Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchNick Butler, "The Trouble with Jokes: Humour and Offensiveness in Contemporary Culture and Politics" (Policy Press, 2023)
Episode 142
In this podcast, Nick Butler explores humour's complex and often controversial role in shaping modern political discourse, examining how jokes can ch…
1 year, 7 months ago
Erica Benner, "Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power" (Penguin, 2024)
Episode 747
Democracy is a living, breathing thing and Dr. Erica Benner has spent a lifetime thinking about the role ordinary citizens play in keeping it alive: …
1 year, 7 months ago
Robert B. Talisse, "Civic Solitude: Why Democracy Needs Distance" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Episode 748
An internet search of the phrase "this is what democracy looks like" returns thousands of images of people assembled in public for the purpose of col…
1 year, 7 months ago
Tom Theuns, "Protecting Democracy in Europe: Pluralism, Autocracy and the Future of the EU" (Hurst, 2024)
Episode 37
The European Union has a big problem—a potentially fatal one. How should it deal with a member state or states that reject democracy and the rule of …
1 year, 7 months ago
Graham Brady, "Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers" (Ithaka, 2024)
Episode 140
Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers (Ithaka, 2024) by Sir Graham Brady provides an insider’s look at the power struggl…
1 year, 7 months ago
Robert A. Schneider, "The Return of Resentment: The Rise and Decline and Rise Again of a Political Emotion" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
Episode 1494
The term “resentment,” often casually paired with words like “hatred,” “rage,” and “fear,” has dominated US news analysis since November 2016. Despit…
1 year, 8 months ago
Is Democracy Failing to Deliver?
Episode 22
A common argument to explain the ongoing global democratic crisis is that democracy has failed to deliver safe and prosperous lives for its citizens …
1 year, 8 months ago
The Wisdom of Our Ancestors
Episode 123
Based on The Wisdom of Our Ancestors: Conservative Humanism and the Western Tradition (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023), this week’s conversatio…
1 year, 8 months ago
Marietje Schaake, "The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley" (Princeton UP, 2024)
Episode 107
Over the past decades, under the cover of "innovation," technology companies have successfully resisted regulation and have even begun to seize power…
1 year, 8 months ago
Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings, "The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Episode 488
What is the connection between where people live and how they vote? In The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales (Oxford UP, 2024), Jamie Furlo…
1 year, 8 months ago