Democracy Works

By Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy

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Subscribers: 1197
Reviews: 4
Episodes: 300

Description

The Democracy Works podcast seeks to answer that question by examining a different aspect of democratic life each week — from voting to criminal justice to the free press and everything in between. We interview experts who study democracy, as well as people who are out there doing the hard work of democracy day in and day out. The show’s name comes from Pennsylvania’s long tradition of iron and steel works — people coming together to build things greater than the sum of their parts. We believe that democracy is the same way. Each of us has a role to play in building and sustaining a healthy democracy and our show is all about helping people understand what that means. Democracy Works is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

Episode Date
Sustaining democracy during wartime
Dec 09, 2024
Telling America's story at the National Archives
Nov 25, 2024
Bad Watchdog: The Red Herring
Nov 18, 2024
How strong is support for democracy?
Nov 11, 2024
How the Supreme Court could shape the 2024 election
Oct 28, 2024
Eddie Glaude Jr. on the peril of outsourcing democracy
Oct 14, 2024
Liberalism is a lifestyle
Sep 30, 2024
The immigration stories that aren't told
Sep 16, 2024
How the National Popular Vote could change presidential elections
Sep 02, 2024
Making Peace Visible: In search of good conflict
Jul 08, 2024
Season finale: Protests, debates, and the "meh" election
Jun 03, 2024
How elected strongmen weaken democracy
May 20, 2024
30 years of democracy in South Africa
May 06, 2024
David Hogg on leaders we deserve
Apr 22, 2024
Democracy is the sum of us
Apr 08, 2024
Cassidy Hutchinson on what comes after January 6
Mar 25, 2024
How discontent destabilizes demoracy
Mar 11, 2024
A different take on social media and democracy
Feb 26, 2024
How to combat political extremism
Feb 12, 2024
A different kind of political divide
Jan 29, 2024
Tim Alberta on evangelicals and Republicans
Jan 22, 2024
How election officials are preparing for the year ahead
Jan 15, 2024
Finding hope in 2024
Jan 01, 2024
Year in review: Media, mental health, and threats to democracy
Dec 18, 2023
Making Peace Visible: The state of democracy in India
Dec 11, 2023
Does mandatory civic education increase voter turnout?
Dec 04, 2023
A deep look at political loss
Nov 20, 2023
When populism and democracy collide
Nov 06, 2023
Understanding union voters
Oct 23, 2023
A conflict at the heart of our political disagreements
Oct 09, 2023
What can we learn from early democracies?
Sep 25, 2023
Building better bureaucracy
Sep 18, 2023
Tim Miller on why Republicans stuck with Trump
Sep 11, 2023
"Democracy '24" on the debate stage
Sep 04, 2023
When the People Decide: Libraries as civic spaces
Aug 07, 2023
A deep dive on parties and political reform
Jul 24, 2023
Democracy Paradox: The democratic crisis you haven't heard about
Jul 10, 2023
Village SquareCast: Can curiosity save us?
Jun 26, 2023
Democracy-ish: Can America's democracy be saved?
Jun 12, 2023
Democracy needs serious people
May 29, 2023
Gen Z's fight for democracy
May 15, 2023
Think Inclusive: Facing the Anti-CRT Movement
May 08, 2023
Is America in a third reconstruction?
May 01, 2023
Between democracy and autocracy
Apr 17, 2023
Living in a fragmented democracy
Apr 03, 2023
Feet in 2 Worlds: Immigrants in a Divided Country
Mar 27, 2023
Harnessing the power of juries
Mar 20, 2023
Civic learning amid the culture wars
Mar 06, 2023
Finding the "we" in civic engagement
Feb 27, 2023
Why politics makes us depressed — and what we can do about it
Feb 20, 2023
What will it take to make democracy more representative?
Feb 06, 2023
Separating news from noise
Jan 23, 2023
What we learned from our guests in 2022
Dec 19, 2022
Where do the parties go from here?
Dec 12, 2022
The real free speech problem on campus
Dec 05, 2022
Jamelle Bouie makes the case for majoritarianism
Nov 21, 2022
Our conversation with Josh Shapiro [rebroadcast]
Nov 14, 2022
States united for democracy
Nov 07, 2022
Celebrating democracy's small victories
Oct 31, 2022
Climate change is everyone's fight
Oct 24, 2022
Francis Fukuyama on the promise and peril of liberalism
Oct 17, 2022
The backbone of democracy is now the face of fraud
Oct 10, 2022
How Democrats can harness grassroots energy
Oct 03, 2022
When should the states decide?
Sep 26, 2022
Chris Beem on the seven democratic virtues
Sep 19, 2022
Rural broadband and the politics of "good enough"
Sep 12, 2022
A deep dive into the administrative state
Sep 05, 2022
Reflecting on the January 6 hearings and what's happened since
Aug 29, 2022
A new approach to breaking our media silos
Aug 01, 2022
Laboratories against democracy [rebroadcast]
Jul 18, 2022
How positive and negative freedoms shape democracy
Jun 20, 2022
Introducing: When the People Decide
Jun 13, 2022
Democracy's summer blockbusters
Jun 06, 2022
Can American democracy have nice things?
May 30, 2022
Baby Boomers and American gerontocracy
May 23, 2022
No Jargon: How white Millennials think about race
May 16, 2022
Book bans are never just about books
May 09, 2022
Debating the future of debates
May 02, 2022
What student debt says about democratic institutions
Apr 25, 2022
Combating disinformation at home and abroad
Apr 18, 2022
Jon Meacham on creating a more perfect union
Apr 11, 2022
The roots of radical partisanship
Apr 04, 2022
How democracies can win the war on reality [rebroadcast]
Mar 28, 2022
Ro Khanna on dignity and democracy
Mar 21, 2022
Russia and Ukraine: How we got here
Mar 14, 2022
Defending democracy at home and abroad
Mar 07, 2022
What academic freedom really means in a democracy
Feb 28, 2022
Tracing the rise of illiberalism
Feb 21, 2022
Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation
Feb 14, 2022
How national parties are breaking state politics
Feb 07, 2022
Can the courts save civics education?
Jan 31, 2022
When religion and democracy collide
Jan 24, 2022
Sore losers are bad for democracy
Jan 17, 2022
On democracy's doomsayers
Dec 20, 2021
What does it take to sustain democracy?
Dec 13, 2021
Fannie Lou Hamer's fight continues today
Dec 06, 2021
Andrew Yang and Charlie Dent on the future of America's political parties
Nov 29, 2021
The soul of democracy
Nov 22, 2021
Jonathan Haidt on democracy's moral foundations [rebroadcast]
Nov 15, 2021
Why social media is so polarizing — and what we can do about it
Nov 08, 2021
What makes a campaign deplorable?
Nov 01, 2021
Fighting for democracy in the GOP
Oct 25, 2021
Tom Nichols on democracy's worst enemy
Oct 18, 2021
Independent commissions alone can't create fair maps
Oct 11, 2021
Voter suppression doesn't repeat, but it rhymes
Oct 04, 2021
A love letter to democratic institutions
Sep 27, 2021
How Amazon is disrupting democracy
Sep 20, 2021
Abortion is not always a clash of absolutes
Sep 13, 2021
Millennials' slow climb to political power
Sep 06, 2021
A summer of the individual vs. the common good
Aug 30, 2021
Extreme maps, extreme politics [reboradcast]
Aug 23, 2021
Jan-Werner Müller on democracy's rules
Aug 16, 2021
Does Congress promote partisan gridlock? [rebroadcast]
Aug 09, 2021
Pete Davis is dedicated to the hard work of democracy
Aug 02, 2021
Masha Gessen on the Moscow duel
Jul 26, 2021
Walter Shaub on transparency, ethics, and democracy
Jul 19, 2021
A different take on local news and democracy
Jul 12, 2021
How to end democracy's doom loop [rebroadcast]
Jul 05, 2021
Democracy as a way of life
Jun 28, 2021
Your guide to ranked-choice voting [rebroadcast]
Jun 21, 2021
Is it possible to overdo democracy? [rebroadcast]
Jun 14, 2021
Looking back to move forward
Jun 07, 2021
The people vs. the bureaucrats in Flint
May 31, 2021
There is no "I" in democracy
May 24, 2021
How democracies can win the war on reality
May 17, 2021
Conspiracism finds a home on the intellectual right
May 10, 2021
The Federalist Society's ideas have consequences for democracy
May 03, 2021
Colored Conventions show us where democracy really happens
Apr 26, 2021
Can pranksters save democracy?
Apr 19, 2021
Public schools, not government schools
Apr 12, 2021
Reforming criminal justice from the inside out
Apr 05, 2021
Laboratories of restricting democracy
Mar 29, 2021
Danielle Allen on achieving democracy's ideals
Mar 22, 2021
Reimagining citizenship in a consumer world
Mar 15, 2021
Understanding — and addressing — domestic terrorism
Mar 08, 2021
Anne Applebaum on why democracy is not inevitable
Mar 01, 2021
The long road to a multiracial democracy
Feb 22, 2021
A path forward for social media and democracy
Feb 15, 2021
Will Alexei Navalny make Russia more democratic?
Feb 08, 2021
Direct democracy's dark side
Feb 01, 2021
Check out our partners in The Democracy Group
Jan 25, 2021
Extreme maps, extreme politics
Jan 18, 2021
American democracy's violent disruption
Jan 11, 2021
What neoliberalism left behind [rebroadcast]
Jan 04, 2021
How conspiracies are damaging democracy [rebroadcast]
Dec 28, 2020
Did democracy work in 2020?
Dec 21, 2020
The people want pot
Dec 14, 2020
What really motivates Trump supporters
Dec 07, 2020
The myth of the "Latino vote"
Nov 30, 2020
Can corporations be democratic citizens?
Nov 23, 2020
Is common ground hiding in plain sight?
Nov 16, 2020
When four threats to democracy collide
Nov 09, 2020
Wynton Marsalis on democracy as jazz and The Ever Fonky Lowdown
Nov 02, 2020
News deserts are democracy deserts, too
Oct 26, 2020
The Supreme Court's politics and power
Oct 19, 2020
The perfect storm for election disaster
Oct 12, 2020
The 2020 election from WPSU's Take Note
Oct 05, 2020
Hong Kong's fight is everyone's fight
Sep 28, 2020
Sheriffs 101
Sep 21, 2020
Students learn, students vote
Sep 14, 2020
A dark side to "laboratories of democracy"
Sep 07, 2020
A fall preview — with a new cohost!
Aug 31, 2020
YIMBYs and NIMBYs in a democracy
Aug 24, 2020
After 100 years, there's still no "woman voter"
Aug 17, 2020
She Votes! — Susan B. Anthony and "voting while female"
Aug 10, 2020
Reason in politics and hope for democracy
Aug 03, 2020
The people who choose the President
Jul 27, 2020
Broken Ground: Robert Bullard on environmental justice
Jul 20, 2020
The world's most punitive democracy [revisited]
Jul 13, 2020
Suspect citizens in a democracy [revisited]
Jul 06, 2020
The second annual Democracy Works listener mailbag
Jun 29, 2020
How to end democracy’s doom loop
Jun 22, 2020
The clumsy journey to antiracism
Jun 15, 2020
Civil rights, civil unrest
Jun 08, 2020
Aaron Maybin on doing the hard work of democracy [rebroadcast]
Jun 03, 2020
Free speech from the Founding Fathers to Twitter
Jun 01, 2020
Bonus: Mayors and bipartisanship during COVID-19
May 29, 2020
The people vs. the experts — and those caught in the middle
May 25, 2020
China’s role in the COVID-19 infodemic
May 18, 2020
A roadmap to a more equitable democracy
May 11, 2020
Trust, facts, and democracy in a polarized world
May 04, 2020
Bonus: Civic engagement, social distancing, and democracy reform
May 01, 2020
Give me liberty or give me COVID-19?
Apr 27, 2020
Bonus: COVID-19 and Democracy with The Democracy Group
Apr 24, 2020
Federalism in uncertain times
Apr 20, 2020
Will COVID-19 create a one-issue campaign?
Apr 13, 2020
Public health depends on the Census
Apr 06, 2020
Free and fair elections during a pandemic
Mar 30, 2020
COVID-19 exposes democracy’s tensions
Mar 23, 2020
Populism is not a monolith
Mar 16, 2020
Swamp Stories: Cashing In
Mar 09, 2020
The promise and peril of early voting
Mar 02, 2020
Breaking down Black politics
Feb 24, 2020
Does Congress promote partisan gridlock?
Feb 17, 2020
How states are working to keep your vote safe
Feb 10, 2020
Primaries, parties, and the public
Feb 03, 2020
The connective tissue of democracy
Jan 27, 2020
How the Tea Party and the Resistance are upending politics
Jan 20, 2020
A 2020 preview
Jan 13, 2020
Grassroots organizing to “reboot” democracy [rebroadcast]
Jan 06, 2020
E.J. Dionne on making America empathetic again [rebroadcast]
Dec 30, 2019
Is it possible to overdo democracy?
Dec 23, 2019
Chris Beem on democratic humility and virtues
Dec 16, 2019
Next-generation democracy
Dec 09, 2019
The democracy rebellion happening in states across the U.S.
Dec 02, 2019
A roundtable on impeachment, institutions, and legitimacy
Nov 25, 2019
Your guide to ranked-choice voting
Nov 18, 2019
Latino immigrants and the changing makeup of American democracy
Nov 11, 2019
Inside the world’s largest democracy
Nov 04, 2019
Changing the climate conversation
Oct 28, 2019
From political crisis to profound change
Oct 21, 2019
Andrew Sullivan on democracy’s double-edged sword
Oct 14, 2019
The case for open primaries
Oct 07, 2019
Understanding impeachment — from the Federalist Papers to the whistleblower
Sep 30, 2019
Street-level bureaucrats at the border
Sep 23, 2019
Out of Order: A conversation with Mitch Landrieu and Margaret Carlson
Sep 20, 2019
China’s threat to democracies around the world
Sep 16, 2019
One state’s fight for fair maps
Sep 09, 2019
How music transcends political polarization
Sep 02, 2019
Doing the hard work of democracy in Baltimore
Sep 01, 2019
How conspiracies are damaging democracy
Sep 01, 2019
Defending the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate
Aug 12, 2019
Standing up for science and fighting the climate wars [rebroadcast]
Aug 05, 2019
Tracing the past, present, and future of protests
Jul 29, 2019
A conversation about conversation [rebroadcast]
Jul 22, 2019
Politics and Polls: Blue state federalism
Jul 15, 2019
The Pledge: Are you scared of the cafeteria lady?
Jul 15, 2019
How Democracies Die author Daniel Ziblatt on the “grinding work” of democracy [rebroadcast]
Jul 08, 2019
A democracy summer reading list [rebroadcast]
Jul 01, 2019
Answering your questions about democracy
Jun 24, 2019
Congressional oversight and making America pragmatic again
Jun 17, 2019
Will AI destroy democracy?
Jun 10, 2019
The 2019 version of Democracy in America
Jun 03, 2019
What neoliberalism left behind
May 27, 2019
Demagogues are more common than you think
May 20, 2019
What does the Mueller report mean for democracy?
May 13, 2019
School segregation then and now
May 06, 2019
What Serial taught Sarah Koenig about criminal justice — recorded live at Penn State
Apr 29, 2019
Is it time to revive civility?
Apr 22, 2019
E.J. Dionne on empathy and democracy
Apr 15, 2019
No Jargon: Who controls the states?
Apr 08, 2019
The ongoing struggle for civil rights
Apr 08, 2019
Immigration, refugees, and the politics of displacement
Apr 01, 2019
A playbook for organizing in turbulent times
Mar 25, 2019
Jonathan Haidt on the psychology of democracy
Mar 18, 2019
Future Hindsight: Ian Bremmer on the failure of globalism
Mar 14, 2019
Brexit and the UK’s identity crisis
Mar 11, 2019
Brazil’s tenuous relationship with democracy
Mar 04, 2019
Yellow vests and the “grand debate” in France
Feb 25, 2019
Viktor Orbán’s “velvet repression” in Hungary
Feb 18, 2019
A brief history of “people power”
Feb 11, 2019
The power of local government
Feb 04, 2019
Using the tools of democracy to address economic inequality
Jan 28, 2019
What is democracy? A conversation with Astra Taylor
Jan 21, 2019
Trump on Earth: The Red State Paradox
Jan 14, 2019
It’s good to be counted [rebroadcast]
Jan 07, 2019
When states sue the federal government [rebroadcast]
Dec 31, 2018
Citizenship, patriotism, and democracy in the classroom [rebroadcast]
Dec 24, 2018
2018: The year in democracy
Dec 17, 2018
The complicated relationship between campaign finance and democracy
Dec 10, 2018
Capturing the nation’s mood
Dec 06, 2018
Are land-grant universities still “democracy’s colleges?”
Dec 03, 2018
Norman Eisen’s love letter to democracy
Nov 26, 2018
Winning the “democracy lottery”
Nov 19, 2018
From soldier-statesman to the warrior ethos: Gen. Wesley Clark on the military and democracy
Nov 12, 2018
Protecting democracy from foreign interference — recorded live at the National Press Club
Nov 05, 2018
Will Millennials disrupt democracy?
Oct 29, 2018
David Frum on developing the habits of democracy
Oct 22, 2018
When states sue the federal government
Oct 15, 2018
How “if it bleeds, it leads” impacts democracy
Oct 08, 2018
A story about democracy, told through 20 million traffic stops
Oct 01, 2018
Breaking the silence in Syria
Sep 24, 2018
Citizenship, patriotism, and democracy in the classroom
Sep 17, 2018
Behind the scenes of the “Year of the Woman”
Sep 10, 2018
The democrats in public sector unions [Labor Day rebroadcast]
Sep 03, 2018
Middle America, Part 2: Grassroots organizing and rebooting democracy
Aug 27, 2018
Middle America, Part 1: Populism and the Trump Voter
Aug 20, 2018
Facebook is not a democracy
Aug 13, 2018
How will we remember Charlottesville?
Aug 06, 2018
A democracy reading list
Jul 09, 2018
Bonus: A dose of optimism about the future of democracy
Jul 05, 2018
The constitutional crisis episode
Jul 02, 2018
Unpacking political polarization
Jun 25, 2018
What should voting look like in the 21st century?
Jun 18, 2018
When the “business of business” bleeds into politics
Jun 11, 2018
Michael Mann’s journey through the climate wars
Jun 04, 2018
Can young people revive civic engagement?
May 29, 2018
Bonus: Democracy In Action #1
May 24, 2018
A conversation about conversation
May 21, 2018
Ten thousand democracies
May 11, 2018
It’s good to be counted
May 08, 2018
Satire is good for more than just a few laughs
May 01, 2018
Tommie Smith: From sharecropper to Olympic protester
Apr 24, 2018
Generation Z and the future of democracy
Apr 17, 2018
How Democracies Die author Daniel Ziblatt on the ‘grinding work’ of democracy
Apr 10, 2018
What can Pennsylvania voters do about gerrymandering?
Apr 03, 2018
Fake news, clickbait, and the future of local journalism
Mar 27, 2018
Checking the President’s power
Mar 20, 2018
Is Colin Kaepernick a good democrat?
Mar 14, 2018
What is Democracy Works?
Mar 12, 2018