Democracy in Question?

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!  

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity

(05:36 or p.2 in the transcript)

On November 21, 2013, one and a half thousand people rallied through social networks. They took to the Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) to express their protest against pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych?s refusal to sign the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. At the same time, people in different cities of Ukraine gathered every day and organized events in support of European integration. On the night of November 29-30, about 400 activists, mostly students, remained on the streets of Kyiv. Armed fighters of the former police unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine called ?Berkut? forced people out of the square. They used explosive packages, beating people with batons and stomping them with their feet. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the center of Kyiv on December 1, 2013, to protest the forceful dispersal of peaceful protesters. Due to the European integration slogans, the events were called Euromaidan. This turned into a struggle for the renewal of the state system, the defense of democratic ideas, and the refusal to submit to the pro-Russian regime. The struggle became known as the Revolution of Dignity. Protesters occupied the building of the Kyiv City State Administration (KMDA) and the House of Trade Unions, where the Headquarters of the National Resistance were located. Independence Square and nearby streets were filled with protesters. Euromaidan activists began to set up tent cities, surrounded by barricades and several roadblocks. On December 8, 2013, the ?March of Millions? took place in Kyiv, a public event with over a million participants. Activists decided to block the Presidential Administration and Government buildings. On the night of December 10-11, ?Berkut? and units of internal forces launched an assault to disperse peaceful protesters. The impetus for the escalation of the confrontation was the adoption of ?dictatorship laws? by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on January 16, 2014. They limited the rights of citizens and expanded the powers of special officers to punish participants in protest actions. On January 19, Euromaidan started a move to prepare an open-ended picket of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The march met with units of internal troops and special units of ?Berkut? on Hrushevsky Street ? clashes began that lasted all night. Armed security forces used stun grenades and rubber bullets, as well as a water cannon, against the demonstrators. Euromaidan activists wore construction helmets, and they threw cobblestones and Molotov cocktails at the police. On January 22, 2014, another illegal decision was made to extend the powers of the security forces that acted against Euromaidan participants. They were allowed to use light noise and smoke grenades delivered from the Russian Federation. On this day, for the first time during the Revolution of Dignity, two activists ? Armenian Serhii Nigoyan and Belarusian Mykhailo Zhiznevskyi ? died from gunshot wounds on Hrushevsky Street in Kyiv. Hundreds were injured by rubber bullets, debris, and chemical burns. At the end of January, the uprising spread to other regions of Ukraine. Protesters occupied administrative buildings, and they removed pro-Russian heads of state administrations from their positions. On February 18, 2014, activists marched to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, where deputies were supposed to consider changes to the Constitution of Ukraine. Activists called on the parliament to return the Constitution of 2004, according to which the political system of Ukraine was supposed to become parliamentary-presidential again, which reduced the possibilities for usurpation of power. The peaceful offensive turned into mass clashes between the Euromaidan and security forces. The Berkut police special unit dispersed the demonstrators on the approaches to the parliament and began an assault on the Maidan. On this day, more than 20 Euromaidans were killed with firearms. The events of February 20, 2014, on Instytutska Street in Kyiv entered the modern history of Ukraine as ?Bloody Thursday?. On this day, snipers killed 48 Euromaidans. On the same day in 2014, Russia began the occupation of Crimea, and in the spring they invaded Eastern Ukraine. Eight years later, in 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Nation-state

(07:01 or p.2 in the transcript)

Nation-state is a territorially bounded sovereign polity?i.e., a state?that is ruled in the name of a community of citizens who identify themselves as a nation. The legitimacy of a nation-state?s rule over a territory and over the population inhabiting it stems from the right of a core national group within the state (which may include all or only some of its citizens) to self-determination. Members of the core national group see the state as belonging to them and consider the approximate territory of the state to be their homeland. Accordingly, they demand that other groups, both within and outside the state, recognize and respect their control over the state. As a political model, the nation-state fuses two principles: the principle of state sovereignty, first articulated in the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which recognizes the right of states to govern their territories without external interference; and the principle of national sovereignty, which recognizes the right of national communities to govern themselves. National sovereignty in turn is based on the moral-philosophical principle of popular sovereignty, according to which states belong to their peoples. The latter principle implies that legitimate rule of a state requires some sort of consent by the people. That requirement does not mean, however, that all nation-states are democratic. Indeed, many authoritarian rulers have presented themselves?both to the outside world of states and internally to the people under their rule?as ruling in the name of a sovereign nation. source

The Yellow Vests Protests

(37:51 or p.10 in the transcript)

In France, in November 2018, the gilets jaunes started as a movement directed against what was considered to beexcessive taxation, especially on fuel. Protesters wearing gilets jaunes ? yellow high visibility vests which motorists are legally obliged to have in their car and wear in case of accident or breakdown ? blocked major roads as a sign of protest. This thus led to the collective name of the movement: the gilets jaunes (or yellow vests in English). Beyond the sustained blocking of some roads, the movement developed into regular demonstrations on Saturdays across the country blocking roads and city centers. At their peak in November 2018, the movement mobilized between 300,000 and 1.3?million people, depending on sources. Not unsurprisingly, considering the fractured, spontaneous and leaderless nature of the protests, the demands of the protesters spread to include the resignation of the French president, a general reduction in taxes, increases in public services and state pensions, and so on. Some gilets jaunes even called for revolution and said the movement was the start of a civil war. The polymorphous, uncontrolled and uncontrollable nature of the movement also provided an opportunity for some of its supporters to engage in violence against the police and symbols of the state such as motorway tollbooths, police speed cameras (over 50% of which were destroyed), government buildings, locations associated with the elite (such as Fouquet?s restaurant on the Champs-Elysées) and so on. This violence is said to have cost the French economy an estimated at ?200?million according to the French insurance industry and has resulted directly or indirectly in 12 deaths and 4000 injured. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Feudalism

(03:10 or p.1 in the transcript)

Feudalism as a historiographic construct designated the social, economic, and political conditions in western Europe during the early Middle Ages between the 5th and 12th centuries. Feudalism and the related term feudal system are labels invented long after the period to which they were applied. They refer to what those who invented them perceived as the most significant and distinctive characteristics of the early and central Middle Ages. The expressions féodalité and feudal system were coined by the beginning of the 17th century, and the English words feudality and feudalism (as well as feudal pyramid) were in use by the end of the 18th century. They were derived from the Latin words feudum (?fief?) and feodalitas (services connected with the fief), both of which were used during the Middle Ages and later to refer to a form of property holding. Use of the terms associated with feudum to denote the essential characteristics of the early Middle Ages has invested the fief with exaggerated prominence and placed undue emphasis on the importance of a special mode of land tenure to the detriment of other, more significant aspects of social, economic, and political life. source

The Great Depression (1929)

(19:44 or p.5 in the transcript)

Great Depression was the worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, sparking fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory. Although it originated in the United States, the Great Depression caused drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation in almost every country of the world. Its social and cultural effects were no less staggering, especially in the United States, where the Great Depression represented the harshest adversity faced by Americans since the Civil War. The timing and severity of the Great Depression varied substantially across countries. The Depression was particularly long and severe in the United States and Europe; it was milder in Japan and much of Latin America. Perhaps not surprisingly, the worst depression ever experienced by the world economy stemmed from a multitude of causes. Declines in consumer demand, financial panics, and misguided government policies caused economic output to fall in the United States, while the gold standard, which linked nearly all the countries of the world in a network of fixed currency exchange rates, played a key role in transmitting the American downturn to other countries. The recovery from the Great Depression was spurred largely by the abandonment of the gold standard and the ensuing monetary expansion. The economic impact of the Great Depression was enormous, including both extreme human suffering and profound changes in economic policy. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Bruno Kreisky

(01:53 or p.1 in the transcript)

Bruno Kreisky, (born January 22, 1911, Vienna, Austria?died July 29, 1990, Vienna), leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria and chancellor of Austria (1970?83). Kreisky joined the Social Democratic Party in 1926; he was active in the party until it was outlawed in 1934. In 1935 he was arrested for political reasons and imprisoned for 18 months. He was imprisoned again in 1938, shortly after graduating as Doctor of Law from the University of Vienna. Persecuted by the Gestapo because of his political beliefs and Jewish birth, he fled to Sweden, where he engaged in journalism and business during World War II. From 1946 to 1950 he served at the Austrian legation in Stockholm and then returned to Vienna to serve at the foreign ministry. From 1956 he was a member of the Austrian Parliament, and in 1959 he was elected deputy chairman of the Social Democrats and became foreign minister. After the party?s decisive defeat in the 1966 general election, he took the lead in an intraparty reform movement. He was narrowly elected chairman of the Social Democrats in 1967, and he became chancellor of Austria when the Social Democrats emerged from the 1970 elections as the strongest party; in 1971 they acquired an absolute majority. Kreisky was credited with successfully pursuing a policy of ?active neutrality,? smoothing relations with neighboring Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and seeking cooperation with other nonaligned nations. Under his leadership, the Social Democrats preserved their parliamentary majority in elections in 1975 and 1979. He resigned in 1983. source

Occupation of Austria by the Allied Forces (1945-1955)

(07:54 or p.2 in the transcript)

At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Allies agreed that they would jointly occupy Austria in the postwar period, dividing the country and its capital Vienna into four zones as they planned to do with Germany and Berlin. The Soviets also demanded reparations from Austria, a request that was dropped due to the country's nonbelligerent status, but the United States did agree that the Soviet Union would be entitled to any German assets in the Soviet occupation zone. In contrast to Germany, the Austrian government continued to exist in the postwar period and govern, although the Four Powers could veto any new legislation if they unanimously agreed to do so. This arrangement was maintained until the withdrawal of the occupying powers upon the completion of the Austrian State Treaty. The breakdown of the wartime "Grand Alliance" and the emergence of the Cold War led to the Austrian occupation lasting far longer than anyone anticipated. Only on May 15, 1955, representatives of the governments of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States, and France signed a treaty that granted Austria independence and arranged for the withdrawal of all occupation forces. These governments signed the agreement with the understanding that the newly independent state of Austria would declare its neutrality, creating a buffer zone between the East and the West. The Austrian State Treaty was the only treaty signed by both the Soviet Union and United States in the decade after the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties, and it marked the only Cold War era withdrawal by the Soviet Union from a territory it occupied. The Austrian situation was unique in postwar Europe. In 1938, it had been the only nation to be annexed in its entirety by Nazi Germany, a fact that raised consistent questions during the war about the extent to which the country was a victim of Nazi aggression or whether it had been a collaborator. source

Freedom Party of Austria

(10:37 or p.3 in the transcript)

The Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021 and is currently led by Herbert Kickl. On a European level, the FPÖ is a founding member of the Identity and Democracy Party and its three Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit with the Identity and Democracy (ID) group. The FPÖ was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents (VdU), representing pan-Germanists and national liberals opposed to socialism, represented by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), and Catholic clericalism represented by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, was a former Nazi functionary and SS officer, though the party did not advocate extreme right policies and presented itself as residing in the political centre. During this time, the FPÖ was the third largest party in Austria and had modest support. Under the leadership of Norbert Steger in the early 1980s, it sought to style itself on the German Free Democratic Party. It supported the first government of SPÖ Chancellor Bruno Kreisky after the 1970 election, as well as that of Fred Sinowatz from 1983 to 1986. Jörg Haider became leader of the party in 1986, after which it began an ideological turn towards right-wing populism. This resulted in a strong surge in electoral support, but also led the SPÖ to break ties, and a splinter in the form of the Liberal Forum in 1993. In the 1999 election, the FPÖ won 26.9% of the vote, becoming the second most popular party, ahead of the ÖVP by around 500 votes. The two parties eventually reached a coalition agreement in which ÖVP retained the office of Chancellor. The FPÖ soon lost most of its popularity, falling to 10% in the 2002 election, but the government was renewed. Internal tensions led Haider and much of the party leadership to leave in 2005, forming the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), which replaced the FPÖ as governing partner. Heinz-Christian Strache then became leader, and the party gradually regained its popularity, peaking at 26.0% in the 2017 election. The FPÖ once again became junior partner in government with the ÖVP. In May 2019, the Ibiza affair led to the collapse of the government and the resignation of Strache from both the offices of Vice-Chancellor and party leader. The resulting snap election saw the FPÖ fall to 16.2% and return to opposition. source

Austrian People?s Party

(13:09 or p.3 in the transcript)

The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. The ÖVP is a member of the International Democrat Union and the European People's Party. It sits with the EPP group in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, 7 are members of the ÖVP. An unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ÖVP was founded immediately following the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945. Since then, it has been one of the two traditional major parties in Austria, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). It was the most popular party until 1970, and has traditionally governed in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. It was the senior partner in grand coalitions from 1945 to 1966 and the junior partner from 1986 to 2000 and 2007?2017. The ÖVP also briefly governed alone from 1966 to 1970. After the 1999 election, the party formed a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) until 2003, when a coalition with the FPÖ splinter Alliance for the Future of Austria was formed, which lasted until 2007. The party underwent a change in its image after Sebastian Kurz became chairman, changing its colour from the traditional black to turquoise, and adopting the alternate name The New People's Party (German: Die neue Volkspartei). It became the largest party after the 2017 election, and formed a coalition government with the FPÖ. This collapsed eighteen months later, leading to the 2019 election, after which the ÖVP formed a new coalition with The Greens. source

Social Democratic Party of Austria

(30:27 or p.6 in the transcript)

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) until 1945 and later the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) until 1991, is a social-democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), it is one of the country's two traditional major parties. It is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum. The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union, and it is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance, and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK). The SDAPÖ was the second largest party in the Imperial Council of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s through 1910s. After the First World War, it briefly governed the First Austrian Republic, but thereafter returned to opposition. The party was banned in 1934 following the Austrian Civil War, and was suppressed throughout Austrofascism and the Nazi period. The party was refounded as the Socialist Party of Austria in 1945 and governed as a junior partner of the ÖVP until 1966. In 1970, the SPÖ became the largest party for the first time in post-war history, and Bruno Kreisky became Chancellor, winning three consecutive majorities (1971, 1975, and 1979). From 1987 to 2000 the SPÖ led a grand coalition with the ÖVP before returning to opposition for the first time in 30 years. The party governed again from 2007 to 2017. Since 2017, the SPÖ have been the primary opposition to the ÖVP governments of Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg, and Karl Nehammer. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Polish population transfer

(11:20 or p.3 in the transcript)

Shortly after the Red Army entered western Ukraine and eastern Poland in the summer of 1944, representatives of Soviet Ukraine and Poland, meeting in Lublin, agreed to the reciprocal transfer of Poles from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and of ethnic Ukrainians from Poland. The implementation of the Lublin accord on ?evacuation? took place against a background of extreme violence which had already induced ?spontaneous? migration. The evacuation took much longer than expected, and only came to an end in 1946, by which time some 483,000 Ukrainians had been moved from Poland to Ukraine, while 790,000 Poles were transported from Ukraine to Poland. It represented one of the largest such transfers undertaken in postwar Europe. Nor did Ukrainians and Poles escape the consequences of further intervention. In 1947 the ?Vistula action? affected a further 150,000 Ukrainians who had not already resettled. Another phase of transfers took place following the final series of territorial adjustments under the Polish-Soviet Agreement of 15 February 1951, as a result of which some 40,000 Ukrainians were expelled from territory annexed to Poland. Finally, more than 10,000 Poles from among the Soviet deportees and prisoners, who had been unable hitherto to exercise their right to return, were repatriated to Poland in 1955?56. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Democratic Odyssey 

(02:19 or p.1 in the transcript)

The Democratic Odyssey is a decentralized, collaborative, and transparent exercise of crowdsourcing and co-creation kicked-off by a core consortium composed of The European University Institute?s School of Transnational Governance, Particip-Action, European Alternatives, Citizens Take Over Europe, The Democracy and Culture Foundation, Democracy Next, Mehr Demokratie, Eliamep, The Real Deal, Phoenix, The European Capital of Democracy, as well as the Berggruen and Salvia Foundations. This community is open to all who want to be involved. Threatened from within and outside by the rise of partisan hyper-polarization, authoritarian buy-in, disinformation and electoral interference, European democracy is under attack on all sides. As Europe needs to address citizens? sense of disenfranchisement, pathways to renewal are necessary. For the Democratic Odyssey consortium, part of the solution lies in creating a standing European People?s Assembly that will become a core part of the institutional landscape of the European Union, made of citizens selected by lot, serving on a rotating basis. This project comes at an opportune moment. In the past five years, in Europe, there have been ten national assemblies and around 70 local assemblies on the topic of climate change alone. The EU itself took a huge leap with the Conference on the Future of Europe which integrated transnational, multi-lingual, sortition-based deliberation into the policy making process. The Conference planted a seed which the Democratic Odyssey wants to make flourish. As James Mackay, the project?s coordinator, declared in a recent interview with European Alternatives: ?we are not aiming at making a ?perfect? assembly (whatever that would even mean). Our hope is more modest: to offer a ?proof of concept? that, in the window between the EP elections but before the new Commissions convenes, can bring grassroots and institutional actors together to consider how citizens? participation can be institutionalized in the longer term.? source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Panopticon

(11:53 or p.3 in the transcript)

Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher and social theorist in the mid-1700s, invented a social control mechanism that would become a comprehensive symbol for modern authority and discipline in the western world: a prison system called the Panopticon. The basic principle for the design, which Bentham first completed in 1785, was to monitor the maximum number of prisoners with the fewest possible guards and other security costs. The layout consists of a central tower for the guards, surrounded by a ring-shaped building of prison cells. The building with the prisoners is only one cell thick, and every cell has one open side facing the central tower. This open side has bars over it but is otherwise entirely exposed to the tower. The guards can thus see the entirety of any cell at any time, and the prisoners are always vulnerable and visible. Conversely, the tower is far enough from the cells and has sufficiently small windows that the prisoners cannot see the guards inside of it. The sociological effect is that the prisoners are aware of the presence of authority at all times, even though they never know exactly when they are being observed. The authority changes from being a limited physical entity to being an internalized omniscience- the prisoners discipline themselves simply because someone might be watching, eliminating the need for more physical power to accomplish the same task. Just a few guards are able to maintain a very large number of prisoners this way. Arguably, there wouldn't even need to be any guards in the tower at all. Michel Foucault, a French intellectual and critic, expanded the idea of the panopticon into a symbol of social control that extends into everyday life for all citizens, not just those in the prison system. He argues that social citizens always internalize authority, which is one source of power for prevailing norms and institutions. A driver, for example, might stop at a red light even when there are no other cars or police present. Even though there are not necessarily any repercussions, the police are an internalized authority- people tend to obey laws because those rules become self-imposed. source

Conference on the Future of Europe

(19:42 or p.5 in the transcript)

The Conference on the future of Europe officially started on 9 May 2021. Over the next year this citizen led series of discussions and debates will allow citizens from all over the European Union to make their voices heard on key priorities. Through a myriad of Conference events and debates held all across the European Union, aided by an interactive multilingual digital platform, the conference will place European citizens at the centre of the debate. The Conference on the Future of Europe is jointly chaired by the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (10 March 2021), António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal and President of the rotating Presidency of the Council, David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, participated in the signing ceremony of the joint declaration for the Conference of the Future of Europe. On 19 April 2021, the multilingual digital platform was launched to ensure that citizens can start contributing to the conference. During the closing event on 9 May 2022, the three Co-Chairs of the Conference?s Executive Board did present the final report to the presidents of the EU institutions. President Metsola, President Macron, and President von der Leyen delivered speeches alongside contributions from citizens representing the European and National Panels, and by the Conference Co-Chairs. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

(04:10 or p.1 in the transcript)

China?s Belt and Road Initiative is a strategy initiated by the People?s Republic of China that seeks to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks with the aim of improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth. The name was coined in 2013 by China?s President Xi Jinping, who drew inspiration from the concept of the Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago ? an ancient network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean via Eurasia for centuries. The BRI has also been referred to in the past as 'One Belt One Road'. The BRI comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt ? a trans-continental passage that links China with southeast Asia, south Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Europe by land ? and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting China?s coastal regions with south east and south Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe. The initiative defines five major priorities: policy coordination; infrastructure connectivity; unimpeded trade; financial integration; and connecting people. The BRI has been associated with a very large programme of investments in infrastructure development for ports, roads, railways and airports, as well as power plants and telecommunications networks. Since 2019, Chinese state-led BRI lending volumes have been in decline. The BRI now places increasing emphasis on ?high quality investment?, including through greater use of project finance, risk mitigation tools, and green finance. The BRI is an increasingly important umbrella mechanism for China?s bilateral trade with BRI partners: as of March 2020, the number of countries that have joined the Belt and Road Initiative by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China is 138. source

BRICS

(04:41 or p.2 in the transcript)

"BRICS" is the acronym denoting the emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The term was originally coined in 2001 as "BRIC" by the Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in his report, Building Better Global Economic BRICs (Global Economics Paper No: 66). At that time, the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China experienced significant growth, raising concerns regarding their impact on the global economy. Foreign ministers of these countries began meeting informally in 2006, which led to more formal annual summits beginning in 2009. Generally speaking, these meetings are held to improve economic conditions within BRICS countries and give their leaders the opportunity to work in collaboration regarding these efforts. In December of 2010, South Africa joined the informal group and changed the acronym to BRICS. Together these emerging markets represent 42% of the world population and account for over 31% of the world's GDP according to the World Factbook. According to the 2023 summit chair South Africa, over 40 nations were interested in joining the economic forum for the benefits membership would provide including development finance and increase in trade and investment. At the conclusion of the summit, it was announced that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will become new members of BRICS starting in 2024. source

Global Gateway 

(25:52 or p.7 in the transcript)

Global Gateway is a new European strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. The European Commission and the EU High Representative launched it in 2021. Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to ?300 billion in investments through a Team Europe approach, bringing together the EU, its Member States and their financial and development institutions. It seeks a transformational impact in the digital, climate and energy, transport, health, and education and research sectors. The focus is on smart investments in quality infrastructure, respecting the highest social and environmental standards, in line with the EU?s interests and values: rule of law, human rights and international norms and standards. 6 core principles are at the heart of Global Gateway, guiding the investments: democratic values and high standards; good governance and transparency; equal partnerships; green and clean; security focused; catalysing the private sector. Global Gateway is the EU?s contribution to narrowing the global investment gap worldwide. It is in line with the commitment of the G7 leaders from June 2021 to launch a values-driven, high-standard and transparent infrastructure partnership to meet global infrastructure development needs. Global Gateway is also fully aligned with the UN?s Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Capital gains taxation

(17:00 or p.4 in the transcript)

The capital gains tax is the levy on the profit that an investor makes when an investment is sold. It is owed for the tax year during which the investment is sold. The long-term capital gains tax rates for the 2022 and 2023 tax years [in the US] are 0%, 15%, or 20% of the profit, depending on the income of the filer. The income brackets are adjusted annually. An investor will owe long-term capital gains tax on the profits of any investment owned for at least one year. If the investor owns the investment for one year or less, short-term capital gains tax applies. The short-term rate is determined by the taxpayer's ordinary income bracket. For all but the highest-paid taxpayers, that is a higher tax rate than the capital gains rate. When stock shares or any other taxable investment assets are sold, the capital gains, or profits, are referred to as having been realized. The tax doesn't apply to unsold investments or unrealized capital gains. Stock shares will not incur taxes until they are sold, no matter how long the shares are held or how much they increase in value. source

Tax havens

(17:07 or p.4 in the transcript)

A tax haven is a country that offers foreign businesses and individuals minimal or no tax liability for their bank deposits in a politically and economically stable environment. They have tax advantages for corporations and for the very wealthy, and obvious potential for misuse in illegal tax avoidance schemes. Companies and wealthy individuals may use tax havens legally as a means of stashing money earned abroad while avoiding higher taxes in the U.S. and other nations. Tax havens may also be used illegally to hide money from tax authorities at home. The tax haven can make this work by being uncooperative with foreign tax authorities. In recent times, tax havens are under increasing international political pressure to cooperate with foreign tax fraud inquiries. Broadly speaking, tax havens are jurisdictions that have very low taxes and no residency requirements for foreign entities and individuals willing to park money in their financial institutions. A combination of lax regulation and secrecy laws enable corporations and individuals to screen some of their income from tax authorities in other nations. The Tax Justice Network maintains a Corporate Tax Haven Index that tracks the jurisdictions that it says are "most complicit" in helping multinational corporations evade taxes. As of 2021, the worst offenders were the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Bermuda. Tax havens may be found in another country or merely in a separate jurisdiction. source

Trickle-down economics

(21:19 or p.5 in the transcript)

Trickle-down economics and its policies employ the theory that tax breaks and benefits for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down and eventually benefit everyone. Tools like reduced income tax and capital gains tax breaks are offered to large businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs to stimulate economic growth. The trickle-down theory states that tax breaks and benefits for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down to everyone else. Trickle-down economics involves less regulation and tax cuts for those in high-income tax brackets as well as corporations. While there is no single comprehensive economic policy identified as trickle-down economics, a policy is considered ?trickle-down? if it disproportionately benefits wealthy businesses and individuals in the short run but is designed to boost standards of living for all individuals in the long run. Both President Herbert Hoover?s stimulus efforts during the Great Depression and President Ronald Reagan's use of income tax cuts were described as "trickle-down." Critics argue that the added benefits the wealthy receive can distort the economic structure as lower-income earners without an equal tax cut adds to income inequality. Many economists counter that cutting taxes for the poor and working families boosts the economy by increasing spending on goods and services whereas a tax cut for a corporation may go to stock buybacks or increased savings for the wealthy. In December 2020, a London School of Economics report by David Hope and Julian Limberg was released which examined five decades of tax cuts in 18 wealthy nations and found they consistently benefited the wealthy but had no meaningful effect on unemployment or economic growth. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Green transition

(16:37 or p.5 in the transcript)

The green transition means a shift towards economically sustainable growth and an economy that is not based on fossil fuels and overconsumption of natural resources. A sustainable economy relies on low-carbon solutions that promote the circular economy and biodiversity.For companies, the manufacturing industry and municipalities, the green transition can mean investments in clean energy production, circular economy solutions and hydrogen technology, and the introduction of different kinds of new services and operating models. Low-carbon roadmaps and sustainability strategies drawn up by different sectors are an important part of this package. What the green transition means in daily lives includes, for example, phasing out fossil oil heating and shifting to electric cars. For the society as a whole, it can mean different kinds of incentives and subsidies for these and legislation that supports the green transition. The green transition also means questioning individual consumer habits and ways of thinking, e.g., using machines and appliances that consume less electricity or being ready to pay more for products manufactured that cause less emissions.source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

USAID

(19:20 or p.4 in the transcript)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was developed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. He created the agency after signing an executive order to advance American interests abroad through development efforts and humanitarian aid. With the global economy still relatively fragile less than two decades after the end of World War II, it was essential for the U.S.'s own prosperity to promote growth in developing countries and to help nations maintain their independence and freedom.

USAID works in more than 100 developing countries spanning the globe in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Eurasia. The agency, which has field offices in the areas noted above, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with organizational units that are called bureaus. Those working in each unit are responsible for programs and activities in a specific country.

The agency's mission and objectives remain the same today. USAID's mission is to boost democratic values across the world, helping nations become self-reliant as they progress in their own development. While promoting development and reducing poverty are among its aims, it also promotes democratic governance in recipient nations, and helps counteract the drivers of violence, instability, transnational crime, and other security threats. source

Truth Commission or Truth and Reconciliation Commission

(31:52 or p.7 in the transcript)

In 1980 the Shining Path, a Maoist opposition group, began an uprising against the Peruvian military dictatorship to protest pervasive social and economic inequalities. In 1982, the TúpacAmaru Revolutionary Movement began fighting against the military as well and also engaged in an internal conflict with the Shining Path. The war disproportionately affected the remote Ayacucho Region where forty percent of an estimated 70,000 deaths and disappearances occurred. Activity of the Shining Path significantly diminished after their leader Abimael Guzmán and other key members were captured in 1992. The government's engagement in the conflict ended after President Alberto Fujimori was forced from office in November 2000. In December 2000, the caretaker government of Valentin Paniagua approved the establishment of a truth commission, which was inaugurated on July 13, 2001, and began its work after President-elect Alejandro Toledo took office later that month.

Interim president Paniagua decided to establish the Commission with the approving vote of his Cabinet. Supreme Resolution from February 27, 2001 proposed the creation of a truth commission and established a working group to design its mandate. The commission was set up by a decree.Its mandate was to investigate assassinations, torture, disappearances, displacement, employment of terrorist methods and other violations attributable to the State, the Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement between May 1980 and November 2000 during the administrations of former Presidents Fernando Belaunde (1980 - 1985), Alan Garcia (1985 - 1990) and Alberto Fujimori (1990 - 2000).

The TRC was comprised of twelve Peruvian commissioners, ten men and two women, chaired by Salomón Lerner Febres. The President appointed the members of the commission with the approval of the Council of Ministers. The commission opened five regional offices to carry out its work. On August 28, 2003, the commission released its 8,000-page final report to then President Alejandro Toledo and to other members of the government. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Gerrymandering

(14:00 or p.4 in the transcript)

In U.S. politics, gerrymandering is the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilutes the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). The term is derived from the name of Gov. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose administration enacted a law in 1812 defining new state senatorial districts. The law consolidated the Federalist Party vote in a few districts and thus gave disproportionate representation to Democratic-Republicans. The outline of one of these districts was thought to resemble a salamander. A satirical cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale that appeared in the Boston Gazette graphically transformed the districts into a fabulous animal, ?The Gerry-mander,? fixing the term in the popular imagination.source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: scopeaudio

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Glossary

Ukraine Grain Deal (Black Sea Grain Initiative)

(04:50 or p.2 in the transcript)

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian exports of grain have been severely disrupted. For over four months, Russian military vessels blocked Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. On 22 July 2022, an agreement was brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye to open a safe maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea (the Black Sea Grain Initiative). Since then, over 1 080 ships full of grain and other foodstuffs have left three Ukrainian ports: Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi. As of May 2023, over30 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs have been exported via the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP ? the largest humanitarian organisation in the world) is also shipping wheat from Black Sea ports. Before the war, the programme bought half of its grain stock from Ukraine. Since the start of the initiative in August 2022 over 625 000 tonnes of wheat have left Ukrainian ports to Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti. source

Syrian refugee population in Turkey

(14:30 or p.4 in the transcript)

Just over 3.5 million UNHCR-registered Syrian refugees currently live in Turkey, comprising the largest registered refugee population in the world. Hundreds of thousands of unregistered Syrian refugees are also estimated to live in Turkey, although the exact number is highly uncertain due to their legal status and heightened risk of deportation. Refugees began fleeing to Turkey in small numbers at the outset of the civil war in 2011, but the largest waves arrived in 2015 and 2016, when a series of brutal offensives by the Syrian regime ? backed by the Russian air force and Iranian-funded militias ? retook the largest rebel-held cities in northern and central Syria.  Although the number of registered Syrian refugees in Turkey has remained relatively static since 2018, there has been significant change under the surface. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have continued to arrive since 2018, displaced by the regime?s airstrikes in rebel-held Idlib and its offensives to retake the country?s south. These arrivals have been offset by the roughly half a million refugees who have returned to Syria from Turkey since the war started.source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

DiQ S6 EP10

Daniela Schwarzer on Europe?s Strategic Conundrums (Part 2)

Glossary

What is an LNG terminal?

(04:32 or p.1 in the transcript)

LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) terminal is a reception facility for unloading of cargo from LNG tankers. These purpose-built ports are specially used for export and import of LNG. A variety of facilities for unloading, regasification, tanking, metering etc. of LNG are provided at these terminals. Natural gas is transported in liquified state using LNG gas tankers. At LNG terminals, the liquified natural gas is turned back into gaseous state (regasified) after unloading from ships and then distributed across the network.source

What is the Fridays for Future movement?

(05:48 or p.2 in the transcript)

For almost three weeks prior to the Swedish election in September 2018, Swedish climate activist 15-year-old Greta Thunberg missed school to sit outside the country?s parliament with a sign that stated ?Skolstrejk för Klimatet? (School Strike for Climate). Although alone for the first day of the strike, she was joined each subsequent day by more and more people, and her story garnered international attention. After the election Thunberg returned to school but continued to skip classes on Fridays to strike, and these days were called Fridays for Future. Her action inspired hundreds of thousands of students around the world to participate in their own Fridays for Future. Strikes were held in such countries as Belgium, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel
 

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

DiQ S6 EP9

Daniela Schwarzer on Europe?s Strategic Conundrums (Part 1)

Glossary

What is the Visegrád Group?

(20:22 or p.5 in the transcript)

The Visegrád Group, Visegrád Four, or V4, is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries ? the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that are members of the European Union (EU) and NATO ? for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another along with furthering their integration in the EU. The Group traces its origins to the summit meetings of leaders from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland held in the Hungarian castle-town of Visegrád on 15 February 1991. Visegrád was chosen as the location for the 1991 meeting as an intentional allusion to the medieval Congress of Visegrád in 1335 between John I of Bohemia, Charles I of Hungary and Casimir III of Poland. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent members of the group, thus increasing the number of members from three to four. All four members of the Visegrád Group joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. source

What is the NextGenerationEU?

(25:44 or p.6 in the transcript)

NextGenerationEU is the EU's ?800 billion temporary recovery instrument to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and build a greener, more digital and more resilient future. The centrepiece of NextGenerationEU is the Recovery and Resilience Facility- an instrument that offers grants and loans to support reforms and investments in the EU Member States for a total of ?723.8 billion in current prices. Part of the funds ? up to ?338 billion ? are being provided to Member States in the form of grants. Another part ? up to ?385.8 billion? funds loans to individual Member States. These loans will be repaid by those Member States. Should Member States not request the full envelope of loans available under the facility, the remaining amount of loans will be used to finance REPowerEU, a programme to accelerate the EU?s green transition and reduce its reliance on Russian gas. Funds under the Recovery and Resilience funds are being provided to Member States in line with their national Recovery and Resilience plans ? the roadmaps to reforms and investments aimed to make EU economies greener, digital and more resilient. Part of the NextGenerationEU funds are being used to reinforce several existing EU programmes. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

DiQ S6 EP7

Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani on Israel: Democracy on the Defensive

Glossary

What is the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition?

(02:11 or p.1 in the transcript)

The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition is a social movement on the party and outside the parliamentary system, whose goal is to influence the public agenda, with the intention of bringing about a comprehensive change of Israeli society and its various institutions. The initiative to establish the movement came from second and third generation men and women of the Jews of Arab and Eastern countries. They come from all parts of the country and represent different levels of Israeli society. The active nucleus of the movement includes academics, workers, businessmen, clerks, teachers, artists and intellectuals, community activists, students, social and cultural organizations, residents of towns, townships, and neighborhoods. The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow was founded in March 1996 by 40 women and men. In December 1996, following a series of discussions, the movement was formally established by 100 members, who constituted the Constituent Assembly. Since then, this body has expanded and it functions as the council of the movement, in which the fundamental decisions binding the movement are made. At the founding conference, the secretariat of the movement, which operates under the decisions of the movement's council, was appointed. In addition, the Committee of the Spokespersons and the Audit Committee was elected. All officials were elected in secret elections and committed to equal representation of women and men in all elected institutions of the movement. It was decided that the elections for all institutions of the movement would be held once a year. source

What was the February 26, 2023 Hawara pogrom?

(05:24 or p.2 in the transcript)

Following the murder of two Israeli brothers in the West Bank on Feb. 26, 2023, a mob of around 400 Israelis attacked the Palestinian town of Hawara. They torched dozens of homes and cars, leaving one dead and hundreds wounded before being stopped by Israeli security forces. Though some government leaders ? including the head of the parliament?s National Security Committee ? praised the mob or called for the state itself to erase the town?s existence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned them for ?taking the law into their own hands.? Others ? including the top Israeli military commander Major General Yehuda Fuchs in the West Bank ? used even stronger language, calling the attack a ?pogrom,? as did a statement against the attack by the Israeli Historical Society, signed by some of Israel?s most renowned historians. According to historian John Klier, a pogrom is ?an outbreak of mass violence directed against a minority religious, ethnic or social group [that] usually implies central instigation and control, or at minimum the passivity of local authorities.? source

Who was Meir Kahane?

(06:08 or p.2 in the transcript)

Meir Kahane was an American-born Israeli political extremist and rabbi who campaigned for self-protection of Jews. Kahane joined a paramilitary, right-wing youth movement in 1946. He was ordained an Orthodox rabbi in 1957 after studies at Mirrer Yeshiva in New York. In 1968 he formed the militant Jewish Defense League (JDL), attracted followers with the post-Holocaust slogan ?Never Again,? and sent armed patrols of young Jews into Black neighborhoods. After being imprisoned for conspiring to make bombs, Kahane moved to Israel in 1971. There Kahane formed the Kach Party and stirred nationalist fervor against Arabs, whom he campaigned to remove (violently, if necessary) from Israel and all Israeli-occupied areas. He won a seat in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) in 1984, but his term ended when Israel banned the Kach Party for its antidemocratic and racist beliefs. Back in New York, Kahane was shot to death by a naturalized American of Egyptian descent. source

What was the 2014 Gaza War?

(08:17 or p.3 in the transcript)

On July 8, 2014, Israel launched a large-scale military operation using aerial and naval firepower against a variety of targets associated with Hamas and other militant groups. After more than a week of bombardment failed to halt the rocket attacks, Israeli land forces entered the Gaza Strip on a mission to destroy tunnels and other elements of the militants? infrastructure. Israel withdrew its land forces from the Gaza Strip in early August, declaring that their mission had been fulfilled. Israeli air strikes continued, as did rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip. In late August, after nearly two months of fighting, Israeli and Palestinian leaders reached an open-ended cease-fire. In exchange for Palestinian adherence to the cease-fire, Israel agreed to allow more goods into the Gaza Strip, to expand the fishing zone off the coast of the Gaza Strip from 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km), and to enforce a narrower security buffer in the areas adjacent to the Israeli border. Overall, the conflict was one of the deadliest between Israelis and Palestinians: 70 Israelis and more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed in the fighting. source

What was the 1967 Six-Day War?

(30:15 or p.7 in the transcript)

Six-Day War, also called June WarorThird Arab-Israeli WarorNaksah was brief war that took place June 5?10, 1967, and was the third of the Arab-Israeli wars. Israel?s decisive victory included the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Six-Day War also marked the start of a new phase in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians since the conflict created hundreds of thousands of refugees and brought more than one million Palestinians in the occupied territories under Israeli rule. Months after the war, in November, the United Nations passed UN Resolution 242, which called for Israel?s withdrawal from the territories it had captured in the war in exchange for lasting peace. That resolution became the basis for diplomatic efforts between Israel and its neighbors, including the Camp David Accords with Egypt and the push for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. source

Guests featured in this episode:

Sergei Guriev, Provost of Sciences Po in Paris. He's professor of economics there following an outstanding academic career at the New Economic School in Moscow. He was its Rector until 2013 when he was forced by political circumstances to leave Russia. Between 2016 and 2019, Sergei served as the chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. And he has held visiting professorships at MIT, Princeton. And in 2006, he was selected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

His very broad research interests span various areas of political economics, developmental economics, labor mobility, corporate governance and contract theory. And besides numerous academic publications, he also writes for "The New York Times," "Financial Times," "Washington Post," and "Project Syndicate." His latest book, "Spin Dictators," written together with Daniel Treisman, is a fascinating account of the changing character of authoritarian politics.

Glossary

What is China?s ?zero-COVID? policy?

(23:25 or p.6 in the transcript)

COVID-19, a highly contagious respiratory illness, was first detected in Wuhan, China, in 2019 and rapidly spread throughout the country and the world, giving rise to a multiyear pandemic that resulted in millions of deaths worldwide. In efforts to keep the disease from spreading, China implemented strict ?zero-COVID? policies aimed at keeping the number of cases as close to zero as possible through measures including strict lockdowns, quarantines, and mass testing. As a result, infection cases and deaths were relatively lower in China compared with other wealthy countries. Despite residents? initial support of government policies and China?s early success in containing the spread of the disease, many grew frustrated as the restrictions became harsher and longer due to an increased number of cases resulting from highly transmissible variants. Repeated lockdowns and testing disrupted residents? daily life and travel across the country. Some parts of China, such as Yining and Guiyang, experienced shortages of food and other essential items. The zero-COVID policies were eased in December 2022 following a rare protest by thousands of Chinese residents demanding that the government end the harsh policies, some even calling for the resignation of Xi Jinping. source

What was the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea?

(25:10 or p.7 in the transcript)

Almost immediately after the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine ended, armed men began occupying key facilities and checkpoints on the Crimean Peninsula. They wore Russian combat fatigues but with no identifying insignia. President Vladimir Putin at first flatly denied these were Russian soldiers, only to later admit that they were and award commendations to their commanders. The sizeable Ukrainian military presence in Crimea stayed in garrison. If shooting began, Kyiv wanted the world to see the Russians fire first. Ukraine?s Western partners urged Kyiv not to take precipitate action. Since many enlisted personnel in the Ukrainian ranks came from Crimea, Ukrainian commanders probably had less than full confidence in the reliability of their troops. By early March, Russian troops had secured the entire peninsula. On March 6, the Crimean Supreme Council voted to ask to accede to Russia. The council scheduled a referendum for March 16, which offered two choices: join Russia or return to Crimea?s 1992 constitution, which gave the peninsula significant autonomy. Those who favoured Crimea remaining part of Ukraine under the current constitution had no box to check. The conduct of the referendum proved chaotic and took place absent any credible international observers. Local authorities reported a turnout of 83 percent, with 96.7 percent voting to join Russia. The numbers seemed implausible, given that ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars accounted for almost 40 percent of the peninsula?s population. (Two months later, a leaked report from the Russian president?s Human Rights Council put turnout at only 30 percent, with about half of those voting to join Russia.) On March 18, Crimean and Russian officials signed the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia. Putin ratified the treaty three days later. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Mukulika Banerjee, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she was also the inaugural director of its South Asia Centre from 2015 to 2020. Working at the intersection of social anthropology, politics, and history, Mukulika has published widely on South Asia. She edits also the excellent Routledge series, exploring the political in South Asia. Her most relevant publications to this episode are;  Why India Votes [2014]  and  Cultivating Democracy, Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India.[2021]

Glossary

What is the caste system in India?

(16:15 or p.4 in the transcript)

In South Asia, the caste system has been a dominating aspect of social organization for thousands of years. A caste, generally designated by the term jati (?birth?), refers to a strictly regulated social community into which one is born. Some jatis have occupational names, but the connection between caste and occupational specialization is limited. In general, a person is expected to marry someone within the same jati, follow a particular set of rules for proper behavior (in such matters as kinship, occupation, and diet), and interact with other jatis according to the group?s position in the social hierarchy. In India virtually all nontribal Hindus and many adherents of other faiths (even Muslims, for whom caste is theoretically anathema) recognize their membership in one of the hereditary social communities. Among Hindus, jatis are usually assigned to one of four large caste clusters, called varnas, each of which has a traditional social function: Brahmans (priests), at the top of the social hierarchy, and, in descending prestige, Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (originally peasants but later merchants), and Shudras (artisans and laborers). The particular varna in which a jati is ranked depends in part on its relative level of ?impurity,? determined by the group?s traditional contact with any of a number of ?pollutants,? including blood, menstrual flow, saliva, dung, leather, dirt, and hair. Intercaste restrictions were established to prevent the relative purity of a particular jati from being corrupted by the pollution of a lower caste. A fifth group, the Panchamas (from Sanskrit panch, ?five?), theoretically were excluded from the system because their occupations and ways of life typically brought them in contact with such impurities. They were formerly called the untouchables (because their touch, believed by the upper castes to transmit pollution, was avoided), but the nationalist leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi referred to them as Harijan (?Children of God?), a name that for a time gained popular usage. More recently, members of that class have adopted the term Dalit (?Oppressed?) to describe themselves. Officially, such groups are referred to as Scheduled Castes. Those in Scheduled Castes, collectively accounting for roughly one-sixth of India?s total population, are generally landless and perform most of the agricultural labor, as well as a number of ritually polluting caste occupations (e.g., leatherwork, among the Chamars, the largest Scheduled Caste). source

What is a panchayat?

(26:03 or p.7 in the transcript)

Panchayat is the most important adjudicating and licensing agency in the self-government of an Indian caste. There are two types: permanent and impermanent. Literally, a panchayat (from Sanskrit pañca, ?five?) consists of five members, but usually there are more; the panchayat has a policy committee, however, often numbering five. The panchayat sits as a court of law. Cases are heard in open meetings in which all members of the caste group concerned are entitled to take part. Any evidence that has any conceivable bearing on the case is admissible; it can be produced by either party, by onlookers, or by members of the council. Types of offenses adjudicated in meetings of the panchayat are breaches of eating, drinking, or smoking restrictions; infractions of marriage rules; breaches of a caste?s customs in feast; breaches of its trade rules; the killing of certain animals, notably cows; and the injury of a Brahman. Less commonly, the panchayat handles criminal and civil cases actionable before a court of law. Panchayats of Muslim castes try only a few of the offenses, as the rest fall under fiqh, or Isl?mic law. Penalties take the form of fines (paid by distributing sweets to a caste group or by contributing to a caste fund), the obligation to offer a feast to the ber?dar? (family brotherhood) or to Brahmans, and temporary or permanent excommunication. Pilgrimage and self-humiliation are sometimes levied, but physical punishment is now uncommon. The passing of the Evidence Act by the British in 1872, with its strict rules of admissible evidence, led to a bypassing of the panchayat by some caste members who began to take their cases directly to the state court (see Indian Evidence Act). Some castes try cases that have come up before a state court or retry them after the verdict of the state court has been given. The Congress Party in India made a point of creating village panchayats as local instruments of government, the so-called panchayat raj, or government by panchayats. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

DiQ S6 EP4

Ken Opalo on the Prospects of Democracy in Africa

Glossary

What is the African Union?

(31:02 or p.8 in the transcript)

African Union (AU), formerly (1963?2002) Organization of African Unity, is an intergovernmental organization, established in 2002, to promote unity and solidarity of African states, to spur economic development, and to promote international cooperation. The African Union (AU) replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU?s headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The OAU was established on May 25, 1963, and its activities included diplomacy (especially in support of African liberation movements), mediation of boundary conflicts and regional and civil wars, and research in economics and communications. The OAU maintained the ?Africa group? at the United Nations (UN) through which many of its efforts at international coordination were channeled. The OAU was instrumental in bringing about the joint cooperation of African states in the work of the Group of 77, which acts as a caucus of developing nations within the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The principal organ of the OAU was the annual assembly of heads of state and government. In 2000, in a move spearheaded by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, it was proposed that the OAU be replaced by a new body, the African Union. The African Union was to be more economic in nature, similar to the European Union, and would contain a central bank, a court of justice, and an all-Africa parliament. A Constitutive Act, which provided for the establishment of the African Union, was ratified by two-thirds of the OAU?s members and came into force on May 26, 2001. After a transition period, the African Union replaced the OAU in July 2002. In 2004 the AU?s Pan-African Parliament was inaugurated, and the organization agreed to create a peacekeeping force, the African Standby Force, of about 15,000 soldiers. source

What is the Sahel Crisis?

(33:18 or p.9 in the transcript)

The central Sahel region, which includes the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, is facing one of the fastest growing displacement crises in the world. More than 2.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes and at least 13.4 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. People began fleeing the central Sahel region in 2011 after an outbreak of violence in Northern Mali. Poverty, unemployment, and the presence of armed groups in rural areas of Northern Mali all contributed to an increase in forced displacement. Armed groups have rapidly expanded, spreading violence to central parts of the country and to neighboring countries, such as Burkina Faso and Niger. As a result of the conflict, millions of families have been displaced across the region, including 650,000 people uprooted in 2019 alone. Approximately 1.8 million people have been internally displaced. In Burkina Faso, at least 1 million people ? approximately 5 percent of the country?s population- have fled violence inside the country in the past year, many seeking refuge in areas that are also affected by violence and poverty. Armed conflict, economic insecurity, and the adverse effects of climate change are some of the biggest challenges affecting the region. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians and public infrastructure ? including schools and health facilities ? have threatened the lives of millions of people and their livelihoods. The conflict has claimed more than 6,500 lives in the last year and threatens to leave at least 7.4 million people suffering from acute malnutrition. source

Guests featured in this episode:

Ronald Daniels, the President of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a board member of the Central European University. His numerous accomplishments include the Order of Canada awarded to him in 2016 and his election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. During his tenure as President, Johns Hopkins University has consistently ranked at the top for its interdisciplinary research and innovation, enhanced student access, as well as community engagement. It thus serves as a true model for a research university in the 21st century.

Last year, Ron Daniels published an agenda-setting book, "What Universities Owe Democracy." It makes a compelling and a passionate case for universities to be engaged in preserving and strengthening democratic achievements that are under threat, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. 

Glossary:

What is the Pell Grant program?
(11:34 or p.4 in the transcript)

The Pell Grant is a form of need-based federal financial aid awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to help eligible low-income students pay for college costs, including tuition, fees, room and board, and other educational expenses. The Pell Grant is the largest grant program offered by the Department of Education to undergraduate students. Created in 1972, the federal Pell Grant program has been awarding grants to students since the 1973-1974 school year. It was named after Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, the chief sponsor of the program. To be eligible, students must demonstrate exceptional financial need, be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen and have not yet received a bachelor's, graduate or professional degree. While graduate students are not typically eligible for Pell Grant aid, in some cases students seeking a post-baccalaureate teacher certification may be eligible. The Pell Grant generally does not need to be repaid, but there are some exceptions, such as in case of withdrawing from courses or changing enrollment status after a Pell Grant award has been disbursed. Students may lose Pell Grant eligibility entirely if they withdraw from courses, do not maintain enrollment status or fail to continue making academic progress, which can include GPA requirements set by individual institutions. source

What is the K-12 education?
(14:43 or p.4 in the transcript)

The K-12 system stands for ?from kindergarten to 12th grade?. This equates roughly to a school starting age of around five through to Grade 12 at around the age of 18. The system is broken down into three stages: elementary school (Grades K?5), middle school (Grades 6?8) and high school (Grades 9?12). In the United States, education is primarily the responsibility of state and local government. Every state has its own department of education and laws regarding finance, the hiring of school personnel, student attendance and curriculum. States also determine the number of years of compulsory education ? in some states, education is only compulsory until the age of 16. In December 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, which pledged to offer the same standard of education to every child in the US ?regardless of race, income, background, the zip code, or where they live?. The act replaced the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 and, among other things, is an attempt to bring back some element of control with the recommendation for having fewer tests. source

Guests featured in this episode:

Shaharzad Akbar, one of the most prominent among the Afghan democratic opposition voices in exile. She was born in Afghanistan, lived with her family as a refugee in Pakistan during the first Taliban regime for some years and she's the first Afghan woman to earn a postgraduate degree at Oxford University in 2011.

She was later Country Director for the Open Society Afghanistan, a nonprofit organization supporting civil society and media, focusing on human rights and peace building. Shaharzad also worked as Senior Advisor to the Afghan President on high development councils and was Chair of the country's Independent Human Rights Commission, a position that she held until early 2022.

In 2021, she was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. Most recently, she was an Open Society Network Academic Fellow in Human Rights at Chatham House and is currently at Wolfson College, Oxford building a new international NGO to support human rights in Afghanistan.

Glossary:

What is the Taliban?

(00:47 or p.1 in the transcript)

Taliban, Pashto ??leb?n (?Students?), also spelled Taleban is a political and religious faction and militia that came to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. Following the Soviet Union?s 1989 withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban ? whose name refers to the Islamic religious students who formed the group?s main recruits ? arose as a popular reaction to the chaos that gripped the country. In 1994?95, under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban extended its control in Afghanistan from a single city to more than half the country, and in 1996 it captured Kabul and instituted a strict Islamic regime. By 1999, the

Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan but failed to win international recognition of its regime because of its harsh social policies ? which included the almost complete removal of women from public life ? and its role as a haven for Islamic extremists. Among these extremists was Osama bin Laden, the expatriate Saudi Arabian leader of Al-Qaeda, a network of Islamic militants that had engaged in numerous acts of terrorism. The Taliban?s refusal to extradite bin Laden to the U.S. following the September 11 attacks in 2001 prompted the U.S. to attack Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, driving the former from power and sending the leaders of both groups into hiding. source

What is Loya Jirga?

(9:13 or p.3 in the transcript)

The term ?Loya Jirga? is a combination of two words from one of Afghanistan's national languages, Pashto, "Loya" meaning grand or big, and "Jirga" meaning council, assembly, or meeting. The institution of Loya Jirga evolved from the institution of Jirga, which is usually a council of elders in Afghanistan's tribal groups - particularly the Pashtuns - to settle disputes and deal with other day-to-day problems of living. Loya Jirga is a political institution unique to Afghanistan. It was the highest consultative body with broad representation and has been used to decide upon the matters of national importance, such as declarations of war or adopting treaties of peace, selection of a new ruler or adopting a new constitution, approving reforms and all important foreign policy decisions since the mid-18th century. In short, the forum represents the general will of the Afghan people. source

Who are the Mujahideen?

(11:49 or p.3 in the transcript)

Mujahideen or Mujahidin is the plural form of the Arabic term mujahid, who is a person who wages jihad. According to doctrinal and historical applications of Islamic law, jihad indicates military action for the defense or expansion of Islam. While in the course of Islamic history the term mujahidin has been used by different groups to identify their struggles to defend Islam, the term gained global currency in the latter decades of the twentieth century after the leftist coup d'état in Afghanistan on 27 April 1978. The resistance groups first opposed the Afghan communist regime, declaring it atheist. They then turned their attention to the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. Fighting the Soviet Red Army, they collectively referred to themselves as mujahidin waging jihad against a communist power occupying an Islamic land. The Afghan mujahidin were divided into two main groups: (1) those based in and backed by Pakistan with substantial financial and military assistance from Saudi Arabia and the United States, who mainly represented the Sunni majority; and (2) those based in and supported by Iran, representing the Shiite minority. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a

review and sharing our podcast in your networks!

Guests featured in this episode:

Thomas Carothers, is the Harvey V Feinberg Chair for Democracy Studies and Co-director of the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the office of the legal advisor of the U.S. State Department before joining The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

He is an expert on democracy and international support for democracy promotion abroad for human rights, governance, the rule of law, and civil society. Tom has published several critically acclaimed books, including  Funding Virtue: Civil Society and Democracy Promotion, Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad, and most recently Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization.

He's also been a visiting member at the CEU, and is a member of the advisory board of our Democracy Institute in Budapest.

GLOSSARY:

What are the United States midterm elections?

(02:27 or p.1 in the transcript)

United States midterm elections are general elections that occur every four years in the middle of the U.S. presidential term. The election process mandated by Article I of the United States Constitution, by which all members of the United States House of Representatives and roughly a third of the members of the U.S. Senate are on the ballot, occurs every two years. (Currently, the House of Representatives has 435 members, and the Senate has 100.) Midterm elections get their name because they occur halfway through a president?s four-year term. In addition to elections for members of Congress, 36 states hold their gubernatorial elections during the midterm cycle. Many local races and citizen-generated initiatives also can appear on midterm ballots. In general, fewer Americans vote in midterm elections than in presidential elections. Whereas about 60 percent of eligible voters typically cast ballots in presidential election years, that percentage falls to about 40 percent for midterms. (Voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections was 50 percent, the highest since 1914. Turnout for the 2022 midterms was estimated at 47 percent.) source

What is the OECD?

(07:26 or p.3 in the transcript)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, international organization founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Member countries produce two-thirds of the world?s goods and services. The convention establishing the OECD was signed on Dec. 14, 1960, by 18 European countries, the United States, and Canada and went into effect on Sept. 30, 1961. It represented an extension of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), set up in 1948 to coordinate efforts in restoring Europe?s economy under the Marshall Plan. One of the fundamental purposes of the OECD is to achieve the highest possible economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in member countries; at the same time, it emphasizes maintaining financial stability. The organization has attempted to reach this goal by liberalizing international trade and the movement of capital between countries. A further major goal is the coordination of economic aid to developing countries. Current OECD members are Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. source.

What was the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol?

(15:32 or p.5 in the transcript)

January 6 insurrection or January 6 U.S. Capitol attack was the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican Pres. Donald J. Trump. The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the presidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d?état. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law-enforcement agencies also considered it an act of domestic terrorism. For having given a speech before the attack in which he encouraged a large crowd of his supporters near the White House to march to the Capitol and violently resist Congress?s certification of Biden?s victory?which many in the crowd then did?Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House of Representatives for ?incitement of insurrection? (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate). source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a

review and sharing our podcast in your networks!

Guests featured in this episode:

Azadeh Moaveni, the Iranian-American writer and journalist who has been covering the Middle East for more than two decades. A renowned expert on Iran, the Islamic State, as well as Middle East Politics and Islamic society in general, she has focused her work on how women are impacted by political conflicts, and how their social and political rights are affected by militarism and Islamism. 

 In 2005, she published the international bestseller Lipstick Jihad, a memoir recounting her experience of the Iranian reform and women?s rights movements. The following year saw the publication of Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, co-authored with the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi. 

GLOSSARY:

What are Iran?s morality police?
(02:33 or p.1 in the transcript)

"Gasht-e-Ershad," which translates as "guidance patrols," and is widely known as the "morality police," is a unit of Iran?s police force established under former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Wearing the hijab became mandatory in Iran in 1983. It was not until 2006 that the unit began patrolling the streets, tasked with enforcing the laws on Islamic dress code in public. According to Iranian law, all women above the age of puberty must wear a head covering and loose clothing in public, although the exact age is not clearly defined. In school, girls typically have to wear the hijab from the age of seven, but that does not mean they need to necessarily wear it in other public places. 

A major part of Iran?s social regulations are based on the state's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, which requires both men and women to dress modestly. However, in practice, the "morality police" have in the past primarily targeted women. There are no clear guidelines or details on what types of clothing qualify as inappropriate, leaving a lot of room for interpretation and sparking accusations that the "morality" enforcers arbitrarily detain women.  Morality police squads have in the past been made up of men wearing green uniforms and women in black chadors, garments which cover the head and upper body. Those detained by the "morality police" are given a notice or, in some cases, are taken to a so-called education and advice center or a police station, where they are required to attend a mandatory lecture on the hijab and Islamic values. They then have to call someone to bring them "appropriate clothes" in order to be released. source

What is the Iran nuclear deal?
(20:06 or p.5 in the transcript)

The Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is a landmark accord reached between Iran and several world powers, including the United States, in July 2015. 

Under its terms, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars? worth of sanctions relief. Proponents of the deal said that it would help prevent a revival of Iran?s nuclear weapons program and thereby reduce the prospects for conflict between Iran and its regional rivals, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, the deal has been in jeopardy since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018. In retaliation for the U.S. departure and for deadly attacks on prominent Iranians in 2020, including one by the United States, Iran has resumed some of its nuclear activities. In 2021, President Joe Biden said the United States would return to the deal if Iran came back into compliance. Renewed diplomacy initially seemed promising, but after stop-and-go talks, it remains unclear if the parties can come to an agreement. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Ricardo Regatieri, professor of sociology at the University of Bahia, Brazil. He also teaches in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences and is one of the leaders of PERIFERICAS ? Research Group on Social Theories, Modernities and Colonialities at the same university. Ricardo was a visiting professor at the University of Cape Verde, as well as a research professor at Korea University and a lecturer at Hankuk University, both in Seoul, South Korea. 

Ricardo has published widely on critical social theory, modernity and coloniality, and democracy and authoritarian politics, and his latest research project investigates the challenges of dependency and coloniality to democracy and political stability in Brazil within the capitalist world-system.

GLOSSARY

What is the Workers Party (PT)?
(02:14 or p.1 in the transcript)

During the late 1970s, while Brazil was still under military rule, workers in the metallurgical industries (especially in automobile factories) located in São Paulo's industrial suburb of São Bernardo do Campo organized through factory commissions to push for increased wages and improved working conditions. The strike waves that these workers launched in 1978 and 1979 ushered in a form of organizing known as the new unionism and eventually led to the founding of the Brazilian Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores?PT) in 1979 and 1980.These workers founded their own party?under new political guidelines set out in 1979 by the dictatorship?because they saw the main opposition party (the Brazilian Democratic Movement, later the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), the reconstituted Brazilian Labor Party, and the Brazilian Communist Party as too alienated from the concerns of rank-and-file workers. Thus, on May Day 1979, a group of labor leaders from the metalworkers' unions (who referred to themselves as labor's "authentic" leaders) issued a set of goals. The "authentics," led by Luís Inácio da Silva (popularly known as Lula), formed the Central Workers' Union (CUT) in 1983 to coordinate national labor practices for the unions associated with the PT. source

What was the military dictatorship in Brazil?
(13:42 or p.4 in the transcript)

After overthrowing the reformist center-left government of João Goulart on March 31, 1964 in a coup d?état, the military installed a tutelary authoritarian regime to control civil society and the political system, serving as a political model for similar regimes in Latin America during the Cold War. The military passed arbitrary laws and severely repressed left-wing political groups and social movements while also seeking to accelerate capitalist development and the ?national integration? of Brazil?s vast territory. They intended to modernize Brazilian industry and carry out bold infrastructure projects. On the other hand, they faced strong opposition from civil society, led by political groups, artists, intellectuals, and press outlets of diverse ideological backgrounds (Marxists, liberals, socialists, and progressive Catholics). These groups were divided between total refusal to negotiate with the military and critical adherence to the policies of the generals? governments, composing a complex relationship between society and the state. source

What is the Latin American populism?
(15:05 or p.4 in the transcript)

In Latin America, populism emerged in the 1930s and 1940s with the crisis of the oligarchical social order that combined liberal-inspired constitutions (division of powers, and elections) with patrimonial practices and values in predominantly rural societies. These estate-based societies had relations of domination and subordination characterized by unequal reciprocity. Institutional and everyday practices of domination excluded the majority of the population from politics and from the public sphere, which were kept in the hands of elites. Processes of urbanization, industrialization, and a generalized crisis of paternal authority allowed populist leaders to emerge. Classical populist leaders of the 1930s and 1940s such as Juan Perón and José María Velasco Ibarra fought against electoral fraud, expanded the franchise, and were exalted as the embodiment of the nation?s true, uncorrupted traditions and values against those of foreign-oriented elites. In more economically developed nations such as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, populist presidents pursued nationalist and redistributive social policies that coincided with the period of import substitution industrialization. Populism also emerged in agrarian contexts. In Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, populism was not linked to industrialization, even though, as in the industrializing republics, it led to the political inclusion of previously excluded electors. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode: 

Charles Taylor, one of the most preeminent contemporary philosophers of our times. He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University in Montreal. He was Fellow of All Souls College and Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford University. His remarkably vast oeuvre includes landmark monographs on Hegel, social theory, religion, language, and multiculturalism. Among his books let me mention Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity (1989), Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition (1992), or A Secular Age (2007) which have decisively shaped contemporary debates in their respective fields. His latest book, co-authored with Craig Calhoun and Dilip Gaonkar is called Degenerations of Democracy.

Glossary

What is the murder of George Floyd?
(08:51 or p.3 in the transcript)

On May 25, 2020, white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for almost 10 minutes. The death, recorded by bystanders, touched off what may have been the largest protest movement in U.S. history and a nationwide reckoning on race and policing. After video of the incident was posted on Facebook, protests began almost immediately in Minneapolis and quickly spread across the nation. Demonstrators chanting ?Black Lives Matter? and ?I Can?t Breathe? took to the streets from coast to coast, and police departments around the country responded at times with riot-control tactics. By early June, protests were so widespread that over 200 American cities had imposed curfews and half of the United States had activated the National Guard. Marches continued and spread throughout June, despite the restrictions on gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic and militarized resistance from federal and local law enforcement. More than 2,000 cities and towns in all 50 states saw some form of demonstration in the weeks after Floyd?s death, as well as major cities across the globe: source

What is the Hungarian Revolution of 1956?
(13:06 or p.4 in the transcript)

Hungarian Revolution was a popular uprising in Hungary in 1956, following a speech by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in which he attacked the period of Joseph Stalin?s rule. Encouraged by the new freedom of debate and criticism, a rising tide of unrest and discontent in Hungary broke out into active fighting in October 1956. Rebels won the first phase of the revolution, and Imre Nagy became premier, agreeing to establish a multiparty system. On November 1, 1956, he declared Hungarian neutrality and appealed to the United Nations for support, but Western powers were reluctant to risk a global confrontation. On November 4 the Soviet Union invaded Hungary to stop the revolution, and Nagy was executed for treason in 1958. Nevertheless, Stalinist-type domination and exploitation did not return, and Hungary thereafter experienced a slow evolution toward some internal autonomy: source

What is the Ukrainian refugee crisis?
(15:16 or p.4 in the transcript)

The ongoing Ukrainian refugee crisis began in February 2022 immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At present, around 8 million of Ukrainians fled the country as Russia indiscriminately targeted civilian populations with rockets and artillery strikes. By late March some four million Ukrainians had fled the fighting; this represented Europe?s largest refugee crisis since World War II. The overwhelming majority would find safety in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. 90% of the refugees are women and children as Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are banned from leaving the country: source

What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
(18:13 or p.5 in the transcript)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), foundational document of international human rights law. It has been referred to as humanity?s Magna Carta by Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights that was responsible for the drafting of the document. After minor changes it was adopted unanimously?though with abstentions from the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSR, and Yugoslavia?by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948 (now celebrated annually as Human Rights Day), as a ?common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.? The French jurist René Cassin was originally recognized as the principal author of the UDHR. It is now well established, however, that, although no individual can claim ownership of this document, John Humphrey, a Canadian professor of law and the UN Secretariat?s Human Rights Director, authored its first draft. Also instrumental in the drafting of the UDHR were Roosevelt; Chang Peng-chun, a Chinese playwright, philosopher, and diplomat; and Charles Habib Malik, a Lebanese philosopher and diplomat: source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured on this episode:

Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has written on the struggle by students for democracy in China, a book titled "Neither Gods nor Emperors." He has co-authored the volume, "Does Capitalism Have a Future?" with Immanuel Wallerstein and others. His latest book, "Degenerations of Democracy," written with Charles Taylor and Dilip Gaonkar, notes the signs that  U.S. American democracy exhibits symptoms of decline or even of degeneration, and inspires our conversation in this episode.

Glossary 

Who is Peter Thiel?
(14:55 or p.4 in the transcript)

Peter Thiel is a German American entrepreneur and business executive who helped found PayPal, an e-commerce company, and Palantir Technologies, a software firm involved in data analysis. He also invested in several notable ventures, including Facebook. Critics questioned involvement of Palantir Technologies with the CIA and other government agencies, especially given Thiel?s libertarianism. However, he argued that Palantir?s technology allowed for focused data retrieval, preventing overreaching searches and more draconian measures. The company was also used by banks to detect fraud and handle other cybersecurity efforts. In 2005 Thiel established Founders Fund, a venture capital firm. It invested in such companies as Airbnb, Lyft, and SpaceX. Thiel garnered attention in 2016 when he became a vocal supporter of Republican presidential nominee?and eventual winner of the election?Donald Trump, donating money and even speaking at the party?s convention: source

What is Silicon Valley?
(15:07 or p.4 in the transcript)

Silicon Valley is an industrial region around the southern shores of San Francisco Bay, California, U.S., with its intellectual center at Palo Alto, home of Stanford University. Its name is derived from the dense concentration of electronics and computer companies that sprang up there since the mid-20th century, silicon being the base material of the semiconductors employed in computer circuits. The economic emphasis in Silicon Valley has now partly switched from computer manufacturing to research, development, and marketing of computer products and software: source

What is the ?Roe v. Wade? case?
(25:36 or p.6 in the transcript)

Roe v. Wade is a legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, ruled (7?2) that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. In a majority opinion written by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the Court held that a set of Texas statutes criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman?s constitutional right of privacy, which it found to be implicit in the liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (??nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law?). Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022: source

What is the ACT UP movement?
(30:50 or p.7 in the transcript)

ACT UP, in full AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, is an international organization founded in the United States in 1987 to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic. It was the first group officially created to do so. ACT UP has dozens of chapters in the United States and around the world whose purpose is to find a cure for AIDS, while at the same time providing accurate information, help, and awareness about the disease by means of education and radical, nonviolent protest. The organization was founded in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in Manhattan, New York, in response to what was seen as the U.S. government?s lack of action on the growing number of deaths from HIV infection and AIDS: source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Lenny Benardo, Executive Vice President of the Open Society Foundations, and  the founding director of the Open Society Fellowship Program. Lenny also sits on the boards of Bard College, the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, the European Humanities University in Lithuania, and my very own institution, CEU. He has published numerous articles in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the International Herald Tribune, Bookforum, American Prospect, and Prospect magazines. Having worked in Russia, the Baltics, Poland, and Hungary earlier in his career with the Open Society Foundations, he has witnessed first hand the exhilarating atmosphere of the democratic transition in eastern Europe.

GLOSSARY

What are the Open Society Foundations?
(00:35 or p.1 in the transcript)

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve this mission, the Foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, the Open Society Foundations implement a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. The Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.

Investor and philanthropist George Soros established the Open Society Foundations, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. Their activities have grown to encompass the United States and more than 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities: source

What are the Revolutions of 1989?
(04:48 or p.2 in the transcript)

Revolutions of 1989: collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the end of the period of the Cold War and the removal of the Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe. Primarily, it was the disavowal of Communism by all of the Eastern European states that were in the Soviet sphere of influence after World War II.

The seeds of the revolution were present from the very beginning, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia were pre-cursors to the Revolutions of 1989, which were the final cataclysm that ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union itself just two years later.

The revolution began in Poland with the creation of Solidarity, the worker's movement that challenged the Communist government (the supposed representatives of the "workers' paradise) for authority. This was the first movement in the Eastern bloc that had not been brutally suppressed. This de-legitimized the Communist claim as representatives of the people's will. It continued when the Hungarian authorities decided to no longer interdict those seeking to leave the state by crossing the boundary between Hungary and Austria. This led to a flood of refugees from Eastern Europe streaming into Hungary to escape to the West. The defining event was then the collapse of the Berlin Wall in East Germany. With the exception of Romania, the revolutions were largely peaceful as the governments put up only token resistant to the clear will of the people for the end of Communist rule and democratic reform: source

What is the Black Lives Matter?
(16:28 or p.4 in the transcript)

Black Lives Matter (BLM): international social movement, formed in the United States in 2013, dedicated to fighting racism and anti-Black violence, especially in the form of police brutality. The name Black Lives Matter signals condemnation of the unjust killings of Black people by police (Black people are far more likely to be killed by police in the United States than white people) and the demand that society value the lives and humanity of Black people as much as it values the lives and humanity of white people.

BLM activists have held large and influential protests in cities across the United States as well as internationally. A decentralized grassroots movement, Black Lives Matter is led by activists in local chapters who organize their own campaigns and programs. The chapters are affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a nonprofit civil rights organization that is active in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom: source

What is the Occupy movement?
(16:32 or p.4 in the transcript)

TheOccupy protests: a series of international demonstrations primarily directed against capitalism and economic inequality, sparked in particular by what are now referred to as austerity measures, official action taken by governments in order to reduce spending in the face of economic problems. Kicking off in Wall Street in New York, the Occupy protests had then spread right across the world, including such prominent locations as Frankfurt, Rome, Sydney, Hong Kong, London and various cities in the United Kingdom. As well as marches involving as many as 10,000 protesters, the demonstrations involved large numbers of people 'camping out', or occupying, key venues in cities across the world. One notable example was around the entrances to St Paul's Cathedral in central London, where over 200 tents formed a ramshackle campsite. This subsequently caused officials to close the cathedral due to health and safety concerns, the first time its doors have been closed to the public since the Second World War Blitz: source

What is the Arab Spring?
(16:34 or p.4 in the transcript)

Arab Spring, wave of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that took place in the Middle East and North Africa beginning in 2010 and 2011, challenging some of the region?s entrenched authoritarian regimes. The wave began when protests in Tunisia and Egypt toppled their regimes in quick succession, inspiring similar attempts in other Arab countries. Not every country saw success in the protest movement, however, and demonstrators expressing their political and economic grievances were often met with violent crackdowns by their countries? security forces: source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode: 

Nadia Urbinati, the Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory at Columbia University. She is also a permanent visiting professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant?Anna in Pisa (Italy), and has taught at Bocconi University Milan (Italy), Sciences Po Paris (France) and the UNICAMP University (Brazil). Her main fields of expertise are modern and contemporary political thought and the democratic, as well as anti-democratic traditions.

GLOSSARY

What is the People?s Party?
(13:05 or p.4 in the transcript)

The People's Party: (also known as the Populist Party) was an important political party in the United States of America during the late nineteenth century. The People's Party originated in the early 1890s. It was organized in Kansas, but the party quickly spread across the United States. It drew its members from Farmers' Alliances, the Grange, and the Knights of Labor. Originally, the Populists did not form a national organization, preferring to gain political influence within individual states. The Populist Party consisted primarily of farmers unhappy with the Democratic and Republican Parties. The Populists believed that the federal government needed to play a more active role in the American economy by regulating various businesses, especially the railroads. In particular, the Populists supported women's suffrage the direct election of United States Senators. They hoped that the enactment women's suffrage and the direct election of senators would enable them to elect some of their members to political office. Populists also supported a graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads, improved working conditions in factories, immigration restrictions, an eight-hour workday, the recognition of unions, and easier access to credit. source

What is the Reconstruction?
(13:10 or p.4 in the transcript)

Reconstruction: in U.S. history, the period (1865?77) that followed the American Civil War and during which attempts were made to redress the inequities of slavery and its political, social, and economic legacy and to solve the problems arising from the readmission to the Union of the 11 states that had seceded at or before the outbreak of war. Long portrayed by many historians as a time when vindictiveRadical Republicans fastened Black supremacy upon the defeated Confederacy, Reconstruction has since the late 20th century been viewed more sympathetically as a laudable experiment in interracial democracy. Reconstruction witnessed far-reaching changes in America?s political life. At the national level, new laws and constitutionalamendments permanently altered the federal system and the definition of American citizenship. In the South, a politically mobilized Black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican Party to power, and with it a redefinition of the responsibilities of government. source

What is austerity?
(16:23 or p.4 in the transcript)

Austerity: (also called austerity measures) is a set of economic policies, usually consisting of tax increases, spending cuts, or a combination of the two, used by governments to reduce budget deficits. Austerity measures can in principle be used at any time when there is concern about government expenditures exceeding government revenues. Often, however, governments delay resorting to such measures because they are usually politically unpopular. Instead, governments tend to rely on other means?for example, deficit financing, which involves borrowing from financial markets?to mitigate budget deficits in the short run, a decision that usually necessitates the adoption of harsher austerity measures in the long run. source

What is universal suffrage?
(18:32 or p.5 in the transcript)

Universal suffrage: generally understood as the right to vote for political representatives conferred to almost all adult citizens or residents, regardless of their social status, property, knowledge, religion, race, gender, or other similar qualifications. The principle of universal suffrage, together with principles of equal, free, secret, and direct suffrage, present fundamental principles of elections common to all democracies around the world. Universal suffrage is one of two historically developed concepts of the suffrage?consisting of the right to vote and the right to stand for election. The other one, a concept contrary to universal suffrage, can be denominated as so-called limited suffrage. The concept of limited suffrage, preferred until the nineteenth century, was based on the exclusion of a large number of people from the suffrage. It was done based on social status, property, knowledge, religion, race, or gender. source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode: 

Mykola Gnatovskyy, a renowned Ukrainian legal scholar who was recently elected to serve as judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Before taking up this very prestigious nine-year appointment at the ECHR, Mykola was a professor at the Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He also advised the Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs on international criminal justice, and was a member of the International Expert Board on Crimes Committed during Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

From 2015 until 2021, Mykola served three consecutive terms as President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

In March of this 2022, he was one of the original signatories, together with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs and the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, calling for the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate Russia for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

GLOSSARY:

What is the International Criminal Court?
(01:58 or p.1 in the transcript)

International Criminal Court (ICC): permanent judicial body established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) to investigate, prosecute, and try individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and to impose prison sentences upon individuals who are found guilty of such crimes. On July 1, 2002, after the requisite number of countries (60) ratified the agreement, the court began sittings. It is headquartered in the Netherlands at The Hague: source

What is the War in Ukraine?
(04:32 or p.2 in the transcript)

In early November 2021 Russia began building up military forces along the borders of Ukraine, for the second time in a year. Over 100,000 Russian military personnel and assets were deployed in Crimea and in the Voronezh, Kursk and Bryansk regions of western Russia. Further Russian forces were deployed to Belarus for a series of exercises close to the Ukrainian border and Russian naval assets from the Baltic and Northern fleets deployed for exercises in the Black Sea. Tensions escalated following a US intelligence assessment in December 2021, which suggested that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. On 24 February 2022 Russia launched military action in Ukraine, with forces crossing into the country from Belarus in the north, Russia in the east and Crimea in the south. Russia?s actions came just days after President Putin officially recognized the self-declared independence of the Donetsk People?s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People?s Republic (LPR), the regions of eastern Ukraine that are under the control of Russian-backed separatist forces, and deployed ?peacekeeping? forces to the region: source

What is the massacre in Eastern Anatolia?
(07:18 or p.2 in the transcript)

Massacre in Eastern Anatolia, also known as Armenian Genocide: campaign of deportation and mass killing conducted against the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I (1914?18). Armenians charge that the campaign was a deliberate attempt to destroy the Armenian people and, thus, an act of genocide. The Turkish government has resisted calls to recognize it as such, contending that, although atrocities took place, there was no official policy of extermination implemented against the Armenian people as a group: source

What is the Wagner Group?
(17:02 or p.5 in the transcript)

Wagner Group: a network of businesses and groups of mercenaries that have been linked by overlaps in ownership and logistics networks. Entities making up the network have been described in sanctions designations by the U.S. Treasury as being involved in a wide range of activities, including working to suppress pro-democracy protests, spreading disinformation, mining for gold and diamonds, and engaging in paramilitary activity. The group, such as it is, first appeared in Ukraine in 2014, where it assisted the Russian military in the annexation of Crimea. Since then, paramilitaries and businesses have branched out to Syria?where they have fought in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad while securing a foothold in the country?s energy sector?as well as to Libya, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic: source

What is the occupation of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine?
(31:38 or p. 8 in the transcript)

The Crisis in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine: on 22 February 2014, President Yanukovych disappeared from Ukraine and a new government was installed by the Ukrainian parliament. Later that month unidentified military figures, widely thought in the West to be Russian personnel (this was later confirmed), surrounded the airports in Crimea, a majority-Russian peninsula in Ukraine and the Crimean autonomous assembly was taken over by pro-Russian forces. In March 2014 a declaration of independence was issued by the assembly and a subsequent referendum on union with Russia was held. Since then, Russia has maintained its control over Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatist forces who also took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine (the Donbas) in 2014. Fighting between Russian-supported separatists and Ukrainian government forces has continued in the Donbas for the last eight years despite the negotiation of the Minsk Agreements in 2014/2015 which called for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups and constitutional reform recognizing the special status of Donetsk and Luhansk: source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode

Neloufer de Mel, Senior Professor of English at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka. Drawing on feminist scholarship, postcolonial and cultural studies, she has published extensively on Sri Lankan society, gender, justice. Neloufer has been awarded numerous prestigious fellowships and grants from the MacArthur Foundation, a Fulbright Scholarship at Yale, and the IWM in Vienna. Some of her books are: Women and the Nation?s Narrative: Gender and Nationalism in Twentieth Century Sri Lanka, Gendering the Tsunami: Women?s Experiences from Sri Lanka, and Militarizing Sri Lanka: Popular Culture, Memory and Narrative in the Armed Conflict (2007). 

GLOSSARY:

Who are the Rajapaksa Family?
(04:10, p. 1 in the transcript)

The Rajapaksa Family: Sri Lankan family, which has dominated the country?s politics for much of the past two decades. During Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency, it was seen as one of the most influential families in the country with many of its members holding senior governmental positions. The Rajapaksas were briefly out of the government after losing in the 2015 elections, but they returned to power with Gotabaya Rajapaksa as their presidential candidate in 2019. He won and soon after brought his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, back to the government as prime minister and handed key positions to several other members of the family. The popularity of the Rajapaksa family collapsed after their actions caused the economic crisis that started in 2019, resulting in Sri Lanka defaulting on its debt for the first time in its post-independence history. Source

What are the 2022 Sri Lankan protests?
(04:50, p.2 in the transcript)

Spring 2022 Sri Lankan Protests (also known as ?Aragalaya? ? Sinhalese for ?struggle?): A mainly youth-led mass protest movement over Sri Lanka?s worst-ever economic crisis.  During the period, the protesters forced a president and a prime minister to resign, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa even fleeing the country to escape the uprising. Tens of thousands of people hit the streets in Colombo, occupying important government buildings, including the official residences of the president and the prime minister. Source

What was the Sri Lankan Civil War?
(05:50, p.2 in transcript)

Sri Lankan Civil War: Political unrest, which escalated in the 1980s as groups representing the Tamil minority moved toward organized insurgency. Tamil bases were built up in jungle areas of the northern and eastern parts of the island and increasingly in the southern districts of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where Tamil groups received official and unofficial support. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ? popularly known as the Tamil Tigers ? was the strongest of these, but there were other competing groups, which were sometimes hostile to each other. The Sri Lankan government responded to the unrest by deploying forces to the north and the east, but the eruption of insurgency inflamed communal passions, and in July 1983 there were extensive organized anti-Tamil riots in Colombo and elsewhere. Sinhalese mobs systematically attacked Tamils and destroyed Tamil property, and the riots forced refugees to move within the island and from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu. Source  

What is the Galle Face Park?
(08:10, p.2 in transcript)

The Galle Face Green Park: a five-hectare ocean-side urban park, which stretches for a half kilometre along the coast. The area was occupied during the 2022 Sri Lankan Protests with the protesters establishing a ?village? named ?Gotagogama?, or ?Gota go village?, in Sinhala. Gota-Go-Gama has been set up (similarly to Occupy Wall Street) like a small model village, providing basic necessities, including free food, free water bottles, toilets as well as limited free emergency medical services. Source

Guests featured in this episode 

Jason Stanley; Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, and  author of five monographs, including, most recently, the acclaimed How Propaganda Works and How Fascism Works. Jason is also a renowned public intellectual who has written extensively on fascism, authoritarianism, propaganda, free speech, critical race theory, and mass incarceration for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Project Syndicate, or The Chronicle of Higher Education. He appears regularly on CNN, NBC, CBS, or Democracy Now, and has been consulted by the January 6 Committee of the US Congress.

GLOSSARY

What is the January 6 Committee? 
(00:1:10 or p.1 in the transcript)

The January 6 Committee was created by Congress to investigate the circumstances around the attack on the Capitol, to recommend ?changes in law, policy, procedures, rules, or regulations? to prevent future acts of violence, and ?to strengthen the security and resilience of the United States and American democratic institutions.? It was created with a near party-line vote in June 2021, with only the two Republicans who ended up on the committee, Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), voting for it. With its broad mandate, the committee has interviewed over 1,000 witnesses and focused intensively on the actions of Donald Trump in the weeks and months before the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6. Since June, the committee has held eight public hearings geared at assembling a cohesive, comprehensive story of the organized, multi-pronged effort to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, with Trump at its center.The committee doesn?t have the authority to punish anyone. Source:

What is the Moore v. Harper case? 
(00:6:51 or p.2 in the transcript) 

The Supreme Court agreed to hear in October 2022 the case of Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina case that concerns gerrymandering, voting districts, and a little-known theory called the independent state legislature doctrine. Should the Court rule in North Carolina's favor, the ruling would reduce voter oversight on state legislatures and likely impact the outcome of various statewide political races ? as well as the 2024 presidential election.  Moore v. Harper centers around congressional maps drawn by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina following the 2020 census. The maps were challenged in court by Democratic voters and nonprofits who argued the districts were unfairly gerrymandered in favor of Republicans, which violated the state constitution. Earlier this year, the North Carolina Supreme Court blocked the state from using the maps in primary elections and required the districts be redrawn. Republican state lawmakers in February 2022 requested in an emergency appeal that the United States Supreme Court halt the state's order to redraw the maps, though the request was denied. The new maps, drawn by North Carolina Supreme Court-appointed experts, were used in the state's May 17 primary election. In another appeal to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision, Timothy K. Moore, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, filed a request that the United States Supreme Court review the case. The review was granted on June 30 with the case to be heard in the Supreme Court session this October. Source:

What is the ?Don?t Say Gay law?? 
(00:12:17 or p.4 in the transcript) 

The bill passed by Florida?s Senate is giving parents greater power over what goes on in local schools and on classroom discussions about sexual orientation. The bill titled Parental Rights in Education, states that lessons about sexual orientation are banned outright in kindergarten through third grade. It also prohibits lessons in other grades unless they are "age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate." The measure, which would give parents the right to sue school districts, it is scheduled to  go into effect on July 1, 2022. The bill's supporters say it strengthens parental rights by preventing teachers and school staffers from withholding information about gender issues from parents. Democrats and LGBTQIA supporters, who have derisively dubbed it the "Don't Say Gay" bill, say the law would stigmatize marginalized students and lead to bullying and attacks. Source:

What is the ?Stop WOKE Act?? 
(00:12:27 or p.4 in the transcript) 

The legislation passed in Florida aims to regulate how schools and businesses address race and gender, the state?s latest effort to restrict education about those topics.The law, which has become known as the ?Stop WOKE Act,? prohibits workplace training or school instruction that teaches that individuals are ?inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously?; that people are privileged or oppressed based on race, gender, or national origin; or that a person ?bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress? over actions committed in the past by members of the same race, gender, or national origin. The law says such trainings or lessons amount to discrimination. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Mary Kaldor, Professor Emeritus of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has had a long and illustrious academic career but has also been an activist since the 1980s. She was a founder of the European Nuclear Disarmament Movement, was co-chair of Helsinki Citizens Assembly and Peoples Europe, and was a member of the Goldstone Commission investigating the Kosovo crisis. 

She has co-edited several influential volumes, on Dealignment and The New Détente, both with Richard Falk; on Restructuring the Global Military Sector; on Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe; and most recently, on EU Global Strategy and Human Security (2018). She is author of the agenda-setting book Global Civil Society: An Answer to War, Human Security: Reflections on Globalization and Intervention, and highly acclaimed New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era.

GLOSSARY

What was the Helsinki Accords (Agreement)? 
(00:5:20 or p.2 in the transcript)

Helsinki Accords, also called Helsinki Final Act (August 1, 1975), major diplomatic agreement signed in the capital Of Finland, Helsinki, at the conclusion of the first Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE; now called the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). The Helsinki Accords were primarily an effort to reduce tension between the Soviet and Western blocs by securing their common acceptance of the post-World War II status quo in Europe. The accords were signed by all the countries of Europe (except Albania, which became a signatory in September 1991) and by the United States and Canada. The agreement recognized the inviolability of the post-World War II frontiers in Europe and pledged the 35 signatory nations to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to cooperate in economic, scientific, humanitarian, and other areas. The Helsinki Accords are nonbinding and do not have treaty status. Source:

What is the theory of nuclear deterrence? 
(00:21:42 or p.5 in the transcript) 

The strategic concept of nuclear deterrence aims to prevent war. It is the justification virtually every nuclear state uses for maintaining nuclear arsenals. The concept of nuclear deterrence follows the rationale of the ?first user? principle.  States reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in self-defence against an armed attack threatening their vital security interests. Possession of nuclear weapons could be seen as the ultimate bargaining tool in international diplomacy, instantly giving any nuclear state a seat at the top table. 

The possession of nuclear weapons is repeatedly attacked on the grounds of morality, national credibility, legality, and cost. Nonetheless, proponents of deterrence theory generally draw on one primary argument: its efficacy as a war-prevention mechanism. A notable author in the field, Kenneth Waltz, argues that nuclear deterrence bolsters state security by alleviating the prospect of direct attack, essentially ensuring peace through fear of retaliation. It is argued that the nuclear deterrence developed between the USA and the USSR ? the belief that any nuclear attack would lead to massive nuclear retaliation and ?mutually assured destruction? ? avoided nuclear war and maintained the temperature between the 1950s and 1990s. The continued nuclear deterrence prevented war between the USA and USSR, and has maintained the West?s longest ever period of peace, in the years that followed. It has been noted that no direct conflict has ever broken out between two nuclear-armed states. 

On these grounds, a small number of proponents maintain that the possession of nuclear proliferation should not be limited to a select few, ?superior? states. At present, countries possessing a nuclear deterrent are thought to exert an unfair advantage on the global stage, leaving vulnerable countries relatively unprepared (and reliant on nuclear states) in the event of an attack. 

Since the end of the Cold War, however, the nature of the nuclear threat has changed dramatically. The greatest nuclear fear today is that nuclear weapons find their way into the hands of terrorists or ?rogue states?, either through autonomous programs of development, or technology passed on.  Policy of deterrence is considered useless against terrorists and is less useful against ?rogue states? such as Iran and North Korea, whose stability is questioned, and whose motivations are less easily understood. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Yascha Mounk,  senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and also professor of the practice of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. As a public intellectual, he is widely known for his work on the crisis of democracy and the defense of liberalism. He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs. Yascha is also the author of 4 books, the autobiographically inspired Stranger in My Own Country, The Age of Responsibility ? Luck, Choice, and the Welfare State, The People versus Democracy ? Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It, and most recently, The Great Experiment ? Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, published earlier this year.

GLOSSARY

What is the Replacement Theory? 
(00:3:20 or p.1 in the transcript)

A demographic conspiracy theory popular among white nationalists in the United States and Europe that speculates that falling birthrates among white, native-born Christians, together with a growing population of nonwhite, non-Christian immigrants, whose arrival is believed to be encouraged or orchestrated by globalist elites with the goal of undermining national identities, will, if unchecked, result in the decline of white European culture or its dominance. First recorded in 1900?05 as a medical term; current sense dates to 2015?20; partly based on L?Abécédaire de l?in-nocence (The Abecedarium of No-Harm, 2010) and Le Grand Remplacement (The Great Replacement, 2011), books by Renaud Camus, French novelist, white nationalist, and conspiracy theorist. Source:

What are the salad bowl and melting pot theory? 
(00:37:33 or p.10 in the transcript)

The salad bowl model is a metaphor for an inclusive, multicultural society. The idea of a melting pot is a popular metaphor, but it emphasizes the unification of parts into a single whole. The salad bowl concept focuses on individual cultures and proposes a society with many distinct identities. The salad bowl model is the most common concept in Canada and suggests that the country is becoming more cosmopolitan as more people migrate to the country. However, unlike the concept of a melting pot, the salad bowl concept is not homogenous. The concept is more politically correct, and it promotes a society that has many pure cultures rather than a single, unified one. The salad bowl concept also suggests cultural integration. While the melting pot concept promotes a multicultural society, the salad bowl model encourages different cultures to coexist. It juxtaposes the various American cultures, instead of blending them into a single, homogeneous culture. This model emphasizes the need for shared culture and is more politically correct than the melting pot model, which implies that ethnic groups might lose their culture. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:
Masha Gessen,  a distinguished journalist & staff writer for the New Yorker.  Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union, Masha moved to the United States in 1981, only to return to Russia as a journalist a decade later. A strong critic of Putin?s regime from the very outset, Masha decided to leave Russia and return to the US due to the politically motivated crackdown on gay parents by Russian authorities.
They have authored 11 books, most recently, Surviving Autocracy (2020), an insightful account of the Trump Presidency that also draws on their experience of living in Russia. Two of their other books discussed within the podcast are; The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, and The Man without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (2012).

GLOSSARY

Who was Boris Yeltsin? 
(00:19:15 or p.5 in the transcript)

Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician who became president of Russia in 1991, he was the first popularly elected leader in the country?s history, guiding Russia through a stormy decade of political and economic retrenching. During his first presidency Yeltsin publicly supported the right of Soviet republics to greater autonomy within the Soviet Union, took steps to give the Russian republic more autonomy, and declared himself in favour of a market-oriented economy and a multiparty political system.

At the same time, Russia?s parliament, the Congress of People?s Deputies, had grown increasingly hostile toward his free-market reforms. Yeltsin and the Congress were also deeply divided over the question of the balance of powers in Russia?s proposed new constitution, which was needed to replace the obsolete 1978 Soviet-era Russian Constitution. On September 21, 1993, Yeltsin unconstitutionally dissolved  the Congress and called for new parliamentary elections. In response, hard-line legislators attempted a coup in early October but were suppressed by army troops loyal to Yeltsin. Parliamentary elections and a referendum on a draft constitution were held in December. Yeltsin?s draft constitution, which increased the powers of the presidency, was narrowly approved, but the anti-reform character of Russia?s newly elected parliament, the Federal Assembly, compelled Yeltsin to govern primarily by executive decree in the coming years.

In another spectacular comeback, however, he won reelection over a communist challenger in the second round of elections held in July 1996. He spent the months after his electoral victory recovering from a heart attack he had suffered that June during the rigours of the campaign. The state of Yeltsin?s health was a recurring issue.

In the late 1990s political maneuvering dominated much of the country?s government as Yeltsin dismissed four premiers and in 1998 fired his entire cabinet, though many were later reappointed. The following year the State Duma initiated an impeachment drive against Yeltsin, charging that he had encouraged the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, among other  allegations The Duma, however, was unable to secure the necessary votes to proceed. Ever unpredictable, Yeltsin announced his resignation on December 31, 1999, in favour of what he characterized as a new, energetic leadership. He named Prime Minister  Vladimir Putin acting president, and in turn Putin granted Yeltsin immunity from future prosecution. Source:
 

Who was Vladimir Zhirinovsky? 
(00:29:53 or p.7 in the transcript) 

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician and leader of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) from 1991 to 2022. Known for his fiery Russian nationalism and broad anti-Semitic asides, he later acknowledged his Jewish roots.

Much of Zhirinovsky?s personal history is vague, unknown, or disputed. He left his hometown at age 18 to attend Moscow State University, where he studied Turkish and other languages. After graduating about 1969, he went to work as a translator in Turkey, but he was expelled under murky circumstances eight months later. After returning to Moscow in 1972, he worked in various state committee and union posts. He completed an evening law program at Moscow State University, earning his degree in 1977 and then working in a state-run law firm (from which he was later asked to resign). In 1983 Zhirinovsky landed a position as head of the law department at the Mir publishing company, a post that served as a springboard for his political career.

Zhirinovsky cofounded the LDPR in 1989. The following year the party was launched in Moscow, and Zhirinovsky was asked to become its chairman, but by October his views had provoked his expulsion. In the spring of 1991 Zhirinovsky created his own party, giving it his previous and party?s name, and in June he first ran for the Russian presidency; he ran several times for presidency during his long political carrier. A figure as colorful as Zhirinovsky was bound to be the object of rumour and speculation. It was widely reported that his career could have been possible only under the auspices of the KGB. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Dr Michael John Hastings, Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE. He began his career as a teacher at a London Comprehensive school but after a few years took up a government job and supported policy initiatives to bring employment and development to Britain?s inner cities in a rough period marked by urban riots. He went to work for the BBC as presenter and later joined the BBC Corporate Division, after which he became the head of its Public Affairs, and then its first head of Corporate Social Responsibility. In 2002, he was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in recognition of his services to crime reduction, including two decades of serving as a trustee and chairman of Crime Concern, and nine year of work with the Commission for Racial Equality. In 2005, he became a crossbencher life peer in the House of Lords.

GLOSSARY:

What was the January 6 insurrection ? 
(00:10:45 or p.3 in the transcript)

United States Capitol attack o on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Pres. Donald J.Trump. The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of thepresidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or coup d?etat. The FBI and other law-enforcement agencies also considered it an act of domestic terrorism.  For having given a speech before the attack in which he encouraged a large crowd of his supporters near the White House to march to the Capitol and violently resist Congress?s certification of Biden?s victory?which many in the crowd then did?Trump was impeached  ched by the Democratic-led House of Representatives for ?incitement of insurrection? ;he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate. Source:

What is the Davos Forum and what is the agenda for 2022 meeting? 
(00:30:14 or p.7 in the transcript) 

For more than 50 years, the World Economic Forum, also known as the Davos Forum, has served as a global platform where leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society and academia come together to address critical issues at the start of each year.

Davos was established in 1971 in Geneva (Switzerland) as an ?independent, impartial and not tied to special interests? non-profit organization. Its founder is Klaus M. Schwab, a professor at the University of Geneva, who initially invited 444 executives from European companies to a meeting on corporate governance in the convention center of Davos.

His idea was to introduce the American business management approach to European firms. He never imagined that that meeting would lead to the unparalleled international summit that it is today.

Thousands of ideas come out of the Davos Forum. Not all of them materialize, but some have come far: the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, was first proposed at an informal meeting in Davos.

In 2021, the forum had to be canceled because of the pandemic.

The war in Ukraine and the human tragedy that it entails has forced a change of agenda. Leaders gathered in Davos must therefore address the challenges stemming from the conflict, yet not lose sight of longer-term environmental, technological and social priorities. The meetings are structured around six themes: 1) Promoting global and regional cooperation; 2) Ensuring economic recovery and building a new era of growth; 3) Building healthy and fair societies; 4) Safeguarding the climate, food supply and nature; 5) Promoting the transformation of industry; 6) Harnessing the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Éric Fassin, Professor of sociology and co-chair of the Gender Studies Department at Paris VIII. University, where he also established the Research Center on Gender and Sexuality Studies. His research addresses sexual and racial politics as well as immigration issues, in France, Europe, and in the United States in a comparative perspective. He is currently working on book project with his brother, Didier Fassin, on The Rising Significance of Race in France, to be published the University of Chicago Press.

GLOSSARY:

How Assa Traoré became a symbolic figure in France?
(00:16:00 or p.4 in the transcript)

Assa Traoré is the sister of Adama Traoré, a black French man who died in police custody in 2016. Assa Traoré has been acquitted of defamation charges brought against her by police officers. She accused three police officers of killing her brother, but the investigators have been unable to agree  if he was suffocated or if he died because of an underlying medical condition.

The death of Adama Traoré has elicited many parallels between George Floyd's death in the U.S. Assa Traoré, has become the symbolic figure of the Black Lives Matter movement in France. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

What does Harry Frankfurt write On Bullshit? 
(00:35:06 or p.8 in the transcript) 

Harry Frankfurt, a moral philosopher, makes the following observation in his book: ?One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.? 

Aspects of the bullshit problem are discussed partly with reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, Wittgenstein and Saint Augustine. Three points seem especially important ? the distinction between lying and bullshitting, the question of why there is so much bullshit in the current day and age, and a critique of sincerity qua bullshit.

Frankfurt makes an important distinction between lying and bullshitting. Both the liar and the bullshitter try to get away with something. But ?lying? is perceived to be a conscious act of deception, whereas ?bullshitting? is unconnected to a concern for truth. Frankfurt regards this ?indifference to how things really are?, as the essence of bullshit. Furthermore, a lie is necessarily false, but bullshit is not ? bullshit may happen to be correct or incorrect. The crux of the matter is that bullshitters hide their lack of commitment to truth. Since bullshitters ignore truth instead of acknowledging and subverting it, bullshit is a greater enemy of truth than lies. Source:

Guests featured in this episode:

Stephen Holmes, the Walter E. Mayer Professor of Law and co-director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University. Stephen has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships from, among others, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, the Wissenschaftkolleg in Berlin, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the IWM in Vienna. 

Between 1994 and 1996, he served as Director of the Soros Foundation program for promoting legal reform in Russia and Eastern Europe, and was also named Carnegie Scholar in 2003-2005 for his work on Russian legal reform. 

He is also the co-author of The Light that Failed: A Reckoning  with Ivan Krastev, a book that details the ride of authoritarian antiliberalism in Russia. 

GLOSSARY

What is the Kievan Rus ?
(00:8:11 or p.2 in the transcript)

 Kievan Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia (the latter named for the Rus, a Scandinavian people). The name Kievan Rus is a modern-day (19th century) designation but has the same meaning as 'land of the Rus,' which is how the region was known in the Middle Ages.

The Rus ruled from the city of Kiev (also given as Kyiv) and so 'Kievan Rus' simply meant "the lands of the Rus of Kiev". The Rus are first mentioned in the Annals of Saint-Bertin which records their presence in a diplomatic mission from Constantinople to the court of Louis the Pious (r. 814-840) in 839. The annals claim they were Swedes, and this is possible, but their ethnicity has never been firmly established. Source: 

What was the crisis and annexation of Crimea ? 
(00:08:38 or p.2 in the transcript) 

As pro-Russian protesters became increasingly assertive in Crimea, groups of armed men whose uniforms lacked any clear identifying marks surrounded the airports in Simferopol and Sevastopol.. Masked gunmen occupied the Crimean parliament building and raised a Russian flag, as pro-Russian lawmakers dismissed the sitting government and installed Sergey Aksyonov, the leader of the Russian Unity Party, as Crimea?s prime minister. 

On March 6 the Crimean parliament voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, with a public referendum on the matter scheduled for March 16, 2014. On the day of the referendum, observers noted numerous irregularities in the voting process, including the presence of armed men at polling stations, and the result was an overwhelming 97 percent in favour of joining Russia On March 18 Putin met with Aksyonov and other regional representatives and signed a treaty incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation. Western governments protested the move. Within hours of the treaty?s signing, a Ukrainian soldier was killed when masked gunmen stormed a Ukrainian military base outside Simferopol. Russian troops moved to occupy bases throughout the peninsula, including Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol, as Ukraine initiated the evacuation of some 25,000 military personnel and their families from Crimea. On March 21 after the ratification of the annexation treaty by the Russian parliament, Putin signed a law formally integrating Crimea into Russia. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this Episode

Gábor Tóka, Senior Research Fellow in the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives in Budapest.  A sociologist by training, he has published more than 60 articles on electoral behaviour, public opinion, political parties and democratic consolidation in edited volumes, political science and sociology journals. He is also the author of Post-Communist Party Systems: Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 1999), and has co-edited The Europeanization of National Polities (Oxford University Press, 2012).

GLOSSARY

What is Fidesz, the Hungarian political party ?
(00:1:20 or p.1. in the transcript) 

Fidesz, by name of Federation of Young Democrats?Hungarian Civic Alliance, is a centre-right Hungarian political party. Fidesz (the Federation of Young Democrats) was founded in 1988 as an anticommunist party that promoted the development of a market economy and European integration.  Initially, membership was restricted to those age 35 and younger, though this restriction was eliminated in 1993. In 1995 the party appended the name Hungarian Civic Party to its shortened form (altered to Hungarian Civic Alliance in 2003). Fidesz had its first notable success in 1990, when candidates associated with a coalition of which Fidesz was a member won mayoralties in a number of cities. In elections to the National Assembly, Fidesz won 22 seats. In 1997 members of a Christian Democratic group that had dissolved joined Fidesz in the National Assembly, enabling the joint group to form the largest bloc. The following year Fidesz became the single largest party in the National Assembly. 

After some eight years of Socialist rule, Fidesz, capitalizing on Hungary?s ongoing economic problems after the country?s economic collapse in 2008, swept back into power in the parliamentary elections of April 2010, winning more than two-thirds of the seats. Fidesz and its junior electoral coalition partner, the Christian Democratic People?s Party, repeated that feat in 2014 and again in 2018 and 2022, with Orbán returning as prime minister each time. Source: 

What is The Visegrad Group? 
(00:22:12 or p.5 in the transcript) 

The Visegrad Group (V4) is an informal regional format of cooperation between the four Central European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, which are not only linked by neighbourhood and similar geopolitical situation but above all by common history, traditions, culture, and values.

The idea behind the Group was to intensify cooperation in building democratic state structures and free market economies and, in the long term, to participate in the process of European integration. The date of its creation is 15 February 1991, when the Presidents of Poland and Czechoslovakia, Lech Wa??sa and Václav Havel, and Prime Minister of Hungary József Antall signed a joint declaration on the objectives and conditions of cooperation in the Hungarian town of Visegrad.

Since 2004, all V4 countries have been members of the European Union, and the Visegrad Group provides a forum for exchanging experiences and working out common positions on issues relevant to the future of the region and the EU.

In addition to European issues, V4 cooperation focuses primarily on matters concerning Central Europe, exchange of information, and cooperation in culture, science, education and youth exchanges. Priority areas include expanding transport infrastructure and strengthening energy security in the region. Source:

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Marzuki Darusman,  an internationally recognized human rights lawyer and former Attorney General of Indonesia.  Marzuki has participated in the work of UN committees on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, war crimes in Sri Lanka, human rights in North Korea, and most recently, he was the chair an independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar under the UN Human Rights Council following the Rohingya genocide in 2017.

GLOSSARY:

Who is the Aung San Suu Kyi?
(00:5:10 or p.2 in the transcript) 

Aung San Suu Kyi, also calledDaw Aung San Suu Kyi, politician and opposition leader of Myanmar, daughter of  Aung San, a martyred  national hero of independent Burma and Khin Kyi a prominent Burmese diplomat, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991. She held multiple governmental posts from 2016, including that of state counselor, which essentially made her the de facto leader of the country. She was sidelined in February 2021 when the military seized power.

Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old when her father, then the de facto prime minister of what would shortly become independent Burma, was assassinated. She studied and lived abroad and returned to Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother,leaving her family behind.  There the mass slaughter of protesters against the brutal and unresponsive rule of military strongman U Ne Win led her to speak out against him and to begin a nonviolent struggle for  democracy and human rights.

In July 1989 Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in Yangon and held her incommunicado. The military offered to free her if she agreed to leave Myanmar, but she refused to do so until the country was returned to civilian government and political prisoners were freed. The  National League for Democracy (NLD), which Suu Kyi had cofounded in 1988, won more than 80 percent of the parliamentary seats that were contested in 1990, but the results of that election were ignored by the military government (in 2010 the military government formally annulled the results of the 1990 election). 

After becoming state counselor she and her administration faced widespread international condemnation over the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people of Myanmar?s Rakhine state. After some attacks by Rohingya militants on security installations in 2016 and 2017, the military and police embarked on a brutal campaign against the entire group, allegedly committing human rights abuses and causing a large percentage of the population to flee the country. Given Suu Kyi?s history as a champion of human rights and democracy, sharp criticism was directed at her in particular for initially seeming to ignore the crisis and, when she did address it, not denouncing the actions of the security forces or intervening. In protest of her inaction regarding the plight of the Rohingya, several organizations revoked human rights-related honours and awards previously bestowed upon her.

Although Suu Kyi?s reputation had suffered abroad, at home she and the NLD still retained a good amount of support. In the November 8, 2020, parliamentary elections, the NLD won a commanding majority of seats in both legislative chambers and was poised to form the next government.

The newly elected parliament was due to hold its first session on February 1, 2021, but, in the early hours of that day, the military seized power. Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders were detained by the military, which allowed Vice Pres. Myint Swe (a former general) to become acting president. Claiming that the unresolved election complaints were a threat to the country?s sovereignty, he invoked clauses 417 and 418 of the constitution, which provided for the military to declare a one-year state of emergency and take over administration of the government. Two days later the police announced that they had filed charges against Suu Kyi with regards to the presence of illegally imported walkie-talkie radios in her home. Source:

Who are the Bamar people?
(00:11:05 or p.3 in the transcript) 

The term ?Bamar? or ?Burman? refers to the largest and culturally dominant ethnic group of Myanmar. The term ?Burmese? refers to the language and culture of the Burmans, as well as to the other citizens of Myanmar. The Bamar migrated from SW China more than 3,000 years ago. The central plain formed by the Irrawaddy River and the Salween River is the traditional home of the Bamar. About 68% of the population of Myanmar is Burman (about 31 million), while the remaining population is divided into 5 main minority groups (Shan, Karen, Kachin, Arakanese, and Chin). There are also many small groups like the Lahu, Wa, Akha and Lisu. Almost all Bamar (more than 95%) are Buddhists. Source:

Who are the Rohingya people?
(00:13:02 or p.3 in the transcript) 

The Rohingya people are an ethnic group from Myanmar, most live in Rakhine State on Myanmar?s western coast. Myanmar is a majority-Buddhist state, but the Rohingya people are primarily Muslim, though a small number are Hindu. The ethnic minority is considered ?the most persecuted minority in the world? by the United Nations.

The story of that persecution has its roots in Britain?s colonization of Burma, and modern-day Myanmar?s refusal to recognize the existence of a people who have existed for thousands of years.

Today, the Rohingya are considered illegal immigrants by Myanmar, and are not recognized under the law. Rohingya people cannot access social services or education, and their movement outside of Rakhine State is closely restricted. Myanmar has also imposed strict regulations on birth control and marriage, only allowing Rohingya in some townships in Rakhine State to have two children and restricting the marriages of some Rohingya.

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode:

Slawomir Sierakowski, a Polish sociologist and political analyst, with extensive knowledge of not only Ukraine and Russia, but also the potential third party in the current war, Belarus. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique) magazine. His more than 400 articles and op-eds include not only publications in Polish, but regular monthly columns in the international edition of The New York Times and Project Syndicate, among others.

GLOSSARY

What is the ?Budapest Memorandum??
(00:8:02 or p.2 in the transcript) 

On December 5, 1994, leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation met in Budapest, Hungary, to pledge security assurances to Ukraine in connection with its accession to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapons state. The signature of the so-called Budapest Memorandum concluded arduous negotiations that resulted in Ukraine?s agreement to relinquish the world?s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which the country inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union, and transfer all nuclear warheads to Russia for dismantlement. The signatories of the memorandum pledged to respect Ukraine?s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders, and to refrain from the use or threat of military force. Russia breached these commitments with its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and aggression in eastern Ukraine, bringing the meaning and value of security assurance pledged in the Memorandum under renewed scrutiny. Source

What is Nord Stream 2 pipeline? 
(00:17:10 or p.4 in the transcript) 

The construction of the controversial natural gas pipeline Nord Stream brings gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany, running parallel to, and expanding the capacity of, the existing Nord Stream pipeline.  The project would allow additional Russian gas to flow directly to Germany.  Opponents  argue that it would increase Russian influence in Germany. This is a concern for Poland, the Baltic states, and the Ukraine, which also fear that they would lose out on revenue from the transport of natural gas via other existing routes. Critics also argue that a new gas pipeline does not fit with the EU?s strategy that aims at replacing fossil with renewable energy in the medium term, which would make Nord Stream 2 a stranded investment.

Nord Stream 2 has been completed with some delay, but hurdles in the certification procedure and political tensions at the Ukrainian-Russian border have held up the project. Source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Guests featured in this episode 

 Georgi Derluguian, Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University?s Abu Dhabi campus. Born in the Soviet Union, Georgie then experienced its breakup as a young social scientist. Having pursued African studies in Moscow, Georgi spent two years in Mozambique during the civil war in the 1980s, and then  moved to the United States right after that to work with Immanuel Wallerstein, graduating with a PhD in sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton. 

His dissertation research formed the basis of a groundbreaking and idiosyncratic book of historical sociology: Bourdieu?s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus: A World-System Biography (University of Chicago Press, 2005).

Glossary

What were the Brest- Litovsk Treaties? 
(At 00:2:46 or p.1 in the transcript) 

Treaties of Brest-Litovsk, peace treaties signed at Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus) by the Central powers with the Ukrainian Republic (Feb. 9, 1918) and with Soviet Russia (March 3, 1918), which concluded hostilities between those countries during World War I. On March 3 the Soviet government accepted a treaty by which Russia lost Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland. (The treaty was ratified by theCongress of Soviets on March 15, both the Ukrainian and Russian treaties were annulled by the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918, which marked the Allied defeat of Germany. Source:

What was the Marschall Plan? 
(00:7:19 or p.2 in the transcript)

The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. The brainchild of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, for whom it was named, it was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors?as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States. In addition to economic redevelopment, one of the stated goals of the Marshall Plan was to halt the spread communism on the European continent. Source:

Who was Vaclav Havel? 
(At 00:16:30 or p.3 in the transcript) 

Václav Havel, (1936-2011), Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident who, after the fall of communism, was president of Czechoslovakia (1989?92) and of the Czech Republic (1993?2003).

Havel was the son of a wealthy restaurateur whose property was confiscated by the communist government of Czechoslovakia in 1948. As the son of bourgeois parents, Havel was denied easy access to education but managed to finish high school and study on the university level. He found work as a stagehand in a Prague theatrical company in 1959 and soon began writing plays with Ivan Vysko?il. By 1968 Havel had progressed to the position of resident playwright of the Theatre of the Balustrade company. He was a prominent participant in the liberal reforms of 1968 (known as the Prague Spring), and, after the Soviet clampdown on Czechoslovakia that year, his plays were banned and his passport was confiscated. During the 1970s and ?80s he was repeatedly arrested and served four years in prison (1979?83) for his activities on behalf of human rights in Czechoslovakia. After his release from prison Havel remained in his homeland. When massive anti-government demonstrations erupted in Prague in November 1989, Havel became the leading figure in the Civic Forum, a new coalition of noncommunist opposition groups pressing for democratic reforms. In early December the Communist Party capitulated and formed a coalition government with the Civic Forum. As a result of an agreement between the partners in this bloodless ?Velvet Revolution?, Havel was elected to the post of interim president of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989, and he was reelected to the presidency in July 1990, becoming the country?s first noncommunist leader since 1948. As the Czechoslovak union faced dissolution in 1992, Havel, who opposed the division, resigned from office. The following year he was elected president of the new Czech Republic. Source

Who was George Kenan? 
(00:30:33 or p.6 in the transcript) 

George F. Kennan, in full George Frost Kennan, American diplomat and historian best known for his successful advocacy of a containment policy to oppose Soviet expansionism following World War II. 

Kennan?s views on containment were elucidated in a famous and highly influential article, signed ?X,? that appeared in Foreign Affairs magazine for July 1947, analyzing in detail the structure and psychology of Soviet diplomacy. In the article Kennan, who drew heavily from his Long Telegram, questioned the wisdom of the United States? attempts to conciliate and appease the Soviet Union. He suggested that the Russians, while still fundamentally opposed to coexistence with the West and bent on worldwide extension of the Soviet system, were acutely sensitive to the logic of military force and would temporize or retreat in the face of skillful and determined Western opposition to their expansion. Kennan then advocated U.S. counterpressure wherever the Soviets threatened to expand and predicted that such counterpressure would lead either to Soviet willingness to cooperate with the United States or perhaps eventually to an internal collapse of the Soviet government. This view subsequently became the core of U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. Source

Guests featured in this episode:

 Renata Uitz, is the co-editor of  Handbook of Illiberalism, who has contributed two chapters to it as well. Renata is also professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the Central European University, Vienna, as well as the co-director of its Democracy Institute in Budapest.

Helena Rosenblatt is a professor of history, French, and political theory at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York, and the author of both Liberal Values: Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion andThe Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century. Helena has also submitted an article on ?The History of Illiberalism? in the Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism (2022).

Glossary 

What was the Reign of Terror? 
(pg. 2 of the transcript or 00:7:58)

The Reign of Terror (June 1793 ? July 1794) was a period in the French revolution characterized by brutal repression. The Terror originated with a centralized political regime that suspended most of the democratic achievements of the revolution, and intended to pursue the revolution on social matters. Its stated aim was to destroy internal enemies and conspirators and to chase the external enemies from French territory.The Terror as such started on September 5, 1793 and, as the Reign of Terror, lasted until the summer of 1794, taking the lives of anywhere between 18,000 to 40,000 people (estimates vary widely). Thousands would die by means of the guillotine, including many of the greatest lights of the revolution, like Georges Danton.. The deaths can be explained in part by the sense of emergency that gripped the revolutionary leadership as the country teetered on the brink of civil war. Source

Who was John Stuart Mill? 
(pg. 3 of the transcript or 00:12:19)

John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher, economist, and exponent of utilitarianism. He was prominent as a publicist in the reforming age of the 19th century, and remains of lasting interest as a logician and an ethical theorist.The influence that his works exercised upon contemporary English thought can scarcely be overestimated, nor can there be any doubt about the value of the liberal and inquiring spirit with which he handled the great questions of his time. Beyond that, however, there has been considerable difference of opinion about the enduring merits of his philosophy. Source

Who was Alexis de Tocqueville? 
(pg. 3 of the transcript or 00:12:27)

Alexis de Tocqueville, French sociologist, political scientist, historian, and politician, best known for Democracy in America (1835?40). Tocqueville traveled to the United States in 1831 to study its prisons and returned with a wealth of broader observations that he codified in ?Democracy in America?, one of the most influential books of the 19th century. With its trenchant observations on equality and individualism, Tocqueville?s work remains a valuable explanation of America to Europeans and of Americans to themselves. Tocqueville?s works shaped 19th-century discussions of liberalism and equality, and were rediscovered in the 20th century as sociologists debated the causes and cures of tyranny. Source

What does cancel culture mean? 
(pg. 6 of the transcript or 00:32:27)

Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming. Source

Democracy in Question?  is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Guests featured in this episode:

Irene Khan, the first woman to ever hold the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression. 

She is also a Distinguished Fellow and Research Associate at the Graduate Institute's Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy.

Previously, Irene Khan was Secretary-General of Amnesty International (2001-2009) and Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (2010 to 2019). 

Democracy in Question?  is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Glossary for this episode...

Who is Maria Ressa? 
(00:5:22 or p.2 in the transcript) 

Maria Ressa, in full Maria Angelita Ressa, Filipino-American journalist who, through Rappler, the Manila-based digital media company for investigative journalism that she cofounded, became known for detailing the weaponization of social media and for exposing government corruption and human rights violations. Her reporting led to a backlash from the Philippine government, and Ressa, who holds dual citizenship, became an international symbol of the fight for freedom of the press in hostile circumstances. With Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, she was awarded the 2021Nobel Peace Prize, cited for using ?freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence, and growing authoritarianism in her native country.? Source

What was the insurrection of Capitol Hill in 2021? 
(00:6:02 or p.2 in the transcript) 

United States Capitol attack of 2021, storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald J. Trump. The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the presidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.  Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d?état. The FBI and other law-enforcement agencies also considered it an act of domestic terrorism.  For having given a speech before the attack in which he encouraged a large crowd of his supporters near the White House to march to the Capitol and violently resist Congress?s certification of Biden?s victory?which many in the crowd then did?Trump was impeached   by the Democratic-led House of Representatives for ?incitement of insurrection? (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate). Source

What is the Facebook Oversight Board? 
(00:18:49 or p.4  in the transcript) 

The Oversight Board was created to help Facebook answer some of the most difficult questions around freedom of expression online: what to take down, what to leave up, and why. 

The board uses its independent judgment to support people?s right to free expression and ensure those rights are being adequately respected. The board?s decisions to uphold or reverse Facebook?s content decisions will be binding, meaning Facebook will have to implement them, unless doing so could violate the law.

The purpose of the board is to promote free expression by making principled, independent decisions regarding content on Facebook and Instagram and by issuing recommendations on the relevant Facebook company content policy.

When fully staffed, the board will consist of 40 members from around the world that represent a diverse set of disciplines and backgrounds. These members will be empowered to select content cases for review and to uphold or reverse Facebook?s content decisions. The board is not designed to be a simple extension of Facebook?s existing content review process. Rather, it will review a select number of highly emblematic cases and determine if decisions were made in accordance with Facebook?s stated values and policies. Source

What is a platform law? 
(00:21:06 or p.5 in the transcript) 

The internet would seem to be an ideal platform for fostering norm diversity. The very structure of the internet resists centralized governance, while the opportunities it provides for the ?long tail? of expression means even voices with extremely small audiences can find a home. In reality, however, the governance of online speech looks much more monolithic. This is largely a result of private ?lawmaking? activity by internet intermediaries. Increasingly, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are developing what David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur for the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, has called ?platform law.? Through a combination of community standards, contract, technological design, and case-specific practice, social media companies are developing ?Facebook law? and ?Twitter law,? displacing the laws of national jurisdictions. Source

Guests featured in this episode:

Professor Andras Sajo, former judge at the European Court of Human Rights & founding Dean of Legal Studies Department at the Central European University,

Democracy in Question?  is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Bibliography: 

Glossary: 

What is Max Weber?s view on charismatic leadership? 
(at 00:9:20 or pg. 2 in the transcript)

In his essay ?The Three Types of Legitimate Rule? published in 1958, the influential German sociologist Max Weber introduced his theory of authority which was based on tripartite classifications of authority: traditional authority, rational-legal authority and charismatic authority (also referred to as charismatic leadership or domination). According to Weber, order is based on two fundamental forms: norms and authority. 

Charismatic leadership, according to Weber, is found in a leader with extraordinary characteristics of individual, whose mission and vision inspire others. In such, this charismatic leader is seen as the head of any social or political movement, sometimes gifted with divine powers such as: religious prophets and Gurus. However, charismatic leadership is considered unstable as it is related to faith and belief; once these fade, the authority and leadership dissolve.

Thus, charismatic authority depends on the extent to which a religious or political figure is able to preserve moral influence and prosperity to his followers. Weber favoured charismatic leadership and saw its inevitable influence over the other two authorities with the use of soft power in both the traditional and legal-rational authorities. Source

What is India?s Citizenship Amendment Act? 
(at 00:21:51 or pg. 5 in the transcript)

In December 2019, the Indian Parliament passed the  Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. The Act amended the law to fast-track citizenship for religious minorities, specifically Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India prior to 2015. However, the Act does not extend to Muslim minorities, for example: the Ahmadiyya from Pakistan; the Rohingya from Myanmar; and the Tamil from Sri Lanka. Opponents of the Act have claimed that it is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to religion and marginalises India?s Muslim population. However, the Government has argued that the law protects religious minorities.

The Act has been referred to the Indian Supreme Court. In January 2020, the Court said it would not put the implementation of the law on hold but asked the Government to respond to the petitions challenging the law?s constitutional validity within a month.

Some Indian states have announced that they will not implement the law. However, the Government has stated that states have a ?constitutional duty? to do so.

The Act has led to widespread protests, with activists and human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, criticising the police and the Government for the response. Source

What is the concept of constitutional patriotism?
(at 00:23:02 or pg. 5 in the transcript)

The purpose of constitutional patriotism, -Jürgen Habermas's well-known theory-  as a set of beliefs and dispositions, is to enable and uphold a liberal democratic form of rule that free and equal citizens can justify to each other. The object of patriotic attachment is a specific constitutional culture that mediates between the universal and the particular, while the mode of attachment is one of critical judgment. Finally, constitutional patriotism results in a number of policy recommendations that are clearly different from policies that liberal nationalists would advocate. Source

Who was Gustav Radbruch?  
(at 00:27:30 or pg. 6 in the transcript)

Gustav Radbruch, German jurist and legal philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of legal relativism and legal positivism. He also served the Weimar government as a Minister of Justice (1921?22; 1923). Radbruch?s legal philosophy grew out of the neo-Kantian principle that law is defined by and depends upon moral values. In such a system, there are no absolutes; thus, the concepts of right and  justice are not absolute but are relative to time and place and to the values of the parties in a given legal proceeding. As a result of Nazi rule in Germany, however, a radical change in Radbruch?s outlook occurred in his later years. He abandoned relativism and turned toward a philosophy of natural law that recognized certain absolute, innate properties of law and justice. Source

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

? Central European University: CEU

? The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

? The Podcast Company: Novel

Follow us on social media!

? Central European University: @CEU

? Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentre

Subscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Watchdog That Didn't Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism (Columbia University Press, 2014). 

GLOSSARY

What is ICIJ?
(00:0:45 or p.1 in the transcript) 

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), is a  U.S.-based nonprofit organization -  which is both a small, resourceful newsroom with our own reporting team, as well as a global network of reporters and media organizations who work together to investigate the most important stories in the world. ICIJ encompasses 280 of the best investigative reporters from more than 100 countries and territories and is partner with more than 100 media organizations from the world?s most renowned outlets, including the BBC, the New York Times, the Guardian to small regional nonprofit investigative centers to collaborate on groundbreaking investigations  that expose the truth and hold the powerful accountable, aligning the highest professional standards, fairness and accuracy. Source.

What are the Pandora Papers? 
(00:0:50 or p.1 in the transcript) 

The Pandora Papers is a collection of millions of leaked documents published by ICIJ in 2021 and the biggest journalism partnership in history, which have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories.

The investigation unmasks the covert owners of offshore companies, incognito bank accounts, private jets, yachts, mansions, even  artworks? providing more information than what?s usually available to law enforcement agencies and cash-strapped governments and  reveal the inner workings of a shadow economy that benefits the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of everyone else. Source.

What is the Enablers Act ?
(00:14:04 or p.3 in the transcript) 

The Enablers Act (Establishing New Authorities for Business Laundering and Enabling Risks to Security (Enablers) Act) was a bipartisan bill proposed in the wake of the Pandora Papers. Legislation would require the treasury department to create new due-diligence rules for American middlemen who facilitate the flow of foreign assets into the United States. The act would update the 51-year-old Bank Secrecy Act, which requires banks to investigate their clients and the source of their wealth but had excluded trust companies, accountants, lawyers and other professionals. Source

What is the Heritage Foundation? 
(00:19:03 or p.4 in the transcript) 

Heritage Foundation, U.S. conservative public policy research organization, or think tank based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is ?to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.? Founded in 1973 by two Congressional aides, Edwin Feulner and Paul Weyrich, it provides research on pending political issues to Congress, policymakers, news media, and academic communities. The foundation flourished during the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981?89), who used its handbook Mandate for Leadership: Principles to Limit Government, Expand Freedom, and Strengthen America to provide guidance for his administration. Source.

What is the Brookings Institution? 
(00:19:05 or p.4 in the transcript) 

Brookings Institution, not-for-profit research organization based in Washington, D.C. founded in 1916 as the Institute for Government Research by the merchant, manufacturer, and philanthropist Robert S. Brookings and other reformers. In 1927 it merged with two other institutions established by Brookings, the Institute of Economics (1922) and the Robert S. Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government (1924), to form the Brookings Institution. Devoted to public service through research and education in the social sciences, particularly in economics, government and foreign policy is one of the most influential think tanks in the US. Source.

Glossary for DiQ ep 7 series 3 ? Jan Werner Müller

Who was Alexis de Tocqueville?
(pg. 1 tocquevillian question of the transcript or 00:1:08)

French sociologist and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) traveled to the United States in 1831 to study its prisons and returned with a wealth of broader observations that he codified in ?Democracy in America? (1835), one of the most influential books of the 19th century. With its trenchant observations on equality and individualism, Tocqueville?s work remains a valuable explanation of America to Europeans and of Americans to themselves.

What is nativism?
(pg. 1 of the transcript or 00:4:42)

Nativism represents the political idea that people who were born in a country are more important than immigrants. Source.

Who is Marine Le Pen?

(pg. 3 of the transcript or 00:10:03)

Marine Le Pen, French politician who succeeded her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, as leader of the National Front (later National Rally) party in 2011. She was that party?s candidate in the 2017 French presidential election. In 1998 she joined the administrative apparatus of the National Front, which had been founded by her father in 1972 and was the main right-wing opposition to France?s mainstream conservative parties. She served as the director of the party?s legal affairs until 2003, when she became the National Front?s vice president. The following year she made a successful run for a seat in the European Parliament where she joined her father in that body?s nonaligned bloc. As Le Pen emerged from her father?s shadow to become a national figure in her own right, she distanced herself from some of his and the party?s more extreme views. While she embraced the National Front?s established anti-immigration stance, she rebranded the party?s traditional Euroscepticism as French nationalism and she was a vocal critic of the anti- Semitism that has marginalized the party in the past.

In June 2018 Le Pen announced that the National Front would change its name to Rassemblement National (National Rally), in an apparent effort to distance the party from its overtly neofascist and anti-Semitic past. The National Rally topped the field in EU parliamentary elections in 2019, and opinion polling indicated that they were likely to carry that momentum into French regional elections in 2021. The party performed far below expectations in the first round of balloting, however, in an election that was characterized by extremely low voter turnout. Source

What was the Fairness Doctrine?
(Page 6 of the transcript or 00:25:14)

U.S. communications policy (1949?87) formulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Required licensed radio and television broadcasters to present fair and balanced coverage of controversial issues of interest to their communities, including by granting equal airtime to opposing candidates for public office. The fairness doctrine was never without its opponents, however, many of whom perceived the equal airtime requirement as an infringement of the right to freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

In 1987 the FCC formally repealed the fairness doctrine but maintained both the editorial and personal-attack provisions, which remained in effect until 2000. In addition, until they were finally repealed by the commission in 2011, more than 80 media rules maintained language that implemented the doctrine. Source

Who was John Dewey?
(page 7 of the transcript or 00:28:02)

John Dewey (1859?1952) was one of American pragmatism?s early founders, along with Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, and arguably the most prominent American intellectual for the first half of the twentieth century. Dewey?s educational theories and experiments had a global reach, his psychological theories had a sizeable influence in that growing science, and his writings about democratic theory and practice deeply influenced debates in academic and practical quarters for decades. 

Dewey also developed extensive and often systematic views in ethics, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, and philosophy of religion. In addition to academic life, Dewey comfortably wore the mantle of public intellectual, infusing public issues with lessons found through philosophy. 

He spoke on topics of broad moral significance, such as human freedom, economic alienation, race relations, women?s suffrage, war and peace, human freedom, and educational goals and methods. Typically, discoveries made via public inquiries were integrated back into his academic theories, and aided their revision. This practice-theory-practice rhythm powered every area of Dewey?s intellectual enterprise, and perhaps explains why his philosophical theories are still discussed, criticized, adapted, and deployed in many academic and practical arenas.  Source

Who is Elizabeth Anderson?
(page 7 of the transcript or 00:30:40)

American Philosopher specializing in moral, social and political philosophy, feminist theory, social epistemology, and the philosophy of economics and the social sciences. She is particularly interested in exploring the interactions of social science with moral and political theory, how we learn to improve our value judgments, the epistemic functions of emotions and democratic deliberation, and issues of race, gender, and equality. Source

Glossary 

Who is Hannah Arendt?

(00: 2: 08 or page 1)

Hannah Arendt (1906?1975) was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth

century. Born into a German-Jewish family, she was forced to leave Germany in 1933 and lived in

Paris for the next eight years, working for a number of Jewish refugee organisations. In 1941 she

immigrated to the United States and soon became part of a lively intellectual circle in New York. She

held a number of academic positions at various American universities until her death in 1975. She is

best known for two works that had a major impact both within and outside the academic

community. The first, The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951, was a study of the Nazi and

Stalinist regimes that generated a wide-ranging debate on the nature and historical antecedents of

the totalitarian phenomenon. Source

Who are the Chakma refugees?

(00:6:41 or page 2)

The Chakmas are ethnic people who lived in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, most of which are

located in Bangladesh. Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists, they are found in northeast

India, West Bengal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.The Chakmas living in India are Indian citizens,

some of them, mostly from Mizoram, live in relief camps in southern Tripura due to tribal

conflict with Mizos. Source

What is the 1951 Convention?

(00:25:25 or page 5)

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as complemented by its 1967 Protocol, has

justly been termed the ?Magna Carta? of refugees. The Convention and Protocol are, indeed, the

culmination of an uninterrupted effort by the international community, started under the League of

Nations in 1921, to ensure the international recognition of some basic rights and of certain minimum

standards of treatment for persons forced to flee their country in order to escape persecution on

account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social

group. The fundamental importance of the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol was stressed by the

World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993, and has been repeatedly affirmed by the

General Assembly of the United Nations, which has hailed the Convention and Protocol as ?the

cornerstone of the international system for the protection of refugees?.The Executive Committee of

UNHCR has also emphasised the primacy of these instruments, and confirmed that they form the

international legal basis for the protection of refugees. Source