I think a powerful surveillance apparatus will continue to be a major obstacle to the development of democratic forces, but it will not be the decisive factor.

Minxin Pei

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Minxin Pei is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. His most recent book is The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• What is a Surveillance State - 2:55
• Informants - 12:02
• History - 23:43
• Surveillance and Elites - 35:26

Key Links

The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China by Minxin Pei

"Why China Can’t Export Its Model of Surveillance" by Minxin Pei in Foreign Affairs

"Totalitarianism’s Long Shadow" by Minxin Pei in Journal of Democracy

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Josh Chin on China’s Surveillance State

Deng Xiaoping is Not Who You Think He is. Joseph Torigian on Leadership Transitions in China and the Soviet Union

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As democracy promoters, we also need to pay a lot of attention to the material needs of people... When these material needs are not satisfied, people will be more willing to give nondemocratic forms a chance.

Adem Abebe

This episode was made in partnership with the Constitution Building Programme at International IDEA

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Read Justin Kempf's essay "The Revolution Will Be Podcasted."

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Adem Abebe is a senior advisor on constitution-building processes at International IDEA. He supports transitions from conflict and authoritarianism to peace and democracy, generates cutting edge knowledge, convenes platforms for dialogue and advocates for change. Adem is also Vice President of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers, which promotes democratic constitutionalism across the continent.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• Why Military Coups Happen - 4:05
• Holding Back Political Institutions - 19:23
• Restoring Constitutional Order - 34:31
• The Role of Constitutions - 48:54

Key Links

Follow Adem Abebe on X @AdamAbebe

Learn more about International IDEA

Learn about the Constitution-Building Programme at International IDEA at Constitutionnet.org

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Can Poland Repair its Constitutional Democracy? Tomás Daly Believes it Can

Marcela Rios Tobar on the Failed Constitutional Process in Chile

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Poland will be showing us the endless ingenuity of constitutional thinkers who are genuinely committed to democracy in its many forms.

Tomás Daly

This episode was made in partnership with the Constitution Building Programme at International IDEA

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Tomás Daly is a Professor at Melbourne Law School and Director of the Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC) platform at www.democratic-decay.org. His new project on ‘constitutional repair’ addresses a pressing question: how can a democracy be repaired after being deeply degraded, but not ended, during a period of anti-democratic government?

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• What is Constitutional Repair? - 3:48
• Poland and its Constitutional Damage - 7:36
• Constitutional Repair in Poland - 20:06
• Avoiding Democratic Backsliding - 40:12

Key Links

Constitutional Repair: A Comparative Theory by Tomás Daly

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Learn more about International IDEA

Learn about the Constitution-Building Programme at International IDEA at Constitutionnet.org

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Kurt Weyland on the Resilience of Democracy

How Can Democracy Survive in an Age of Discontent? Rachel Navarre and Matthew Rhodes-Purdy on Populism and Political Extremism

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I think his heart is in the right place. I've talked to him about these things. He's very sensitive to the judgment of history. He knows that. Ukraine has been fighting since long before he became president to be an independent sovereign democracy with freedom of speech.

Simon Shuster

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Read Justin Kempf's essay "The Revolution Will Be Podcasted."

Simon Shuster is a staff writer for Time magazine who covers politics in Ukraine and Russia. His new book is called The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• The Early Zelensky - 3:30
• Wartime President - 19:16
• Politics in Wartime Ukraine - 33:59
• Democracy in Ukraine - 36:18

Key Links

The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky by Simon Shuster

"Where Zelensky Comes From" by Simon Shuster in Time

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Democracy Paradox Podcast

Serhii Plokhy on the Russo-Ukrainian War

Olga Onuch and Henry Hale Describe the Zelensky Effect

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When politics has to solve the problems that it has caused, how can politics do that?

Marcela Rios Tobar

This episode was made in partnership with the Constitution Building Programme at International IDEA

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Marcela Rios Tobar is the Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at International IDEA. From March 2022 until January 2023 she served as the Minister of Justice and Human Rights in Chile under Gabriel Boric.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• Background - 3:40
• The Draft Constitutions - 18:04
• Lost Opportunity? 35:11
• Exceptional or Harbinger - 46:55

Key Links

Learn more about International IDEA

Learn about the Constitution-Building Programme at International IDEA at Constitutionnet.org

Read more about Chile's constitutional journey

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Jennifer Piscopo on the Constitutional Chaos in Chile

Aldo Madariaga on Neoliberalism, Democratic Deficits, and Chile

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Populist leaders want polarization. They start polarization. They confront. 

Kurt Weyland

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Kurt Weyland is the Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts. He has written many books. His most recent is Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism. He has also authored the article "Why Democracy Survives Populism" in the Journal of Democracy.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:45
• Democratic Breakdown in Peru - 2:56
• The Populist Threat - 18:46
• Institutional Strength - 25:19
• Countering Global Alarmism - 46:19

Key Links

"Why Democracy Survives Populism" by Kurt Weyland in Journal of Democracy

Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism by Kurt Weyland

Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years by Kurt Weyland

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Kurt Weyland Distinguishes Between Fascism and Authoritarianism

Jason Brownlee Believes We Underestimate Democratic Resilience

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That's the point here. It's not there yet. But if electorally the BJP keeps winning, this is a prospect that must be faced.

Ashutosh Varshney

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Ashutosh Varshney is the Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences at Brown University. He is the author of many books and papers on India and its politics. His most recent article (coauthored with Connor Staggs), published in Journal of Democracy, is "Hindu Nationalism and the New Jim Crow."

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 1:31
• Hindu Nationalism - 3:48
• Jim Crow and India - 12:08
• Vigilantism - 23:53
• Solutions - 34:46

Key Links

"Hindu Nationalism and the New Jim Crow" by Ashutosh Varshney and Connor Staggs in Journal of Democracy

"India’s Democracy at 70: Growth, Inequality, and Nationalism" by Ashutosh Varshney in Journal of Democracy

Follow Ashutosh Varshney on X @ProfVarshney

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Ashutosh Varshney on India. Democracy in Hard Places

Is India Still a Democracy? Rahul Verma Emphatically Says Yes

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What we really need to do is recommit to the idea that this is difficult, it is valuable, and in order to keep this valuable, difficult thing going, we need to basically pay the cost of educating ourselves, educating the next generation, the background knowledge and skills that citizens need if they are to continue to govern themselves...

Josiah Ober

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Josiah Ober is a Professor of Classics and Political Science at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the coauthor, along with Brook Manville, of The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:49
• What is Democracy? 3:15
• Conditions and Constraints - 20:17
• Classical Democracy - 24:26
• Future of Democracy - 39:21

Key Links

The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives by Brook Manville and Josiah Ober

Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism in Theory and Practice by Josiah Ober

Lean more about Josiah Ober

Democracy Paradox Podcast

How Can Democracy Survive in an Age of Discontent? Rachel Navarre and Matthew Rhodes-Purdy on Populism and Political Extremism

Marc Plattner Has Quite a Bit to Say About Democracy

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If these Islamist organizations want to stay in these contexts and keep playing the democratic game, they need to commit to the democratic game in the longer run.

Sebnem Gumuscu

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Sebnem Gumuscu is an associate professor of political science at Middlebury College and the author of Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:31
• What is Islamism - 2:48
• Liberal and Electoralists - 19:23
• Role of Elites - 35:16
• Islamism in the Long Run - 37:09

Key Links

Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia by Sebnem Gumuscu

"How Erdoğan’s Populism Won Again'" by Sebnem Gumuscu and Berk Esen

Follow Sebnem Gumuscu on X @sebnemisback

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Berk Esen and Sebnem Gumuscu on the Disappointing Elections in Turkey… or How Democratic (or Autocratic) is Turkey Really?

Shadi Hamid on Democracy, Liberalism, and the Middle East

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In the past 26 years, to this day, there has not been one major Hollywood production that has gone against a major Chinese Communist Party red line. Not one. Twenty-six years of silence.

Bethany Allen

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Bethany Allen is the China reporter at Axios and the author of Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:48
• The Authoritarian Economic Statecraft of China - 3:32
• Trump Administration and China Policy - 22:24
• Another Cold War -  34:26
• American Options for Response - 48:16

Key Links

Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World by Bethany Allen

"Zoom closed account of U.S.-based Chinese activist 'to comply with local law'" by Bethany Allen

Follow Bethany Allen on X @BethanyAllenEbr

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Hal Brands Thinks China is a Declining Power… Here’s Why that’s a Problem

Josh Chin on China’s Surveillance State

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