RevDem Podcast

The guest for the latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast is Professor Jeff King . He is a Professor of Law at University College London and he is the Director of Research at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law . He has previously acted as a legal adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution. The conversation with Oliver Garner discusses Jeff’s 'regulatory’ conception of the...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Matthew Longo – author of the new book The Picnic. A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain – discusses what motivated him to research the Pan-European Picnic of 1989; why he places such an emphasis on the uncertainty of the situation in those crucial days; and what conclusions he has drawn regarding the meaning of freedom in 198...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Viet Thanh Nguyen – author of the new book A Man of Two Faces. A Memoir, A History, A Memorial – reflects on the ambiguities and contradictions of growing up Vietnamese-American in the aftermath of what is called the Vietnam War in the US; explains what motivated him to seek a new balance between remembering and forgetting in his new book; shar...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Mirjam Zadoff – director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism and author of Gewalt und Gedächtnis: Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert –discusses what motivated her to publish a collection on global memory and which key themes she wanted to address; how the explorations and reflection on key remembrance sit...

In this conversation with Lorena Drakula and Ferenc Laczó, Volodymyr Ishchenko  – author of the new collection, Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War – explains how the study of contemporary Ukraine could contribute to our understanding of globally relevant processes. He reflects on the main political cleavage in the country and how the relationship between the various camps has evolved; a...

In a conversation with Kasia Krzyżanowska, Bécquer Seguin discusses his book “ The Op-Ed Novel. A Literary History of Post-Franco Spain ” (Harvard University Press, 2023). He elaborates on the concept of the op-ed novel, explains the idea of literary populism, advocates for the engagement of novelists in the public debates of historical and national meaning, and discusses some most noteworthy exam...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Jacob Mikanowski – author of Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land – discusses his major inspirations as a writer and how his travels have shaped his perspective; explicates his specific approach to the history of Eastern Europe and what he views as the distinguishing features of this diverse region; and reflects on whe...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura – authors of Posttraumatische Souveränität. Ein Essay – explain why they have centred the concept of posttraumatic sovereignty in their new book and how it might help us account for current trends in East Central Europe; reflect on the prevalence of trauma discourses and the tensions and risks inherent to such...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Yaroslav Trofimov – author of the new book Our Enemies Will Vanish. The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence – shows how Ukraine has turned out to be much stronger than hoped whereas Russia has proven significantly weaker than feared; discusses the major crimes Russia has committed in Ukraine and the destruction its war of aggress...

The editors of the Review of Democracy, CEU Democracy Institute's online platform participated in an online conversation summarizing their favorite pieces in 2023. On behalf of the RevDem staff, we wish our audience Happy New Year! Visit us and listen to us in 2024 too!

Hello, my name is Feren Laczo, I am an editor at the Review of Democracy, and I am also the co-head of the Ideas section. And it is my pleasure today to share with you a brief list of some of the most impressive publications we have covered this year. Ideas editors and podcasters have been invited to a continuous feast in 2023: the year has offered an unusual number of original publications of the...

Kasia Krzyżanowska, RevDem editor of the Review of Books section, recommends five books read in 2023.   Only two out of five books recommended here were published in 2023 (including a one translation of a book from the 50s). This very subjective selection assumes that some socio-political problems tackled by the proposed books do not have an expiration date and they can evoke awe, disbelief or ang...

Hello, my name is Oliver Garner. I'm the editor of the Rule of Law section of the C EU Democracy Institute's Live Platform, The Review of Democracy. These are my top five Rule of Law books of 2023. My first choice is the abuse of constitutional identity in the European Union by Julian Scholtes, published by Oxford University Press. This year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julian about...

“To protect the future of liberal democracy in Europe, one must first understand its challengers.” So is the motto of AUTHLIB, the project titled ‘Neo-Authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response’, led by the CEU Democracy Institute, funded by the European Union and the UK Innovation and Research, and implemented in cooperation with the Charles University, Sciences Po, Scuola No...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Robert Nemeth, Dean Starkman and Neil Weinberg (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) talk about Cyprus Confidential, the investigation exposing how Cyprus-based financial services firms have enabled the Russian elite— including Vladimir Putin’s inner circle — to shelter their wealth and shield billions of dollars in assets from the threat o...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, John M. Owen IV – author of the new book The Ecology of Nations.  American Democracy in a Fragile World Order  – explains what he means by co-evolution and the regime-power dilemma; shows how authoritarian rivals, such as China and Russia, have attempted to engineer their ecosystems; discusses the three historical ages of liberalism and what mi...

Among the challengers to liberal democracy in Europe, we can count populists, autocrats, and the increasingly often mentioned illiberals. But who are they and what is illiberalism? How does it relate to populism? Can illiberals be democrats at all? What are the policy implications of having illiberal politicians, especially of the radical right, in power in the EU? This interview explores these qu...

Leila Farsakh on Settler Colonial Violence and the Palestinian Path to Emancipation. In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Leila Farsakh explains what has been truly novel and devastating about the conflict in Palestine and Israel this fall; discusses how the Israeli occupation has evolved in recent decades and what major consequences that has had; clarifies why she pleads for prio...

Despite the Polish opposition election victory in the 15 October elections on 27 November President Duda swore in the Law and Justice Party ahead of a confidence vote that the incumbents seem set inevitably to lose. In this latest Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner and Daniel Hegedüs discuss the implications of the election for Central and Eastern Europe. Daniel is a German Marshall Fund fellow wi...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Miroslav Wlachovský – Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia in the recent caretaker cabinet headed by Ľudovít Ódor – discusses Slovakia’s role in the EU and his priorities while in office; analyses the recent Slovak elections and the potential consequences its outcome will have in terms of the country’s foreign policy; and reflec...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Massimo Fichera talks about the need to include the future when designing EU constitutional architecture, criticises the economic components’ dominance over the European integration process, and explains his idea of communal constitutionalism as a remedy to presentism of constitutional theories.

In this conversation with RevDem assistant editor Lorena Drakula, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser sheds light on the historical context, ideological characteristics, and the consequential impact of the recent far-right success in Latin America, encompassing prominent figures from José Antonio Kast and Jair Bolsonaro to Nayib Bukele and  Javier Milei. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser is a professor at the I...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Peter Beinart discusses forms of ethical and unethical Palestinian resistance and the complex relationship between condemning and contextualizing mass crimes; explains why he thinks ongoing Israeli military efforts are not only morally wrong but also likely to prove counterproductive; points to ways that Israeli Jews and Palestinians may be bro...

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Darrin M. McMahon – author of the new book  Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea  – discusses his approach to the intellectual history of equality on the  longue durée  and explains why we shouldn’t think of this history as a triumphant march of progress; highlights the tensions between difference and sameness and explores the changing rela...

In the latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner discusses the current state of the Rule of Law, democracy, and corruption in Malta with Jenny Orlando-Salling. Jenny is a Ph. D. researcher at the University of Copenhagen, and she previously worked at the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU and as Deputy Head of Mission and Consul to the Embassy of Malta in Egypt and Sudan.