Cynthia Miller-Idriss, one of America's leading experts on the far right, joins us this week to discuss what draws people to political extremism online and offline — and what we can do to combat it.
Miller-Idriss is the director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University and author of the book Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right. As you'll hear, PERIL takes a public health approach to preventing violent extremism and provides tools and resources to help communities create resilient democracies.
In the interview, Miller-Idriss discusses how extremism and political violence are linked to our desire for community. This dynamic means that extremist ideas can pop up in seemingly innocuous places from martial arts groups to online wellness communities. She says understanding this dynamic is key to moving people away from extremist spaces and into constructive communities.
Miller-Idriss visited Penn State as part of the Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar exploring the theme, "Birthing the Nation: Gender, Sex and Reproduction in Ethnonationalist Imaginaries."
Inside the world’s largest democracy
Changing the climate conversation
From political crisis to profound change
Andrew Sullivan on democracy’s double-edged sword
The case for open primaries
Understanding impeachment — from the Federalist Papers to the whistleblower
Street-level bureaucrats at the border
Out of Order: A conversation with Mitch Landrieu and Margaret Carlson
China’s threat to democracies around the world
One state’s fight for fair maps
How music transcends political polarization
Doing the hard work of democracy in Baltimore
How conspiracies are damaging democracy
Defending the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate
Standing up for science and fighting the climate wars [rebroadcast]
Tracing the past, present, and future of protests
A conversation about conversation [rebroadcast]
Politics and Polls: Blue state federalism
The Pledge: Are you scared of the cafeteria lady?
How Democracies Die author Daniel Ziblatt on the “grinding work” of democracy [rebroadcast]
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Red Eye Radio