Spectacles In Conversation

Join the editors as they discuss backsliding in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. How did Viktor Orbán find himself in a position to dismantle Hungarian democracy? What are the precise mechanism's that he is using to undermine rule of law and popular government? Tune in!

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• Not Your Father’s Authoritarianism: The Creation of the "Frankenstate" by Kim Lane Scheppele for the American Political Science Association.
• "Viktor Orban's War on Intellect," by Franklin Foer in The Atlantic.
• "Hungary’s Illiberal Turn: Disabling the Constitution," by Miklós Bánkuti, Gábor Halmai, and Kim Lane Scheppele in Journal of Democracy.

Join Harry and Philip for a discussion of today's Insight, "The Post-Liberal Roller Coaster," about the national conservatism movement. It's a lively one full of Twitter beefs, poking fun at Philip's high school's alum Mr. Hawley, and some disagreements between the editors. Tune in!

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Join the editors as they discuss professor Nancy Bermeo's article "On Democratic Backsliding." What is democratic backsliding? Why do today's aspiring autocrats use different tactics than their predecessors?

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• "On Democratic Backsliding," by Nancy Bermeo in Journal of Democracy.
• "Myanmar's Military Leader Declares Himself Prime Minister And Promises Elections," Associated Press.
• Philip's article on the coup in Sudan, "Déjà Coup | Insight."
• Harry's article on Orbán, Hungary, and Tucker Carlson, "Mr. Carlson Goes to Budapest | Insight."

Join the editors as they apply the theoretical and historical lessons from our past two episodes on the "stationary bandit" to the United States!

Are there latent authoritarian characteristics in the political and economic institutions of the US?

To what extent have we eliminated them, and to what extent to authoritarian legacies persist?

How can democracy both assist a political and economic rebalancing of social forces in favor of citizens over elites?

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• "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," by Mancur Olson, in The American Political Science Review.
• Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
• The Narrow Corridor, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.

00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping

00:32 - Today's topic and questions

05:50 - Starting at the Founding

08:42 - Dangers of federalism

14:14 - Robber barons, the Gilded Age

15:41 - Political leadership

19:15 - Active failures of power-checking

26:00 - Creeping totalitarianism

30:57 - Conclusion

32:44 - Signing Off

Join Harry and Philip as they discuss today's Insight, "Time for Europe to Get Serious," and talk through some errors of European leadership, the shortcomings of the promises of European integration, and how this connects to our other recent articles.

-Important References-

Philip's article on "sleepwalking" German foreign policy

Harry's article from Wednesday on Nord Stream 2

Our recent Bird's Eye which discusses part of this topic toward the end

-Usual Links-

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Join Harry and Philip as they discuss today's Insight, "Putin's 'Power' Politics," and how globalization has empowered some autocratic regimes.

-Important References-

Episode 1 on the 'Stationary Bandit' theory

Episode 2 on Portugal's Salazar, including a brief discussion of this topic & China

-Usual links-

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To read, comment on, or listen to the article we discussed, click here.

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Join Harry and Philip as they continue their analysis of dictatorship! This week, we turn to midcentury Portugal to apply the "stationary bandit" theory from our last Bird's Eye.

Was António de Oliveira Salazar, the autocratic ruler of Portugal from 1932 to 1968, an example of the stationary bandit? How well does Olson's theory hold up in a historical study of dictatorship? Listen and find out!

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• "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," by Mancur Olson, in The American Political Science Review.
• Property Without Rights, by Michael Albertus.
• The Revolution Within the Revolution, by Nancy Bermeo.
• Development of the Portuguese Economy: A Case of Europeanization, by David Corkill.
• The Portuguese Revolution: State and Class in the Transition to Democracy, by Ronald H. Chilcote.
• "Salazar's Ministerial Elite, 1932-1968," by Paul H. Lewis in The Journal of Politics.
• Salazar: A Political Biography, by Filipe Ribeiro De Meneses.
• Wikipedia pages for António de Oliveira Salazar, Estado Novo (Portugal), and Carnation Revolution.

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00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping

00:32 - The common human longing for enlightened dictatorship

01:41 - Today's subject: Salazar

02:21 - Recap

05:50 - A brief bio of Salazar

09:40 - How was Olson right?

14:40 - What did he miss?

25:41 - The feasibility of autocracy in a globalized world

29:57 - Don't be deceived by the appeals of dictatorship

33:20 - Signing off

Join the editors for the first episode of our newest series, on dictatorship, democracy, and development! As an introduction, we discuss political scientist Mancur Olson's paper of the same name. Americans are increasingly wondering just how democratic their country is, and whether dictatorship might be a better fit.

Next week, we'll be looking more closely at the case of dictatorship in Portugal, so stay tuned for some interesting history and political analysis!

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• "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," by Mancur Olson, in The American Political Science Review.
• "Democratic Theory: What You Need to Know," by Spectacles.

00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping

00:33 - The Italian Village Monarchist

01:13 - Today's topic

04:07 - Upcoming episodes in series

05:00 - Why dictatorship?

14:54 - Does dictatorship actually "work"?

18:17 - How does dictatorship fall short?

24:50 - How does democracy fix these problems?

28:08 - Some problems with Olson's argument

32:28 - A recap of findings

34:39 - Signing off

Join Harry and Philip as they talk over today's Insight, "Squamish First Nation Provides a Glimpse at The City of Tomorrow." They go over housing policy, anti-development motivations and confusions, and the tensions (or lack thereof) between smart regulation and free, competitive markets.

-Important References-

Recent article on California SB 9 & 10

Recent article on Estonian digital bureaucracy

Bird's Eye on small gov't and liberal democracy

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Join Harry and Philip as they talk over how we got our current state of global trade and finance, its virtues, and its vices. It's a fascinating conversation in which you will certainly learn a lot.

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Read or listen to Philip's Focus on Estonia

Read or listen to the Bird's Eye episode on "Small Government Visions of Liberal Democracy"

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To read, comment on, or listen to the article we discussed, click here.

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