Democracy Paradox

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Chris Bickerton Defines Technopopulism

Jan-Werner Müller on Democracy Rules Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

It really matters how you set up conflict and how you talk about the issue and above all how you talk about your adversary. That's where I see the decisive difference between those who tend to invoke the people, the common good and et cetera, in a way that is compatible with democracy and then those who talk in a way that, ultimately, is bound to be dangerous for democracy.

Jan-Werner Müller
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Jan is a professor of Social Sciences at Princeton University. He is the author of the books What is Populism? and Democracy Rules.
Key Highlights Include

What does it mean to be undemocratic in a democracy
Why populism threatens democracy
Role of conflict in democracy
What is militant democracy and is it democratic
Role of the majority and opposition in democracy

Key Links

Democracy Rulesby Jan-Werner Müller

What is Populism? by Jan-Werner Müller

"False Flags" from Foreign Affairs by Jan-Werner Müller

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Zizi Papacharissi Dreams of What Comes After Democracy

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Barbara Freese on Corporate Denial

Dorothy Sue Cobble on the Full Rights Feminists Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

They wanted the full array of rights. Political rights, yes, they were active in the suffrage movement, but they also wanted economic rights and social rights. They wanted to lessen inequalities. They also wanted the rights of mothers and of children advanced.

Dorothy Sue Cobble
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Dorothy Sue Cobble is the Distinguished Professor of History and Labor Studies Emerita at Rutgers University and the author of For the Many: American Feminists and the Global Fight for Democratic Equality.
Key Highlights Include

Dorothy explains who the full rights feminists were and what they advocated for
Profiles of full rights feminists like Frances Perkins
How full rights feminism influenced the New Deal
A brief history of the conflicts between full rights feminists and equal rights feminists over the Equal Rights Amendment
A profile of early Japanese feminist Tanaka Taka

Key Links

For the Many: American Feminists and the Global Fight for Democratic Equalityby Dorothy Sue Cobble

Visit Dorothy at www.dorothysuecobble.com

Learn about the Triangle Shirtwaist Workers Strike

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

Freedom House: Sarah Repucci Assesses Freedom in the World Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Democracy is about more than elections. Election day is very important, but what is happening in the country every other day is an integral part to what a democracy is and if you think about the fundamental freedoms that we think of in our own democracy: free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association and assembly, also things like the independence of the judiciary, these are all things that are on the civil liberties side.

Sarah Repucci
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Sarah Repucci is the Vice President of Research and Analysis at Freedom House and coauthor (alongside Amy Slipowitz) of the executive summary of the report Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy Under Siege.
* Note * Sarah's mic died early in the interview. The audio quality is not bad, but will sound different. Hopefully it does not take away from the quality of the interview.
Key Highlights Include

Why democracy continues its steady decline
The influence of China and the U.S. on global democracy
The role of civil liberties in democracy
Impact of the pandemic on democracy
Discussion of democracy in India, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, and the United States

Key Links

Read the landmark report from Freedom House Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy Under Siege

Visit Freedom House online at www.freedomhouse.org

Follow Freedom House on Twitter @freedomhouse

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Learn more about Michael's work

Michael Miller on the Unexpected Paths to Democratization Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

So many cases of democratization start with these episodes and this period of elite political violence where the initial stages of it have nothing to do with democratization. People are not aiming for that. People are barely even thinking about it. It's all about this elite political struggle and out of that chaos a bit later you get democracy.

Michael Miller
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Michael Miller is a professor of political science and international relations at George Washington University and the author of the forthcoming book Shock to the System: Coups, Elections, and War on the Road to Democratization.
Key Highlights Include

How violent shocks like coups and civil wars create openings for democratization
Why autocratic ruling parties continue to win elections in democracies
The role for democratic activists in the democratization process
Discussions on possibilities for democracy in China, Belarus, and Myanmar.
Mike offers a blueprint for an unconventional approach for democracy promotion

Key Links

Shock to the System: Coups, Elections, and War on the Road to Democratization by Michael K. Miller

Follow Michael on Twitter @mkmdem

Elizabeth Nugent on Polarization, Democratization and the Arab Spring

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Derek W. Black Says Public Education Represents the Idea of America... Not its Reality

Daniel Carpenter Revisits the Petition in 19th Century America Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

The idea of a political system is not simply to be efficient. It's to have justice. It's to have the idea that anybody can come to the seat of power and say, 'Here are my grievances,' and that doesn't mean that by making that claim, they will get exactly what they want. But it does mean that they will get a hearing and in that notion, I think, lies again, a certain part of democracy that is not reduceable just to elections.

Daniel Carpenter
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Dan Carpenter is the Allie S. Freed professor of Government at Harvard University and the author of Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870.
Key Highlights Include

A history of petitions in the 19th century including an account of the gag rule.
The role of petitions in the mobilization of women, Native Americans, the Whig Party, and the antislavery movement
How did petitions contribute to democratization of America in the 19th century
What would Congress look like if we still had 'petition days'
What can we learn from the era of petition politics

Key Links

Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870 by Daniel Carpenter

"The Menthol Cigarette Ban Shows There Is No Democracy Without Petitions," by Daniel Carpenter, Boston Review

"Robust Claims of Vast Lawlessness" from Lapham's Quarterly by Daniel Carpenter

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Out of Order from the German Marshall Fund

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www.sebastianstrangio.com

Sebastian Strangio Explains the Relationship Between China and Southeast Asia Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

The experience of Western colonization has imprinted all of these nations in profound ways and it's tended to inculcate a sort of skepticism about Western invocations of democracy and the rule of law. China, of course, shares a similar skepticism. China was also not formerly colonized, or not fully colonized by Western powers, but it experienced what the Chinese communist party likes to term a century of humiliation. And so, both regions share an abiding ambivalence about the current international order.

Sebastian Strangio
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Sebastian Strangio is the Southeast Asia Editor at The Diplomat and the author of In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century.
Key Highlights Include

Sebastian explains the economic, political, and cultural ties between China and Southeast Asia
An overview of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
An explanation of the South China Sea dispute
Distinguishes between maritime and mainland nations in Southeast Asia
China's approach to Southeast Asia under Xi Jinping

Key Links

In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Centuryby Sebastian Strangio

www.thediplomat.com

Xiaoyu Pu on China's Global Identities

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On Opinion: The Parlia Podcast

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

Can America Preserve Democracy without Retreating from it? Robert C. Lieberman on the Four Threats May 25, 2021

Show notes

Racism and racial conflict are always there, always a powerful and important part of American politics. But when they combine with polarization, with this kind of partisan antagonism, and when that becomes the dividing line between the parties, that's really dangerous. That's what happened in the 1850s. It led to civil war. That's what happened in the 1890s. It led to violent conflict and mass disenfranchisement. And it's happening again today.

Robert C. Lieberman
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Key Highlights Include

An account of the 1898 insurrection in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Is polarization the fault of both sides or is one party responsible?
How the election of 1896 affected American democracy.
How polarization, conflicts over who belongs, rising economic inequality, and executive aggrandizement interact to threaten democracy in the United States.
Does the preservation of democracy really require democratic backsliding?

Robert Lieberman is a professor of political science atJohns Hopkins University and coauthored Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy with Suzanne Mettler.
Key Links

Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy by Robert C. Lieberman and Suzanne Mettler

"Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation" by John Lewis in The New York Times

Follow Rob Lieberman on Twitter @r_lieberman

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The Science of Politics

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Paul Robinson on Russian Conservatism

Kurt Weyland Distinguishes Between Fascism and Authoritarianism May 18, 2021

Show notes

In the 19th century Europe had thought that they had moved towards liberalism, enlightenment, rationality, progress, that stuff like mass warfare was over and it wouldn't come back. And then you have four years of senseless, mass slaughter, they just totally destroyed or challenged those ideas of humankind getting better off, progress of humankind getting more civilized. In retrospect, it's hard to imagine the coincidence of deep challenges and crises that wrecked the interwar years.

Kurt Weyland
A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.
Key Highlights Include

Kurt clarifies the concept of totalitarian fascism from conservative authoritarianism
A description of the political environment of the interwar period
Why did authoritarians disliked communism and fascism?
Why did fascism emerge during this period?
Is there a parallel between the interwar period to today?

Kurt Weyland is a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of the new book Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years.
Key Links

Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years by Kurt Weyland

"The Real Lessons of the Interwar Years" by Agnes Cornell, Jørgen Møller, Svend-Erik Skaaning in Journal of Democracy, July 2017

Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidationby Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan

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Another Way Podcast

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