Michael Miller joins the podcast to offer a novel theory of democratization. We discuss his new book Shock to the System: Coups, Elections, and War on the Road to Democratization. This is the 52 episode of the podcast. So many cases of democratization start with these episodes and this period of elite political violence where... Continue Reading →
Chris Bickerton defines the concept of technopopulism. He is the author, alongside Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, of Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics. That tension between the politics of the whole and the politics of the part, that tension between the politics of generality and the politics of particularity, is really at the heart of... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth (Liz) Nugent discusses how polarization affects the process of democratization through her experience in Tunisia and Egypt. Her recent book After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition. Her work considers how legacies of repression create the conditions for polarization. The focus on the individual people involved in this moment and their preexisting relationships for... Continue Reading →
Nic Cheeseman and Gabrielle Lynch discuss their book The Moral Economy of Elections in Africa. The podcast explores how Africans think about democracy from three country case studies including Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. Their research for the book was wide and comprehensive including comparative analysis, historical accounts, surveys, and on the ground field research. The... Continue Reading →
My most impressive professor at Truman State University was Dr. John Ishiyama. He was a professor of political science but his specialization was Post Soviet Politics. He was widely regarded as our most accomplished political scientist not simply for his knowledge of the region, but his familiarity with political science methodology. Indeed, he did not... Continue Reading →
Amy Erica Smith joins the Democracy Paradox to explain how religion influences politics in Brazil. This is the 21st episode of the Democracy Paradox podcast. It kicks off the second season with an emphasis on world affairs. Amy Erica Smith on Brazilian Democracy Political Scientist Seymour Martin Lipset wrote, “A person who knows... Continue Reading →
American politics has a long tradition of resolution through adjudication. There is a fear the 2020 Presidential Election will be resolved in the courts rather than the voting booth. The appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court left “the left” on edge before the election formally began. There is a fear the Presidential... Continue Reading →
The pandemic was not real for me until the schools closed. It was a distant concern until we had to redefine our childcare situation. My wife was already home. She had recently left a position she had held for nearly a decade. But she was about to begin a new role in a new field... 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 →
There is a necessary divide between political philosophy and political science. Politics as a philosophy examines political concepts as pure abstractions detached from the actual practice of politics. It helps to understand democracy, populism, and liberalism as concepts. But politics as a science examines its practice in the real world. Political science relies on data,... Continue Reading →
