55 Voices for Democracy – The Podcast

In this special episode of our podcast, the award-winning investigative and political reporter John S. Adams talks about money, politics and its effect on democracy. While there was always "money in politics," the practice of political donations has become a substantial threat to liberal democracies. "In the last several years, the flood gates have really opened," states Adams in his conversation with hosts Tom Zoellner and Aida Baghernejad. What are the real motivations behind these donations and what are the differences between political donations in Germany and the United States? Adams was the former Capital Bureau Chief of the Great Falls Tribune and a correspondent for USA TODAY. He is the founder and editor of the Montana Free Press, a digital news watchdog. His work on the subject of politics and money was featured in the 2019 PBS documentary Dark Money.

We have to step up and accept our responsibility for all of the implications that technology has created." Brad Smith, President of Microsoft and author of the book Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age (2019), makes a strong argument for the political and moral accountability of big tech companies. Smith discusses "the role of digital technology in the world of politics" and draws attention to how and why "technology inequality" has become a source of social injustice.

Pianist Igor Levit talks with our hosts about the persistence of the arts in the face of political threats and why Europeans should work against their feelings of cultural superiority. While Igor Levit's music focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven and Liszt, he is also known for being a politically engaged artist: he has publicly spoken out several times against issues such antisemitism and racism. In this conversation, Levit appeals to music's ability to make us remember and understand. He is Professor at the Hanover University of Music, Drama & Media. His book Hauskonzert will be published by Hanser Verlag in April.

In this episode, Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe reflects on the question of why democracy has to be turbulent and how to foster a democratic ethos of equality and social justice. In her conversation with Tom Zoellner and Aida Baghernejad, she discovers surprising potentials, especially in artistic practices. Chantal Mouffe is best known for her books For a Left Populism (2018), Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically (2013) and The Democratic Paradox (2000). She holds a professorship at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster.

The German-Austrian novelist and playwright Daniel Kehlmann talks with host Tom Zoellner and co-host Aida Baghernejad about the reasons for the rise of populist politicians and "literature as the ultimate school of empathy." What perspective do contemporary German literary authors have on the rise of populism around the world? His book Measuring the World (2006) is one of the world's best-selling German-language books of the 21st century. Tyll, the latest novel of Kehlmann, who currently lives in New York City and Berlin, was published in the U.S. this year, three years after it became a bestseller in Germany.

The former German Ambassador to the U.S. and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference speaks about Europe's position in international politics. In the interview with host Tom Zoellner and co-host Aida Baghernejad, the author of World in Danger: Germany and Europe in an Uncertain Time explains how shared values such as "truth, trust and transparency" can be strengthened again and what it means to revitalize transatlantic relations in turbulent times.

The guests in this episode are the Belarusian opposition politicians Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Franak Viačorka. Tsikhanouskaya, who ran for president in the 2020 elections, is currently in exile in Lithuania. She is considered to be one the most important voices of the democratic opposition in Belarus. Viačorka is journalist, blogger and an activist in the Belarusian struggle for democracy and personal freedom. The two talk to host Tom Zoellner and co-host Aida Baghernejad about the situation in Belarus and their experiences in the election year.

How should democracies deal with the increasing power of tech companies? This episode features Dipayan Ghosh, a former technology and economic policy advisor in the Obama White House. Ghosh conducts research on digital piracy, artificial intelligence and civil rights at the Harvard Kennedy School. His recently published and critically acclaimed report "Utilities for Democracy – Why and How the Algorithmic Infrastructure of Facebook and Google must be regulated" serves as a starting point for a conversation with host Tom Zoellner.

Conny McCormack has served as an international observer of fair elections in Albania, Ecuador, Finland, Panama, Zambia and other countries. She had been the Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk for Los Angeles County from 1995 to 2008 and was in similar positions in San Diego and Dallas counties. In this episode, McCormack talks to host Tom Zoellner about what she calls "the frontline of democracy:" the day-to-day work of making an election happen, the inevitability of human error in the process and the well-established lack of fraud in American elections over the last century.

David Shimer is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and an Associate Fellow at Yale University. His reporting and analysis have appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker and the Washington Post. He is pursuing a doctorate in international relations at the University of Oxford. In this episode, Shimer discusses his book Rigged: America, Russia, and 100 Years of Electoral Interference with Tom Zoellner and talks about what foreign meddling means for the future of democracy in the digital age.