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
S06E05: Mukulika Banerjee on the Cultivation of Democracy in India
This episode explores what makes republican values and practices important to the survival of any democracy, as well as the role of sociality in cultivating of a common sense of purpose, mutual interdependence, and collective engagement. What makes the agrarian ethos of Indian village communities resonate with the spirit of…
S06E04: Ken Opalo on the Prospects of Democracy Across Africa
This episode explores the current state of democracy across Africa. What are the main achievements since the 1990s and what are the biggest internal threats to consolidation of democracy? Why have democratic governments failed to deliver? Listen to how unfulfilled promises and aspirations for a better life have shaped the…
S06E03: Ron Daniels on the Role of Universities in Strengthening Democracy
This episode explores the role universities play in upholding and deepening democracy. How does university education foster civic engagement and a democratic spirit? How do universities cultivate interactive diversity? And what positive contributions can institutions of higher education make in order to strengthen democracy today? Listen to the illuminating discussion…
S06E02: Shaharzad Akbar on Afghanistan after Democracy
This episode explores the political mistakes which prevented human rights and the rule of law from taking root in Afghan society. What understandings of democracy prevailed following the U.S. invasion and what were the foundations on which the leaders of Afghanistan tried to build a modern republic? Listen to what made…
S06E01:Thomas Carothers on Democratic Backsliding in a Comparative Perspective
What are the causes and consequences of democratic decline worldwide over the course of the last two decades? Has democracy in the United States recently drifted more towards democratic backsliding or did the results of the 2022 midterm elections inspire hope in the reversibility of democratic degeneration in the US?…
S05E10: Azadeh Moaveni on the Ongoing Iranian Demonstrations Fueled and Led by Women
The ongoing protests in the past months have rocked Iran to its core. What began as a wave of street demonstrations and protests has by now turned into a veritable revolution led by courageous and defiant women. What is the broader historical context regarding these current events? How has the…
S05E09: Ricardo Regatieri on Brazilian Elections: Bolsonarism and Its Aftermath
How has the success of an extreme authoritarian figure like Bolsonaro been enabled by the political field in Brazil? What is the trajectory of the Brazilian left, represented by PT, ‘The Workers’ Party’, led now to victory by President-elect Lula? Lula’s return to power marks a fresh start for democracy…
S05E08: Charles Taylor on Degenerations and Regenerations of Democracy
Why is democracy prone to degeneration, and how does this affect our conventional notions of democracy itself? Do we usually depend too much on a thin formal institutional conception of democracy focused on electoral routines, and thus, neglect broader questions of class, culture, equality, and solidarity? How can we reimagine…
S05E07: Craig Calhoun on the Current Crisis of American and Global Democracy and Potential Remedies
U.S. American democracy is exhibiting symptoms of decline or even of degeneration given the continuing denial of the results of the last presidential election by many in the Republican Party and partisan efforts to curtail voting rights in the United States. How alarmed should one be about legislative capture and…
S05E06: Leonard Bernado on Civil Society and the Politics and Practices of Civil Society Organizations
In this episode Shalini and her guest discuss the changing valances of civil society over the last few decades. How can we assess today the geographically and historically specific understanding of civil society as a sphere outside of, and opposed to the realm of politics and state institutions and the…
S05E05: Nadia Urbinati on the Resurgence of Populism, its History, and its Various Forms
Since populism became widespread in parts of Latin America, was it mistakenly seen as foreign to Euro-American liberal democracy, and has it in recent decades become more widespread than parliamentary democracy or liberal constitutionalism? Is the potential for populism inherent in democracy itself, especially when conceived in terms of a…
S05E04: Mykola Gnatovskyy on the establishment of a Special Tribunal to Investigate the Crimes of Aggression against Ukraine
How and why did the idea of calling for the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate the crimes of aggression against Ukraine come up in the first place? Why was it necessary to call for the establishment of a new International Criminal Court when there is one already in…
S05E03: Neloufer de Mel on the Current Economic, Social and Political Situation in Sri Lanka
The causes of the current societal, economic, and political crisis in Sri Lanka are complex. The immediate roots of the crisis are the local and global economic factors, fuelled by the popular protests against the corruption of the governing political elites. What does the ongoing crisis have to do with…
S05E02: The Fragility of US Democracy and the Genuine Threat of Fascism it Faces
The U.S. is in the midst of an ongoing coup, there is a real threat of fascist tendencies in the U.S. and elsewhere; these influence the possible outcomes of the upcoming 2022 mid-term elections as well as the 2024 U.S presidential elections. What are the potentially devastating consequences of legal…
S5E01: Mary Kaldor on NATO, Human Security, the Changing Face of Global War and the Effectiveness of Sanctions and Debt Cancellation
A new world order is in place where according to Kaldor, perpetual violence has become the norm. How come these so-called new wars, or “forever wars” as Kaldor refers to them, are not tied to contest over national territory? Furthermore, does NATO still adhere to Cold War patterns of thinking…
Sound of Democracy
Programme: Sound of democracy
Entering into Conversation about the Sound of Democracy
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
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
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…