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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Amid election deniers and political polarization, it's easy to overlook the times when democracy is actually working. We do that this week in a hopeful conversation about resident-centered government.
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The cofounders of the States United Democracy Center join us this week to discuss the work they're doing to ensure safe, secure and fair elections in the 2022 midterms and beyond.
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This week, we discuss how the Green New Deal push the boundaries of what's possible in environmental and economic policy, the lasting impacts of environmental racism, and how climate reform is connected to democracy reform.
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Can liberal democracy withstand the challenges its currently facing? Francis Fukuyama is one of America's leading scholars on liberalism and joins us this week for a discussion about the threats its faces and how we might overcome them.
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The work of election administrators has never been glamorous, but now it's downright dangerous in some places. Jessica Huseman from Votebeat joins us this week to discuss what's happening and how we can support the people doing the hard work of democracy this election season.
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The Democratic Party saw surges in grassroots activism after the 2016 election, after George Floyd's murder, and most recently after the Dobbs decision. However, the party seems to be sticking to the same old playbook of fundraising emails and text messages, rather than building long-term organizational power. Our guests this week explore why that is and what we can do about it.
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Judge Jeffrey Sutton argues that state constitutions can serve an important role in carrying out the vision for "laboratories of democracy" and providing nuance that the federal constitution cannot.
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Democracy Works host Chris Beem joins the Future Hindsight podcast to discuss his new book, "The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can Do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy."
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Penn State's Christopher Ali, a leading scholar on the politics of Internet access, join us this week for a conversation about rural broadband and digital divides.
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Don Moynihan of Georgetown University joins us this week to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, Schedule F, and how policy implementation is democracy in action.