This Week in Dystopia

Join host Christopher Robichaud in his office as he sits down with Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan to discuss 2017’s Word of the Year, fake news; why that term should be banned from our vocabulary, and what we should use in it’s stead.

Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan's new report, "Information Disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking" can be read in full on the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy website.

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

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Former Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) sat down with host Christopher Robichaud to discuss the choices and constraints he faced during the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Stupak, a lifelong pro-life advocate, discusses how he had to reconcile his advocacy for comprehensive healthcare reform with his opposition to abortion. Stupak’s story is one of both strategy and ethics, an interesting case study on the role of compromise and party politics in our democracy.

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

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This podcast is brought to you by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Happy Halloween from This Week in Dystopia. In a spooky episode host Christopher Robichaud illustrates what zombie apocalypse stories have to teach us about democracy. How are zombies useful in understanding democracies and how we handle crises? What does Night of the Living Dead have to do with race relations? Tune in to find out.

This episode features mentions of Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead, The Walking Dead, World War Z, The Dead Mater and more.

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

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Nicole Hemmer, Assistant Professor in Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, joins host Christopher Robichaud for a discussion about the recent events in Charlottesville, White Nationalism, and alt-right media.

You can learn more from Hemmer on her podcast, "Past Present," or in her recent book, "Messengers of the Right

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

Want more This Week in Dystopia? Don't forget to subscribe, follow This Week in Dystopia on Twitter @WeekinDystopia, and like the show on Facebook.

This Week in Dystopia is produced by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

Host Christopher Robichaud sits down with Julia Minson, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, to discuss her research into listening, cognitive dissonance, and disagreement. Together, they answer the questions: Is productive disagreement possible? How can we encourage civil disagreement?

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at medium.com/@WeekinDystopia.

Want more This Week in Dystopia? Don't forget to subscribe, follow This Week in Dystopia on Twitter @WeekinDystopia, and like the show on Facebook.

This Week in Dystopia is produced by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

In the second episode of This Week in Democracy host Chris Robichaud tunes into a conversation about whether or not democracies around the world, including our own, are in peril. Harvard Kennedy School experts Marshall Ganz, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Meghan O’Sullivan, and Dani Rodrik are featured.

The full JFK Jr. Forum conversation featured in this episode can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsS1r_pG3_o

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

Want more This Week in Dystopia? Don't forget to subscribe, follow This Week in Dystopia on Twitter @WeekinDystopia, and like the show on Facebook.

This Week in Dystopia is produced by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

In the first episode of This Week in Dystopia host Christopher Robichaud introduces the series and answers the question, why is this series called This Week in Dystopia?

Sources for this segment include NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook and Network (film). For more show notes, future episodes and information, visit This Week in Dystopia on Medium.

More information about this episode can be found on Medium at https://www.medium.com/@WeekinDystopia

Want more This Week in Dystopia? Don't forget to subscribe, follow This Week in Dystopia on Twitter @WeekinDystopia, and like the show on Facebook.

This Week in Dystopia is produced by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.