The Democracy Group

Between democracy and autocracy is an anocracy, defined by political scientists as a country that has elements of both forms of government — usually one that's on the way up to becoming a full democracy or on the way down to full autocracy. This messy middle is the state when civil wars are most likely to start and the one that requires the most diligence from that country's citizens to prevent a civil war from breaking out.Barbara F. Walter, author of How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them has spent decades studying civil wars around the world and working with other political scientists to quantify how strong democracy is in a given country. She joins us this week to discuss those findings, how the democratic health of the United States has shifted over the past decade, and more.Walter is the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and completed post docs at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University and the War and Peace Institute at Columbia University. How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop ThemBarbara F. Walter on TwitterAdditional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyDemocracy Works PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It feels like free speech has become the number one issue confronting higher education today. Campuses are now hotbeds of discontent. Students are sitting in, protesting questionable speakers on campus. State elected officials are dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programming. So what is being done to address the campus free speech woes? Stephanie King, senior director of strategic initiatives for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and Dannise Brown and Adonis Ortiz, members of the Madison Debate Society at James Madison University provide us with some answers to campus free speech issues.Additional InformationThe Democracy Group listener surveyDemocracy Matters PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Don’t miss this warm, funny professional’s guided tour of an industry that is failing us—the "Broken News." You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll know a thing or two to do to fix it.Our very special guest, Chris Stirewalt—a former Fox News political editor— gives us an inside view of the rage-driven political environment we’ve found ourselves plunged into: “Rage revenue-addicted news companies are plagued by shoddy reporting, sensationalism, groupthink, and brain-dead partisan tribalism. Newsrooms rely on emotion-driven blabber to entrance conflict-addled super users.” We think that just about nails it. Chris Stirewalt is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on American politics, voting trends, public opinion, and the media. He is concurrently a contributing editor and weekly columnist for The Dispatch. Before joining AEI, he was political editor of Fox News Channel, where he helped coordinate political coverage across the network and specialized in on-air analysis of polls and voting trends.Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.Additional InformationThe Village SquareCast PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every day we are bombarded with negative news and polarizing opinions from politicians, pundits, and others who seek attention, power, and money by escalating division. Our guest, Amanda Ripley, calls them "conflict entrepreneurs."In this podcast, Amanda explains why she believes the problem we face in America isn't too much conflict. Instead, it’s the type of disagreement we are having. We hear about the crucial differences between constructive conflict, where different sides seek to find common ground, and destructive conflict where discord distills into a good-versus-evil kind of feud, with an "us" and a "them".Amanda Ripley is a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post. Her recent book is "High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out."Additional InformationLet's Find Common Ground PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The civil rights movement was a huge leap forward for voting rights, yet one group of the electorate remains largely on the sidelines: the poor. Legal scholar Bertrall Ross calls low turnout among the bottom 20 percent of American earners an insidious form of voter suppression, all but guaranteeing their interests won’t be served. And he offers some ideas on how to get political campaigns to court new voters. We also speak to Nevada’s new secretary of state, who defeated an election denier.Additional InformationDemocracy in Danger PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In much of the country local news has collapsed, threatening civic pride and a sense of community for countless towns and cities. This dramatic change has also deepened America's divides.As our guest, journalist and public policy researcher Anna Brugmann explains in this episode, "the internet disrupted the local journalism model". Newspaper advertising revenue fell 80% since 2000. Thousands of local and regional publications closed. Most surviving newsrooms faced drastic cutbacks. Coverage of all kinds of local events— from city hall, school board meetings and football games to local businesses and zoning decisions — disappeared.First, Craigslist displaced print-based classified ads. Then Google, Facebook and other online firms became the main source of consumer advertising. We discuss the impact on local journalism. In recent decades, the news we read and listen to has largely shifted from local reporting to often highly polarizing national opinion journalism.In the first of two episodes on the changing face of the news media, we look at the retreat of local journalism and discuss solutions. These include non-profit media and changes in for-profit business models. Today, many newspapers get more revenue from subscriptions and fundraising drives than from advertising. We ask: how sustainable are these initiatives?Anna Brugmann is policy director for the advocacy organization, Rebuild Local News. According to her group, since 2004, as the U.S. population has grown, the number of newsroom employees has dropped by 57%."By almost every metric by which you measure a healthy community and a healthy democracy, the trends are in the wrong direction when local news leaves," says Anna. "In the past twenty years more than two thousands newspapers have closed in The United States."Additional InformationHow Do We Fix It? PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CPF Executive Director Kamy Akhavan joins Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Ambassador to the U.S., for a conversation on the history and current status of the European Union and United States relationship. They discuss EU support for Ukraine, the latest on the post-Brexit Windsor Framework, important human rights issues, and advice for young people who want to get involved in public service.Featuring:Stavros Lambrinidis: European Union Ambassador to the United StatesKamy Akhavan: Executive Director, Center for the Political FutureAlison Dundes Renteln: USC Professor of Political Science, Anthropology, Public Policy and LawAdditional InformationThe Bully Pulpit PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Rick Pildes joins Lee and James to consider two different explanations for America’s present political dysfunction. Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at the New York University School of Law. His work explores legal and policy issues concerning the structure of democratic elections and institutions, such as the role of money in politics, the design of election districts, the regulation of political parties, the structure of voting systems, the representation of minority interests in democratic institutions, and similar issues. Earlier in his career, Pildes clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. Most recently, President Biden appointed Pildes to the President’s Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.Why is American politics presently dysfunctional? Is it because Americans are too polarized? Or is it because they are too fragmented? How has political fragmentation affected politics in the past? What challenges does it pose for effective governance? What is an effective government? And how many political parties do Americans really need? These are some of the questions that Rick, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.Additional InformationPolitics in Question PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Josh Chin is the Deputy Bureau Chief for China at the Wall Street Journal and the coauthor with Liza Lin of the book Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control.Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:38Describing Xinjiang - 2:38Social Engineering - 11:21Privacy in China - 19:08AI in China - 28:23Key LinksSurveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control by Josh Chin and Liza LinRead more from Josh Chin in the Wall Street Journal"The Mandarin in the Machine" A review of Surveillance State in Journal of Democracy by Will DobsonAdditional InformationDemocracy Paradox PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, we share a panel from the 92nd Street Y’s State of America Summit. Host Farai Chideya asks: who defines America’s Values? We discuss the power of storytelling and civil society with Bird Runningwater, CEO of Cloud Women Media, award-winning author and Harvard Professor Suketu Mehta, author Anna Malaika Tubbs, and Washington Post Contributing Columnist Danielle Allen.Additional InformationOur Body Politic PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.