Better Politics Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of Better Politics, we sit down with Shoukei Matsumoto — a Pure Land Buddhist monk, philosopher, entrepreneur, and author of A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind — for a rare conversation recorded live in Berlin. 

From Doraemon to DeepSea prompts, to Buddhist interbeing to AI as a mirror for our humanness, Shoukei guides us through what it means to lead, live, and make sense of a world where biological and non-biological intelligence now coexist. 

This is a conversation about humility, ego, ancestors, trust, and the future of human leadership in the age of AI — and why becoming “more human” might be the real path forward.

Enjoy the episode!

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This week's episode airs during the first-ever Berlin Freedom Week, an idea that our guest, Leopoldo López, was instrumental in developing with the city of Berlin.

As the General Secretary of the World Liberty Congress, Leopoldo López believes people's power is a non-negotiable precondition for consolidating the global movement for democratic renewal. He also shares his insights on what better political leadership entails, and why we must harness the momentum of change to usher in the type of political leadership citizens deserve.

Enjoy the episode!

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

Political polarization is one of the defining narratives of our time and fewer topics create stronger feelings of hopelessness.
 
In this episode,  Alison Goldsworthy—co-author of "Poles Apart: Why People Turn Against Each Other, and How to Bring Them Together"—delves into some of the science behind polarization and gives tips for making progress in polarized environments. She proves we CAN find hope, even in the face of daily social divisions. 

Alison's reading recommendations: 

Hungary, anti-Semitism and my lost Jewish ancestors by Kate Malby.
UK government helped sanctioned Putin ally sue British journalist by Jim Fitzpatrick. 

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

Former Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Touré talks about what she thinks will help more women get into politics around the world, including quotas, better familial support and alliances between women leaders.

Senegal has a relatively high proportion of women in parliament—44 per cent as of December 2022, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Ms Touré—who has often been called Senegal’s “Iron Lady”—was her country's second female prime minister.

Ms Touré's book recommendation: Conversations with Myself, Nelson Mandela.  

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran has seen the worst of people. That hasn't stopped her from believing in humanity.

In this episode of A Political Hope, Ece talks about a language of progress, why she avoids the concept of political hope and how politicians can use radical love in their work. She also discusses why she chooses to have faith in humanity, no matter how many times people let her down.

This episode was produced at the 2022 Athens Democracy Forum in Partnership with the Democracy and Culture Foundation. We mention two of Ece's books in this episode: Together, and How to Lose a Country.

Ece's book recommendation: The Years, by Annie Ernaux

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

We'll be back sharing political hope from 10 Jan, 2023. Thank you so much for listening and daring to hope!

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

How do we get more passionate activists into political power? In this episode, we talk to movement builders Colombe Cahen-Salvador and Andrea Venzon about barriers to political office, what they look for in a future politician and what will happen if activists on the street continue to feel unrepresented in the halls of power.

Colombe and Andrea are co-founders of pan-European political party Volt Europa and, more recently, global movement and party in the making Atlas.

This episode was produced at the 2022 Athens Democracy Forum in partnership with the Democracy and Culture Foundation.

Andrea's book recommendation: Atomic Habits, by James Clear
Colombe's book recommendation: Invisible Women, by Caroline Criado Perez

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

How does a golfer from a non-political family end up prime minister? Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb shares his unusual political path, including joining a  party for the first time at 36 and becoming prime minister by "accident". He says we must find a way to be kinder to politicians and tells us why he's an internal optimist.   

This interview was originally used for our A Political Path written interview series, which you can find in our weekly briefings. We liked it so much that we decided to bring a longer version to our podcast audience. 

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

A politician’s mental wellbeing is as important as a pilot’s. So, why do we pay so little attention to the wellbeing of our leaders? In this episode, Dr Victoria Hasson and Dr Ashley Weinberg talk about why and how we should give politicians the support they need to serve people well, and why politicians' job creates barriers to accessing support.

Dr Ashley Weinberg is an occupational psychologist, who has been studying the psychology of politicians for 30 years. Dr Victoria Hasson is a political wellbeing trainer and the founder of the Silent MP. 

Dr Hasson’s Book Recommendation: The Life of an MP: Everything You Really Need to Know About Politics by Jess Phillips 

Dr Weinberg’s Book Recommendation: Why We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman 

Hot book tip: Dr Weinberg edited Psychology of Democracy: Of the People, By the People, For the People, which was released last year. 

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.

We're finding hope in climate politics. Yes, that is possible!
Ramona Liberoff, now Executive Director of the World Resource Institute’s Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, explores innovations, solutions and political possibility in this episode released during COP 27.

Ramona is an Apolitical Foundation Global Advisor and started her job at the Worlde Resources Institute after recording this interview. We are so grateful to her for her time and her precise observations.

Ramona’s book recommendations:
- Exponential by Azeem Azhar
- Africa is Not a Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin
- California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid by Katherine Blunt
- The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World by Linsey McGoey

Our book recommendation:
- Another World is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination

Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit our website to stay up to date with our latest news. Subscribe to the Better (Political) Leadership Substack and sign up to our bi-weekly briefing for insights and inspiration on how to build better politics.