Democracy Paradox – Details, episodes &amp; analysis

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When Democracy Breaks: Final Thoughts with Archon Fung, David Moss and Arne Westad

Season 1 · Episode 207

mardi 4 juin 2024 • Duration 53:01

I think we've seen democracies can be unstable. Autocracies are even more unstable.

David Moss

Made in partnership with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation

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Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Learn more at https://kellogg.nd.edu

Proudly sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Learn more at https://carnegieendowment.org

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

David Moss is the Paul Whiton Cherington Professor at Harvard Business School. He is also founder and president of the Tobin Project and the Case Method Institute for Education and Democracy.

Arne Westad is the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University.

They are the editors of When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, From Ancient Athens to the Present Day.

Key Highlights

Introduction - 0:20
Thinking about Democratic Breakdown - 3:51
What is Democracy - 19:26
Democratic Recovery - 26:36
Resilience and Fragility - 45:15

Key Links

When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, From Ancient Athens to the Present Day edited by Archon Fung, David Moss, and Odd Arne Westad

"Introduction: When Democracy Breaks" by Archon Fung, David Moss, and Odd Arne Westad

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation

Democracy Paradox Podcast

When Democracy Breaks: Scott Mainwaring on Argentina

When Democracy Breaks: 1930s Japan with Louise Young

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Adam Casey on How Military Aid Can Stabilize and Destabilize Foreign Autocrats

Season 1 · Episode 198

mardi 2 avril 2024 • Duration 51:48

We thought we were strengthening the militaries in the Cold War. In fact, the political effects of those strengthened militaries ended up leading to a longer-term deterioration and instability.

Adam Casey

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Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.

Proudly sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Learn more at https://kellogg.nd.edu

Sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Learn more at https://carnegieendowment.org

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Adam E. Casey is an analyst in the United States government. He wrote Up in Arms: How Military Aid Stabilizes―and Destabilizes―Foreign Autocrats while he was a research fellow at the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies at the University of Michigan. All the content in the book and this interview reflects the views of the author and does not reflect the position of any US government agency or department, nor does it assert or imply US government authentication of information or endorsement of the author's views.

Key Highlights

Introduction - 0:20
Why Military Aid Destabilizes Some Autocrats - 4:23
The Soviet Approach to Military Aid - 21:50
Revolutionary Governments - 29:09
Modernization - 35:57

Key Links

Up in Arms: How Military Aid Stabilizes―and Destabilizes―Foreign Autocrats by Adam Casey

"The Origins of Military Supremacy in Dictatorships," by Dan Slater Lucan A. Way Jean Lachapelle and Adam E. Casey in Journal of Democracy.

Follow Adam Casey on X @adam_e_casey

Democracy Paradox Podcast

After a Coup, Can the Constitutional Order Be Repaired? Adem Abebe on Rebuilding Constitutions in West Africa

Naunihal Singh on the Myth of the Coup Contagion

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100 Books on Democracy

Lucan Way on Ukraine. Democracy in Hard Places.

Scott Mainwaring on Argentina and a Final Reflection on Democracy in Hard Places

Season 1 · Episode 108

mardi 12 juillet 2022 • Duration 44:13

I think they're really important. But I don't think that they are a complete safeguard. Certainly, when you create democracies in hard places, you want to think very carefully about what institutions you want in place and how you strengthen them. But if you get illiberal governing parties in democracies in hard places, they can run over institutions.

Scott Mainwaring

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Scott Mainwaring is the Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, where he previously served as director for 13 years and is a current Advisory Board member. He is the coeditor (with Tarek Masoud) of Democracy in Hard Places.

Key Highlights

Introduction 0:47
Why is Argentina a hard place for democracy? 2:35
Are democracies in hard places the exception or the norm? 9:19
Is Peronism a threat to democracy? 12:01
How can democracies strengthen institutions? 19:32
What role do citizens play? 33:27

Key Links

Learn more about Scott Mainwaring

"The Fates Of Third-Wave Democracies" by Scott Mainwaring and Fernando Bizarro in the Journal of Democracy

Democracy in Hard Places edited by Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Rachel Beatty Riedl on Benin. Democracy in Hard Places.

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Learn more about the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at https://kellogg.nd.edu/

Sarah Repucci from Freedom House with an Update on Freedom in the World

Lucan Way on Ukraine. Democracy in Hard Places

Season 1 · Episode 107

mardi 5 juillet 2022 • Duration 41:24

The war is never going to really end. Because even in the most optimistic scenario where Ukraine regains its territory and it goes back to the 1991 borders, Russia is almost certainly going to present a permanent threat to Ukrainian sovereignty. I think objectively it will. But even if objectively it wasn’t, after such an invasion, you can imagine the political environment's going to treat it as one.

Lucan Way

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Lucan Way is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He coauthored (along with Steven Levitsky) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. He has a new book also coauthored with Steven Levitsky due this fall called Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism. He is the author of the chapter "Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine: Democratic Moments in the Former Soviet Union" in the book Democracy in Hard Places.

Key Highlights

What makes Zelensky such a special leader?
Why wasn't Ukraine considered more democratic before Russia's invasion?
How has the war impacted democracy in Ukraine?
What role did Ukraine's ethnic pluralism contribute to democratization?
What challenges will Ukrainian democracy face after its war with Russia?

Key Links

Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism by Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way

Follow the Lucan Way on Twitter @LucanWay

"The Rebirth of the Liberal World Order?" by Lucan Way in the Journal of Democracy

Democracy in Hard Places edited by Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman on Democratic Backsliding

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Sarah Repucci from Freedom House with an Update on Freedom in the World

Michael Coppedge on Why Democracies Emerge, Why They Decline, and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)

Season 1 · Episode 106

mardi 28 juin 2022 • Duration 35:54

Democracy is a complex concept. It has to do with elections. It has to do with legislatures. It has to do with civil society organizations and courts and political styles of politicians. There's a lot packed into the concept and it's multidimensional, because some of these components don't move together.

Michael Coppedge

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Michael Coppedge is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, a principal investigator of the Varieties of Democracy project, and a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. He is a coeditor (along with Amanda Edgell, Carl Henrik Knutsen, and Staffan Lindberg) of Why Democracies Develop and Decline.

Key Highlights

Democracy as a multidimensional concept
How the conditions for democratization differ from those for backsliding
Ways researchers use information from V-Dem to discover new insights about democracy
New findings from V-Dem research regarding presidentialism, party system institutionalization, and anti-system parties
How has V-Dem changed research about democracy

Key Links

Learn more about the Varieties of Democracy Project

Follow the V-Dem Institute on Twitter @vdeminstitute

Why Democracies Develop and Decline edited by Michael Coppedge, Amanda B. Edgell, Carl Henrik Knutsen and Staffan I. Lindberg

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman on Democratic Backsliding

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Learn more about the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at https://kellogg.nd.edu/

Evan Lieberman on South Africa

Rachel Beatty Riedl on Benin. Democracy in Hard Places.

Season 1 · Episode 105

mardi 21 juin 2022 • Duration 47:14

So, at some level, a belief in democracy was necessary in Benin as in elsewhere. Support for it - Absolutely. But what's interesting in the Benin case is that you were lacking that level of political elite leadership that were committed democratic ideologues.

Rachel Beatty Riedl

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Rachel Beatty Riedl is the John S. Knight Professor of International Studies, Director of the Einaudi Center for International Studies, and professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. She also cohosts the podcast Ufahamu Africa with Kim Yi Dionne. Her chapter "Africa’s Democratic Outliers Success amid Challenges in Benin and South Africa" appears in the forthcoming book Democracy in Hard Places.

Key Highlights

Details the story of Benin's democratization
How Benin has used consensus to govern
What makes Benin a democracy in a hard place
An overview of the current President Patrice Talon
Current threats to democracy in Benin

Key Links

Learn more about the Einaudi Center for International Studies

Listen to the Ufahamu Podcast

Follow Rachel Beatty Riedl on Twitter @BeattyRiedl

Democracy in Hard Places edited by Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Christophe Jaffrelot on Narendra Modi and Hindu Nationalism

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Learn more about the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at https://kellogg.nd.edu/

Christophe Jaffrelot on Narendra Modi and Hindu Nationalism

Ashutosh Varshney on India. Democracy in Hard Places

Season 1 · Episode 104

mardi 14 juin 2022 • Duration 54:40

Nehru is asked several times in those early years, ‘Aren’t you doing something which has never been done before? You are 17% literate. Half of your country is below the poverty line. Under such conditions no democracy has ever stabilize itself and perhaps has not emerged.’ And his argument repeatedly is that we shouldn't be constrained by the history of the West.

Ashutosh Varshney

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Ashutosh Varshney is the Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Brown University, where he also directs the Center for Contemporary South Asia. His chapter "India’s Democratic Longevity and Its Troubled Trajectory" appears in the forthcoming book Democracy in Hard Places.

Key Highlights

How India defied early theories of democratization
The role of leadership in India's early democracy
Why India returned to democracy after Indira Gandhi's emergency?
The eerie similarities between India's recent treatment of Muslims and the rise of the Jim Crow era in the American South
When will democratic backsliding in India become a democratic collapse

Key Links

"Modi Consolidates Power: Electoral Vibrancy, Mounting Liberal Deficits" by Ashutosh Varshney in Journal of Democracy

Learn more about Ashutosh Varshney at www.ashutoshvarshney.net

Follow Ashutosh Varshney on Twitter @ProfVarshney

Democracy in Hard Places edited by Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Dan Slater on Indonesia

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Learn more about the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at https://kellogg.nd.edu/

Nic Cheeseman and Gabrielle Lynch on the Moral Economy of Elections in Africa

Evan Lieberman on South Africa. Democracy in Hard Places

Season 1 · Episode 103

mardi 7 juin 2022 • Duration 49:02

When you hear people talk in such disparaging tones, that everything is broken, that nothing is possible, you need to ask yourself, is that right? When you look around, the answer is no. There are these examples where things do go right, where people work together and create a neighborhood or a community for themselves in which they can be prosperous and build better lives. And that's really what the democratic project is all about.

Evan Lieberman

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A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.

Evan Lieberman is a Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of the MIT Global Diversity Lab, and the faculty director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). He is the coauthor with Rorisang Lekalake of the recent article "South Africa's Resilient Democracy" in the Journal of Democracy and author of the forthcoming book Until We Have Won Our Liberty: South Africa after Apartheid.

Key Highlights

Why is Evan Lieberman optimistic about democracy in South Africa
Role of Nelson Mandela on South Africa's democracy
Importance of South Africa for democracy in the world
Account of the housing community Ethembalethu
What the 2019 election says about democracy in South Africa

Key Links

Until We Have Won Our Liberty: South Africa after Apartheid by Evan Lieberman

"South Africa’s Resilient Democracy" by Evan Lieberman and Rorisang Lekalake in Journal of Democracy

Learn more about Evan Lieberman at www.evanlieberman.org

Follow Evan Lieberman on Twitter @evlieb

Democracy in Hard Places edited by Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Dan Slater on Indonesia

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Email the show at [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @DemParadox

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at https://kellogg.nd.edu/