Gabriel Hetland has just published his study of populist experiments in Venezuela and Bolivia, Democracy on the Ground, showing the complexity of implementing participatory democracy at the grassroots level. Suzi talks to him about his findings. He examines the possibilities, limits, and concrete cases of participatory democracy, including participatory budgeting at the local level during the highpoint of Latin America’s Left Turn in the 2010s. Hetland's study immediately begs the question: what kind of democracy? It’s a pertinent question here in the US, where democracy is under threat.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.