Democracy Paradox

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

Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Learn more at https://kellogg.nd.edu

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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

Democracy Paradox Podcast

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

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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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If we're thinking about democracy as something broader that is producing equality, justice or these kind of things, often those policies that we might describe as democratic policies can emerge from processes that are undemocratic. I think that's uncomfortable for us to think about.

Katlyn Carter

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Katlyn Carter is an assistant professor of history at Notre Dame University. She is the author of Democracy in Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:41
• The Birth of Republics - 3:10
• Publicity - 19:23
• Spectacle - 26:43
• Representation - 35:43

Key Links

Democracy in Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions by Katlyn Carter

Katlyn Carter on My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Learn more about Katlyn Carter

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Heather Cox Richardson on History, Conservatism, and the Awakening of American Democracy

Daniel Ziblatt on American Democracy, the Republican Party, and the Tyranny of the Minority

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I think populism is rather a specific form of discontent. Discontent is the umbrella term. It's this vague sense that the way things are being done is not working. That democracy is not effective. That it's not serving my interests.

Matthew Rhodes-Purdy

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Rachel Navarre is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Master of Public Administration Program at Bridgewater State University. Matthew Rhodes-Purdy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University. They are the coauthors (along with Stephen Utych) of The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:53
• What is Discontent - 3:21
• Crisis and Discontent - 13:34
• Rise of Populism - 25:13
• An End to Neoliberalism? - 39:20

Key Links

The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies by Matthew Rhodes-Purdy, Rachel Navarre, and Stephen Utych

Learn more about Rachel Navarre here.

Learn more about Matthew Rhodes-Purdy here.

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Daniel Ziblatt on American Democracy, the Republican Party, and the Tyranny of the Minority

Marc Plattner Has Quite a Bit to Say About Democracy

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This was an election that was meant to cement authoritarian rule and it became a democratic breakthrough.

Rachel Schwartz

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Rachel Schwartz is an assistant professor of international and area studies at the University of Oklahoma. Recently, she cowrote an article with Anita Isaacs for the Journal of Democracy called, “How Guatemala Defied the Odds." She also authored a book earlier this year called Undermining the State from Within: The Institutional Legacies of Civil War in Central America.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:33
• The 2023 Election - 2:46
• A Weak State - 17:18
• Democratic Backsliding - 30:53
• Rejuvenating Democracy - 39:39

Key Links

Undermining the State from Within: The Institutional Legacies of Civil War in Central America by Rachel Schwartz

"How Guatemala Defied the Odds" in Journal of Democracy by Rachel Schwartz

"Guatemala: Resisting Democratic Backsliding in the Least Likely of Places?" by Rachel Schwartz

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Wendy Hunter on Lula, Bolsonaro, January 8th and Democracy in Brazil

Jennifer Piscopo on the Constitutional Chaos in Chile

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It's impossible not to admire somebody who is willing to stand up for their country, for freedom and democracy, for the idea that Russians should be able to chart their own future and have a say in what their government looks like.

David Herszenhorn

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David Herszenhorn is the Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe editor at The Washington Post and was a correspondent for Politico Europe and The New York Times. He is the author The Dissident: Alexey Navalny: Profile of a Political Prisoner.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:44
• Navalny as a Political Figure - 3:13
• Navalny and the State - 21:26
• Navalny and Russian Repression - 34:41
• Politician or Dissident? 42:45

Key Links

The Dissident: Alexey Navalny: Profile of a Political Prisoner by David Herszenhorn

"Alexey Navalny Never Wanted to Be a Dissident" in Politico by David Herszenhorn

"For Putin foe Alexey Navalny, Ukraine has long been a volatile issue" in The Washington Post by David Herszenhorn

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Olga Onuch and Henry Hale Describe the Zelensky Effect

Michael McFaul and Robert Person on Putin, Russia, and the War in Ukraine

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Leadership is not a formula. It's not something that happens in a vacuum. It's not just something that you can declare about yourself.

Moshik Temkin

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Moshik Temkin is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership and History at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and a fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. His most recent book is Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:45
• What is Leadership? 3:12
• Powerless Leadership - 11:58
• Ethics of Leadership - 24:10
• Ordinary Leadership - 40:16

Key Links

Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X by Moshik Temkin

Learn more about Moshik Temkin

Follow Moshik Temkin on X at @moshik_temkin

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Larry Bartels Says Democracy Erodes from the Top

Moisés Naím on the New Dynamics of Political Power

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Apes of the State created all Music

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100 Books on Democracy

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