Democracy Works

Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Mark Meadows whose testimony captured the nation's attention in the January 6 Congressional hearings, joins us this week to discuss her time in the Trump administration and her new role safeguarding American democracy.

If there's one thing that people across the political spectrum can agree on, it's a sense of discontent with the current state of American politics. This week, we explore the origins of that discontent and why it's damaging to democracy.

V Spehar of TikTok's Under the Desk News joins us to discuss how social media can strengthen democracy by creating space for community and encouraging offline civic engagement.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, one of America's leading experts on the far right, joins us this week to discuss what draws people to political extremism online and offline — and what we can do to combat it.

Scholars Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan argue that America might not be as polarized as we think because the media and political observers over-index on people who are deeply invested in politics at the expense of those who are not as engaged.

Chris Beem talks with journalist Tim Alberta about the role that Evangelical Christians play in the Republican Party — and what that means for the future of American democracy.

Tammy Patrick from the National Association of Election Officials joins us for our first full episode of 2024 to unpack the challenges facing the thousands of election officials across the U.S. in 2024 and beyond.

Happy New Year! We're starting off 2024 with a conversation about finding hope in politics.

For our final episode of 2023, we revisit some of our episodes from throughout the year and reflect on what's in store for democracy in 2024.

This week, we're bringing you an episode from War Stories, Peace Stories, a podcast that helps us understand the human side of conflicts and peace efforts around the world

Two of our Penn State colleagues join us this week to discuss their recent findings on the connection between state-mandated civics tests and voter turnout.

Democracy is sometimes described as "a system where political parties lose elections." That's true but doesn't capture the deeper feelings of grief and grievance associated with political loss. We dive into those emotions this week with Juliet Hooker of Brown University.

Cas Mudde, one of the world's leading experts in the study of populism and far-right politics, joins us this week to discuss the tensions between populism and democracy, and why populism has increased around world in recent years.

This week, we explore the shift of working class union voters from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

Penn State professors John Iceland and Eric Silver join us this week to discuss how the discrepancy between social order and social justice impedes political compromise and progress.

This week, we're handing the microphone to Penn State student Joey Picarillo for an interview about the rise and fall of early democracies and what lessons we can learn from them today.

We talk with technology expert Jennifer Pahlka about why government systems seem so bad — and how everyone can contribute to making them better.

Chris Beem talks with former Republican political operative Tim Miller about the party's loyalty to Donald Trump and where it might go in 2024 and beyond.

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're excited to present an episode from our sister podcast, When the People Decide, about how libraries can be sites of civic engagement and building a new social fabric in America's cities and towns.

This week, we bring you an interview from the Democracy Paradox podcast about the political crisis in Peru and how it fits into the bigger picture of democratic erosion around the world.

We're excited to share and episode from the Village SquareCast, the podcast produced by The Village Square and one of our fellow shows in The Democracy Group podcast network.

This week, we're bringing you an episode from the podcast democracy-ish, hosted by Danielle Moodie and Waj Ali.

On our season finale, we break down some of the biggest stories in politics and democracy over the past few months, including legislative actions in North Carolina and beyond, cases the U.S. Supreme Court is considering, the debt ceiling, and more.

John Della Volpe, director of the Harvard Youth Poll and author of the book "Fight" about Gen Z politics, joins us this week to discuss the events that shaped the generation's political ideology and how they're pushing back against narratives established by previous generations.

This week, we bring you an episode from Think Inclusive, a podcast that builds bridges between families, educators, and disability rights advocates to create a shared understanding of inclusive education and what inclusion looks like in the real world.

Peniel E. Joseph, author of "The Third Reconstruction," joins us this week to discuss how the era from Barack Obama's election to George Floyd's murder compare to the post-Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.

Barbara F. Walter, author of the bestselling book "How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them" joins us this week to discuss what makes a country vulnerable to civil war and what actions people can take to prevent democratic backsliding.

Against the backdrop of changes in Medicaid policy, we discuss how receiving government benefits like Medicaid impacts political agency, whether it's possible to square federalism and equality, and more.

This week, we bring you an episode from Feet in 2 Worlds and its series Immigrants in a Divided Country, which explores the current political landscape from the perspective of immigrants.

Our guest this week argues that jury service is an important civic duty that could be used to expand democratic action and strengthen civic engagement.

In honor of Civic Learning Week, we explore the promise of civics education to help us move through disagreements about teaching race, gender, and other hot-button issues.

Chris Beem talks with Peter Levine, professor of citizenship and public affairs at Tufts University and author of the book "What Should Do? A Theory of Civic Life"

This week, we discuss how to meet the demands that democracy places on us without sacrificing our own personal mental health in the process.

As politicians begin to announce their candidacies for the 2024 elections, we examine the barriers that exist for women of color when it comes to running for and winning elections.

Our spring 2023 season begins with an examination of the role that news consumption plays in our democracy and how news consumers can focus their attention on information that leads to productive democratic citizenship.

We've had some incredible guests on the show in 2022. For our final episode of the year, we're taking a look back at what we've learned from them.

Dave Karpf of George Washington University joins us this week to discuss party networks, the future of social media, and more.

Our guest this week argues that the free speech problem on college campuses is largely manufactured by a small group of media and political figures with powerful platforms - to the detriment of colleges and universities across the country.

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie joins us this week to discuss his recent work on how the Constitution and other counter-majoritarian institutions are getting in the way of democratic progress.

We're taking a break this week to recover from the midterms. In the meantime, enjoy a rebroadcast of our conversation with Pennsylvania's Attorney General, and now Governor-elect, Josh Shapiro.

Norm Eisen, Joanna Lydgate, and Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, the co-founders of the States United Democracy Center join us this week to discuss the work they're doing to ensure free, fair, and secure elections in the 2022 midterms and beyond.

Amid election deniers and political polarization, it's easy to overlook the times when democracy is actually working. We do that this week in a hopeful conversation about resident-centered government.

This week, we discuss how the Green New Deal push the boundaries of what's possible in environmental and economic policy, the lasting impacts of environmental racism, and how climate reform is connected to democracy reform.

Can liberal democracy withstand the challenges its currently facing? Francis Fukuyama is one of America's leading scholars on liberalism and joins us this week for a discussion about the threats its faces and how we might overcome them.

The work of election administrators has never been glamorous, but now it's downright dangerous in some places. Jessica Huseman from Votebeat joins us this week to discuss what's happening and how we can support the people doing the hard work of democracy this election season.

The Democratic Party saw surges in grassroots activism after the 2016 election, after George Floyd's murder, and most recently after the Dobbs decision. However, the party seems to be sticking to the same old playbook of fundraising emails and text messages, rather than building long-term organizational power. Our guests this week explore why that is and what we can do about it.

Our guest this week argues that state constitutions can serve an important role in carrying out the "laboratories of democracy" vision and providing nuance that the federal constitution cannot.

Democracy Works host Chris Beem joins the Future Hindsight podcast to discuss his new book, "The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can Do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy."

Rural broadband has been our list of episode topics for a long time. This week, we finally have the conversation with one of the leading scholars on the politics of Internet access.

Don Moynihan of Georgetown University joins us this week to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, Schedule F, and how policy implementation is democracy in action.

We're back after our summer break and catch up on what's happened to American democracy while we were on hiatus.

This week, we explore a new approach to breaking out of partisan echo chambers and finding a balanced perspective on the news.

Jake Grumbach's book "Laboratories against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics" is out now from Princeton University Press. We were lucky enough to receive and advance copy and are rebroadcasting our conversation with him from earlier this year.

Chris Beem leads this week's discussion on how freedom and liberty manifest themselves and impact democratic engagement.

While Democracy Works is on summer hiatus, check out our new narrative series about ballot initiatives, the people who organize them, and how they've shaped American politics and policy.

In our last episode before summer break, Michael, Chris, Candis, and Jenna reflect on what we've learned this year on the show and look ahead to what the summer will hold for American democracy.

This week, we explore the question of whether requiring every American to vote would change our fractured political landscape and strengthen our sense of civic duty.

We explore the generation gap in American politics and why our democracy is in many ways a gerontocracy.

This week, we present an episode of the No Jargon podcast from the Scholars Strategy Network. Candis Watts Smith joins the show to discuss her research on racial attitudes among Millennials.

Legislators and parent groups are asking school districts across the country are removing books from school library shelves — often before they've even read them. This week, we explore what's happening and what it means for free speech and public education in our democracy.

The Republican National Committee's decision to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates prompted us to take a step back and consider the role of debates in a democracy.

Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in student debt and some members of the Millennial and Gen Z wonder whether they'll ever pay off their loans. This week, we take a step back to see how we got here and how student debt relates to trust in democratic institutions.

Peter Pomerantsev returns to the show to discuss how misinformation and polarization are impacting Ukraine and the United States in similar ways.

Pulitzer prize-winning writer Jon Meacham joins us this week to discuss what unity looks like in polarizing times, who in history inspires him most, his role in the changing media landscape, and more.

Lilliana Mason of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University joins us this week to discuss her work on the radicalization of American politics and why political scientists have been slow to catch onto it.

Peter Pomerantsev will visit Penn State March 31 and April 1 to discus Ukraine, Russian misinformation, and more. To get ready for his visit, we're rebroadcasting our conversation with him from May 2021.

Rep. Ro Khanna draws from Frederick Douglass and John Rawls to create a vision for democratic patriotism, and has ideas for how technology can help make that vision a reality.

Michael Berkman leads this week's interview on the evolution of Russia and Ukraine in the post-Soviet era to understand the origins of the current conflict between the countries.

Foreign policy expert and Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan joins us this week to discuss crises in democracy in the United States and Ukraine.

This week, we dive headfirst into free speech, cancel culture, academic freedom, and what role universities play in democracy.

Thomas Main argues that illiberalism is the basic repudiation of liberal democracy, the very foundation on which the United States rests. He joins us this week to discuss how we got here and what we can do about it.

This week, we explore how America's market-driven media have undermined democracy — and how more robust public media in the U.S. might help right the ship.

As many liberals were saying "thank God for federalism" in the Trump era, Jake Grumbach saw some different — and disturbing — patterns emerging. He joins us this week to discuss the findings in his forthcoming book, Laboratories Against Democracy.

Michael Rebell of Teachers College at Columbia University joins us this week to discuss how the courts can and should address the civic empowerment gap in the United States and create better civics education for everyone.

Around the world, religion is being used to fuel "us vs. them" narratives and undermine the foundations of democracy. This week, we dive into what this means and how people of faith can chart a different path forward.

Penn State's Jim Piazza returns to the show this week to discuss a new study on why the loser's consent is a critical part of a healthy democracy — and what happens when politicians and other elites fail to abide by it.

We look back on 2021 and consider the looming democratic crises in the year(s) to come. How much attention should you be paying to the doomsayers? We dive into that question in this episode.

Vanderbilt University political theorist Robert Talisse returns to the show to make the case for democratic introspection and appreciating perspectives that differ from your own.

Historian Keisha N. Blain joins us this week to discuss the life and work of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. As you’ll hear, many of the forces Hamer pushed against are still present in our politics today.

This week, we broadcast a recording from a virtual event with Andrew Yang and Charlie Dent on political parties and democracy reform. We discuss open primaries, ranked-choice voting, universal voting, and more.

Desmond Meade joins us this week to discuss how his movement transcended partisan politics to restore voting rights to millions of people in Florida.

Jonathan Haidt is part of the newly-announced University of Austin, created in response to what its founders deem a lack of viewpoint diversity among college faculty. Haidt was beginning to explore those themes when he joined on the show in March 2019.

Much of the conversation around social media and democracy focuses on algorithms and Big Tech. Our guest this week argues the real problem might be with us, not the platforms.

Words matter, especially when all eyes are on a presidential campaign. This week, we take a deep dive into the world of despicable discourse.

Miles Taylor and Charlie Dent, two Republicans who are working to redefine the Republican Party in the Trump era, join us this week to discuss the party's past, present, and future.

Tom Nichols argues that the greatest threat to American democracy is posed, not by foreign adversaries, but by our own decisions. He joins us this week to explain.

Christopher Fowler, a geography professor at Penn State, joins us this week to examine redistricting and gerrymandering from a different perspective that we often hear from political science and good government groups.

Voting rights scholar Carol Anderson joins us this week to explore the history of voter access in the United States, and how efforts to restrict the vote today resemble tactics from the past.

In a provocative new book, Jonathan Rauch argues that America's democratic institutions are under attack from illiberal forces on the left and the right. He joins us this week to discuss how to fight back.

Has Amazon's rapid expansion come at the expense of America's democratic institutions? In some cases, the answer might be yes.

Candis Watts Smith and Rebecca Kreitzer unpack the politics of abortion and its implications for democracy, from court decisions to public opinion and campaign messaging.

Half of the U.S. Senate and one-third of the House of Representatives is 65 or older. What does that mean for Millennial politicians? Time magazine's Charlotte Alter joins us this week to discuss.

We're back after our summer break! Michael, Chris, Candis, and Jenna catch up on what happened over the summer, from COVID vaccine mandates to school board chaos to the refugee crisis in Afghanistan. The underlying theme of it all is one of democracy's central tensions — the collective vs. the individual.

As redistricting begins across the country, we revisit our conversation with journalist and author David Daley about the consequences for American democracy if gerrymandering happens again this time around.

This week, we bring you an episode from the Democracy Paradox podcast. Jan-Werner Müller of Princeton University joins host Justin Kempf to discuss his new book, Democracy Rules.

As Congress debates a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, we revisit an episode from 2020 on polarization and compromise in the legislature with Princeton University's Frances E. Lee.

Many of us can recall the experience of scrolling through our phones or streaming TV apps without ever choosing something to focus on. Pete Davis describes this an "infinite browsing mode" and argues that it creates a culture where democracy can't fully thrive.