The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast

Episode 7.16: Fortress Power: How Design Shapes Control and Resistance

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, DEREK DENMAN explores the concept of "fortress power," a form of governance rooted in the design an...

Episode 7.15: Presidential Words Matter: A Conversation with Obama Speechwriter Cody Keenan

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Speech was central to the political success of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who each emerged through insurgent campa...

Episode 7.14: Politics Can Still Be Local: A Discussion with Pennsylvania State Rep Candidate Leo Solga

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. If today's politicians, even and the state and local level, often seem more interested in scoring off ideological opponents...

Episode 7.13: Democracy as a Public Health Intervention

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. In this episode of the Andrea Mitchell Center podcast, Joshua Rose speaks with Penn Political Science Professor JULIA LYNCH ...

Episode 7.12: A Philadelphia Church and the West African Revival, 1918–1929

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE.  Host JOSHUA ROSE speaks with Dr. ADAM MOHR, Senior Lecturer in Penn's Critical Writing Program, about his 2023 book The We...

Episode 7.11: Marriage, the Welfare State, and the Politics of "Family Values"

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. In this episode of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy podcast, host JOSHUA ROSE speaks with Penn Law and ...

Episode 7.10: Democracy as Dispersion of Power: A Conversation with Samuel Bagg

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Over the past decade we have witnessed an unfolding global crisis of democracy, in its liberal-democratic, represent...

Episode 7.9: Unlimited Money, Limited Oversight: Virginia's Democracy on Trial

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATT BERKMAN. Journalist and anti-corruption investigator JOSH STANFIELD joins host MATT BERKMAN to unpack Virginia's feverish election ...

Episode 7.8: Socialism, Logically: Scott Sehon on Rights, Welfare, and Markets

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Philosopher SCOTT SEHON joins the podcast to discuss his book Socialism: A Logical Introduction (Oxford University...

Episode 7.7: Stemming the Tide of Vaccine Refusal: Beyond MAHA's Vision of Patient Empowerment

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Anti-vaccine rhetoric is on the rise in the U.S., encouraged now by MAHA-dominated health policies emerging from Washington...

Episode 7.6: Credibility in Prisons

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: CARRIE WELSH. Why does the American criminal justice system produce unreliable knowers? In this episode, host CARRIE WELSH is joined ...

Episode 7.5: Trump and the Era of Ungoverning: A Discussion with Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In their 2024 book Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos, Professors RUSSELL MUIRH...

Episode 7.4: The Age of Choice: A Conversation with Sophia Rosenfeld

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE.  Historian and Penn Professor SOPHIA ROSENFELD discusses her new book The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern L...

Episode 7.3: Rethinking the COVID Era: A Conversation with Frances Lee and Stephen Macedo

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. When the Sars-CoV-2 spread across the world in the spring of 2020, it triggered unprecedented lockdowns in nearly every cou...

Episode 7.2: Brazil's Pink Tide and the Politics of Redistribution

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, host Rafael Khachaturian speaks with sociologist and political theorist NARA ROBERTA SILVA about th...

Episode 7.1: The Workings of Canadian Democracy in the Shadow of Trump

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In an era that has seen the rise of right-wing populism, which has often pitted itself against the institutions of liberal ...

Episode 6.15: Panic Wisely: Navigating Collapse in an Age of Crisis

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIEWER: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, Rafael Khachaturian speaks with IRA ALLEN, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Me...

Episode 6.14: Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIWER: YARA DAMAJ. Author SARAH TOWLE discusses her book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands.

Episode 6.13: Democracy's New Frontier: Integrating Ecosystems into Political Communities

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIEWER: CATHY BARTCH. In this episode of the Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast, host Cathy Bartch is joined by environmental experts CAROLINA ANGEL ...

Episode 6.12: Dying Abroad: A Conversation with Osman Balkan

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIEWER: MATT BERKMAN. In this episode, Matt Berkman speaks with OSMAN BALKAN, Associate Director of the Huntsman Program at the University of Pen...

Episode 6.11: The Path Ahead for Syrian Reconstruction

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIEWER: YARA DAMAJ. The collapse of the Assad regime has reshaped Syria’s political landscape, bringing both significant opportunities and deep...

Episode 6.10: Fetal Personhood, Bodily Autonomy and the Roe Not Taken

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Since it was overturned in 2022, Roe v. Wade has continued to represent to many what the restoration of abortion rights wou...

Episode 6.9: A Conversation with Slavoj Žižek

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

INTERVIWER: JEFF GREEN. AMC Director Jeff Green is joined by Slavoj Žižek, renowned Slovenian philosopher and cultural theorist whose work spans psy...

Episode 6.8: Seeking the Fifth Voice: A Journey into American History and Democracy

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In late 2020, in the midst of COVID lockdowns and the national election, speechwriter and opinion columnist FRANCIS BARRY b...

Episode 6.7: We the People: How Citizens Prevented Past Presidents from Permanently Breaking American Democracy

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In theory, the US Constitution established a system by which the three branches of government keep each other in check. Pol...

Episode 6.6: Battleground PA: Voters, Values, and the Fight for the Future

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, Professors MARC MEREDITH and MICHAEL MORSE from the University of Pennsylvania unpack Pennsylvania'...

Episode 6.5: Ian Lustick on Israel-Gaza and the United States

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Penn Professor (emeritus) IAN LUSTICK, who has been teaching on the Israel-Palestine conflict at Penn since 1991, retu...

Episode 6.4: Socialism as an Alternative to Liberal Democracy? A Conversation with Peter Frase

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, MIRANDA SKLAROFF is in conversation with PETER FRASE, editorial board member of Jacobin magazine and author of Four Futures: Life Aft...

Episode 6.3: Indian Democracy Between Elections: A Conversation with Professor Lisa Mitchell

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. In her book, Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections, Professor LISA MITCHELL explores the various methods o...

Episode 6.2: Corruption and Code: How Data Centers are Shaping Virginia's Future

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Anti-corruption activist JOSH STANFIELD returns to the AMC podcast. This discussion centers on the significant impact ...

Episode 6.1: Environmental Policy in Peril: A Conversation with Professor Eric Orts

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AUDREY JAQUISS sits down with Penn Professor ERIC ORTS to explore the future of environmental regulation and politics in light of recent Supreme Cour...

Episode 5.15: Bonds Beyond Borders: Affect and Memory in the Yugoslav People's Army

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

TANJA PETROVIĆ, principal research associate at the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, discusses her recent book Utopia i...

Episode 5.14: Professor Anne Norton on Wild Democracy

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

ANNE NORTON, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses her book Wild Democracy: Anarchy, Courage, and Ruling the L...

Episode 5.13: The Erosion of Democracy: Dr. Robin S. Brooks on Democratic Backsliding

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

DR. ROBIN S. BROOKS, career diplomat and former Special Advisor to the Vice President for Europe, Russia, Multilateral Affairs, and Democracy, delves ...

Episode 5.12: Rep Mikie Sherrill on Whether the Bipartisan Consensus on Foreign Policy Will Hold and on Threats to American Democracy

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode focuses on the recent passage of a foreign aid package by the House of Representatives, which includes aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan...

Episode 5.11: Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Climate Policy: From Ideals to Action

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AUDREY JAQUISS interviews RHIANA GUNN-WRIGHT, Climate Policy Director of the Roosevelt Institute. They delve into discussions on the intersection of c...

Episode 5.10: Disinformation is a Threat to Democracy Says Barbara McQuade

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara McQuade, a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, discusses her new book Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. Barbara...

Episode 5.9: Why is the Immigration System Broken? Jonathan Blitzer on How American Foreign Policy in Central America Created a Crisis

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

JONATHAN BLITZER, staff writer at The New Yorker, discusses his recent book Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and ...

Episode 5.8: Unveiling Anti-Blackness: A Transnational Dialogue

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Secretary MARCIA LIMA and Penn Professor MICHAEL G. HANCHARD in a candid conversation on the pervasive nature of anti-blackness in Brazil and th...

Episode 5.7: Powering Progress: Navigating Energy Justice with Benjamin Sovacool

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: AUDREY JAQUISS. Director of the Institute for Global Sustainability and Professor at Boston University, BENJAMIN SOVACOOL, delves into t...

Episode 5.6: Liberalism in Dark Times: A Conversation with Professor Joshua Cherniss

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. Associate Professor at Georgetown University, JOSHUA CHERNISS, explores the dynamic relationship between diversity of thou...

Episode 5.5: Navigating Justice: A Day in the Life of Assistant District Attorney Helena von Nagy

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. Philadelphia is a city grappling with complex dynamics surrounding policing, criminality, and a commitment to rehabilitat...

Episode 5.4: Truth and Transparency: Navigating Virginia's 2023 Elections - Josh Stanfield

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. On the cusp of a crucial election for Virginia, political activist JOSH STANFIELD discusses the stakes in his second AMC...

Episode 5.3: Bringing Possibility Back In: Political Hope in Theory and Practice – Loren Goldman

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. In his recent book, The Principle of Political Hope, political theorist LOREN GOLDMAN attempts to avoid the sense of inevita...

Episode 5.2: The End of Greenwashing? How Two California Bills Promote Climate Accountability – Michael Gerrard and Eric Orts

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: AUDREY JAQUISS. The California legislature has passed two bills, now awaiting Governor Gavin Newsome’s signature, that potentially open...

Episode 5.1: The Majority-World Experience of A.I. – Rigoberto Lara Guzmán and Ranjit Singh

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: KIM FERNANDES. Our perspective on emerging technology such as A.I. is often future-oriented and technocratic, focused on how its design f...

Episode 4.15: The Debt Ceiling Crisis: Is There a Plan B? – Eric Orts

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In a repeat of the debt-ceiling crisis of the Obama years, House Republicans are threatening to maintain the current $31...

Episode 4.14: Beyond the Moment of Protest: Can Social Movements Be More Robust Than the Systems They Oppose? – Rachel Kuo

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Social justice movements are often defined by high-visibility moments that succeed in crystallizing new attitudes an...

Episode 4.13: The Vulnerabilities We Choose: Emergent Tech, Emerging Threats – Rebecca Slayton

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. When high-profile data breaches or cyber attacks reveal the nation’s vulnerability to hacking, there are often loud calls...

Episode 4.12: Adapting to the End of U.S. Technological Dominance – Melissa Flagg

07 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. In the period following World War II and during the Cold War, the United States was the indisputable world leader in techno...

Episode 4.11: The Amazon Labor Union and the Future of American Work – Chris Smalls

24 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In the U.S., the institutionalization of the labor movement, with established unions following procedures set out by the...

Episode 4.10: From Smart Cities to Co-Cities: Tech, Community, and Urban Life – Sheila Foster

10 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. The concept of “smart cities” promises better living through data and the software that can use it in real time to cont...

Episode 4.9: Black Software: The Technological Lead-ups to Black Lives Matter – Charlton McIlwain

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. As with all aspects of American life, Black people were part of the digital revolution from the beginning. CHARLTON ...

Episode 4.8: Eyes on the Street 2.0: The Uses and Abuses of Urban Tech – Shannon Mattern

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. In the original formulation of urban theorist Jane Jacobs, “eyes on the street” linked public safety to the inadvertent...

Episode 4.7: Sovereign Are They Who Decide the Exception: The Power Elite and State Criminality – Aaron Good

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In the tradition of C. Wright Mill’s The Power Elite, author AARON GOOD argues that political science needs to bring p...

Episode 4.6: The Election Victory That Saved Brazilian Democracy – Marilene Felinto

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MELISSA TEIXEIRA. Author, journalist, and 2022-23 Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Latin Am...

Episode 4.5: At the Threshold of Annexation: Israelis, Palestinians and the One-State Reality – Ian Lustick

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Professor IAN LUSTICK returns to the podcast (see episode 1.15) to discuss the recent Israeli election, its implications...

Episode 4.4: The Fight to Bring Democracy to Virginia – Josh Stanfield

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. While its place in the mythology of the nation’s founding suggests to many that Virginia must itself be a democracy, p...

Episode 4.3: Authoritarian Information Manipulation: Beyond Troll Farms and Fake News – Jessica Brandt

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Series: Democracy and Emergent Technology. Interviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. Even as awareness has risen of disinformation deliberately spread by authoritari...

Episode 4.2: Tupinambá de Olivença: Indigenous Territory and Environmental Rights in Brazil – Glicéria Tupinambá

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Note: This interview was conducted in Portuguese. A transcript with an English translation is available here. Interviewer: DANIELA ALARCON. Amid adva...

Episode 4.1: Enemy of the State: Untangling the Case of Matt DeHart – Sonia Kennebeck

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As director of the film Enemies of the State, now available on Hulu and for rent on other platforms, SONIA KENNEBECK fo...

Episode 3.16: The Grip of History in Post-Apartheid South Africa – Carolyn E. Holmes

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. The transition away from Apartheid in South Africa during the 1990s has been hailed as a double miracle of nation-bu...

Episode 3.15: Made to Eat Dirt: The Rhetoric and Politics of Humiliation – Roxanne Euben

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Of all of the emotions that spur political engagement, whether in the form of electoral participation or disruptive viol...

Episode 3.14: Dark Mirror: How the West Imagines Itself Through Imagining Russia – Sean Guillory

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. At a moment when its actions truly demand international scrutiny, Russia’s place at the center of Western attentio...

Episode 3.13: Naming the Problem: Capitalism is the Crisis – Richard Wolff

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. As our economy, political system, and society in general weather a number of immediate crises, from pandemics to inf...

Episode 3.12: The Jim Crow South: Myths and Realities – Adolph Reed

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Especially since the national reckoning with race following the death of George Floyd, there has been a focus, in both a...

Episode 3.11: Beyond the Ruins of Neoliberalism – Wendy Brown

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Over the course of decades, Neoliberalism has shifted from being an overt ideological position, explicitly arguing f...

Episode 3.10: The Eroding Foundations of Putin’s Power – Ilya Matveev

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. As he sparks an international crisis over a possible invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has seemingly consolidated ...

Episode 3.9: The Capitalist Roots of the Arab Spring and Its Aftermath – Joel Beinin

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Many accounts of the Arab Spring of 2010-11 view it primarily through a political lens: whatever the underlying grievanc...

Episode 3.8: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine – Rashid Khalidi

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. The story of Palestine, as much as its territory, has been subsumed by Israel, its recent history typically told as a ch...

Episode 3.7: Reports of Neoliberalism’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated – Martijn Konings

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Ever since Marx himself, Marxists have anticipated the day of capitalism’s comeuppance, when its crisis-inducing s...

Episode 3.6: Universal Suffrage: From Revolutionary Project to Minimalist Politics – Kevin Duong

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. For many on the Left, elections have come to represent a minimal baseline for political engagement – and not a rou...

Episode 3.5: The Fingerprints of Intelligence: Allen Dulles and the Kennedy Assassination – David Talbot

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. It has long been argued, in support of the case that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of John F. Kenne...

Episode 3.4: Politics in the Time of Climate Change – Eric Orts

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In 2021, Wharton professor ERIC ORTS took a leave of absence to run as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S...

Episode 3.3: No Easy Answers: A Conversation with Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN.  For two years, LORETTA LYNCH held one of the most powerful and most complicated jobs in the United State government. A...

Episode 3.2: Do Presidents Have the Right to Lie (or Do We Have the Right to Stop Them)? – Catherine J. Ross

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN.  In her new book, A Right to Lie? Presidents, Other Liars, and the First Amendment, constitutional scholar CATHERINE J....

Episode 3.1: Enemies by Choice: U.S.-Iranian Relations in the Long View – John Ghazvinian

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. There are some countries which, by dint of geography or incompatible national interests, seem destined for perpetual con...

Episode 2.16: No Nation Is an Island: Rethinking How Borders Should Work – Paulina Ochoa Espejo

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. As citizens and politicians in many countries argue passionately about how – or whether – national borders shoul...

Episode 2.15: The Double Life of Violence: Social Discourse, Personal Agency, and the Unresolved Meanings of a Key Term – Matt Shafer

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Recent movements to reform society and address interpersonal behavior have placed eliminating violence at their cent...

Episode 2.14: Climate Apartheid, Racial Capitalism, and the Future of Democracy - Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As envisioned by philosopher OLÚFẸ́MI O. TÁÍWÒ, a coming age of climate apartheid will create a new kind of socia...

Episode 2.13: The Scandalous Secret History of the First Amendment - Fara Dabhoiwala

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. The approach to free speech embodied by the First Amendment of the American Constitution is often considered, by America...

Episode 2.12: Academic Freedom and the Work of the University - Joan Wallach Scott

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN.In an era when “free speech on campus” has become a slogan weaponized by conservative groups, historian JOAN WALL...

Episode 2.11: On Social Media, the Personal Is Political - Jaime Settle

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. It is widely known that social media increases political polarization among its users, creating an environment in which ...

Episode 2.10: "Hurt Sentiments" and Forbidden Speech in India - Neeti Nair

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. The concept of hurt sentiments first became ensconced in the Indian legal code almost two-hundred years ago, under the i...

Episode 2.9: The 100-Million Dollar Question: Is The University of Pennsylvania Really Paying Its Fair Share?

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: KATIE RADER. For decades, University of Pennsylvania student activists have demanded that Penn pay PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) to ...

Episode 2.8: The Fall of the Party of Lincoln: A Conversation with Tara Setmayer

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As an African-American Republican, political commentator TARA SETMAYER had long embraced the compassionate conservativis...

Episode 2.7: Art, Activism, and Putin: A Conversation with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Conceptual artist and political activist NADYA TOLOKONNIKOVA is a founding member of the art collective Pussy Riot, ...

Episode 2.6: Countering White Nationalism: A View from the Inside – Derek Black

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Growing up within the white nationalist movement as the son of one its leaders, Don Black, and the godson of its most fa...

Episode 2.5: Hate Speech: The Case Against Censorship – Nadine Strossen

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As the political climate and the prevalence of social media have combined to raise the incidents and visibility of hatef...

Episode 2.4: Bad Populism, Good Populism – Rogers Smith

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Nationalist populist movements, fueled by resentment against ruling elites, typically attack the norms and procedures of...

Episode 2.3: Bulwark of the Opulent Minority: Can the Senate Ever Be Democratic?

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As the Democratic Party seeks to regain the Presidency and retain the House of Representatives in November, it well reco...

Episode 2.2: Restoring a Rules-Based World: A Conversation with Gen. Wesley Clark

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Amid our current partisan rancor, Retired Army General WESLEY CLARK has chosen to focus instead on the common ground amo...

Episode 2.1: Roy Cohn: His Life, Misdeeds, and Inescapable Legacy

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In her discussion with political scientist Matthew Berkman, documentarian IVY MEEROPOL describes the stories she was obl...

Episode 1.21: After Bern: Progressive Activist Winnie Wong on the Future of a Movement

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Bernie Sanders has twice failed to win the nomination for President, but in the process has transformed the policies and...

Episode 1.20: The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex - Lila Corwin Berman

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. American Jewish philanthropy has long been celebrated for its virtues, extending from the local to the global, the Jewis...

Episode 1.19: Thinking Beyond Universal Peace: How Our Highest Ideal Underwrites Violence - Murad Idris

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. For those who seek an end to intergroup violence, it might seem natural to embrace peace as a universal ideal. MURAD IDR...

Episode 1.18: Fifty-State Anarchy: The Failed Federal Response to Covid-19 - Eric Orts

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In the absence of a robust and coordinated response from the national government, U.S. states have shouldered the respon...

Episode 1.17: The Class Ceiling: How Privilege Shapes British Careers - Sam Friedman

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Even in the United Kingdom, with its longstanding reputation for rigid class distinctions, the common presumption in the...

Episode 1.16: A World Without Police: Toward the Abolitionist Horizon - George Ciccariello-Maher

24 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. As the old saying goes, when you are holding a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER argues ...

Episode 1.15: The Two-State Solution: An Autopsy – Ian Lustick

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. In his book Paradigm Lost, IAN LUSTICK argues that negotiations for a two-state solution between the Mediterranean Sea a...