The Democracy Group

We continue our Best of 2022 episodes with an  episode from the Democracy Paradox podcast, hosted by Justin Kempf. So, I came back from that trip and said to one of my good friends back in Budapest, ‘I think I've met the most dangerous person I've ever met personally.’ And she said, ‘Oh Viktor, he's nothing. He's like a kid. He's in his thirties.’ I mean, he was an aspiring politician at this poin...

We continue our Best of 2022 episodes with an  episode from the 70 Million podcast, a documentary podcast about criminal justice reform from LWC Studios. Grand juries are supposed to safeguard against the government charging people with a crime when it lacks sufficient evidence. But because prosecutors control what happens in grand jury proceedings, they almost always get an indictment. That is, u...

We continue our Best of 2022 episodes with an  episode from the Democracy Works podcast, hosted by Jenna Spinelle, Christopher Beem, Michael Berkman.  Can liberal democracy withstand the challenges its currently facing? Francis Fukuyama is one of America's leading scholars on liberalism and joins us this week for a discussion about the threats its faces and how we might overcome them. It's no secr...

We continue our Best of 2022 episodes with an  episode from the the Future Hindsight podcast, hosted by Mila Atmos. “Democracy cannot exist at the barrel of a gun.” Ryan Busse is a former firearms executive, Senior Policy Advisor to Giffords, and author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America . We discuss how guns are intricately interwoven through our democratic divis...

The United States hasn’t overhauled immigration policy since the 1990s, even though most Americans agree the system is failing. And for thousands fleeing violence in Latin America, the consequences of inaction in Washington are treacherous. Will and our colleague Debbie Kang speak this time with a scholar fighting for asylum cases to get a fair shake, especially for women and LGBTQ applicants faci...

David Slifka joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career and running Bluem Ventures where they find progressive political projects that have traction and help them to grow. Additional Information The Great Battlefield Podcast More shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal da...

Democrats feared and Republicans expected a "red wave" election, but it didn’t happen.  Why was the outcome such a surprise?  Who gets the credit and blame? How do results impact the near-term future? What are the prospects for finding common ground in Congress where both the Senate and House will have razor-thin majorities?  We discuss these questions with two of America’s most experienced politi...

“This is a war on democracy and democratic principles,” Dr. Yuna Potomkina, Advisor to Ukraine Minister of Defense tells us.  Armed conflict has been raging in Ukraine since early 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. On February 24, 2022, during a last-ditch UN Security Council effort to dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine, Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale land, s...

71% of Americans are concerned about democracy. And apparently that number, roughly 71%, holds for both parties. So, if listeners are concerned about democracy, they can expect that there's someone from the other party who's also concerned about democracy from a different perspective. Jason Brownlee Check out the podcast Entitled A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com . Jason B...

With hundreds of elections deniers running in the midterms, democracy is on the ballot this fall. The team at the States United Democracy Center is at the forefront of efforts to ensure free, fair, and secure elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond. Cofounders Norman Eisen, Joanna Lydgate, and Christine Todd Whitman join us this week to talk about how they're doing it in states across the country and...

CPF Director Bob Shrum joins an all-star panel discussion on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the politics of Supreme Court decisions. They discuss the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, the impact of Roe v. Wade on voters and the midterm election, the upcoming Supreme Court cases, and if Roe can be restored. Featuring: Lee Epstein: Hilliard Distinguishe...

The US Constitution guarantees a right to trial to anyone accused of a crime, but less than 3 percent of criminal defendants get a trial. Instead, they’re regularly cornered into pleading guilty, sometimes admitting to a crime they didn’t commit. Reporter Mark Betancourt retraces one innocent man’s legal ordeal to explain why this happens.  Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our web...

For much of the past fifty years, American political leaders of both parties have assumed that globalization and free trade would lead to more opportunity, higher living standards and increased business efficiency. But our guest, author and Financial Times columnist,  Rana Foroohar , argues that with supply chain disruptions and growing economic insecurity in much of the world, the long reign of g...

Pollsters in Brazil had Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the comeback candidate, leading by as many as 14 percentage points in the presidential election. But neither top nominee won a majority this month, sending citizens back to the polls for a historic runoff. And democracy itself is on the line. Incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro has waged war on reality, sowed division on social media and attacked t...

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Elliott Morris joins Julia and Lee to discuss political polling. Morris is a data journalist and US correspondent at The Economist , where he writes on American politics, elections, and public opinion. Morris previously worked for an elections returns start-up and the Pew Research Center and has contributed articles to the New York Times . He is the...

Tara McGowan returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about founding Courier Newsroom, where they're working in 8 battleground states to fight back against disinformation by publishing good information. Additional Information The Great Battlefield Podcast More shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection a...

In this episode, Madison Center for Civic Engagement Democracy Fellow Leia Surovell interviews the new interim Executive Director, Dr. David Kirkpatrick and the new interim Associate Director Dr. Kara Dillard about their vision for the Madison Center and their views for what campus Centers for Civic Engagement should do for higher education. See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode...

Rigid polarization and political division are among the biggest challenges facing our country. Young people often feel that tribalism is better than unity and that conversations across political and cultural divides are impossible. College students Clare Ashcraft, who comes from a conservative background, and Jackson Spencer Richter, who calls himself a committed liberal, are active members of Bri...

Jonathan Friedman is the director of free expression and education programs at PEN America. He oversees research, advocacy, and education related to academic freedom, educational gag orders, book bans, and general free expression in schools, colleges, and universities. We discuss the driving forces behind campaigns to ban books and silence teachers. Education has always been political and a part o...

CPF Director Bob Shrum joins Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) to discuss his new book “Dignity in the Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us,” which is a roadmap to facing America’s digital divide and offering greater economic prosperity to all. They also discuss the digital economy, technological innovation, progressive capitalism, and the future of American democracy. Featuring: Ro Khanna - U.S...

A recording from our Twitter Space Event with Public Citizen Hosts Justin Kempf , Host of Democracy Paradox Guests Craig Holman , Public Citizen’s Capitol Hill lobbyist If you would like to listen and ask questions live, follow us @GroupDemocracy or subscribe to our newsletter are democracygroup.org/newsletter to be the first to know about upcoming events. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company....

In country after country - we've counted over 130 news outlets of 30 countries that were republishing content that was produced by Chinese state media outlets or the Chinese embassy. So, these state media outlets are actually formally under the control of the Communist Party's propaganda department. A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com . Sarah Cook is the Research Director fo...

Following the Dobbs  v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision, reproductive rights are heading to ballots in states across the country this fall. Are states the right venue for this and other issues? Our guest this week says yes and makes the case that state courts and constitutions are more democratic than their counterparts at the federal level. In Who Decides? State as Labo...

Robert Costa, chief election and campaign correspondent for CBS News and a scholar at the Center for Politics this academic year, shares his approach to covering campaigns, elections and politics to help the public make sense of the complex issues facing the nation. “It can become a blizzard that's hard to follow," says Costa, "You have to report deeply and you want to break news...Unless it's bre...

This week, Farai interviews Dr. Sayu Bhojwani, civic entrepreneur and founder of Women’s Democracy Lab, about what it takes to create a more inclusive democracy and what current intraparty tensions reveal about the election field ahead of the midterms. Then, we re-air a conversation from “One With Farai” featuring Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry and her 2011 book “Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and...