The crisis facing democratic regimes today is cause for serious concern; it is also an opportunity for deep reflection on questions and assumptions concerning liberal representative democracy. Instead of assuming a defensive posture and taking up arms to defend the status quo, our conference asks: how can we revitalize our democracy?   This event took place October 16th, 2020 and featured David van Reybrouck, Hélène Landemore, and Roger Berkowitz.  Click here to learn more.

Featuring David van Reybrouck, Hélène Landemore, and Roger Berkowitz, this podcast explores revitalizing democracy through sortition and citizen power. They discuss the crisis of democracy, the decline in political party membership, and the importance of sortition in promoting democratic exchange. They also examine issues of accountability, inclusion, and self-monitoring in decision-making processes.

In the latest Amor Mundi Podcast, Roger Berkowitz and Masha Gessen talk about how even amidst the rise of subjectivism and the internalization of the world—what Hannah Arendt calls world alienation—there has remained a commitment to a common or shared world. Yet, it is precisely that common world that today seems endangered, and Gessen asks how language is used in anti-political ways to undermine the world we share. If the common world is shattered, the question is whether a new story can be told and constituted to rebuild a common world. Berkowitz and Gessen ask: What would it mean in the wake of both the Trump Presidency and the Black Lives Matter Movement to retell the American story? But is the story of America the unfulfilled story of the Langston Hughes, that America has not yet lived up to its promise? Is it the story of competent management and technocracy? Or is it the story of decentralized and local government, a humbler and more anarchic amalgamation of plural and different people who come together around an embrace of freedom? Touching on the importance of hypocrisy, the rise of the masses, and the perils of bi-partisanship, Gessen and Berkowitz embrace politics as a conversation, the attempt to figure out how we live together.

Discussion on revitalizing democracy through citizen assemblies and the Sortition movement. Exploring the potential of lottery elections and advocacy groups. Examples of citizen juries and decision-making power. Broadening the debate with citizen assemblies in Toronto. Steps and approaches to creating citizen assemblies in the US.

Roger Berkowitz interviews lawyer and activist Philip K. Howard about his books and his nonprofit organization, Common Good, which aims to simplify government. They discuss the challenges of bureaucracy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of common sense in society, the dangers of anti-common sense government, the need for checks and balances to ensure fairness, and the importance of accountability and local control in government systems.

Olivia Guaraldo, a political thinker and professor, shares her experience during the lockdown in northern Italy. They discuss the challenges faced, contrasting experiences of intimacy and isolation. They explore the thrill of democracy and its physical expressions. The potential outcomes of the ongoing catastrophe and the importance of a cohesive European response are also discussed.

Coping Strategies for Internet Distractions, Creating Spaces for Conversations, Exploring the Consequences of COVID-19 on human dignity, The Bias of Experts and the Prejudice of Scientism, Personal Story of Work and Healthcare Dilemmas, Rise of Populism and Anti-Establishment Sentiment, Revitalizing Democracy Through Citizen Juries and Assemblies.

This is episode 5,” Looking In the Mirror.”  It features the Arendt Center's Founder and Director Roger Berkowitz in conversation with Jerome Kohn, a political thinker, the literary executor for Hannah Arendt,  and the editor of many volumes of Arendt’s posthumous works including “Thinking Without a Bannister,” “The Jewish Writings,”  “Essays in Understanding,” and Responsibility and Judgment.” Jerry Kohn was Hannah Arendt’s last research assistant while a graduate student at the New School for Social Research. Both Kohn and Berkowitz were jointly awarded the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the City of Bremen in 2019.    Podcast editing and music by Andy Evan Cohen. Additional narration by Janet Bentley. Illustration by Grant Barnhart.

Roger Berkowitz discusses the world as it is now with Uday Mehta, Distinguished Professor at City University of New York.