All Episodes
Democracy Works — 331 episodes
How to create social change that sticks
Talk Nerdy: Black Evidence with Candis Watts Smith
When politics enters the doctor's office
The Declaration of Independence and democracy renovation
Janet Napolitano on higher education and democracy
Is public media still public?
Embracing mindful democracy
How AI is changing democracy
How America's political divides affect foreign policy
The Context: Seven ways anyone can fight authoritarianism
Troubling times for higher education and democracy
Fixing the information ecosystem starts with us
The dismantling of USAID and the death of government oversight
Disorder: Democracy lessons from Europe and beyond
How AI is shaping the news
A Republic, if you can teach it
The new gerrymandering battles
How misogyny fuels political violence
Standing up for higher education
Ben Rhodes on America's changing role in a changed world
How mental health shapes democratic engagement [rebroadcast]
Inside the MAGA black hole
How 2020 changed America
An update on the states
The problem(s) with platforms
Lessons from Charlottesville and January 6
Christianity as a democratic institution
The power of practicing peace
Pushing back against political violence
Democracy reform in 2025 and beyond
Season finale: Reflecting on a new political era
Sustaining democracy during wartime
Telling America's story at the National Archives
Bad Watchdog: The Red Herring
How strong is support for democracy?
How the Supreme Court could shape the 2024 election
Eddie Glaude Jr. on the peril of outsourcing democracy
Liberalism is a lifestyle
The immigration stories that aren't told
How the National Popular Vote could change presidential elections
Making Peace Visible: In search of good conflict
Season finale: Protests, debates, and the "meh" election
How elected strongmen weaken democracy
30 years of democracy in South Africa
David Hogg on leaders we deserve
Democracy is the sum of us
Cassidy Hutchinson on what comes after January 6
How discontent destabilizes demoracy
A different take on social media and democracy
How to combat political extremism
A different kind of political divide
Tim Alberta on evangelicals and Republicans
How election officials are preparing for the year ahead
Finding hope in 2024
Year in review: Media, mental health, and threats to democracy
Making Peace Visible: The state of democracy in India
Does mandatory civic education increase voter turnout?
A deep look at political loss
When populism and democracy collide
Understanding union voters
A conflict at the heart of our political disagreements
What can we learn from early democracies?
Building better bureaucracy
Tim Miller on why Republicans stuck with Trump
"Democracy '24" on the debate stage
When the People Decide: Libraries as civic spaces
A deep dive on parties and political reform
Democracy Paradox: The democratic crisis you haven't heard about
Village SquareCast: Can curiosity save us?
Democracy-ish: Can America's democracy be saved?
Democracy needs serious people
Gen Z's fight for democracy
Think Inclusive: Facing the Anti-CRT Movement
Is America in a third reconstruction?
Between democracy and autocracy
Living in a fragmented democracy
Feet in 2 Worlds: Immigrants in a Divided Country
Harnessing the power of juries
Civic learning amid the culture wars
Finding the "we" in civic engagement
Why politics makes us depressed — and what we can do about it
What will it take to make democracy more representative?
Separating news from noise
What we learned from our guests in 2022
Where do the parties go from here?
The real free speech problem on campus
Jamelle Bouie makes the case for majoritarianism
Our conversation with Josh Shapiro [rebroadcast]
States united for democracy
Celebrating democracy's small victories
Climate change is everyone's fight
Francis Fukuyama on the promise and peril of liberalism
The backbone of democracy is now the face of fraud
How Democrats can harness grassroots energy
When should the states decide?
Chris Beem on the seven democratic virtues
Rural broadband and the politics of "good enough"
A deep dive into the administrative state
Reflecting on the January 6 hearings and what's happened since
A new approach to breaking our media silos
Laboratories against democracy [rebroadcast]
How positive and negative freedoms shape democracy
Introducing: When the People Decide
Democracy's summer blockbusters
Can American democracy have nice things?
Baby Boomers and American gerontocracy
No Jargon: How white Millennials think about race
Book bans are never just about books
Debating the future of debates
What student debt says about democratic institutions
Combating disinformation at home and abroad
Jon Meacham on creating a more perfect union
The roots of radical partisanship
How democracies can win the war on reality [rebroadcast]
Ro Khanna on dignity and democracy
Russia and Ukraine: How we got here
Defending democracy at home and abroad
What academic freedom really means in a democracy
Tracing the rise of illiberalism
Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation
How national parties are breaking state politics
Can the courts save civics education?
When religion and democracy collide
Sore losers are bad for democracy
On democracy's doomsayers
What does it take to sustain democracy?
Fannie Lou Hamer's fight continues today
Andrew Yang and Charlie Dent on the future of America's political parties
The soul of democracy
Jonathan Haidt on democracy's moral foundations [rebroadcast]
Why social media is so polarizing — and what we can do about it
What makes a campaign deplorable?
Fighting for democracy in the GOP
Tom Nichols on democracy's worst enemy
Independent commissions alone can't create fair maps
Voter suppression doesn't repeat, but it rhymes
A love letter to democratic institutions
How Amazon is disrupting democracy
Abortion is not always a clash of absolutes
Millennials' slow climb to political power
A summer of the individual vs. the common good
Extreme maps, extreme politics [reboradcast]
Jan-Werner Müller on democracy's rules
Does Congress promote partisan gridlock? [rebroadcast]
Pete Davis is dedicated to the hard work of democracy
Masha Gessen on the Moscow duel
Walter Shaub on transparency, ethics, and democracy
A different take on local news and democracy
How to end democracy's doom loop [rebroadcast]
Democracy as a way of life
Your guide to ranked-choice voting [rebroadcast]
Is it possible to overdo democracy? [rebroadcast]
Looking back to move forward
The people vs. the bureaucrats in Flint
There is no "I" in democracy
How democracies can win the war on reality
Conspiracism finds a home on the intellectual right
The Federalist Society's ideas have consequences for democracy
Colored Conventions show us where democracy really happens
Can pranksters save democracy?
Public schools, not government schools
Reforming criminal justice from the inside out
Laboratories of restricting democracy
Danielle Allen on achieving democracy's ideals
Reimagining citizenship in a consumer world
Understanding — and addressing — domestic terrorism
Anne Applebaum on why democracy is not inevitable
The long road to a multiracial democracy
A path forward for social media and democracy
Will Alexei Navalny make Russia more democratic?
Direct democracy's dark side
Check out our partners in The Democracy Group
Extreme maps, extreme politics
American democracy's violent disruption
What neoliberalism left behind [rebroadcast]
How conspiracies are damaging democracy [rebroadcast]
Did democracy work in 2020?
The people want pot
What really motivates Trump supporters
The myth of the "Latino vote"
Can corporations be democratic citizens?
Is common ground hiding in plain sight?
When four threats to democracy collide
Wynton Marsalis on democracy as jazz and The Ever Fonky Lowdown
News deserts are democracy deserts, too
The Supreme Court's politics and power
The perfect storm for election disaster
The 2020 election from WPSU's Take Note
Hong Kong's fight is everyone's fight
Sheriffs 101
Students learn, students vote
A dark side to "laboratories of democracy"
A fall preview — with a new cohost!
YIMBYs and NIMBYs in a democracy
After 100 years, there's still no "woman voter"
She Votes! — Susan B. Anthony and "voting while female"
Reason in politics and hope for democracy
The people who choose the President
Broken Ground: Robert Bullard on environmental justice
The world's most punitive democracy [revisited]
Suspect citizens in a democracy [revisited]
The second annual Democracy Works listener mailbag
How to end democracy’s doom loop
The clumsy journey to antiracism
Civil rights, civil unrest
Aaron Maybin on doing the hard work of democracy [rebroadcast]
Free speech from the Founding Fathers to Twitter
Bonus: Mayors and bipartisanship during COVID-19
The people vs. the experts — and those caught in the middle
China’s role in the COVID-19 infodemic
A roadmap to a more equitable democracy
Trust, facts, and democracy in a polarized world
Bonus: Civic engagement, social distancing, and democracy reform
Give me liberty or give me COVID-19?
Bonus: COVID-19 and Democracy with The Democracy Group
Federalism in uncertain times
Will COVID-19 create a one-issue campaign?
Public health depends on the Census
Free and fair elections during a pandemic
COVID-19 exposes democracy’s tensions
Populism is not a monolith
Swamp Stories: Cashing In
The promise and peril of early voting
Breaking down Black politics
Does Congress promote partisan gridlock?
How states are working to keep your vote safe
Primaries, parties, and the public
The connective tissue of democracy
How the Tea Party and the Resistance are upending politics
A 2020 preview
Grassroots organizing to “reboot” democracy [rebroadcast]
E.J. Dionne on making America empathetic again [rebroadcast]
Is it possible to overdo democracy?
Chris Beem on democratic humility and virtues
Next-generation democracy
The democracy rebellion happening in states across the U.S.
A roundtable on impeachment, institutions, and legitimacy
Your guide to ranked-choice voting
Latino immigrants and the changing makeup of American democracy
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]
A democracy summer reading list [rebroadcast]
Answering your questions about democracy
Congressional oversight and making America pragmatic again
Will AI destroy democracy?
The 2019 version of Democracy in America
What neoliberalism left behind
Demagogues are more common than you think
What does the Mueller report mean for democracy?
School segregation then and now
What Serial taught Sarah Koenig about criminal justice — recorded live at Penn State
Is it time to revive civility?
E.J. Dionne on empathy and democracy
No Jargon: Who controls the states?
The ongoing struggle for civil rights
Immigration, refugees, and the politics of displacement
A playbook for organizing in turbulent times
Jonathan Haidt on the psychology of democracy
Future Hindsight: Ian Bremmer on the failure of globalism
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
Will Millennials disrupt democracy?
David Frum on developing the habits of democracy
When states sue the federal government
How “if it bleeds, it leads” impacts democracy
A story about democracy, told through 20 million traffic stops
Breaking the silence in Syria
Citizenship, patriotism, and democracy in the classroom
Behind the scenes of the “Year of the Woman”
The democrats in public sector unions [Labor Day rebroadcast]
Middle America, Part 2: Grassroots organizing and rebooting democracy
Middle America, Part 1: Populism and the Trump Voter
Facebook is not a democracy
How will we remember Charlottesville?
A democracy reading list
Bonus: A dose of optimism about the future of democracy
The constitutional crisis episode
Unpacking political polarization
What should voting look like in the 21st century?
When the “business of business” bleeds into politics
Michael Mann’s journey through the climate wars
Can young people revive civic engagement?
Bonus: Democracy In Action #1
A conversation about conversation
Ten thousand democracies
It’s good to be counted
Satire is good for more than just a few laughs
Tommie Smith: From sharecropper to Olympic protester
Generation Z and the future of democracy
How Democracies Die author Daniel Ziblatt on the ‘grinding work’ of democracy
What can Pennsylvania voters do about gerrymandering?
Fake news, clickbait, and the future of local journalism
Checking the President’s power
Is Colin Kaepernick a good democrat?
Democracy Works: Asking big questions about democracy past, present, and future