The Democracy Group

Everyone wants the best education for their children. But parents and teachers don't always agree on how to get there. In this episode, we hear from two education leaders whose views clashed when they first met. Gisele Huff is a philanthropist and longtime proponent of school choice, including charter schools. Becky Pringle spent her career in public education. A science teacher for three decades,...

Farai Chideya talks with Dr. Angel Pérez of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling about how students can access the resources they need for a successful college experience. Luvvie Ajayi Jones shares lessons from her book on facing your fears. Latinx author Carmen Maria Machado addresses criticism of her memoir from a school district in Texas, and why it matters to share her st...

There is an emerging trend in the world of political fundraising — grifters preying on the elderly and others with fake campaigns. The worst part? There are barely any laws on the books to stop them. In this episode, Weston chats with Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger about “scam PACs” and how they have been used to con unsuspecting Americans into contributing to fake causes and campaigns. H...

Kelly Dittmar is the Director of Research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. She explains why diversity among women serving in public office enhances our democracy, and how we can support more women to run and win elections. Motivations and Perspectives The goal of promoting women to run for office is not simply to achieve parity in Congress or in State legislatur...

Mallory SoRelle joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss the politics of consumer credit. She is an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University. She is the author of Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection. A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com . Key Highlights Include How the American economy depends on credit A brief history of cons...

For a special edition celebrating the 100th episode of the Science of Politics, Matt talks with Ezra Klein about how well political science informs American politics and public policy. They discuss how political science has changed in the age of Twitter and the era of Trump and the roles of scholars and journalists using research in debates on climate, COVID, and race. Additional Information Scien...

Local news and democracy have been intertwined since the days of Alexis de Tocqueville. As we've discussed on this show before, news outlets are one way that people who live in a city or town keep up on what's happening in their local government. However, our guest this week argues the "watchdog" effect of local journalism might be overstated, along with the correlation between local news consumpt...

Democracies around the world are under threat from populist movements, demagogues and dogmatic extremists who use disinformation, conspiracy theories, shaming, cancel culture and other tactics to weaponize social media and challenge our ability to distinguish fact from fiction and truth from falsehood. In his new book , our guest, best-selling author, journalist, scholar, and public intellectual,...

A recording and transcripts of this event are available at democracygroup.org. Host Jenna Spinelle Founder, The Democracy Group Guests Lee Drutman Co-Host, Politics in Question Turi Munthe Host, On Opinion Carah Ong Whaley Co-Host, Democracy Matters Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Democracy Works podcast host and producer Jenna Spinelle leads a discussion with: Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, founder of Equal Citizens, and host of  the podcast Another Way by Lawrence Lessig . Lessig and Equal Citizens Executive Director Jason Harrow argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the electors in Washington and Colorado. Mer...

“COVID, the pandemic … has really brought to bear not just the inequities and the inequalities, but also the necessity to have a much more active sense of democracy as a verb — democracy as an action that we can all be part of.” -Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, 70 Million Host Richard Davies Co-host, How Do We Fix It? @DaviesNow Guests Mila Atmos Host, Future Hindsight @milaatmos Juleyka Lantigua-Willi...

Host Jenna Spinelle Communications Specialist at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy Host, Democracy Works @JennaSpinelle Guests Luke Knittig, Senior Director of Communications at the McCain Institute Host, In The Arena @LukeKnittig Jeremi Suri, Mack Brown Distinguished Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin Host, This is Democracy @JeremiSuri Rachel Tau...