Democracy Paradox

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United Nations Human Rights Council

Rana Siu Inboden on China and the International Human Rights Regime Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

Chinese participation in the human rights regime probably was never really intended to alter human rights so much in China that it would jeopardize the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power. I think China, even if it may have been open to some areas of human rights, I think that we have to keep in mind that the full implementation of human rights including all of the elements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would mean that political competition is allowed. And that's just not something I see the current Chinese regime allowing.
Rana Siu Inboden
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on the human rights regime here.
Rana Siu Inboden is a senior fellow with the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas–Austin. Her new book is China and the International Human Rights Regime: 1982-2017.
Key Highlights Include

What is the Human Rights Regime
China's Participation in the Human Rights Regime
How Tiananmen Changed China's View on Human Rights
What is the Like Minded Group
How China Views Human Rights

Key Links

China and the International Human Rights Regime: 1982-2017 by Rana Siu Inboden

China at the UN: Choking Civil Society by Rana Siu Inboden in Journal of Democracy

Xiaoyu Pu on China's Global Identities

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Freedom House: Sarah Repucci Assesses Freedom in the World

Timothy Frye Says Putin is a Weak Strongman Sep 07, 2021

Show notes

Putin in the past could claim to have won at least an honest plurality, if not an honest majority of votes given his approval. However, in the upcoming election this fall, in September, it looks like the Kremlin has so restricted political competition that it's going to be a difficult sell to the Russian public to show that these elections are even as legitimate as the elections held in 2016 or in 2011.

Timothy Frye
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on personalism here.
Timothy Frye is a Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy at Columbia University and a research director at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
Key Highlights Include

Is Putin's popularity real?
Why Russia holds elections at all
Description of Russia as a personalist autocracy
How autocracy shapes Russia's foreign policy
What are the prospects for democratization in Russia

Key Links

Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia by Timothy Frye

Russia's Weak Strongman: The Perilous Bargains That Keep Putin in Power by Timothy Frye in Foreign Affairs

Follow Timothy Frye on Twitter @timothymfrye

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The Freeman Spogli Institute For International Studies

Kathryn Stoner on Russia's Economy, Politics, and Foreign Policy Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

Biden's current policy is, you know, we want Putin to calm down, be stable for awhile and turn our focus to restraining China. I don't think that's going to happen. That's not in his interest to do that. So, I think taking our eye off Russia, underestimating it, is the biggest concern for the U.S. currently.

Kathryn Stoner
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on Russia here.
Kathryn Stoner is a professor of political science at Stanford University. Her new book is Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order.
Key Highlights Include

A description of Russia's economy
An account of Russia's military reforms
Why Russia is in the Middle East
Explanation of Russia's foreign policy
Is a resurrected Russia a danger to the West?

Key Links

Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order by Kathryn Stoner

Follow Kathryn Stoner on Twitter @kath_stoner

Related Content

Timothy Frye Says Putin is a Weak Strongman

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

Karen Greenberg on the War on Terror, Donald Trump, and American Democracy Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

It was an era in which lawmakers and office holders learned that imprecision could actually work to their benefit to allow them to do what they wanted to because there was unclear codification in the law. And so yes, everybody talks about, we have to revise this law or get rid of this law or replace this law. But I want to say, it's not about that. It's about what constitutes a legitimately written, voted upon law. And I think that's something we still haven't countered since 9/11.

Karen Greenberg
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on the War on Terror here.
Karen Greenberg is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, a fellow at New America, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her new book is Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump.
Key Highlights Include

The origin of the AUMF and the Department of Homeland Security
Karen Greenberg describes the subtle tools
The link between the War on Terror and President Trump
How will history view the 2020 election
Is the United States an illiberal democracy?

Key Links

Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump by Karen Greenberg

Vital Interests Podcast with Karen Greenberg

Follow Karen Greenberg on Twitter @KarenGreenberg3

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Email the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.com

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Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon on the End of American Hegemony

Charles Kupchan on America's Tradition of Isolationism Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Beginning in the 1990s, and then really picking up after 9/11, the United States overreached ideologically by thinking it could turn Iraq and Afghanistan into Ohio. It overreached economically by throwing open the nation's doors and saying the more trade, the better. And suddenly, I think, Americans said to themselves and to their leaders, ‘Wait a minute. Too much world, not enough America.'

Charles Kupchan
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on Isolationism here.
Charles Kupchan is a professor of international relations at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also the author of Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself from the World.
Key Highlights Include

Isolationism's Place in America's National Identity
The Relationship Between Isolationism and American Exceptionalism
A Brief History of Isolationism in the United States
Similarities Between the Rise of China and the Early United States
Donald Trump and the Reemergence of Isolationism

Key Links

Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself from the World by Charles Kupchan

Learn more about Charles Kupchan

"The Home Front: Why an Internationalist Foreign Policy Needs a Stronger Domestic Foundation" an article by Charles Kupchan in Foreign Affairs

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

Aldo Madariaga on Neoliberalism, Democratic Deficits, and Chile Aug 10, 2021

Show notes

It's not just inequality of wealth. It is not just inequality of income, which is big. It's also inequality in terms of the geographical clustering of different strata of the population, of different people. It's inequality in life experiences. It's inequality in treatment. People felt mistreated by those in the upper echelons of society. So, it's not just money. It's also access to public goods, to certain spaces in the city, to education, unemployment benefits, and all sorts of things. But also, treatment.

Aldo Madariaga
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on Neoliberalism here.
Aldo Madariaga is a Professor of Political Science at Universidad Diego Portales, and Associate Researcher at Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES). He is also the author of Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Key Highlights Include

An Account of the Chilean Protests in 2019
Description of Neoliberalism as a Political Project
The Role of the State in Neoliberalism
How does Neoliberalism Shield its Policies from Democracy
Are Neoliberal Policies Fundamentally Undemocratic?

Key Links

Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe by Aldo Madariaga

Learn more about Aldo Madariaga

Follow on Twitter @AldoMadariaga

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Sebastian Strangio Explains the Relationship Between China and Southeast Asia

Roger Lee Huang on Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Tatmadaw Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

I think this actually reflects why we've seen a coup now. Clearly, the coup has really brought serious economic devastation for the entire country and the military itself will also not benefit from this. And that to me is the key, because they're not primarily motivated just by economic incentives and spoils. As a systematic military institution, it is driven by their own identity. Their own perception of what the Myanmar modern nation state should look like.

Roger Lee Huang
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on Myanmar here.
Roger Lee Huang is a lecturer in terrorism studies and political violence at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia and the author of The Paradox of Myanmar’s Regime Change.
Key Highlights Include

A brief history of modern Myanmar (Burma)
Description of the Tatmadaw
A portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi
Why is the National League for Democracy (NLD) so popular
What are the prospects for democracy in Myanmar

Key Links

The Paradox of Myanmar's Regime Change by Roger Lee Huang

Myanmar’s Way to Genocide: The Rohingya Crisis in a Disciplined Democracy - Video Lecture by Roger Lee Huang

"The Generals Strike Back" by Zoltan Barany from Journal of Democracy

Myanmar: A Podcast Primer

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Email the show at democracyparadoxblog@gmail.com

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Mallory SoRelle on the Politics of Consumer Credit Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

Americans are expected to take on debt, because that's how we're expected to finance everything from basic needs to a college education. And that's a function of economic policy making. That doesn't happen by accident.

Mallory SoRelle
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Mallory SoRelle is an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University and the author of Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection.
Key Highlights Include

How the American economy depends on credit
A brief history of consumer credit in America
Details why consumer debt is a systemic problem
Why financial consumers do not politically mobilize
Explains how public policy shapes political behavior

Key Links

Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection by Mallory SoRelle

Learn more about Mallory SoRelle

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

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Email the show at democracyparadoxblog@gmail.com

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