at American University. He is also a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Center on International Security and Cooperation and a Visiting Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Recently, he is the coeditor with Joshua Itzkowitz Shifrinson of a... Continue Reading →
Steven Simon on American Foreign Policy in the Middle East including Iran and the Wars in Iraq
Steven served on the National Security Council staff from 1994 to 1999 and again fro 2011 to 2012. Earlier he served in the State Department for fifteen years. He is currently a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies and his most recent book is Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall... Continue Reading →
Larry Bartels Says Democracy Erodes from the Top
Larry Bartels is the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University and a Co-Director for the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. His new book is called Democracy Erodes from the Top: Leaders, Citizens, and the Challenge of Populism in Europe. Become a Patron! Make a one-time... Continue Reading →
Samuel Woolley on Bots, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Propaganda
Samuel Woolley is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the project director for propaganda research at the Center for Media Engagement. His most recent book is Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to... Continue Reading →
Martin Wolf on the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Martin Wolf is the chief economics commentator at the Financial Times. He has written many books, but his most recent is The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. I think democracy and capitalism are individually in crisis in that they're not working very well and that... Continue Reading →
Anna Grzymala-Busse on the Sacred Foundations of Modern Politics
Anna Grzymała-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies at Stanford University. She is also the Director of the Europe Center and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. Her latest book is Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State. Become a Patron! Make a one-time... Continue Reading →
The Values of Liberalism
A review of The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective Review by Justin Kempf The Values of Liberalism In this week's episode of the podcast I talked to Michael Walzer. We talked about his recent book The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective. In the Preface he explains... Continue Reading →
Digital Propaganda in an Age of Artificial Intelligence
A review of Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity by Samuel Woolley. Review by Justin Kempf Digital Propaganda The recent release of ChatGPT has raised many questions about the limits of automation and its ability to replace what many have long considered creative work. I've heard people question whether we will eventually... Continue Reading →