Building and sustaining a democracy is hard work. It’s not glamorous and often goes unnoticed in the daily news cycle. On the Democracy Works podcast, we talk to people who are out there making it happen and discuss why that work is so important. We aim to rise above partisan bickering and hot takes on the news to have informed, intelligent, and thought-provoking discussions about issues related to democracy.
The show features interviews with leading experts by Jenna Spinelle and commentary and opinion from hosts Michael Berkman and Christopher Beem from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State and Candis Watts Smith of Duke University. It's a collaborative project between The McCourtney Institute and WPSU.
Democracy Works won the Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in 2020 and the People's Choice Podcast Award in the Government and Organizations category in 2018.
For more information and additional episodes, visit democracyworkspodcast.com or subscribe to Democracy Works wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Two Penn State researchers join us this week to discuss their recent findings on the connection between state-mandated civics tests and voter turnout. -
Democracy is sometimes described as "a system where political parties lose elections." That's true but doesn't capture the deeper feelings of grief and grievance associated with political loss. This episode dives into those emotions with Juliet Hooker of Brown University.
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Cas Mudde, one of the world's leading experts in the study of populism and far-right politics, joins us this week to discuss the tensions between populism and democracy, and why populism has increased around world in recent years.
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This week, we explore the shift of working class union voters from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
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Penn State professors John Iceland and Eric Silver join us this week to discuss how the discrepancy between social order and social justice impedes political compromise and progress.
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We talk with technology expert Jennifer Pahlka about why government systems seem so bad — and how everyone can contribute to making them better.
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The Democracy Works team (Michael Berkman, Chris Beem, Candis Watts Smith and Jenna Spinelle) are back from summer break and diving into the 2024 election season, Donald Trump's indictments, the spread of election deniers and more.
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On our season finale, we break down some of the biggest stories in politics and democracy over the past few months, including legislative actions in North Carolina and beyond, cases the U.S. Supreme Court is considering, the debt ceiling and more.
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John Della Volpe, director of the Harvard Youth Poll and author of the book "Fight" about Gen Z politics, joins us this week to discuss the events that shaped the generation's political ideology and how they're pushing back against narratives established by previous generations.
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Peniel E. Joseph, author of "The Third Reconstruction," joins us this week to discuss how the era from Barack Obama's election to George Floyd's murder compare to the post-Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement.
