Democracy Paradox

I think voters right now, remember the circus of the convention over the substance of what it did. I think there is a bit of an amnesia over the mandate for change that existed in 2019 and 2020 that the Constitution delivered on, that voters had moved away from that mandate to change by the time the Constitution went for approval.

Jennifer Piscopo

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Jennifer Piscopo is an associate professor of politics at Occidental College. Recently, she coauthored a paper with Peter Siavelis in the Journal of Democracy called “Chile’s Constitutional Chaos.”

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:42
• Demands for a New Constitution - 3:04
• The Constitution Making Process - 17:18
• Substance of the Constitution - 33:29
• Why Voters Rejected it - 36:53

Key Links

"Chile's Constitutional Chaos" in Journal of Democracy by Peter M. Siavelis and Jennifer Piscopo

Learn more about Jennifer Piscopo here

Follow Jennifer Piscopo on Twitter @jennpiscopo

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Aldo Madariaga on Neoliberalism, Democratic Deficits, and Chile

Donald Horowitz on the Formation of Democratic Constitutions

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Democracy Group

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I think democracy and capitalism are individually in crisis in that they're not working very well and that the combination of the two in one political and economic system, which we have come to think of as the Western Way, is in crisis not only because the two component parts are in crisis, but because they're in crisis interactively.

Martin Wolf

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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.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:51
• The Link Between Democracy and Capitalism  - 3:10
• Does Capitalism Reinforce Democracy? 16:50
• Status Anxiety - 26:13
• Populism- 38:55

Key Links

The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism by Martin Wolf

Read Martin Wolf's writings at the Financial Times

Follow Martin Wolf on Twitter @martinwolf_

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Francis Fukuyama Responds to Liberalism’s Discontents

Larry Diamond on Supporting Democracy in the World and at Home

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Democracy Group

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While war creates the need for a state, it obliterates the capacity to deliver one. We're seeing that in Ukraine right now. That if you want to develop a state, you need peace, not war. War may create the need for a state, but peace is what allows you to build one. I think that that might be a lesson worth emphasizing, especially these days.

Anna Grzymala-Busse

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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.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:38
• Medieval Governance - 2:42
• Papal Strategies - 16:43
• Law, Taxation, and Representation - 25:07
• Ongoing Influences - 40:25

Key Links

Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State by Anna Grzymala-Busse

Follow Anna Grzymala-Busse on Twitter @AnnaGBusse

Learn more about Anna Grzymala-Busse

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Olivier Zunz on Alexis de Tocqueville

David Stasavage on Early Democracy and its Decline

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I think that there is a core set of shared values that liberals have to embrace. You know, if they don't believe in a rule of law, they don't believe in the fundamental legitimacy of their constitutional order, that's a big problem. But as I said, probably the strongest argument in favor of liberalism is this pragmatic one. That this is something that allows pluralistic diverse societies to live in peace with one another.

Francis Fukuyama

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Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:47
• Interpretation of Liberalism - 3:04
• Liberalism and Democracy - 17:15
• Conservative Critique - 26:22
• Threats to Liberalism - 39:16

Key Links

Liberalism and its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama

The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama

Learn more about Francis Fukuyama

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Walzer on Liberal as an Adjective

Patrick Deneen Offers a Powerful Critique of Liberalism

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

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100 Books on Democracy

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By my reading of political philosophy every regime in a sense ultimately comes to an end because its contradictions ultimately undermine whatever virtues it might have had. I don't have a crystal ball, but I think it's a very real possibility that we're in a hinge of history where the next thing is in the offing and my hope is that that next thing is going to be a better and more humane way of organizing our society because the prospects of a worse and less humane way is also ever real and ever worrying.

Patrick Deneen

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Patrick Deneen is a Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame University. He is the author of Why Liberalism Failedand the forthcoming Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:51
• Deneen's Critique of Liberalism - 2:57
• Human Rights - 14:06
• Democracy - 25:18
• Why Not Reform or Repair - 37:38

Key Links

Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen

Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future by Patrick Deneen

Postliberal Order Substack

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Walzer on Liberal as an Adjective

Olivier Zunz on Alexis de Tocqueville

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

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100 Books on Democracy

Democracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.

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It doesn't have a fixed character. It's a mindset that has to do with a respect for human rights and civil liberties, toleration of different religions, and an ability to live with ambiguity. So, I like the idea of liberal as a qualifier on other and more specific and coherent commitments.

Michael Walzer

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Michael Walzer is an emeritus professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. He was also a longtime editor of Dissent. He is the author of many books including the classic of political philosophy Spheres of Justice. His most recent book is called The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:45
• What is Liberalism? 3:53
• Liberal Democracy - 11:47
• Liberal Nationalism - 17:35
• How Does Liberalism Change? 22:14

Key Links

The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On "Liberal" as an Adjective by Michael Walzer

Spheres Of Justice: A Defense Of Pluralism And Equality by Michael Walzer

Institute for Advanced Study

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Olivier Zunz on Alexis de Tocqueville

Michael Ignatieff Warns Against the Politics of Enemies

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

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100 Books on Democracy

Democracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.

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We think that because we’re children of the Enlightenment, the way the world is moving is gradually toward liberalism. I think the natural course of the world is away from liberalism and it has only been American power that has sustained this aberration in world history.

Robert Kagan

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Robert Kagan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a columnist at The Washington Post, and among the most influential writers on foreign policy today. His latest book is Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:37
• American and WWI - 2:37
• Isolationism and Retrenchment - 16:40
• Troops in the Rhineland - 31:36
• Parallels to Today - 42:32

Key Links

The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941 by Robert Kagan

"A Free World, If You Can Keep It" by Robert Kagan in Foreign Affairs

"The Weight of Geopolitics" by Robert Kagan in the Journal of Democracy

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Larry Diamond on Supporting Democracy in the World and at Home

Charles Kupchan on America’s Tradition of Isolationism

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

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Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is only partly a book on America. It's also a book of comparative thinking and it's a book of theoretical invention. So, Democracy in America is a theory of democracy. Part of it is about America and part of it is Tocqueville’s theoretical genius pushing through.

Olivier Zunz

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Olivier Zunz is the James Madison Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia. He is among the foremost scholars of Alexis de Tocqueville and the author of The Man who Knew Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:44
• Democracy in America - 2:21
• Tocqueville as Political Theorist - 15:56
• Tocqueville the Politician - 22:14
• Tocqueville's Legacy - 27:17

Key Links

The Man who Knew Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville by Olivier Zunz

"Cancel Tocqueville?" by Tarek Masoud in the Journal of Democracy

Learn more about Olivier Zunz

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Ignatieff Warns Against the Politics of Enemies

Larry Diamond on Supporting Democracy in the World and at Home

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Democracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.

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The state is able to take advantage of the social capital by deploying social actors and in exercising social capital, through the process of persuasion. They'll be putting on pressure on these families, but the pressures being put on them are social pressures. People would often cave into this social pressure. So, there is compliance, but it doesn't feel like state repression.

Lynette Ong

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Lynette Ong is a professor of political science at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is the author of the recent book Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:48
• Thugs for Hire - 2:47
• Political, Economic, and Social Brokers - 12:52
• Zero-Covid Protests - 20:34
• Outsourcing Repression After the Protests - 32:17

Key Links

Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China by Lynette Ong

"China’s Massive Protests Are the End of a Once-Trusted Governance Model" by Lynette Ong in the Foreign Policy

Learn more about Lynette Ong

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Jessica Pisano on How Zelenskyy Changed Ukraine

Lucan Way on Ukraine. Democracy in Hard Places.

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

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100 Books on Democracy

Democracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.

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I just want to say that I don't think Zelensky has changed Ukraine. He amplified it. He mirrored what was already there in his time as an actor and comedian. He tried to show the realities and positions of ordinary Ukrainians as they saw them themselves and he then amplifies that and emphasizes that as a Ukrainian.

Olga Onuch

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Olga Onuch is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester. Henry E. Hale is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. They are the authors of a new book called The Zelensky Effect.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:44
• The Maidan and the Independence Generation - 2:59
• Zelensky's Origins - 9:19
• The Zelensky Effect - 23:05
• The Future of Ukraine - 33:11

Key Links

The Zelensky Effect by Olga Onuch and Henry E. Hale

"Why Ukrainians Are Rallying Around Democracy" by Olga Onuch in the Journal of Democracy

Learn more about Olga Onuch

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Jessica Pisano on How Zelenskyy Changed Ukraine

Lucan Way on Ukraine. Democracy in Hard Places.

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Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Democracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.

Support the show