If there's one thing that people across the political spectrum can agree on, it's a sense of discontent with the current state of American politics. This week, we explore the origins of that discontent and why it's damaging to democracy. Our guest is Matthew Rhodes-Purdy, an assistant professor of political science at Clemson University and one of the authors of The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies.
Rhodes-Purdy and his co-authors argue that the most successful populist and extremist movements of the past 20 years have focused largely on cultural grievances, rather than on economic discontent. The book outlines what they describe as the troubling implications of discontent on the long-term compatibility of liberal democracy and free-market neoliberalism.
Looking at case studies from around the world, the authors imply that democratic states must renew their commitment to social regulation of markets and to serve as conduits for citizen voice for democracy and market economies are to survive.
Brexit and the UK’s identity crisis
Brazil’s tenuous relationship with democracy
Yellow vests and the “grand debate” in France
Viktor Orbán’s “velvet repression” in Hungary
A brief history of “people power”
The power of local government
Using the tools of democracy to address economic inequality
What is democracy? A conversation with Astra Taylor
Trump on Earth: The Red State Paradox
It’s good to be counted [rebroadcast]
When states sue the federal government [rebroadcast]
Citizenship, patriotism, and democracy in the classroom [rebroadcast]
2018: The year in democracy
The complicated relationship between campaign finance and democracy
Capturing the nation’s mood
Are land-grant universities still “democracy’s colleges?”
Norman Eisen’s love letter to democracy
Winning the “democracy lottery”
From soldier-statesman to the warrior ethos: Gen. Wesley Clark on the military and democracy
Protecting democracy from foreign interference — recorded live at the National Press Club
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Red Eye Radio