The Democracy Group

Download our free guide on 5 ways to take action!Yascha Mounk of Johns Hopkins University joined us for this conversation to discuss his latest book THE IDENTITY TRAP: A STORY OF IDEAS AND POWER IN OUR TIME. What is meant by the term “identity synthesis?” In recent years, terms like “identity politics,” “cancel culture” and being “woke” have been used to refer to the topics that are dealt with in the book. So with the urgency of fighting the dangers of right-wing authoritarianism, why address the identity trap? What advice is there for arguing and organizing against the identity trap? And is there reason to be optimistic?YASCHA MOUNK is Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, Founder of Persuasion, an online magazine devoted to defending the values of free societies; he’s a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, he is the host of the Good Fight podcast, and the author, most recently, of The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyTalkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Download our free guide on 5 ways to take action!Victor Cha is a professor of government at Georgetown University and holds the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is a former director for Asian Affairs at the White House National Security Council. Ramon Pacheco Pardo is a professor of international relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at Free University of Brussels. They are the authors of Korea: A New History of South and North.Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:45Korea as a People and a Place - 2:25Korean War and its Aftermath - 11:44Democracy - 23:23Is Reconciliation Possible? - 40:55Key LinksKorea: A New History of South and North by Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco PardoVictor Cha at the Center for Strategic & International StudiesRamon Pacheco Pardo at King's College LondonAdditional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyDemocracy Paradox PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Download our free guide on 5 ways to take action!Why do local and state elections matter, and how can voters be sure that their voices are being represented in the lawmaking process? We open the third season of Democracy Decoded with an overview of democracy at the state and local level, and how we can ensure that all citizens can have their voices heard.In this episode Simone talks with Jawharrah Bahar about her experience losing and then regaining her freedom  to vote, and how that inspired her work with the advocacy group Free Hearts. CLC’s senior vice president Paul Smith explains how and why state and local governments are stepping in directly to protect the right to cast a ballot. Simone also speaks with the Arizona State Director for the organization All Voting is Local, Alex Gulotta. Alex talks about the fight for state and local voting policies that protect the freedom to vote of Black, brown, Native American, and other historically disenfranchised communities.Host and Guests:Simone Leeper litigates a wide range of redistricting-related cases at CLC, challenging gerrymanders and advocating for election systems that guarantee all voters an equal opportunity to influence our democracy. Prior to arriving at CLC, Simone was a law clerk in the office of Senator Ed Markey and at the Library of Congress, Office of General Counsel. She received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2019 and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University in 2016.Jawharrah Bahar is Director of Outreach at Free Hearts, an organization led by formerly incarcerated women that provides support, education, and advocacy in organizing families impacted by incarceration. In her role she has contributed to legislation, spoken at community events, participated in local advocacy campaigns, and raised community awareness through social media videos. Jawharrah is also a licensed esthetician and owner of Lashing Artistry.Paul Smith is Senior Vice President at Campaign Legal Center. He has four decades of experience litigating a wide range of cases. He has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 21 times and secured numerous victories, including Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case. In addition, Paul has argued several voting rights cases at the Supreme Court, including Vieth v. Jubelirer and Gill v. Whitford, involving partisan gerrymandering, LULAC v. Perry, involving the legality of Texas’s mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts and Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, involving the constitutionality of a voter identification law. Paul previously served as a partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block, where he was chair of the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court Practice and co-chair of the firm's Election Law and Redistricting Practice. Alex Gulotta is All Voting is Local’s Arizona State Director. He brings more than 30 years of experience as a poverty law advocate and more than 20 years as a nonprofit executive director. Alex practiced as a legal aid lawyer before becoming the executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC). After that, he joined Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) as executive director. Under his tenure, BayLegal significantly increased its impact litigation and policy advocacy through the implementation of an impact support structure designed to enable every advocate in the program to participate in high-end impact advocacy.Links:Voting Must Be AccessibleWhy the U.S. Needs Equitable Access to In-Person VotingI’m Unable to Vote Because I Have a Record, But I’m Not Going to Allow My Past to Be Held Against MeMidterm Ballot Initiatives Strengthening the Freedom to Vote Win BigAdditional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyDemocracy Decoded PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Download our free guide on 5 ways to take action!In this episode, Grace Panetta, a political reporter at The 19th, joins Kyle Kondik, Carah Ong Whaley and Kylie Holzman to discuss several key issues for the 2024 election, including media coverage of women candidates, voter turnout, dramatic shifts in election law landscape, and ongoing threats to democracy posed by election denialism. Also, in this episode, Kyle discusses his new analysis on Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball about how the most populous counties versus the least populous counties have voted in presidential elections from 1996-2020. In 1996, Bill Clinton won both the most (by 15.7 percentage points) and least populous counties (1.8 point margin). That means the difference between the two was 13.9 points. By 2020, the gap between the most vs. least populous counties was 39.2 points. Links in this episodeHow the Other Half Votes: The United States, Part Two by Kyle KondikThe 19th articles by Grace PanettaNikki Haley’s Time for Choosing by Tim AlbertaThe Red Ripple: The 2022 Midterm Elections and What They Mean for 2024Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyPolitics is Everything PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Until recently most of us outside of state government didn’t know much about the role of Secretary of State, the state’s top election official. We simply didn’t think about it. But since 2020, election laws and procedures have been in the spotlight – and election officials have come under attack. In this episode of Let’s Find Common Ground, we meet Democrat Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State for Washington, and Republican Michael Adams, Secretary of State for Kentucky. Kentucky is a vote-in-person state, while Washington has voting by mail and at the dropbox. But no matter how people vote, suspicion of the entire process is rife. In recent years both men have encountered election deniers and faced threats to themselves and their staff.“These abuses, even if they’re not full-fledged threats of violence - it adds up,” says Michael Adams, “and it begins to really lay some strain on our election process.Hear what each of our guests is doing to protect democracy in his state, why being part of the Electronic Registration Information System (ERIC) is important to them, and how volunteers play a vital role in free and fair elections. Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyLet's Find Common Ground PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

We're back from summer break and diving into the 2024 election season, Donald Trump's indictments, the spread of election deniers, and more. We also welcome Michael Berkman back from sabbatical and discuss the significance of "Democracy 2024" as the backdrop for the first Republican presidential debate on August 23.For our listeners who teach American politics, we've put together a list of episodes designed to be a companion to your courses. Check it out at democracyworkspodcast.com/syllabus.Referenced in this episode: Votebeat piece by Jessica Huseman on Trump indictmentsAdditional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyDemocracy Works PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Evan McMullin joins The Great Battlefield podcast to share his experience as a CIA Officer, running against Trump as an Independent in the 2016 election and how Stand Up Republic is fighting to defend the ideals that our country was founded on.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyThe Great Battlefield PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Fall is on the way, and school is back in session. And THIS year, the summer heat and student loans are making big headlines. On this episode of Our Body Politic, host and creator Farai Chideya speaks with Neel Dhanesha from Heatmap who discusses the underestimated yet deadliest weather crisis - HEAT. We’re also joined by climate activist Dany Sigwalt on how to build a climate movement that includes BIPOC voices. Then co-host Karen Grigsby Bates, who is a founding member of NPR’s Code Switch team speaks with Persis Yu, the deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center, about how the most vulnerable borrowers still recovering from the effects of a pandemic will be able to meet the demands of loan repayments.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyOur Body Politic PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Miles Taylor joins Julia and Lee to talk about the resistance to Donald Trump when he was president. Taylor is the author of Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump. He served in the Trump administration as the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Before that, Taylor worked in Congress and served in the George W. Bush administration.How did administration officials counter the threat to American self-government that they believed Donald Trump posed when he was president? Why did some Republicans resist the president while others supported him? What will happen if Trump - or Trumpism - wins the presidency in 2024? Can a great civic awakening prevent that scenario from happening? And what is the “axis of adults?” These are some of the questions Miles, Julia, and Lee ask in this week’s episode.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyPolitics in Question PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

The United States has one of the highest news avoidance rates in the world. Tens of millions of Americans don’t read, watch or listen to the news each day. The media is generally held in low regard. So, is there a better way to report and analyze current events that will satisfy readers’ interests?In this repeat episode, we hear from Mark Sappenfield, Editor of The Christian Science Monitor, and Story Hinckley, the paper's National Political Correspondent. We’re re-releasing this podcast as the 2024 campaign begins to gather pace — a time when many news outlets have amped up their coverage speculated about winners and losers, and put additional emphasis on the nation’s deep partisan divides.We discuss evolving news values with the Monitor and how reporters and editors are striving to highlight constructive solutions that unite rather than divide. We also hear about election coverage and why the media need to challenge readers, build trust, and report the news truthfully.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyLet's Find Common Ground PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group