Scott Radnitz is an associate professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Washington and the director of the Ellison Center for Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies. He is the author of Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region and coeditor with Harris Mylonas of the forthcoming... Continue Reading →
Miles Rapoport on How We Can Achieve Universal Voting
Miles Rapoport is also the Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. He formerly served as secretary of the state of Connecticut. He is the coauthor of the book 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting with E.J. Dionne. Become a... Continue Reading →
Should Voting be Mandatory?
Become a Patron! Voting Reforms and Ideas About Voting At the center of the debate over democracy involves a battle over election reform. Over the year many conservative states have rolled back innovations designed to increase political participation to protect against voter fraud. Meanwhile, liberal states continue to look for ways to increase voter participation.... Continue Reading →
Joseph Fishkin on the Constitution, American History, and Economic Inequality
Joseph Fishkin is a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. He is the coauthor (along with William E. Forbath) of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy. Become a Patron! For many Americans, for the first many generations really up through the mid 20th century, the constitutional order seemed... Continue Reading →
Robert Lieberman, Kenneth Roberts, and David Bateman on Democratic Resilience and Political Polarization in the United States
Robert C. Lieberman is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Kenneth M. Roberts is the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government and Binenkorb Director of Latin American Studies at Cornell University. David A. Bateman is an associate professor in the Government Department at Cornell University. Robert and Kenneth (along with Suzanne... Continue Reading →
Democratic Resilience in Spite of Pernicious Polarization
Democratic Resilience? As I type these thoughts, my mind wanders to events from last year. The assault on the capitol surpassed the greatest fears of many including myself. Some will note the Republic did not fall. The election was ultimately respected and upheld. Yet, very few thought the collapse of American Democracy was a realistic... Continue Reading →
Angus Deaton on Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
Angus Deaton is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics, and the coauthor (with Anne Case) of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism. It's this sort of persistent loss of wages, which causes things like loss of marriage,... Continue Reading →
Karen Greenberg on the War on Terror, Donald Trump, and American Democracy
Karen Greenberg joins the podcast to discuss how the subtle tools threaten American democracy. Karen is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, a fellow at New America, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her new book is Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War... Continue Reading →
The War on Terror: A Podcast Primer
The War on Terror The War in Afghanistan came to a close last week. Its legacy is complicated. Many who opposed the invasion of Iraq supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Its mission was more closely identified with the War on Terror. Nonetheless, its purpose lost focus over twenty years as it became known as America’s... Continue Reading →
Isolationism: A Podcast Primer
What is Isolationism? In an increasingly interconnected world it is difficult for any community or nation to truly isolate itself from others. Of course, a few indigenous tribes remain in remote corners of the world. Perhaps they are the last truly isolated peoples left in the world. But even these communities have occasional contact with... Continue Reading →