Pod­cast

Fea­tur­ing some of the most impor­tant voic­es from con­tem­po­rary acad­e­mia, the pod­cast series “Democ­ra­cy in Ques­tion?” dis­cuss­es var­i­ous demo­c­ra­t­ic expe­ri­ences and exper­i­ments, cur­rent crises as well as long-term chal­lenges to democ­ra­cy such as issues of legit­i­ma­cy, dis­en­fran­chise­ment, or inequality.

“Democ­ra­cy in Ques­tion?” host­ed by Shali­ni Ran­de­ria is a joint pro­duc­tion of the Grad­u­ate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Cen­tre on Democ­ra­cy, the Insti­tute for Human Sci­ences (IWM) Vien­na, and the Research Group Soft Author­i­tar­i­anisms, Uni­ver­si­ty of Bre­men. It is pro­duced in coop­er­a­tion with Richard Miron and Anouk Milet (Earshot strategies).

Sound of Democ­ra­cy” is our new pod­cast project, planned for 2021. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Insti­tute for Human Sci­ences (IWM) Vien­na and artist Mukul Patel , we’re ask­ing how democ­ra­cy sounds today in dif­fer­ent parts of the world, how we talk about democ­ra­cy and which metaphors we use doing so. Sound of Democ­ra­cy is part research project part fusion of artis­tic sound­scapes and schol­ar­ly reflection.

Democ­ra­cy in Question?

Most of the world’s pop­u­la­tion lives in a for­mal democ­ra­cy today. But in both estab­lished and new democ­ra­cies, trust in par­lia­ments and polit­i­cal par­ties is plum­met­ing. World­wide, they are being torn apart by inequal­i­ties, polit­i­cal polar­iza­tion and a pol­i­tics of hate. Cit­i­zens are using the streets and the courts to chal­lenge author­i­ty and to seek the account­abil­i­ty that is often miss­ing at the bal­lot box­es. The form, con­tent, insti­tu­tions, prac­tices and, ulti­mate­ly, the very prin­ci­ples of lib­er­al democ­ra­cy are being called into ques­tion from India to Hun­gary and from Brazil to the US.

Host­ed by Shali­ni Ran­de­ria, Rec­tor of the IWM, Direc­tor of the Cen­tre at the Grad­u­ate Insti­tute, and Excel­lence Chair, Uni­ver­si­ty of Bre­men (Research Group: Soft Author­i­tar­i­an­ism). It fea­tures some of the most impor­tant voic­es in con­tem­po­rary acad­e­mia. Togeth­er they reflect on demo­c­ra­t­ic expe­ri­ences and exper­i­ments the world over and explore whether this cri­sis of democ­ra­cy rep­re­sents a his­tor­i­cal­ly unique chal­lenge or whether par­al­lels to polit­i­cal crises in the past can be discerned.

While each episode address­es issues con­cern­ing the con­tem­po­rary chal­lenges to democ­ra­cy in dif­fer­ent con­texts, the series is also com­mit­ted to explor­ing themes in the longue durée of democ­ra­cy that have occu­pied social sci­en­tists for decades.

Join Shali­ni Ran­de­ria and lead­ing schol­ars for an explo­ration of the dilem­mas fac­ing democ­ra­cies world­wide. Sub­scribe now, wher­ev­er you get your podcasts!

All Episodes: Democ­ra­cy in Question

S09E09: Stephen Walt on the Return of Trump (Part 1)

13. Novem­ber 202441:39

This episode exam­ines the fac­tors which led to Don­ald Trump’s deci­sive vic­to­ry in the recent U.S. elec­tion. Did the Har­ris campaign’s insis­tence on issues of iden­ti­ty, rights, and democ­ra­cy over­shad­ow peo­ple’s every­day strug­gles with eco­nom­ic issues? What role did patri­ar­chal bias and demo­graph­ics of a shift­ing land­scape of polit­i­cal preferences…

S09E08: Johan­na Lutz on Iden­ti­ty, Par­ti­san­ship, and the Vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties of Democracy 

23. Octo­ber 202444:10

This episode explores advances made by the far-right in Aus­tria and in Ger­many and exam­ines cru­cial fac­tors raised by Lutz’s recent report on iden­ti­ty, par­ti­san­ship and polar­iza­tion. What are the unex­pect­ed con­ver­gences and sim­i­lar­i­ties across Euro­pean coun­tries? And what are the impli­ca­tions of the find­ings on the con­test­ed notion of…

S09E07: Raimund Löw on the Dither­ing Aus­tri­an Democracy 

9. Octo­ber 202442:25

This episode explores the recent nation­al elec­tions in Aus­tria and the vic­to­ry of a rad­i­cal right-wing par­ty. How is this devel­op­ment sit­u­at­ed with­in the EU’s broad­er shift to the right? And what explains the decline of the tra­di­tion­al cen­ter-right and the Social Democ­rats? Lis­ten to hear about the issues that…

S09E06: Julia Ebn­er on How Extrem­ism Threat­ens Democ­ra­cy (Part 2)

25. Sep­tem­ber 202434:07

This episode focus­es on the main­stream­ing of rad­i­cal pol­i­tics and how extrem­ist ide­olo­gies gain a foothold. How can demo­c­ra­t­ic prac­tice respond to a trend toward polar­iza­tion and desta­bi­liza­tion of lib­er­al democ­ra­cies? And what defens­es can be mount­ed to pro­tect lib­er­al val­ues and insti­tu­tions? Lis­ten to hear about Julia Ebner’s latest…

S09E05: Julia Ebn­er on How Extrem­ism Threat­ens Democ­ra­cy (Part 1)

11. Sep­tem­ber 202435:37

This episode explores the social worlds of var­i­ous extrem­ist groups and the cor­ro­sive effects of rad­i­cal­iza­tion on con­tem­po­rary democ­ra­cy. Why is it nec­es­sary to observe extrem­ist orga­ni­za­tions up close? And how are gen­der and reli­gion instru­men­tal­ly deployed? Lis­ten to hear about the unex­pect­ed sim­i­lar­i­ties between var­i­ous extrem­ist groups and how…

S09E04: Yogen­dra Yadav on Democ­ra­cy in India 

31. July 202455:10

This episode ana­lyzes the elec­tions in India and the tra­jec­to­ry of Indi­an democ­ra­cy from the mid-sev­en­ties to today. How do vot­er moti­va­tions due to wors­en­ing eco­nom­ic con­di­tions influ­ence elec­tions in the coun­try? And how do expec­ta­tions for democ­ra­cy to deliv­er eco­nom­ic growth and devel­op­ment play a role? Lis­ten to hear…

S09E03: Mark Leonard on the U.K. Elections 

17. July 202439:45

This episode explores the impli­ca­tions of the U.K. elec­tions which took place on July 4. What does a return to cen­trism mean for British pol­i­tics? And how do socio-eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tions and frag­ment­ed cul­tur­al hori­zons play a role? Lis­ten to also hear what the results could mean for transat­lantic rela­tions. Guest…

S09E02: Adam Habib on South Africa’s Elections 

3. July 202450:04

This episode explores the imme­di­ate con­se­quences of South Africa’s recent par­lia­men­tary elec­tions and the his­tor­i­cal tra­jec­to­ry of the African Nation­al Con­gress. How does a vibrant sphere of civ­il soci­ety activism play a role in the coun­try? And what is to be learned from the “FeesMust­Fall” protests against the attempt­ed restructuring…

S09E01: Ivan Krastev on the Euro­pean Elections 

19. June 202447:47

This episode explores the recent Euro­pean elec­tions and the EU’s polit­i­cal drift to the right. What were the major issues, cam­paign themes and deci­sive fac­tors which led to the results? And does the polit­i­cal cen­ter still hold if many right-wing posi­tions have already been main­streamed? Lis­ten to hear about the…

S08E10: Cather­ine Fieschi on the Rise of Populism 

5. June 202448:52

This episode explores how pop­ulism has irre­versibly trans­formed the polit­i­cal land­scape. How does dig­i­tal media play a role in this phe­nom­e­non and why has pop­ulism been suc­cess­ful in some advanced west­ern democ­ra­cies? Lis­ten to hear about the pit­falls of tech­no­crat­ic gov­er­nance and the chal­lenges posed by alliances of pop­ulist political…

S08E09: Seema Sye­da Address­es Islam­o­pho­bia Across Europe 

22. May 202445:39

This episode explores Islam­o­pho­bia across Europe as a form of struc­tur­al racism. How does Islam­o­pho­bia oper­ate as a tool of diver­sion and divi­sion? And why do such per­cep­tions play a cru­cial role in Euro­pean pol­i­tics today? Lis­ten to hear about the prospects for eman­ci­pa­to­ry pol­i­tics on var­i­ous scales to combat…

S08E08: Zsolt Enye­di on the Crises of Liberalism 

8. May 202450:31

This episode explores the crises of lib­er­al­ism. How do recent con­di­tions of uncer­tain­ty and mul­ti­ple crises play a role in ampli­fy­ing the appeal of illib­er­al ide­olo­gies? And how does illib­er­al­ism dif­fer from author­i­tar­i­an­ism and pop­ulism? Tune in to hear how the defense of lib­er­al­ism requires a con­nec­tion to the everyday…

S08E07: Michael Wolde­mari­am on Chal­lenges Fac­ing African Democ­ra­cy (Part 2)

24. April 202434:09

This episode explores how the lega­cies of Euro­pean colo­nial­ism in Africa impact the suc­cess of democ­ra­ti­za­tion today. How do inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions play a role in declin­ing sup­port for demo­c­ra­t­ic pol­i­tics in parts of Africa? And how can a reliance on donors hin­der the emer­gence of viable demo­c­ra­t­ic struc­tures? Final­ly, tune…

S08E06: Michael Wolde­mari­am on Chal­lenges Fac­ing African Democ­ra­cy (Part 1)

15. April 202440:08

This episode explores polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary con­flicts in Ethiopia and more broad­ly, in the Horn of Africa. Why has Ethiopia’s process of democ­ra­ti­za­tion erod­ed in recent years? And what is the wider impact of such demo­c­ra­t­ic back­slid­ing on African region­al pol­i­tics? Lis­ten to hear how shift­ing glob­al geopo­lit­i­cal bal­ances are…

S08E05: Vivek Maru on Legal Empow­er­ment for Communities 

13. March 202447:56

This episode explores envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice and the democ­ra­ti­za­tion of law. What does it take to turn the law into some­thing that ordi­nary peo­ple can use to pro­tect them­selves? And how can putting the pow­er of the law into the hands of the peo­ple sup­port pro­gres­sive eman­ci­pa­to­ry pol­i­tics? Lis­ten to hear…

Sound of Democracy

Pro­gramme: Sound of democracy

Enter­ing into Con­ver­sa­tion about the Sound of Democracy

1. Feb­ru­ary 2021

The fol­low­ing text describes a project com­ple­ment­ing the Sound of Democ­ra­cy pod­cast, that will be car­ried out by Prof. Dr. Ingo H. Warnke and two of his doc­tor­al stu­dents, name­ly Chris­t­ian Bär and Hagen Stein­hauer. Inter­views on How Democ­ra­cy Sounds What does democ­ra­cy sound like today? How is its sound…

Sound of Democ­ra­cy. Blog, Pod­cast and Inter­view Project

1. Feb­ru­ary 2021

This blog post is a con­tri­bu­tion by a team of lin­guists at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Bre­men, name­ly Prof. Dr. Ingo H. Warnke and two of his doc­tor­al stu­dents, Chris­t­ian Bär as well as Hagen Stein­hauer, who is also a mem­ber of the Research Group on Soft Author­i­tar­i­an­ism, which is directed…

Sound of Democ­ra­cy. Sound as a Metaphor

1. Feb­ru­ary 2021

The fol­low­ing text dia­logues with the pod­cast from the per­spec­tive of lin­guis­tics as a dis­ci­pline and was writ­ten by Prof. Dr. Ingo H. Warnke togeth­er with two of his doc­tor­al stu­dents, name­ly Chris­t­ian Bär and Hagen Stein­hauer. The word sound can refer to a wide range of phe­nom­e­na. With­in the…