RevDem Podcast

In conversation with RevDem editor Robert Nemeth, Dean Starkman, senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, talks about the Pandora Papers and how tax avoidance and secrecy endangers democracy.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Gábor Tóka discusses the recent opposition primaries and ongoing political developments in Hungary. The conversation explores the mobilizatory successes of the opposition forces with a focus on the most surprising elements of the primaries; the unexpected rise of Péter Márki-Zay and his character as a politician; the opportunities and challenges the united opposition faces and will continue to face going forward; and the ongoing transformation and slide of the Orbán regime. The transcript of the conversation will follow soon.

Michal Matlak interviews Zsolt Enyedi about the development of Church-State relations in Hungary, Viktor Orban’s vision of Christian Democracy, why the Democracy Institute plays an important symbolic role in Budapest, and about his recently published book, “Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe”

In this wide-ranging conversation, Lea Ypi discusses her new memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History and how the people who populate its pages help her connect historical experiences with philosophical thought; how she experienced and dealt with the rupture of 1990 that forced her to reassess her childhood; how that rupture placed her country, Albania, on a seemingly new trajectory with liberal-sounding concepts soon filling the conceptual void that emerged; how the new regime violently collapsed in 1997, just when she was about to graduate from secondary school; and how she relates to the overlapping ideas of freedom in the liberal and socialist traditions.

Our assistant editor, Bence Bari interviews László Kontler, the research affiliate of the CEU Democracy Institute about the DI History Working Group project “History as Democracy”.

As part of a special symposium on the past and present of Christian democracy held on September 24, 2021, just ahead of this year’s German elections, the Review of Democracy has interviewed Kati Marton about her forthcoming book The Chancellor. The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel (Simon & Schuster, 2021). This new book, which will appear in fifteen languages in the near future, draws on years of research and direct access to key individuals to paint a human portrait of the first female chancellor of the Federal Republic. The conversation conducted by Ferenc Laczó focuses on Kati Marton’s motivation to paint a human portrait of Angela Merkel who has been known to be rather fiercely protective about her privacy; on Merkel’s personality traits and how they have impacted the style and substance of her political leadership; the tensions between Merkel’s commitment to liberal and democratic values and the demands of Realpolitik that have defined her sixteen years in office; die Kanzlerin’s signature achievements, notable failures and her legacy; and how her time in charge of Germany has transformed our image of a competent and effective political leader, not least in gender terms.

Our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska (EUI, CEU) talks with Samantha Rose Hill, professor at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, about her recently published biography of Hannah Arendt.

Our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska interviews Dr Elise Hugueny-Léger, Senior Lecturer in French at the University of St Andrews about the French writer Annie Ernaux.

Our assistant editor Teodora Miljojković (CEU) talks with András Sajó, Professor in the Law Department of Central European University and former judge of the European Court of Human Rights about his new book, the tactics of illiberal regimes, their relationship to the rule of law, and shortfalls in the EU’s reaction.

Aldo Madariaga discusses his latest book “Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe” with our editor, Giancarlo Grignaschi. You can find all our podcasts at: revdem.ceu.edu