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An exploration of the argument that America is a republic rather than a democracy, and how representation has been contested throughout American history. The chapter also discusses the failures of modern American democracy in achieving true representativeness.

Democracy reform needs a target. We can say things like "representative democracy must be representative," but what does that exactly mean? In this episode, we speak with Harvard Law Professor Nick Stephanopoulos about his conception of representativeness — "alignment" — and what that says about the reforms we should be pressing.