How to Fix Democracy: Recent Episodes
Bertelsmann Foundation
Since its origins, democracy has been a work in progress. Today, many question its resilience.
How to Fix Democracy, a collaboration of the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action, explores practical solutions for how to address the increasing threats democracy faces. Host Andrew Keen interviews prominent international thinkers and practitioners of democracy. Their conversations are designed to provoke discussion and curiosity about the state and future of democracy across the globe.
In this episode Brookings's scholar Jonathan Rauch explores America's historically unprecendented position as a "high-tech, low trust society" - a dangerous combination where technological advancement coexists with collapsing social trust. Trust levels have plummeted since the 1970s warns Rauch, with America now ranking 52nd globally in believing strangers would return a lost wallet. He traces this decline to systematic attacks on institutions from both left and right, formented by libertarian populists. He warns that without rebuilding trust - which is seven times more important in determining life satisfaction- democracy itself will remain at existential risk.
In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen, speaks with journalist Sally Lehrman, founder of the Trust Project - a global initiative aimed at restoring trust in journalism. They discuss the origins of the project, inspired in part by the 1947 Hutchins Commission report on media responsibility, and how today's digital landscape has blurred the lines between news and content. Lehrman outlines the Trust Project's "Eight Trust Indicators" which help news outlets demonstrate transparency, ethical standards, and commitment to diverse voices. She also addresses the challenges posed by ideological biais, opinion vs news, and journalism on platforms such as Substack. The conversation explores how media organizations can rebuild credibility, empower the public, and support a healthy democracy through responsible, clearly-labeled reporting.
In this episode, host Andrew Keen sits down with Francis Fukuyama to explore the concept of trust. Fukuyama defines it as a byproduct of virtuous behaviors like reliability, truthfulness, transparency, and keeping commitments. He describes trust as a crucial "lubricant" for social interactions and distinguishes between interpersonal and institutional trust, both of which are built through experiences of reliability and can be eroded by betrayal and disappointment. Fukuyama discusses how trust originates within families and extends to broader social circles. He also examines the global decline in trust over the past 30 years, attributing it to several key factors: the rise of technology and anonymous online interactions, higher education fostering more critical thinking, increased transparency exposing institutional failures, and growing political polarization reinforcing tribal identitities. Connecting trust to his earlier work on "the struggle for recognition, " he argues that as liberal democracies secure equal rights, individuals increasingly seek recognition for specific identities - such as religion, ethnicity, or gender - which can contribute to societal fragmentation. To address this decline, Fukuyama emphasizes the importance of governments reliably delivering on promises and providing expected services. However, he acknowledges that while competent governance is essential, it alone may not be enough to fully restore trust in institutions and society.
Days before the U.S. election, Professor Carol Anderson of Emory University spoke with the three producers of the How to Fix Series about the current state of American democracy.
With references to previous interviews, the discussion focuses on the urgency of the times, the criticical issues at stake, the forces of deep conflict and expectations for the future of America's democracy.
In conversation with Congressman Jamie Raskin, host Andrew Keen explores key elements of American democracy. Raskin highlights his deep commitment to public service, grounded in his believe that the rule of law is fundamental to America's greatness. He reflects on the influence of Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump on their political journeys and how their legacies relate to his vision of democracy as an "unfinished project".
In a conversation with Andrew Keen, Yuval Levin, Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, explores the critical transition from the 1950s- a decade often seen as a conservative period of economic prosperity- into the 1960s, a turbulant era marked by confrontations over race, gender, and shifts in the politcal landscape of the Republican and Democratic Parties.
In this episode, host Andrew Keen and historian Matthew Continetti explore the pivotal moments in the history of American conservatism, starting in 1964. Continetti elaborates on the ideological foundations of American conservatism, emphasizing its roots in the political traditions of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The conversation delves into the marginalization of conservative thought during the New Deal era and the eventual resurgence of conservatism in the mid 20th century.
Author and broadcast journalist, Ray Suarez, born into a Puerto Rican family newly settled in New York City in the 1950s, speaks with Andrew Keen about American immigrant experiences in the late 20th and 21st centuries. Extolled as a welcoming democracy built by immigrants, they were both hailed and despaired over - needed for labor and growth but feared for the different cultures they brought to the country. Invoking both personal and broad societal reflections, Suarez describes the historic tension in the powerful American immigrant dream between reality and mythology: aspirations and acceptance sort after by unwanted outsiders.
Elizabeth Saunders, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and author of The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace, speaks with Andrew Keen about democracy and foreign policy. The conversation focuses on the tension between elites and democracy, power and accountability and domestic priorities and global responsibilities between the 1950s and 1970s. In the era between the Korean War and Vietnam domestic tensions reverberated through foreign policy decisions made to promote democracy in the cold war era.
In this episode host Andrew Keen sits down with Peter Wehner to discuss the intersection of faith and politics and the rise of the Evangelical movement in the Republican Party. Pete reflects on his early caution of the dangerous intertwining on faith and politics, his concerns about the religious impact on the Republican Party, and the shift towards more authoritarian tendencies within the party. He explores the connections among figures such as Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, and Donald Trump, tracing the evolution of the Republican Party's conservative ideologies and its current state.
In conversation with Andrew Keen, the American historian Jacob Heilbrunn, outlines the continuous history of the close association of conservative views and the Republican Party in the early to Mid-Twentieth Century. He describes the party's support of strong anti-immigrant racial differences in the 1920s, hostility to the New Deal, support of the anti-Communist campaign of Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, and support of Donald Trump and his isolationist perspectives, now and in the recent past.
For this episode, host Andrew Keen sits down with James Kirchick, journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller Secret City: the Hidden History of Gay Washington. They discuss the historical exclusion of gay individuals within American democracy, with a particular emphasis on the challenges - from legal persecution to professional exclusion, and social stigmatization, Kirchick and Keen explore how political attitudes towards gay rights have evolved, intertwining with broader cultural and political shifts. Kirchick describes the gradual inclusion of homosexuals in the democratic process, highlighting key moments of setbacks and progress over the past century. The conversation explores significant events such as the Kinsey report in 1948, the Alger Hiss case, McCarthyism, and the political landscape during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The emergence of homosexuality as a national political issue, alongside movements like gay liberation and the AIDS crisis, had a profound impact on American politics and society. When America openly accepted homosexuals into its civic and cultural life, it marked a significant enhancement of its democracy.
In this episode we delve into Jeffrey Rosen's latest work The Pursuit of Happiness. As the President of the National Constitution Center and a Professor of Law at George Washington University, Rosen brings a unique perspective on America's democratic foundations. Through an exploration of classical writers and America's own philosophers and political founders, Rosen and Keen engage in a discussion on the challenges facing American democracy and law today.
We ask crucial questions: How closely do America's democratic institutions align with the ideals of the founding fathers? What insights can we glean from the evolution of American law and government practices over centuries? And, perhaps most importantly, what elements from our past are essential for sustaining and enriching American democracy?
Testing American Liberalism in the Cold War Years
In this episode journalist and historian James Traub delves into the paradoxical nature of liberalism in the post war years. The continuation of New Deal social and economic reforms charactarized a society of consensus in fulfillment of democratic ideals in the Cold War years. However, the illusory impression was built on the continuiation of Jim Crow systems in the South deepening racial inequity in the rest of the country. Resistance stirred underneath consensus and the illusion of an expanding liberalism and democratic enhancement.
James Traub is an American journalist and scholar specializing in international affairs.
In conversation with Prof. Sarah Snyder, an historian of Cold War international relations, Andrew Keen examines the relationship of democratic goals with the realities of American foreign policy. As the world's great post-war democratic and capitalistic power, the U.S. opposed Russia and China through strategic foreign aid and international interventions - often with non-democratic regimes. Internal divisions and controversies about the role of the United Nations, international human rights initiatives and racial divisions in the U.S. however challenged that post-war consensus.
The democratic divide in post WWII: advance abroad, retreat at home. In this episode, Andrew Keen speaks with Dr. Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University. They discuss America in the post World War II years when America emerged as the world's leading democratic country. That claim was belied by the reality of a flawed and unfulfilled democracy at home. Black Americans, who joined the military in great numbers and fought with great distinction, returned to Jim Crow America and discrimination in many parts of the country. It continued practices of oppression and blocked the expansion of global post-war Human Rights doctrines from applying to the United States.
American Democracy Transformed: A Conversation with Kevin Baker on the Interwar Era's Cultural and Political Evolution
In this episode, host Andrew Keen discusses with writer and editor, Kevin Baker, the multifaceted changes and growth of American democracy. Significant cultural innovations, technological advancements, and societal shifts occurred between the two World Wars. Baker emphasizes America's transformation into a cultural and political powerhouse during this period, where its arts and politics gained global recognition and when American culture including literature, music, and cinema, played a pivotal role in shaping societal views and politics.
Kevin Baker graduated from Columbia University in 1980 and has since pursued a career as a writer and editor. His writings include novels like "Sometimes You See It Coming" and "Dreamland" forming part of his New York City of Fire trilogy.
Fighting for Equity: African-American struggles in the '20s and '30s.
In this episode, host Andrew Keen talks to Jill Watts author of The Black Cabinet, about the untold story of African Americans and politics during the age of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Jill Watts is an author and a Professor Emeritus of History at California State University San Marcos where she teaches United States social and cultural history, African American history, film history, and digital history.
Women's Political Rights | Dr. Allida Black
Allida Black speaks with host Andrew Keen about the history of women in politics and the impact of their noteworthy political and social activism, which dates back a time well before the Women's Right to Vote.
Dr. Allida Black is a historian, author, and editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers.
In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen engages in a conversation with the author and historian Richard Norton Smith, delving into a discussion about the Hoover presidency and its profound relevance for the United States during a time of upheaval and economic depression.
Author and historian Richard Norton Smith enjoys national recognition as an expert on the American presidency. After graduating from Harvard in 1975, he began his career as a White House intern and subsequently served as a speechwriter for Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts. Smith held the position of Director at various prestigious institutions, including the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
The Legacy of FDR | Paul Sparrow, former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, speaks with Andrew Keen about the immense challenges and legacies of FDR and his administration. Sparrow maintains that Roosevelt saved American democracy from an existential crisis caused by the Great Depression and the failure of previous administrations to provide for the welfare of the public. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Sparrow delves into the deep complexities of the 32nd U.S. President who employed the powerful resources of his mind and personality.
Paul Sparrow is a writer, historical consultant, and the former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Before moving to the FDR Library, he was the Deputy Director and Senior Vice President for Broadcasting and New Media at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. He was a founding partner in the University of Maryland’s Future of Information Alliance and a pioneer in interactive digital media. Prior to his work at the Newseum, Sparrow was an Emmy-Award winning television producer, and showrunner for Discovery, TLC, Fox, and PBS. He began his television career at KPIX, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco.
FDR and the Great Depression | In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, author and historian Derek Leebaert provides a revisionist account of President Franklin Roosevelt and four members of his Cabinet. According to Leebaert, the 1920s were beset by economic distress and labor unrest that culminated in the Great Depression. Supported by Frances Perkins, Harold Ickes, Henry Wallace and Harry Hopkins, the Roosevelt presidency provided new solutions to much of America’s endemic vulnerability, inequality, and instability. Leebaert describes the President as a deeply complex leader—a man of steely ambitions —who worked with the four Cabinet officials to escape the Depression and prepare the United States for world leadership.
Derek Leebaert won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award for "Grand Improvisation". His previous books include "Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan" and "To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations", both Washington Post Best Books of the Year. He was a founding editor of the Harvard/MIT journal International Security and is a cofounder of the National Museum of the U.S. Army. He holds a D.Phil from Oxford and lives in Washington, D.C.
American Isolationism and the Shifting World Order in the 1920s and 30s | In this 3rd episode of the season, host Andrew Keen talks to Robert Kagan, the distinguished Brookings Institute scholar of foreign policy, about America’s dramatically changing place in the world during the Twenties and Thirties. According to Kagan, at the end of World War I Europe expected American democracy to lead a new world order. The Versailles Treaty, designed to engage America in post-war Europe, failed to gain domestic support. America, the world’s leading economic powerhouse, retreated into its heartland of domestic concerns: consumer consumption, fears of anarchy, socialism, and communism as well as immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia. The U.S. Senate, led by conservatives, reinforced America’s isolationist foreign policy throughout the 1920s. The domestic power only shifted to the White House and State Department in the late 1930s when the dangers of European fascism threatened America’s stability and power.
Robert Kagan is the Stephen & Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow with the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. He is a contributing columnist at The Washington Post and the author of several books, including "The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941" and "Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order". Kagan served in the State Department from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the policy planning staff, as principal speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and as deputy for policy in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.
The Scopes Trial and the Fight for the Freedom to Teach | In 1924, John Scopes, an instructor in a public school in Dayton, Tennessee, was indicted for violating the Tennessee Butler Act for teaching evolution in a publicly funded school. Strong personalities and strong beliefs clashed in the courthouse as they engrossed and even inflamed the country. Clarence Darrow, America's most famous litigator dramatically clashed with Williams Jennings Bryan, populist, presidential nominee and evangelical believer. The "trial of the century," as it was called, revealed profound cultural and religious issues. Despite Darrow's passionate espousal of free speech and civil liberties, Scopes was found guilty. The conviction was overturned but the issues were hardly resolved. Controversies over public education have continued to reverberate in America, reaching deep into each decade from the 1920s to today. Historian and legal scholar Edward Larson illuminates that history and relevance for us today.
Larson holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. Originally from Ohio with a PhD in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and law degree from Harvard, Larson has lectured on all seven continents and taught at Stanford Law School, University of Melbourne, Leiden University, and the University of Georgia, where he chaired the History Department. Prior to becoming a professor, Larson practiced law in Seattle and served as counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC.
American Democracy in the Aftermath of World War I | In the first episode of Season 5, How to Fix Democracy host Andrew Keen sits down with Adam Hochschild, historian, journalist, and award-winning author of “American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis." Hochschild takes us on a journey to America in the aftermath of World War I – a country divided by labor strife, xenophobic fear of immigrants, and massive violations of civil rights. Both provincially insular and dynamically modern, Hochschild introduces us to an America nostalgic for an idyllic pre-war normalcy that can never be recaptured.
How to Fix Democracy Season 5 covers 100 years of American democracy between 1924 and 2024. The season uncovers the complexities of U.S. history and asks our distinguished guests why it remains the most iconic and yet misunderstood democratic system in the world. This season is brought to you by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action. Watch the episode videos at howtofixdemocracy.org and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
How Authoritarian Leaders Wield & Maintain Power | On October 20, 2022, Moisés Naím joined host Andrew Keen for a live episode of How to Fix Democracy in the Bertelsmann Foundation office in Washington, DC to discuss how authoritarian leaders wield and maintain power in contemporary politics. Author of “The End of Power” (2013) and “The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics in the 21st Century” (2022), Moisés Naím is an authoritative political thinker and best-selling author. In this episode, he explains how authoritarian political leaders use three “P”s to maintain their power: populism, polarization, and post-truths. Take a listen!
The state of American democracy in the shadow of January 6th | Nearly two years on, the January 6th insurrection is still lingering over Washington, DC like a dark cloud. The events leading up to the Capitol insurrection, as well as the attack itself, have signaled a major threat to American democracy. Will the United States be able to recover fully from these events, or is the damage irreparable? Does the presidency of Joe Biden mean that healing can take place, or will future political leaders seek to insight violence whenever their platform is threatened?
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He is the author of several books, including Ill Winds and The Spirit of Democracy. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the state of democracy in the United States post-January 6th. Take a listen!
Is Bipartisanship Possible in the United States? | The 2020 Presidential Election clarified the need for a unified, authoritative understanding of elections and election systems in the United States. In recent weeks, Democratic legislators have been working to pass the Electoral Count Reform Act to update outdated systems and clarify the role of the Vice President in electoral proceedings. Simultaneously, the Republican-backed Moore v. Harper case will be heard before the Supreme Court to determine how much power states can have over voting access and election results. Will it ever be possible to have a bipartisan, unified approach to voting rights in the United States?
Michael Thorning is the Director of Governance at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington, DC, that seeks to foster bipartisanship in American politics. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the implications for the current and upcoming voting rights legislation, as well as the need for bipartisanship in order to defend democracy in the United States.
The Transformation of the Republican Party | Throughout the last thirty years, the Republican Party in the United States has undergone a great change. How did the party come to adopt such a polarized platform in which white supremacy, conspiracy theories, and authoritarianism are no longer off limits? Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank traces this transformation from Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America in 1994 to the January 6th insurrection in 2021 in his new book The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the new voices of the Republican Party, how they came to power, and whether or not the party will be forced to change. Take a listen!
Midterm Elections Special | Many Americans are preparing to head to the polls on November 8, 2022 for the US Midterm Elections. Following the elections of 2020, many are worried about the rise of election denial and the growing distrust of electoral systems. Rebekah Caruthers, the Vice President of the Fair Elections Center, advocates for election security, the safety of elections officials, and equal voting access for all American citizens. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, she joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the implications for the 2022 Midterm Elections and gives advice for citizens on Election Day.
American Ideologies and Trumpism | “Trumpism'' has emerged as a powerful force in American political ideology since the 2016 election. It is characterized by a philosophy that leans heavily on populism, ultra-nationalism, and religious fundamentalism – all part of the platform that bolstered Former President Donald Trump throughout his administration and beyond. However, if Donald Trump were to disappear tomorrow, the forces that brought him to power would still very much be at play in the hearts and minds of American conservatives, explains our latest guest. Darrell M. West is the Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, as well as the author of Power Politics: Trump and the Assault on American Democracy. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, he joins host Andrew Keen to discuss how Trumpism came to be, and how it is influencing the structures of American democracy.
The legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court | The popularity of the U.S. Supreme Court has been in sharp decline throughout the last two years. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, many Americans, feeling unheard and unseen by the court’s decision, have been asking the question, “Why does the Supreme Court have so much power?” Dahlia Lithwick, lawyer and author of Lady Justice, explains how the latest rulings by the Supreme Court threaten the fabric of American democracy. If the Supreme Court is no longer serving the people, is it still legitimate? In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Lithwick joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the implications for the Dobbs Ruling, the decline in popularity of the Supreme Court, and whether or not the Supreme Court can maintain its legitimacy moving forward.
Religion and American Conservatism | The American far-right has, in many ways, become inseparable from religious conservatism and fervor. Religious movements and organizations provide the foundation, funding, and voting base of the extreme right in American politics, explains our latest guest. Katherine Stewart, the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, has spent her career reporting on the dwindling separation between church and state in the United States. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, she joins host Andrew Keen to discuss how religious nationalism has been cultivated by leaders on the far-right for political gain.
The Health of American Democracy | The erosion of democratic values in the United States has led many to refer to American democracy as “sick” and in need of healing. Extremism, disinformation, and civic illiteracy have fueled radical beliefs and led to grave polarization within American society. Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab (PERIL), and author of Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right, has focused her research on these issues and how our society can overcome them. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Dr. Miller-Idriss joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the state of American democracy today, the rise of extremism and radicalization, and strategies for curing what is seemingly irreversible polarization.
Racial Injustice & Voting Rights in the United States | Andrea Young, the executive director of the ACLU in Georgia, is a lifelong advocate of voting and civil rights in the United States. Having participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches with her parents at nine years old, she has dedicated her life to ensuring the protection of civil liberties for marginalized groups in the United States. Georgia was of great importance in the 2020 Presidential Election, where President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by only 12,000 votes. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, Andrea Young discusses the history of structural racial injustice in the United States, the need for a multicultural democracy, and the role that Georgia is playing in paving the way to a stronger democratic system in which everyone’s voice can be heard and affirmed.
Bridging the Partisan Divide | What does it mean to engage with someone on the other side of the political aisle? Mónica Guzmán has made it her mission to answer this question and facilitate thoughtful, constructive dialogue between the political left and right in the United States. In her latest book, I Never Thought of It That Way, she explores the ways in which American citizens can move beyond political barriers and work together to create a less divided political system. In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, she joins host Andrew Keen to discuss the dire state of the political landscape in the United States today, as well as steps that we can take to fix it. She explores the ways in which she is able to engage with people who believe differently than her, and the events in her life which have led her to this place.
The crisis of the American Right | Authors Peter Wehner and Jon Rauch recently published a New York Times Opinion piece entitled “What’s Happening on the Left is No Excuse for What’s Happening on the Right.” As conservative researchers, they have a unique position to observe and analyze the recent shifts in the American political right. In the latest episode of How to Fix Democracy, Peter Wehner and Jon Rauch join host Andrew Keen to discuss the history and implications of the stark transformation undergone by the Republican Party during and after Donald Trump’s presidency. What does this change mean for the future of the party, and for political stability in the United States? Why have some conservatives chosen to leave the party, while some have chosen to stay? Find out here!
Tocqueville's Take on Democracy | Harvard University professors Cheryl Welch and Arthur Goldhammer are world-renowned experts and translators of the work of Alexis de Tocqueville. They kick off Season 4 of How To Fix Democracy by joining host Andrew Keen for a discussion of Tocqueville's famous observational text, "Democracy in America." Our fourth season of the podcast will focus on just that: democracy in the United States. How do Tocqueville's observations apply to the 21st century? What did he get wrong, and what did he get right? Our guests explore all of these questions and more–take a listen!
The roles of citizens | Jon Alexander is the founder of The New Citizenship Project and speaks in this interview with host Andrew Keen about the conflict between our roles as citizens and consumers. From the psychology of marketing and the formation of the modern citizen to what a crowdfunded brewery can teach us about restructuring decision-making and profit-driven thinking, this interview helps illustrate the influence of democracy and capitalism on human behavior and what we can do to guide better citizen engagement in the future.
Democracy in pain | Patrick Radden Keefe is a writer and investigative journalist whose recent book, Empire of Pain, delves into the opioid crisis in the United States. In this interview, co-hosted by Andrew Keen and the John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz, Patrick explains some of the lessons from this story for repairing democracy in America. In many ways, the saga of the opioid crisis reflects a topic covered often in this series: the troubled relationship between corporate power and democracy in America. This is the first interview of a series in cooperation with The John Adams Institute.
Examining elections | David van Reybrouck is a Belgian author, historian, archaeologist, and the National Endowment for the Humanities / Hannah Arendt Center Fellow at Bard College in New York. He and Andrew Keen take a multifaceted approach to deliberative democracy and the structural challenges of democratic practices today. Are elections as we know them today indispensable to democracy? Are there other kinds of decision-making processes that can empower citizens instead of elevating elites? Keen and van Reybrouck reflect on the philosophical underpinnings of representative democracy, discuss the latest developments in deliberative democracy and citizens’ assemblies, and consider the state of political communication and citizenship today.
Innovating democracy | Claudia Chwalisz is the Innovative Citizen Participation Lead at the OECD Directorate for Public Governance. In this interview, she talks with host Andrew Keen about the importance of innovation in democratic governance to shift away from structures that encourage short-term thinking. Deliberative democracy, Chwalisz argues, can help engage citizens in the decision making process without presenting them with oversimplified or false choices, as can be the danger with referenda. From populism to citizens' assemblies, this conversation covers some of the most compelling topics in democracy today.
The state of American democracy | American novelist, playwright, and essayist Darryl Pinckney takes host Andrew Keen on a tour d’horizon of the state of American democracy, from the current political discourse to the impact of identity politics, cancel culture, social media, and the role of education in teaching the young generation what it means to be a citizen.
Democracy delivering results | On the occasion of the International Day of Democracy, host Andrew Keen sat down with Danilo Türk, former President of Slovenia and currently President of Club de Madrid for a review of the challenges facing democracies around the world today. The basis of liberal democracy, they discuss, must be reinvented, not just reinterpreted or revived. From electoral systems to the interaction between the economy and politics, Türk argues that international collaboration is important to the evolution of democracy.
Fostering collaboration | Hélène Landemore is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. In this interview, she talks with host Andrew Keen about a wide range of innovations and influences on democracy. They discuss how to engage citizens, from experiments like citizen assemblies to finding ways to increase more regular participation in politics. The answer, Landemore says, could be technology, if only it were used more creatively to encourage democracy rather than for entertainment.
Non-western democracies | David Stasavage is the Dean for Social Sciences at New York University, and the author of The Decline and Rise of Democracy. Stasavage and host Andrew Keen go over some non-western examples of early democracies, departing from the lineage of Athenian democracy. From elections, to bureaucracy and conceptions of meritocracy, they discuss the components of democratic governance that have aided and hindered its success throughout history.
A political wilderness? | DeLesslin “Roo” George-Warren is a queer artist, researcher, and organizer from Catawba Indian Nation and a Humanity in Action Landecker Fellow. He talks with host Andrew Keen about Catawba Nation views of property, democracy, and the environment in the search for an indigenous view of the meaning of citizenship. Just as arriving Europeans falsely viewed the North American landscape as wilderness, when it was in fact masterfully stewarded by indigenous peoples, they discuss what misconceptions Europeans had about indigenous political and societal organization.
Roya Hakakian is a writer and poet and the author of A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious. Talking just before July 4th, host Andrew Keen speaks with Roya Hakakian about her own experience coming to the U.S. from Iran, the meaning of America’s Independence Day, and what we should think about during the holiday.
On June 1st, 2021, we hosted a live session of How to Fix Democracy with Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University, to discuss recent voter suppression measures in the United States and her new book, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America.
Wietse Van Ransbeeck is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Citizen Lab, a Brussels-based company that works with governments to enable public participation in decision-making. With host Andrew Keen, Van Ransbeeck discusses his goals to make citizenship easier by using new technology to help local democracy be more participatory. In many past How to Fix Democracy interviews, technology’s negative impact on democracy has been highlighted, so it is great to have Van Ransbeeck’s perspective on the positive potential of digital democracy.
Democracy through the camera lens | Astra Taylor is an author and filmmaker whose documentary What is Democracy? covers much of the same ground as our own series, but with a different essential question in mind. In this interview, Astra Taylor and host Andrew Keen reflect on what they drew from ancient Athenian democratic practices in their respective quests to understand democracy and predict what it will look like (and sound like) in the future. From the evolution of citizenship to the impact of capitalism and debt on democracy, Taylor and Keen trace threads of democracy from antiquity to the present day.
Citizen power | Eric Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Citizen University and the Director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program. In this episode that delves into the meaning of citizenship and the nature of power in politics, Liu and host Andrew Keen discuss contemporary conceptions of power in the United States and responsibilities of citizens. There is a tension, especially in America, between individualism and citizen responsibility toward building communities and cooperating for a common good, argues Liu, and it's important to explore this and find a way to give citizens positive agency.
What is global citizenship? | Nanjala Nyabola is a writer, political analyst, and activist based in Nairobi, Kenya. In this interview, she talks with host Andrew Keen about the meaning of citizenship especially in relation to global citizenship. If citizenship is related to rights and freedoms in a country, she says, global citizenship means enjoying similar rights and freedom around the world. In reality, as they cover in this fascinating interview, this is a luxury of the few, not the many, and the walls are only getting higher thanks to ethnic nationalist influences resurfacing in politics in various countries around the world.
Devil’s curse of migration | Abdul-Rehman Malik is a journalist, community organizer, and Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Yale Divinity School. Malik and host Andrew Keen address the contradictions of belonging and inclusion. Migrants, they discuss, face these contradictions constantly, seeking belonging in their new homes, but not excluding their own multifaceted identities. If there is a principal Muslim virtue that can aid conceptions of citizenship and fix democracy, Malik concludes, it is mercy--the compassion, empathy, and vitality that holds communities together.
Democracy, citizenship, and dystopian fiction | Margaret Atwood is an award-winning author, who has written numerous best-sellers including the 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale. In this episode, she discusses with Andrew Keen her impressions of citizenship and the importance of fiction writers in a democracy. Dystopias, Atwood says, show us the future if we do not correct the mistakes of the present, and so writers of dystopian fiction aid democracies by showing the consequences of inaction.
Can America lead again? | Tom Malinowski is the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 7th congressional district and was formerly the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the Obama administration. He and host Andrew Keen discuss the stature of American democracy today in light of the Biden administration’s proposed global Summit for Democracy. Representative Malinowski also discusses his personal story of immigration to America and what it means to be an American citizen.
Smart cities, smart citizens? | Bianca Wylie is co-founder of Digital Public, co-founder of Tech Reset Canada, and Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. In this episode, she discusses with Andrew Keen the architecture and geography of citizenship from our countries and cities to cyberspace. She argues that digital technology has blurred the lines between public and private spheres with adverse effects for citizenship and democracy. The solution lies with the state, Wylie says, which needs to take responsibility for understanding and shaping technology’s impact on society.
Active, equal, and collective | Richard Bellamy is Professor of Political Science at University College London and the author of Citizenship: A Very Short Introduction. For him, being a citizen today is being an “active and equal participant in sustaining cooperative and collective goods in your political community.” However, the current idea of citizenship contains paradoxes, faces challenges, and is in constant flux. Bellamy and host Andrew Keen explore the whole picture of citizenship as it has been and as it is today.
Citizenship and belonging | Adrienne Clarkson is the co-founder of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the former Governor General of Canada. Madame Clarkson tells host Andrew Keen her story of coming to Canada, learning what it was to be Canadian, and her journey to becoming Governor General of the country. Along the way, she formed important ideas of what citizenship and belonging means in Canada and around the world.
The contradictions of human nature | Adam Hochschild is an award-winning author, historian, and journalist. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, he discusses the contradictions within the history of democracy in Europe and America. Hochschild points out that capability of democracies to wage war, torture, and enslave people abroad, while aspiring to uphold enlightened values at home. Beyond historical examples, Hochschild and Keen examine how capitalism and inequality contribute to unfulfilled democratic aspirations today.
Human capital-ism | Daniel Markovits is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. In this interview with Andrew Keen, he explains how the accumulation of human capital--the skills and education that enable advanced economies--has been captured by the elites. But, he argues, because these skilled workers in fields like law and finance are also laborers, they find themselves alienated in the Marxist sense, despite also achieving higher and higher incomes. To help fix democracy, Markovits says, this concentration of human capital can be addressed with education and labor reform.
No nostalgia | Jan Sowa is an Associate Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. In this interview, he explains the Marxist view of capitalism as more than an economic system. The social and cultural aspects of a capitalist system are just as important and have shaped democracy in the modern era. In Sowa’s view, democracy must continue to develop beyond its current structures and practices to incorporate new ideas for better representation.
Laboratories of democracy | Anne-Marie Slaughter is the CEO of New America, a think tank in Washington, DC. In this interview, she discusses with host Andrew Keen possible structural changes to American democracy, including adopting ranked-choice voting and re-thinking campaign finance. She argues that capitalism--it’s ethos and influence--has infected the political process. American politicians have taken on capitalist forces before, Slaughter argues, but it will take major political cooperation to do it again.
Crisis of confidence | Ian Bassin is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy, a non-profit created to fight threats to democracy in America. Bassin explains some of the factors eroding liberal democracy in the United States, including economic causes. From tackling voter suppression and checks and balances in the federal government, this interview covers a wide range of challenges to healthy democracy in the United States.
Mark Blyth is William R. Rhodes Professor of International Economics at Brown University. In this interview, he discusses how our economics are rife with anger and frustration. Blyth’s “angry-nomics” emerged from financial crises and a decline in social institutions, like unions, that give people feelings of stability and control. In this frank discussion of the conflicts between our economics and politics, Blyth offers several concrete recommendations to get capitalism to work for democracy instead of against it.
Political power without capital? | Peniel Joseph, Professor of Public Affairs and Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the University of Texas at Austin, explains the critical views of capitalism that emerged in the American Civil Rights movement. Major figures in this movement, like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, explored social democratic and socialist political ideas when trying to find a path to equal rights in America. Moving beyond these early critics of capitalism’s influence on democracy, Peniel Joseph and host Andrew Keen explore the legacy of these ideas on the Black Lives Matter movement in contemporary America due to persistent political and economic inequality.
Listening to others | Arlie Hochschild is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her recent work deals with the rise of the American far-right. Her book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, was built on interviews with Tea Party supporters in Louisiana. For Hochschild, it is important to understand the feelings behind political views, though listening and feeling empathy does not imply agreement. If Americans are to reconcile their differences, she argues, more people must learn how to listen to views they might not agree with.
Winner take all | Robert H. Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management Emeritus at Cornell University’s SC Johnson Graduate School of Management. What does a winner take all ethos in capitalism mean for democracy? Robert Frank discusses with Andrew Keen what the concentration of wealth amongst the best of the best and the sinking top tax rates means for conceptions of equality and fairness in America. Understanding this is essential to understanding the disconnect between politics and people today.
Four horsemen of leveling | Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and the Catherine R. Kennedy and Daniel L. Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. Scheidel specializes in the history of economic inequality, and his book The Great Leveler examines what forces have reduced economic inequality throughout history. Politicians and governments are often tasked with dealing with economic inequality today, but in reality, Scheidel says, societal collapse, epidemics, war, and communist revolutions do it much better. Listen to hear what this means today for a route to economic fairness in America and Europe, and what impact the coronavirus pandemic could have.
This is when you want deficits | Maya MacGuineas is the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and an expert on budget, tax, and economic policy. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, they discuss the economic threats to democracy in America, in particular the loss of trust in our institutions and in the very system of capitalism. At the core of this loss of trust is growing economic inequality. Can capitalism be reformed to reduce economic inequalities and restore trust in institutions and capitalism?
System attrition | Adam Tooze is Director of the European Institute & Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University. In this interview with Andrew Keen, he discusses the past relationship between capitalism and liberal democracy and how the development of the two went hand-in-hand in the modern era towards a high-point, in large part due to the wars of the 20th century. Our crises today are also formative, but not in the same way as back then, Tooze argues. It is yet to be seen, he says, how crises of our time, such as COVID-19 and economic inequality, will shape our societies in this century, but the system that has combined capitalism and liberal democracy is facing serious attrition.
Describing the deficit | Stephanie Kelton is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University focusing on monetary policy and public finance. In this interview, she explains modern monetary theory (MMT) and clarifies some of the myths surrounding spending deficits, especially concerning the U.S. federal government’s massive debt. MMT is a change in the way the government explains its deficit, Kelton says, and is important for politically justifying big expenditures. When it comes to the health of democracy, Kelton argues, fear of contributing to the deficit means the U.S. has not been able to enact the big policies to help those left behind.
Us later, not me now | Rebecca Henderson is the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard University Business School. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, she explains how she has been re-imagining capitalism. Free markets, Professor Henderson argues, need to be balanced with free politics, mirroring what many others in How to Fix Democracy Season 2 have identified as a core linkage between unhealthy capitalism and damaging politics. There’s an immediacy and selfishness in politics and business now, she says, which reflects more of a “me now” instead of an “us later” mentality.
All about taxes | Gabriel Zucman is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality at the University of California, Berkeley. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, Professor Zucman discusses issues of taxation and tax havens. According to Professor Zucman, a major problem within free market capitalism is tax avoidance. He argues that in a globalized economy there should be new tools to ensure companies pay taxes where they make their profits.
Redistribute productivity | Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford University. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, Sir Paul Collier explains why he thinks the biggest problem of capitalism in the last two centuries in the US and UK has been the concentration of moral load-bearing. While in the past, derailments of capitalism have been remedied by families and firms, along with governments, all taking responsibility, nowadays, that burden has concentrated in the state. Decentralization of political and economic power can be a way to reverse this, and the key is re-skilling workers whose labor has become less and less valuable outside of the few major clusters of knowledge intensive firms.
Individual choice | Gideon Rachman is the chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times. He was previously at the Economist for fifteen years, during which time he was a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington, and Bangkok, and editor of the business and Asia sections. In this interview with Andrew Keen, Rachman discusses how globalization has deepened conflict between capitalism and democracy. Individual choice is at the core of both capitalism and democracy, and so the two work better together than it may seem today, when anti-democratic, anti-globalist politics are emerging in many democratic, free market countries.
Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. In this interview, host Andrew Keen and Professor Wolff discuss the definition of capitalism from the Marxist perspective. When the system of capitalism experiences dire crises, Wolff argues, it has been natural to question the nature of the system itself, just as the financial crises of the early 20th and 21st centuries have prompted reforms of capitalism to varying extents. Today, the path to better political democracy, says Wolff, lies in stronger economic democracy.
Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, talks with host Andrew Keen about the impact capitalism has on the health of democracy. Both are powerful forces, she says, and are closely linked to such an extent that a crisis in one seemingly always leads to a crisis in the other. Historically it was naïve, she argues, to assume that democratic states would continue to strengthen during globalization, and we are now dealing with the consequences.
Amity Shlaes is a best-selling author, Chair of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, and Presidential Scholar at The King’s College in New York City. Her most recent book Great Society: A New History, presents a critical view of President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign to expand the social safety net and reduce poverty in the United States in the 1960s. Shlaes argues in this interview with Andrew Keen, our first remote interview of the series, that government intervention is not how the United States will economically recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, she recommends tax cuts and finding ways to bolster Wall Street to help the U.S. economy. To remedy this crisis, Shlaes argues, more people need to buy into America.
Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project, talks with host Andrew Keen about trust-busting. From the Gilded Age and the New Deal to the present day, their discussion touches upon how capitalism has been met with regulation over the last century. Miller argues that now is the time once again to revisit such measures as power, both economic and political, is concentrating in the hands of the few, thereby posing a threat to the health of American democracy.
In this episode, host Andrew Keen sits down with distinguished economist, Sir Angus Deaton, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs, Emeritus, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Emeritus, and Senior Scholar at Princeton University. Sir Angus Deaton, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2015 for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare, discusses why capitalism is no longer delivering happiness and quality of life for working class people in the United States. Instead, it has created growing inequality in the U.S. healthcare system as many Americans are deprived of health insurance and can no longer afford care, especially when they are unemployed. Deaton’s latest book, “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism”, written with his fellow Princeton economist and wife Anne Case, looks at precisely this issue: how a changing global economy can have dire public health consequences. Fixing healthcare inequality, Deaton argues in this interview, must be a top priority for the future of capitalism and democracy in the land of the American Dream.
Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Previously, he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and the Chief Economist at the IMF. In this interview, hosted by Andrew Keen, Rajan calls capitalism today an uneven playing field that doesn’t efficiently skill people to meet the needs of the economy. This leads to unequal access to good jobs and growing income inequality. As a result, democracy has at times turned against capitalism. But Rajan reminds us that capitalism works best when there is economic competition, while democracy works best when there is political competition. With this in mind, Keen and Rajan discuss how these two forces can work better together.
Presidential Scholar at CUNY and author of Capitalism, Alone, Branko Milanovic kicks off the second season of How to Fix Democracy. He discusses elements of different capitalistic systems, such as in the United States and Denmark, and rejects the commonly held assumption that people universally value freedom over economic prosperity.
Considered one of the world’s leading experts on democracy, Larry Diamond, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, believes democracy worldwide is in a recession. The crisis is “bad, deepening, accelerating,” but he suggests several steps we can take to reverse the trend, such as ranked choice voting to tackle the two-party system, and spreading “motor voter” laws to increase the number of registered voters. For Diamond, democracy is the only political system that can preserve freedom, which is itself intrinsic to being human.
Annika Savill, Executive Head of the UN Democracy Fund admits that the word “democracy” doesn’t appear anywhere in the UN charter, but finds it exists in the demands of people everywhere who are working to hold their governments accountable. She tells Andrew Keen that, as a former journalist, she is passionate about facts and worried about clickbait and “tidbits of information without verification.” She also offers the concept of “citizens’ assemblies” as an alternative for referenda, and muses about exploring the relationship between “linguistic echo chambers” and democracy.
Prior to the 2016 election, Richard Stengel, former managing editor of Time magazine, witnessed the rise of disinformation firsthand from his position as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. He believes that consuming media with caution could be a powerful antidote to efforts to deceive us, and is skeptical that governments attempting to “counter” disinformation on social media platforms is the correct approach. From the limits of free speech laws to legislation erring on the side of privacy, Stengel and host Andrew Keen discuss what does and doesn’t work in the information wars.
Leon Botstein, music director and conductor, scholar, and president of Bard College in upstate New York, had once thought that the Berlin Wall would never come down. And he found the revolutions surrounding 1989 “frightening” because they could lead to the ascent of unregulated capitalism and the release of suppressed nationalism. Botstein explains that democracy “is harder than people expected” and worries that we are spending too much time staring at our smartphones and “mesmerized by nothing” rather than finding meaning and value by our own activity.
Referenced in the interview: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/college-behind-bars/
Consumer advocate, lawyer, and former U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader believes that democracy is about civic organization, not just public opinion. In his assessment, the American people have lost perspective and ceded control of politics to “big money.” But they should understand that there is broad popular support for many of the things they want, and the key is Congress. Nader, who made a career on circumventing big business control in Washington, urges Americans to put the focus on Congress, the most powerful branch of government, and remarks that, historically, it’s only taken concerted effort from 1% of the population to push major change. He reminds the public that there is something that politicians want more than money from special interests: your vote.
Canadian political philosopher and writer John Ralston Saul discusses how the crisis in democracy today is self-inflicted and intentional. The people, he says, have given up holding power themselves, accepting instead to gain influence over power. In pursuing good causes they have turned over the levers of power to business and the higher echelons of government. To fix democracy, Ralston Saul hopes that citizens — a concept he says has been abandoned — will seek to participate in democracy at local levels in order to reclaim the foundations of democratic power.
Rob Riemen, Dutch philosopher and founder of the Nexus Institute, names Baruch Spinoza, the 17th century philosopher, as one of the first great minds to understand the importance of democracy. Spinoza, he says, saw that only democracy would be able to put human dignity and individual freedom first. But maintaining democracy, Riemen says, is not about institutions. Instead, it relies on cultivating the “spirit of democracy” through liberal education.
Carl Gershman, founding president of the National Endowment for Democracy, recalls how the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States marked a turning point, derailing the idea that democracy would simply continue its forward march in history. His hope, however, is that democracy’s current regression spurs people around the world to defend it more vigorously.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Constanze Stelzenmüller discusses how domestic problems have led to disruptions in foreign policy—turning partners into rivals. At home, many democracies are struggling with balance: between national security and privacy, the political center and the peripheries, or direct and representative democracy. Stelzenmüller goes into detail about the many aspects we should re-evaluate, particularly in Germany, France, the UK, and the United States. And she relishes the challenge for her generation to preserve democracy for the future.
Rappler CEO and co-founder Maria Ressa got her start as a journalist in the Philippines in the 1980s and has seen the pendulum of democracy swing in both directions since. In her interview with Andrew Keen, Ressa—who was among the journalists named Person of the Year by Time Magazine in 2018—dives into the way that “lies laced with anger” have spread faster than facts across social media, playing to the worst of human nature and undermining democracy. As we find ourselves in a political environment she likens to dystopia and chaos, Ressa asks us all to reflect on the values that guide us.
Yascha Mounk, associate professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS and expert on the rise of populism, describes three main challenges to democracy: the stagnation of living standards in developed democracies, cultural and demographic changes that are shifting the status quo, and the social media’s domination. These elements have combined to increase the supply of “noxious ideas” that have led to factions and division in the United States and other countries. One way to reverse this process, Mounk argues, is to resist divisive ideology in favor of what he calls “inclusive nationalism.”
Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has been immersed in U.S. politics since the late 1960s and has watched the evolution of the Republican Party with concern. Ornstein no longer views the GOP as conservative, he tells Andrew Keen, but as radical, leaving behind its ideology for a theology. And though he cannot point to a period in American history where the political situation was ideal — even the post World War II years of bipartisan cooperation were fraught with racial divisions — today it is about as dire as he’s seen.
For Cornell William Brooks, former president of the NAACP and current professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, democracy is not an ethereal concept from Greece; it is about his family lineage. For centuries, the story of democracy in the United States has been about an expanding definition of citizenship and what an American looks like. Brooks encourages us to remember the art of conversation in an increasingly digital world and promotes removing obstacles to voting, even making voting a requirement.
Director of the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy and former White House and State Department official, Laura Rosenberger views democracy from a national security perspective. In this interview, she urges the United States to pay close attention to threats from without and within. In addition to focusing on borders, security means focusing on systems, she claims. Otherwise, the United States leaves itself vulnerable to authoritarian regimes and illiberal forces who could seek to undermine democracy in order to increase their relative power. Americans’ first line of defense is to not let external interference divide them, an important message heading into a year of presidential campaigning.
Washington commentator and columnist for the Financial Times Ed Luce recounts the many misunderstandings we've had over the past few decades. From the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the collapse of the neoliberal Washington Consensus in 2008, Luce illustrates how political developments frame how we experience economic events, and how economics can predict politics. Ultimately, he asks us to consider the price we must pay for social peace and warns about the stakes of the 2020 election in the US.
Sheri Berman, professor of Political Science at Columbia University's Barnard College offers a historical perspective of democracy, along with some very useful definitions of concepts like illiberal, liberal, fascism, populism, and democracy. She argues that polarization, even at the scale we're experiencing today, is very common throughout history; what is unique about today is that a lot of changes are happening all at once.
Historian and journalist Anne Applebaum sat down with Andrew Keen during the opening dinner of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Washington Symposium in April 2019 for a live episode of How to Fix Democracy. A thought leader on disinformation, Applebaum commented on current political polarization by arguing that unless you can have debates based on a commonly agreed upon set of facts, you cannot have democracy at all. For a deeper dive into these themes and others beyond her interview, read the essays that she and other leading experts on democracy prepared for the Symposium here.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, interviewed at the Aspen Ministers Forum in Kansas City, sees the challenges to liberal values as tied to, but separate from, the challenges to democracy. He explains how many places where democracy is said to be in crisis today are actually experiencing a shift away from liberal ideas rather than from democracy itself. In a conversation that touches upon Brexit, the Cold War, and China’s rise, Sir Malcolm frames the challenge to liberal democracy today as a battle between “rule of law” and “rule by law.”
Mete Coban is a Councillor for Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney and Chief Executive at My Life My Say, a youth-led, non-partisan charity focused on increasing participation in democracy. Mete offers his views on how young people view democracy differently and how Brexit helped draw more young people into politics.
In our second interview from the Aspen Ministers Forum in Kansas City, former Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel Tzipi Livni offers her view on democracy’s condition. She talks with Andrew Keen about the current state of politics in Israel, what she thinks political parties must do to contribute to the strength of democracy, and how supporters of liberal democracy around the world can band together to defend it.
From Kansas City, where she was holding the Aspen Ministers Forum in May 2019, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke with Andrew Keen about why her first president, Harry Truman, was such an inspiration to her. In this engaging episode, Secretary Albright also shares her view that the 1% is anti-democratic, tells a story about how cassette tapes helped lead to martial law in communist Poland, and says what she learned writing her most recent book, Fascism: A Warning.
This episode reaches back in time to revisit the origins of democracy with Greek historian and classics scholar Angelos Chaniotis. Host Andrew Keen asks: why democracy began in Athens and what was it like when it first emerged? In looking back to the origins of democracy, they find there are clues to preserving the modern version. Listen to find out more.
Earl Lewis shares with Andrew Keen that his students give him hope for the future of democracy. In their discussion, Dr. Lewis explains that through his work at the Center for Social Solutions he has identified four main challenges for American society: addressing its slavery past, valuing diversity, dealing with climate change, and maintaining the dignity of labor in an automated world.
Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, sits down with Andrew Keen. In a thought-provoking discussion, they cover democracy's capacity for self-correction, the disappearance of the political center, and how DC today reminds Ivan of Bulgaria in 1989.
From Prague, where he served as Ambassador from the United States, Norman Eisen discusses the ups and downs of democracy in the Czech city over the course of the 20th century. Democracy, he argues, offers core freedoms—personal, political, press, and juridical—that other forms of government ultimately cannot preserve. And that gives him optimism for the future.
Moisés Naím, distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains the trend of “one vote, one person, one time,” or, how some democratically-elected leaders undermine institutional checks and balances in an attempt to hold onto power indefinitely. Crucially, however, many of these creeping authoritarians are intent on maintaining the appearance of legitimate democracy. Why and how do they do it? And, finally, how does Venezuela demonstrate how disastrous this model can be? Listen to find out.
Soraya Chemaly, author, activist, and director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project, challenges the idea that democracy in the United States was ever unbroken, unpacks the negative and sometimes violent reactions to women who show political ambition, and explains how culture and gender frame the way we think about technology.
Eurosceptic and anti-Brexit, The Economist’s Adrian Wooldridge argues that democracy must find a middle ground between the elites and the populists. However, even this middle ground proves to be controversial. Wooldridge and Andrew Keen debate whether a politics of identity is undermining or invigorating democracy, whether capitalism and democracy are on divergent paths, and how to detach the “liberal” from the “liberal elite.” A thought-provoking discussion that touches upon many of today’s contentious subjects.
Andrew Keen talks with Carol Anderson, Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Emory University, about the flaws in American democracy and why she's still hopeful for the future.
Andrew Keen interviews David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University and host of the Talking Politics podcast, who believes that democracy is in a midlife crisis, and what comes next is not a repeat of history, but something that could only happen in the 20th century.
Andrew Keen interviews Michael Ignatieff, the rector and president of the Central European University in Budapest, an institution that has come under attack by Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary.