On Democracy and Bullshit with Hélène Landemore

Podcast: Princeton UP Ideas Podcast (LS 32 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: On Democracy and Bullshit with Hélène LandemorePub date: 2025-11-18Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationToday I’m speaking with Hélène Landemore, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, about Democracy and Bullshit, with a special focus on her 2020 book, Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2020). Bullshit is a feature of both democracies and dictatorships alike, but it takes different forms. In democracies, while citizens enjoy the freedom of speech and the right to vote, a range of forces often conspire to limit their real power in favor of competing elites. The political and economic elite’s toolkit includes the art of bullshit—the persuasive use of language without regard for truth. Whether meritocratic or populist, elites alike have mastered this form of manipulation, amplified by modern tools of dissemination and authority. To help us understand the challenges that bullshit poses to democratic citizens, I’m pleased to welcome Hélène Landemore. Hélène Landemore is a professor of political science at Yale University. Caleb Zakarin is editor of the New Books Network.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New Books Network, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.