Democracy Paradox

This is money that flows between individuals and families and largely circumvents governments and that's a hugely important point, because the real take home of the book is that when these financial flows are controlled by citizens, it tips the balance of power in favor of citizens. When the international financial flow goes to governments, it tips the balance of power in terms of governments.

Joseph Wright

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships  here.

Joe Wright is a professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University. Abel Escribà-Folch is an associate professor of political science at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. They cowrote the book Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships along with Covadonga Meseguer.

Key Highlights

• How Remittances Break Clientelistic Relationships
• The Size and Importance of Remittances in Developing Economies
• Why Financial Remittances Facilitate Protest Movements
• Can Remittances Really Contribute to Democratization
• Implications for Immigration Policies

Key Links

Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships by Abel Escribà-Folch, Joseph Wright, and Covadonga Meseguer

Learn more about Joseph Wright

Learn more about Abel Escribà-Folch

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Miller on the Unexpected Paths to Democratization

Bryn Rosenfeld on Middle Class Support for Dictators in Autocratic Regimes

More Episodes from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected].

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

So, the question is how do you respond to that? If you are the party that sees itself as being on the side of democracy and on the side of maintaining democratic norms and procedures and maintaining this kind of democratic accountability, how do you respond? Do you respond in kind? Do you respond with hardball tactics of your own?

Robert Lieberman

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization?  here.

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 Mettler) coedited the book Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization?  David is a contributor to the volume. His chapter is "Elections, Polarization, and Democratic Resilience."

Key Highlights

• Why did polarization become so severe in the United States?
• When did pernicious polarization start in America?
• Is polarization the fault of just one party or both?
• Discussion on possible judicial reforms as a solution
• Can America overcome this episode of severe polarization?

Key Links

Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization? by Suzanne Mettler, Robert C. Lieberman, and Kenneth M. Roberts

Follow Robert C. Lieberman on Twitter @r_lieberman

Follow David Bateman on Twitter @DavidAlexBatema

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Can America Preserve Democracy without Retreating from it? Robert C. Lieberman on the Four Threats

Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Donohue are Worried About Severe Polarization

More Episodes from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

It's this sort of persistent loss of wages, which causes things like loss of marriage, people not living with their kids anymore, disintegration of communities with all of the things in those communities whether it's churches or union halls or society, just friendship that used to be there. And those are the things that cause people to lose meaning or, if you like, lose hope in their lives.

Angus Deaton

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism  here.

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.

Key Hightlights

• What are deaths of despair and what causes them
• How did the Pandemic and the Great Recession affect deaths of despair
• Why does a four year college degree affect life expectancy in the United States
• How has health care policy in the United States contributed to deaths of despair
• Are deaths of despair an inevitable consequence of capitalism

Key Links

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Angus Deaton and Anne Case

Nobel Prize

National Bureau of Economic Research

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Sheryl WuDunn Paints a Picture of Poverty in America and Offers Hope for Solutions

Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on the Plutocratic Populism of the Republican Party

More Episodes from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

Science is never offering the whole truth. It may be offering us something accurate. Scientific findings may be reliable for now, but they are always incomplete.

Zeynep Pamuk

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society  here.

Zeynep Pamuk is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego and the author of the book Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society.

Key Highlights

• Why is there a tension between science and democracy
• The limits of science for public policy
• The Proposal for a Science Court
• Ways to provide greater democratic involvement in scientific funding
• How have experts performed in the pandemic

Key Links

Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society by Zeynep Pamuk

Learn more about Zeynep Pamuk at scholar.harvard.edu/zpamuk

Read Zeynep Pamuk's article "The Contours of Ignorance," in Boston Review

Related Content

Susan Rose-Ackerman on the Role of the Executive in Four Different Democracies

Chris Bickerton Defines Technopopulism

More from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

Charismatic leaders who are intent on governing solely using their charismatic authority and subverting other things to their personal power are inherently bad for democracy and inherently illiberal. They're anti-pluralist. They don't want to share their power with others even within their own movement or their own party. They don't tolerate dissent.

Caitlin Andrews-Lee

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo  here.

Caitlin Andrews-Lee is an Assistant Professor in Ryerson University’s Department of Politics and Public Administration. She is the author of the book, The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo.

Key Highlights

• A profile on Juan Perón, the prototypical charismatic leader
• Why has Peronism survived its founder?
• Why do the anointed successors of charismatic leaders fail?
• How do new personalist leaders arise out of charismatic movements?
• Is Donald Trump a harbinger of future charismatic leaders or was he an historical aberration?

Key Links

The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo by Caitlin Andrews-Lee

Learn more about Caitlin Andrews-Lee at www.caitlinandrewslee.com

Follow Caitlin Andrews-Lee on Twitter @caitlineandrews

Related Content

Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman on Democratic Backsliding

James Loxton Explains Why Authoritarian Successor Parties Succeed in Democracies

More from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

The way we conceive of democracy is being challenged by these regimes and, by that I mean, because the process of backsliding is so incremental, it's difficult to see where these boundaries are.

Stephan Haggard

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World  here.

Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman are the authors of the new book, Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World. Stephan is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Distinguished Professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. Robert Kaufman is a distinguished professor of political science at Rutgers University.

Key Highlights

• Describes democratic backsliding
• How polarization contributes to backsliding
• The role of legislatures in backsliding episodes
• What it means when authoritarians "reform" judiciaries
• How can citizens reverse democratic backsliding?

Key Links

Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World by Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman

Learn more about Stephan Haggard at www.stephanhaggard.com

Learn more about Robert Kaufman at https://fas-polisci.rutgers.edu/kaufman/

Related Content

Freedom House: Sarah Repucci Assesses Freedom in the World

Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Donohue are Worried About Severe Polarization

More from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

‘What would you prefer? Would you prefer that this boy, Vasya, die because he couldn't get dialysis? Would you prefer that this girl, Katya, die from her shrapnel wounds that she suffered during the war that was obviously not her fault? Right? Like would it be better if I held my nose and refuse to engage in these compromises so these kids died? Would you be sort of happier, so you could write about how awful the bloody Putin regime is?’

Joshua Yaffa explaining the perspective of Russian humanitarian Elizaveta Glinka

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia here.

Joshua Yaffa joins the podcast to discuss his new book Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia. He is a correspondent for The New Yorker based primarily in Moscow, Russia.

Key Highlights

• Who was Dr. Liza?
• The types of compromises must Russians make with the state to pursue their dreams
• The role of the Russian state in the arts through the story of theater director Kirill Serebrennikov
• Legal challenges for business owners in Russia through the experience of zookeeper Oleg Zubkov
• The limited space for human rights activism in Chechnya through the experience of Heda Saratova

Key Links

Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia by Joshua Yaffa

Learn more about Joshua Yaffa at www.joshuayaffa.com.

Follow Joshua Yaffa on Twitter @yaffaesque

Related Content

Timothy Frye Says Putin is a Weak Strongman

Bryn Rosenfeld on Middle Class Support for Dictators in Autocratic Regimes

More from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

The last time, and luckily this hasn't really happened since 1990, there was minimal resistance from the Kuwaiti and the Saudi forces. So, this obviously is 30 years ago, but there is little reason to believe that in spite of the hundreds of billions of dollars that is spent on armaments, this state of affairs has changed. Let me just put it this way. Nobody in Tehran is losing any sleep over the prowess of any of the Gulf militaries.

Zoltan Barany

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf here.

Zoltan Barany is the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf.

Key Highlights

• What should be expected of the militaries of the Gulf countries?
• Would the Gulf countries be threatened without the American security guarantee?
• What types of military investments do the Gulf countries make?
• What has the Yemeni War taught us about armies of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries?
• How does the leadership of MBS differ from MBZ?

Key Links

Armies of Arabia: Military Politics and Effectiveness in the Gulf by Zoltan Barany

Robert Strauss Center For International Security and Law

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Daniel Brinks on the Politics of Institutional Weakness

Elizabeth Nugent on Polarization, Democratization and the Arab Spring

More Episodes from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

Indeed, the moderation of left-wing party’s economic policy proposals in the eighties and in the nineties and the decision to promote an unregulated capitalism with no kind of proper compensation and no tax harmonization leading to greater offshore wealth and rising inequality. All these decisions have played a role in leading the working class to take distance from these parties and, at the same time, enabling these new issues to take a growing importance.

Amory Gethin

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Political Cleavages and Social Inequalities: A Study of 50 Democracies, 1948-2020 here.

Amory Gethin is a PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics and a research fellow at the world Inequality Lab. He is a coeditor (along with Clara Martinez-Toledano and Thomas Piketty) of Political Cleavages and Social Inequalities: A Study of 50 Democracies, 1948-2020.

Key Highlights Include

• Why have multi-elite party systems emerged in Western democracies?
• Describes the divide between the "Brahmin Left" and "Merchant Right"
• How do party systems differ between Western and Non-Western democracies?
• Descriptions of party systems in India, Eastern Europe, and Brazil
• Why have party systems changed?

Key Links

Political Cleavages and Social Inequalities. A Study of 50 Democracies, 1948-2020 edited by Amory Gethin, Clara Martinez-Toledano and Thomas Piketty

Follow Amory Gethin on Twitter @amorygethin

Learn more about Amory Gethin at his personal website

Democracy Paradox Podcast

James Loxton Explains Why Authoritarian Successor Parties Succeed in Democracies

Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on the Plutocratic Populism of the Republican Party

More Episodes from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show

We don't think about institutions until they fail and we think of institutions as being really strong when maybe they've never been challenged. They've never really tried to do anything.

Daniel Brinks

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America here.

Daniel Brinks joins the podcast to discuss his new book The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America. He is the coeditor along with Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo. Dan is a professor of Government and of Law at the University of Texas at Austin and a Senior Researcher & Global Scholar of the Centre on Law and Social Transformation.

Key Highlights

• What is institutional weakness?
• How does it differ from state capacity?
• How does civil society affect political institutions?
• What is the role of constitutions?
• How do Presidential systems affect other political institutions?

Key Links

The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America edited by Daniel M. Brinks, Steven Levitsky, and María Victoria Murillo

Department of Government at The University of Texas at Austin where Daniel Brinks teaches

Centre of Law and Social Transformation at the Christian Michelsen Institute in Norway where Daniel Brinks is a Senior Researcher & Global Scholar

Related Content

Donald Horowitz on the Formation of Democratic Constitutions

William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe on the Presidency

More from the Podcast

More Information

Democracy Group

Apes of the State created all Music

Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Follow on Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast

100 Books on Democracy

Support the show