All Episodes

Episode 8.4: Faith After Revolution: Religion, Politics, and the Legacy of Egypt's 2011 Uprising

Episode 8.3: The Perils of the American Dream: A Discussion with Alissa Quart of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Episode 8.2: Race, Democracy, and the Making of "the People"

Episode 8.1: The Cruel Double Standard of American Criminal Justice: How Crime in the Streets is Treated Differently than Crime in the Suites

Episode 7.17: The Forgotten Civil Rights Legacy of Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr.

Episode 7.16: Fortress Power: How Design Shapes Control and Resistance

Episode 7.15: Presidential Words Matter: A Conversation with Obama Speechwriter Cody Keenan

Episode 7.14: Politics Can Still Be Local: A Discussion with Pennsylvania State Rep Candidate Leo Solga

Episode 7.13: Democracy as a Public Health Intervention

Episode 7.12: A Philadelphia Church and the West African Revival, 1918–1929

Episode 7.11: Marriage, the Welfare State, and the Politics of "Family Values"

Episode 7.10: Democracy as Dispersion of Power: A Conversation with Samuel Bagg

Episode 7.9: Unlimited Money, Limited Oversight: Virginia's Democracy on Trial

Episode 7.8: Socialism, Logically: Scott Sehon on Rights, Welfare, and Markets

Episode 7.7: Stemming the Tide of Vaccine Refusal: Beyond MAHA's Vision of Patient Empowerment

Episode 7.6: Credibility in Prisons

Episode 7.5: Trump and the Era of Ungoverning: A Discussion with Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum

Episode 7.4: The Age of Choice: A Conversation with Sophia Rosenfeld

Episode 7.3: Rethinking the COVID Era: A Conversation with Frances Lee and Stephen Macedo

Episode 7.2: Brazil's Pink Tide and the Politics of Redistribution

Episode 7.1: The Workings of Canadian Democracy in the Shadow of Trump

Episode 6.15: Panic Wisely: Navigating Collapse in an Age of Crisis

Episode 6.14: Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands

Episode 6.13: Democracy's New Frontier: Integrating Ecosystems into Political Communities

Episode 6.12: Dying Abroad: A Conversation with Osman Balkan

Episode 6.11: The Path Ahead for Syrian Reconstruction

Episode 6.10: Fetal Personhood, Bodily Autonomy and the Roe Not Taken

Episode 6.9: A Conversation with Slavoj Žižek

Episode 6.8: Seeking the Fifth Voice: A Journey into American History and Democracy

Episode 6.7: We the People: How Citizens Prevented Past Presidents from Permanently Breaking American Democracy

Episode 6.6: Battleground PA: Voters, Values, and the Fight for the Future

Episode 6.5: Ian Lustick on Israel-Gaza and the United States

Episode 6.4: Socialism as an Alternative to Liberal Democracy? A Conversation with Peter Frase

Episode 6.3: Indian Democracy Between Elections: A Conversation with Professor Lisa Mitchell

Episode 6.2: Corruption and Code: How Data Centers are Shaping Virginia's Future

Episode 6.1: Environmental Policy in Peril: A Conversation with Professor Eric Orts

Episode 5.15: Bonds Beyond Borders: Affect and Memory in the Yugoslav People's Army

Episode 5.14: Professor Anne Norton on Wild Democracy

Episode 5.13: The Erosion of Democracy: Dr. Robin S. Brooks on Democratic Backsliding

Episode 5.12: Rep Mikie Sherrill on Whether the Bipartisan Consensus on Foreign Policy Will Hold and on Threats to American Democracy

Episode 5.11: Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Climate Policy: From Ideals to Action

Episode 5.10: Disinformation is a Threat to Democracy Says Barbara McQuade

Episode 5.9: Why is the Immigration System Broken? Jonathan Blitzer on How American Foreign Policy in Central America Created a Crisis

Episode 5.8: Unveiling Anti-Blackness: A Transnational Dialogue

Episode 5.7: Powering Progress: Navigating Energy Justice with Benjamin Sovacool

Episode 5.6: Liberalism in Dark Times: A Conversation with Professor Joshua Cherniss

Episode 5.5: Navigating Justice: A Day in the Life of Assistant District Attorney Helena von Nagy

Episode 5.4: Truth and Transparency: Navigating Virginia's 2023 Elections - Josh Stanfield

Episode 5.3: Bringing Possibility Back In: Political Hope in Theory and Practice – Loren Goldman

Episode 5.2: The End of Greenwashing? How Two California Bills Promote Climate Accountability – Michael Gerrard and Eric Orts

Episode 5.1: The Majority-World Experience of A.I. – Rigoberto Lara Guzmán and Ranjit Singh

Episode 4.15: The Debt Ceiling Crisis: Is There a Plan B? – Eric Orts

Episode 4.14: Beyond the Moment of Protest: Can Social Movements Be More Robust Than the Systems They Oppose? – Rachel Kuo

Episode 4.13: The Vulnerabilities We Choose: Emergent Tech, Emerging Threats – Rebecca Slayton

Episode 4.12: Adapting to the End of U.S. Technological Dominance – Melissa Flagg

Episode 4.11: The Amazon Labor Union and the Future of American Work – Chris Smalls

Episode 4.10: From Smart Cities to Co-Cities: Tech, Community, and Urban Life – Sheila Foster

Episode 4.9: Black Software: The Technological Lead-ups to Black Lives Matter – Charlton McIlwain

Episode 4.8: Eyes on the Street 2.0: The Uses and Abuses of Urban Tech – Shannon Mattern

Episode 4.7: Sovereign Are They Who Decide the Exception: The Power Elite and State Criminality – Aaron Good

Episode 4.6: The Election Victory That Saved Brazilian Democracy – Marilene Felinto

Episode 4.5: At the Threshold of Annexation: Israelis, Palestinians and the One-State Reality – Ian Lustick

Episode 4.4: The Fight to Bring Democracy to Virginia – Josh Stanfield

Episode 4.3: Authoritarian Information Manipulation: Beyond Troll Farms and Fake News – Jessica Brandt

Episode 4.2: Tupinambá de Olivença: Indigenous Territory and Environmental Rights in Brazil – Glicéria Tupinambá

Episode 4.1: Enemy of the State: Untangling the Case of Matt DeHart – Sonia Kennebeck

Episode 3.16: The Grip of History in Post-Apartheid South Africa – Carolyn E. Holmes

Episode 3.15: Made to Eat Dirt: The Rhetoric and Politics of Humiliation – Roxanne Euben

Episode 3.14: Dark Mirror: How the West Imagines Itself Through Imagining Russia – Sean Guillory

Episode 3.13: Naming the Problem: Capitalism is the Crisis – Richard Wolff

Episode 3.12: The Jim Crow South: Myths and Realities – Adolph Reed

Episode 3.11: Beyond the Ruins of Neoliberalism – Wendy Brown

Episode 3.10: The Eroding Foundations of Putin's Power – Ilya Matveev

Episode 3.9: The Capitalist Roots of the Arab Spring and Its Aftermath – Joel Beinin

Episode 3.8: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine – Rashid Khalidi

Episode 3.7: Reports of Neoliberalism's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated – Martijn Konings

Episode 3.6: Universal Suffrage: From Revolutionary Project to Minimalist Politics – Kevin Duong

Episode 3.5: The Fingerprints of Intelligence: Allen Dulles and the Kennedy Assassination – David Talbot

Episode 3.4: Politics in the Time of Climate Change – Eric Orts

Episode 3.3: No Easy Answers: A Conversation with Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch

Episode 3.2: Do Presidents Have the Right to Lie (or Do We Have the Right to Stop Them)? – Catherine J. Ross

Episode 3.1: Enemies by Choice: U.S.-Iranian Relations in the Long View – John Ghazvinian

Episode 2.16: No Nation Is an Island: Rethinking How Borders Should Work – Paulina Ochoa Espejo

Episode 2.15: The Double Life of Violence: Social Discourse, Personal Agency, and the Unresolved Meanings of a Key Term – Matt Shafer

Episode 2.14: Climate Apartheid, Racial Capitalism, and the Future of Democracy - Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Episode 2.13: The Scandalous Secret History of the First Amendment - Fara Dabhoiwala

Episode 2.12: Academic Freedom and the Work of the University - Joan Wallach Scott

Episode 2.11: On Social Media, the Personal Is Political - Jaime Settle

Episode 2.10: "Hurt Sentiments" and Forbidden Speech in India - Neeti Nair

Episode 2.9: The 100-Million Dollar Question: Is The University of Pennsylvania Really Paying Its Fair Share?

Episode 2.8: The Fall of the Party of Lincoln: A Conversation with Tara Setmayer

Episode 2.7: Art, Activism, and Putin: A Conversation with Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova

Episode 2.6: Countering White Nationalism: A View from the Inside – Derek Black

Episode 2.5: Hate Speech: The Case Against Censorship – Nadine Strossen

Episode 2.4: Bad Populism, Good Populism – Rogers Smith

Episode 2.3: Bulwark of the Opulent Minority: Can the Senate Ever Be Democratic?

Episode 2.2: Restoring a Rules-Based World: A Conversation with Gen. Wesley Clark

Episode 2.1: Roy Cohn: His Life, Misdeeds, and Inescapable Legacy

Episode 1.21: After Bern: Progressive Activist Winnie Wong on the Future of a Movement

Episode 1.20: The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex - Lila Corwin Berman

Episode 1.19: Thinking Beyond Universal Peace: How Our Highest Ideal Underwrites Violence - Murad Idris

Episode 1.18: Fifty-State Anarchy: The Failed Federal Response to Covid-19 - Eric Orts

Episode 1.17: The Class Ceiling: How Privilege Shapes British Careers - Sam Friedman

Episode 1.16: A World Without Police: Toward the Abolitionist Horizon - George Ciccariello-Maher