Democracy Paradox

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Joseph Fishkin on the Constitution, American History, and Economic Inequality Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

For many Americans, for the first many generations really up through the mid 20th century, the constitutional order seemed to rest on and depend on an economic order in which people had enough economic clout to be independent citizens and voters. Not serfs dependent on some kind of master.

Joseph Fishkin
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy here.
Joseph Fishkin is a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. He is the coauthor (along with William E. Forbath) of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy.
Key Highlights

How did Montana reform its laws to limit the influence of Amalgamated Copper?
When do questions of inequality become constitutional questions?
How did the courts undermine labor laws in the early 20th century?
What are the affirmative obligations and duties in the constitution?
What is the proper role of the courts in American politics?

The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath

Follow Joseph Fishkin on Twitter @joeyfishkin

Learn more about Joseph Fishkin at UCLA Law

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Donald Horowitz on the Formation of Democratic Constitutions

Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on the Plutocratic Populism of the Republican Party

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Learn more about his company Enquire

Bilal Baloch on Indira Gandhi, India's Emergency, and the Importance of Ideas in Politics Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

We have core ideas that form a part of our worldview, but those core ideas are not fixed in the way in which we talk about rationality and interest in that they can evolve. And we have to, when we think about human behavior, political behavior, we have to give serious attention to those ideas and go beyond just fixed material interests.

Bilal Baloch
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of When Ideas Matter: Democracy and Corruption in India here.
Bilal Baloch is the Co-Founder and COO of Enquire, formerly GlobalWonks. He is also a non-resident visiting scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of When Ideas Matter: Democracy and Corruption in India.
Key Highlights

What was the Jayaprakash Narayanan Movement?
Why did the State of Emergency happen in India?
How do ideas influence governance?
The differences between technocratic and political leadership
Is it more important to foster a diversity of ideas or support the best ideas?

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When Ideas Matter: Democracy and Corruption in India by Bilal Baloch

Follow Bilal Baloch on Twitter @bilalabaloch

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Christophe Jaffrelot on Narendra Modi and Hindu Nationalism

Kajri Jain Believes Democracy Unfolds through the Aesthetic

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Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman on Democratic Backsliding

Sara Wallace Goodman on Citizen Responses to Democratic Threats Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

If I could say one thing to every citizen, it's to put country before party. Which is, you know, at this time it almost feels like a hollowed phrase, because we we've kind of heard it so often. But it's like actually true.

Sara Wallace Goodman
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Citizenship in Hard Times: How Ordinary People Respond to Democratic Threat here.
Sara Wallace Goodman is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and the author of Citizenship in Hard Times: How Ordinary People Respond to Democratic Threat.
Key Highlights

How much agency do citizens have in democracy?
The important differences between citizenship and partisanship and their implications
The role of both rights and duties for citizenship
Differences between citizenship in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany
What can citizens do to protect democracy?

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Citizenship in Hard Times: How Ordinary People Respond to Democratic ThreatbySara Wallace Goodman

Learn about Sara Wallace Goodman from Wikipedia

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Democracy Paradox Podcast

Jan-Werner Müller on Democracy Rules

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Learn more about Joseph Wright

Joseph Wright and Abel Escribà-Folch on Migration's Potential to Topple Dictatorships Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

This is money that flows between individuals and families and largely circumvents governments and that's a hugely important point, because the real take home of the book is that when these financial flows are controlled by citizens, it tips the balance of power in favor of citizens. When the international financial flow goes to governments, it tips the balance of power in terms of governments.

Joseph Wright
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships here.
Joe Wright is a professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University. Abel Escribà-Folch is an associate professor of political science at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. They cowrote the book Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships along with Covadonga Meseguer.
Key Highlights

How Remittances Break Clientelistic Relationships
The Size and Importance of Remittances in Developing Economies
Why Financial Remittances Facilitate Protest Movements
Can Remittances Really Contribute to Democratization
Implications for Immigration Policies

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Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships by Abel Escribà-Folch, Joseph Wright, and Covadonga Meseguer

Learn more about Abel Escribà-Folch

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Michael Miller on the Unexpected Paths to Democratization

Bryn Rosenfeld on Middle Class Support for Dictators in Autocratic Regimes

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Can America Preserve Democracy without Retreating from it? Robert C. Lieberman on the Four Threats

Robert Lieberman, Kenneth Roberts, and David Bateman on Democratic Resilience and Political Polarization in the United States Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

So, the question is how do you respond to that? If you are the party that sees itself as being on the side of democracy and on the side of maintaining democratic norms and procedures and maintaining this kind of democratic accountability, how do you respond? Do you respond in kind? Do you respond with hardball tactics of your own?

Robert Lieberman
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization? here.
Robert C. Lieberman is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Kenneth M. Roberts is the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government and Binenkorb Director of Latin American Studies at Cornell University. David A. Bateman is an associate professor in the Government Department at Cornell University. Robert and Kenneth (along with Suzanne Mettler) coedited the book Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization? David is a contributor to the volume. His chapter is "Elections, Polarization, and Democratic Resilience."
Key Highlights

Why did polarization become so severe in the United States?
When did pernicious polarization start in America?
Is polarization the fault of just one party or both?
Discussion on possible judicial reforms as a solution
Can America overcome this episode of severe polarization?

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Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization? by Suzanne Mettler, Robert C. Lieberman, and Kenneth M. Roberts

Follow Robert C. Lieberman on Twitter @r_lieberman

Follow David Bateman on Twitter @DavidAlexBatema

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Donohue are Worried About Severe Polarization

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National Bureau of Economic Research

Angus Deaton on Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism Dec 28, 2021

Show notes

It's this sort of persistent loss of wages, which causes things like loss of marriage, people not living with their kids anymore, disintegration of communities with all of the things in those communities whether it's churches or union halls or society, just friendship that used to be there. And those are the things that cause people to lose meaning or, if you like, lose hope in their lives.

Angus Deaton
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism here.
Angus Deaton is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics, and the coauthor (with Anne Case) of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism.
Key Hightlights

What are deaths of despair and what causes them
How did the Pandemic and the Great Recession affect deaths of despair
Why does a four year college degree affect life expectancy in the United States
How has health care policy in the United States contributed to deaths of despair
Are deaths of despair an inevitable consequence of capitalism

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Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalismby Angus Deaton and Anne Case

Nobel Prize

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Sheryl WuDunn Paints a Picture of Poverty in America and Offers Hope for Solutions

Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on the Plutocratic Populism of the Republican Party

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