Liberal democracy

Podcasts

Political Capacity: Gianna Englert on the Liberal Struggle for Democracy

Is democracy sustainable without informed, virtuous, and engaged citizens? Can political institutions shape the kind of citizenry democracy needs? These questions lie at the heart of Democracy Tamed: French Liberalism and the Politics of Suffrage, the compelling new book by political theorist Gianna Englert, who joins us in this episode of RevDem. As contemporary anxieties grow over the future of liberal democracy and the rise of populism, Englert turns our attention to 19th-century France, where liberal thinkers grappled with similar dilemmas in the wake of the French Revolution.

24.03.2025

Can the Center Hold? Thomas Biebricher on the International Crisis of Conservatism

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Thomas Biebricher – author of the new book "Mitte/Rechts: Die international Krise des Konservatismus" (Center/Right: The International Crisis of Conservatism) – discusses conservatism’s various types and how each relates to the political center and to authoritarianism; illuminates the contemporary crisis of the center right in three major European countries; explains what has driven the culturalization of politics and the redrawing of enemy images, and why the authoritarian right has been a prime beneficiary of those trends; and reflects on how his approach and special emphases relate and add to other contributions to the ongoing debate on the present state and future prospects of liberal democracy.

18.05.2023

Is There Something We Can Salvage of Universalism? Till van Rahden on Conceptual History and Liberal Democracy

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Till van Rahden discusses his last book "Vielheit. Jüdische Geschichte und die Ambivalenzen des Universalismus" (Multitude. Jewish History and the Ambivalences of Universalism)

8.10.2022