Jeremi Suri on America's Unfinished Fight for...

You can only get to the point of restoring democratic institutions if you win the last election with such a huge majority that you really have the public with you as you make radical change.Kim Lane Scheppele Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociolog ...  Show more

The question is not whether polarization is dangerous, but the conditions under which it becomes violent.Jeffrey KopsteinJeffrey Kopstein joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss when polarization turns violent. Drawing on his Journal of Democracy essay “When Polarization Turns Vio ...  Show more

We talk a lot on this show about the problems with American political institutions. But what if all those problems are actually just one problem: the two-party system. Lee Drutman is a political scientist, senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, co-host of ...  Show more

The US Constitution is a brilliant political document, but it’s far from perfect. This week’s guest, Erwin Chemerinsky, argues that many of today’s threats to democracy are a direct result of compromises made by the Founding Fathers centuries ago. Those mistakes have come back to ...  Show more

Back in 2018, when this episode first aired, there was a feeling that democracy was on the ropes.  In the United States and abroad, citizens of democracies are feeling increasingly alienated, disaffected, and powerless.  Some are even asking themselves a question that feels al ...

Why is democracy worth saving? Sean Illing is joined by Astra Taylor, the author of the new book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart. They discuss the history and reality of insecurity and how we can fight for more sustainable and meaningful democratic pol ...  Show more