Elisabeth Ivarsflaten is a professor of political science and scientific director of the Digital Social Science Core Facility at the University of Bergen, Norway. Paul Sniderman is the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr., Professor of Public Policy at Stanford University. They are the authors of The Struggle for Inclusion: Muslim Minorities and the Democratic Ethos.... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! The Struggle for Inclusion A recent story in The New York Times described the emigration of Muslims from France into the United Kingdom and the United States. It described people who identified both as Muslim and as French, but did not feel welcome in their home country. The story quotes a French... Continue Reading →
Sheryl WuDunn describes intimate stories of inequality and poverty in her recent book Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope (coauthored with Nicholas Kristof). She is a pulitzer prize winning reporter and business executive. This is the 45th episode of the Democracy Paradox podcast. That's why all Americans should care. Because the cost of poverty is not just... Continue Reading →
Chad Alan Goldberg explains how the Wisconsin Idea led to the progressive reforms of the early 20th Century and how its renewal can revitalize democracy once again. We discuss his recent book Education for Democracy: Renewing the Wisconsin Idea. They had an obligation to take the knowledge that they were developing, to take their expertise... Continue Reading →
Ryan Salzman joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss how placemaking shapes communities. His recent book Pop-Up Civics in 21st Century America explains how associational relationships have changed over the last twenty years through the creation of temporary institutions and activities. Ryan follows in the footsteps of Robert Putnam and Alexis de Tocqueville to explain how informal associations... Continue Reading →
Alexis de Tocqueville saw democracy as a dynamic political system. While it required specific cultural requirements for the people, it imposed many of those requirements onto the people. It gradually became self-sustaining whereas the monarchies of the Ancien Régime established conditions unfavorable for a sustainable democratic culture. Tocqueville did not believe democracy was limited to... Continue Reading →
Every book gives clues to its influences. Most books have a primary influence. Sometimes there are a few key references. But most books look to a single key work for inspiration and it is not hard to identify this source. Sometimes it is referenced in the title. Fukyama’s End of History and the Last Man... Continue Reading →
The line between the political and the nonpolitical within a democracy is never clear. Alexis de Tocqueville noticed how politics became a common part of life for the average person. Civic engagement shifts from the activities of an organization into the demands of the community without any interruption. Robert Putnam follows a long tradition of... Continue Reading →
