How to Fix Democracy

In our second interview from the Aspen Ministers Forum in Kansas City, former Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel Tzipi Livni offers her view on democracy's condition. She talks with Andrew Keen about the current state of politics in Israel, what she thinks political parties must do to contribute to the strength of democracy, and how supporters of liberal democracy around the world can band together to defend it.

From Kansas City, where she was holding the Aspen Ministers Forum in May 2019, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke with Andrew Keen about why her first president, Harry Truman, was such an inspiration to her. In this engaging episode, Secretary Albright also shares her view that the 1% is anti-democratic, tells a story about how cassette tapes helped lead to martial law in communist Poland, and says what she learned writing her most recent book, Fascism: A Warning.

This episode reaches back in time to revisit the origins of democracy with Greek historian and classics scholar Angelos Chaniotis. Host Andrew Keen asks: why democracy began in Athens and what was it like when it first emerged? In looking back to the origins of democracy, they find there are clues to preserving the modern version. Listen to find out more.

Earl Lewis shares with Andrew Keen that his students give him hope for the future of democracy. In their discussion, Dr. Lewis explains that through his work at the Center for Social Solutions he has identified four main challenges for American society: addressing its slavery past, valuing diversity, dealing with climate change, and maintaining the dignity of labor in an automated world.

Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, sits down with Andrew Keen. In a thought-provoking discussion, they cover democracy's capacity for self-correction, the disappearance of the political center, and how DC today reminds Ivan of Bulgaria in 1989.

From Prague, where he served as Ambassador from the United States, Norman Eisen discusses the ups and downs of democracy in the Czech city over the course of the 20th century. Democracy, he argues, offers core freedoms—personal, political, press, and juridical—that other forms of government ultimately cannot preserve. And that gives him optimism for the future.

Moisés Naím, distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains the trend of "one vote, one person, one time," or, how some democratically-elected leaders undermine institutional checks and balances in an attempt to hold onto power indefinitely. Crucially, however, many of these creeping authoritarians are intent on maintaining the appearance of legitimate democracy. Why and how do they do it? And, finally, how does Venezuela demonstrate how disastrous this model can be? Listen to find out.

Soraya Chemaly, author, activist, and director of the Women's Media Center Speech Project, challenges the idea that democracy in the United States was ever unbroken, unpacks the negative and sometimes violent reactions to women who show political ambition, and explains how culture and gender frame the way we think about technology.

Eurosceptic and anti-Brexit, The Economist's Adrian Wooldridge argues that democracy must find a middle ground between the elites and the populists. However, even this middle ground proves to be controversial. Wooldridge and Andrew Keen debate whether a politics of identity is undermining or invigorating democracy, whether capitalism and democracy are on divergent paths, and how to detach the "liberal" from the "liberal elite." A thought-provoking discussion that touches upon many of today's contentious subjects.

Andrew Keen talks with Carol Anderson, Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Emory University, about the flaws in American democracy and why she's still hopeful for the future.