286 episodes
Democracy Works Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy
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- Government
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4.6 • 73 Ratings
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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.
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Democracy is the sum of us
Author and public policy expert Heather McGhee joins us this week to discuss her book "The Sum of Us" and how racism shapes public policy and weakens democratic institutions.
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Cassidy Hutchinson on what comes after January 6
Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Mark Meadows whose testimony captured the nation's attention in the January 6 Congressional hearings, joins us this week to discuss her time in the Trump administration and her new role safeguarding American democracy.
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How discontent destabilizes demoracy
If there's one thing that people across the political spectrum can agree on, it's a sense of discontent with the current state of American politics. This week, we explore the origins of that discontent and why it's damaging to democracy.
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A different take on social media and democracy
V Spehar of TikTok's Under the Desk News joins us to discuss how social media can strengthen democracy by creating space for community and encouraging offline civic engagement.
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How to combat political extremism
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, one of America's leading experts on the far right, joins us this week to discuss what draws people to political extremism online and offline — and what we can do to combat it.
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A different kind of political divide
Scholars Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan argue that America might not be as polarized as we think because the media and political observers over-index on people who are deeply invested in politics at the expense of those who are not as engaged.
Customer Reviews
Food for thought
This show approaches each topic from a thoughtful POV and offers up perspectives from people who have expert knowledge. They don’t hammer a point or yell and rant, but instead discuss and deliberate. A perfect example of how democracy works by Democracy Works!
Leader in Podcasts on Democracy
Jenna has been a large help for my own podcast, Democracy Paradox. Her leadership of the Democracy Group has influenced many democracy podcasts. Eternal thanks to her contours work!
Deep Analysis; Better Than Anything on Mainstream
I appreciate this group’s analysis, as it seeks to understand our political culture dispassionately and not to fan the outrage we see in shoddy and “clickbait” journalism.