March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg joins us to discuss his work advocating for gun reform policy and his new project, which aims to help young people win elected office at the state and federal level.

Author and public policy expert Heather McGhee joins us this week to discuss her book "The Sum of Us" and how racism shapes public policy and weakens democratic institutions.

Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Mark Meadows whose testimony captured the nation's attention in the January 6 Congressional hearings, joins us this week to discuss her time in the Trump administration and her new role safeguarding American democracy.

If there's one thing that people across the political spectrum can agree on, it's a sense of discontent with the current state of American politics. This week, we explore the origins of that discontent and why it's damaging to democracy.

V Spehar of TikTok's Under the Desk News joins us to discuss how social media can strengthen democracy by creating space for community and encouraging offline civic engagement.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, one of America's leading experts on the far right, joins us this week to discuss what draws people to political extremism online and offline — and what we can do to combat it.

Scholars Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan argue that America might not be as polarized as we think because the media and political observers over-index on people who are deeply invested in politics at the expense of those who are not as engaged.

Chris Beem talks with journalist Tim Alberta about the role that Evangelical Christians play in the Republican Party — and what that means for the future of American democracy.

Tammy Patrick from the National Association of Election Officials joins us for our first full episode of 2024 to unpack the challenges facing the thousands of election officials across the U.S. in 2024 and beyond.

Happy New Year! We're starting off 2024 with a conversation about finding hope in politics.

For our final episode of 2023, we revisit some of our episodes from throughout the year and reflect on what's in store for democracy in 2024.

This week, we're bringing you an episode from War Stories, Peace Stories, a podcast that helps us understand the human side of conflicts and peace efforts around the world

Two of our Penn State colleagues join us this week to discuss their recent findings on the connection between state-mandated civics tests and voter turnout.

Democracy is sometimes described as "a system where political parties lose elections." That's true but doesn't capture the deeper feelings of grief and grievance associated with political loss. We dive into those emotions this week with Juliet Hooker of Brown University.

Cas Mudde, one of the world's leading experts in the study of populism and far-right politics, joins us this week to discuss the tensions between populism and democracy, and why populism has increased around world in recent years.

This week, we explore the shift of working class union voters from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

Penn State professors John Iceland and Eric Silver join us this week to discuss how the discrepancy between social order and social justice impedes political compromise and progress.

This week, we're handing the microphone to Penn State student Joey Picarillo for an interview about the rise and fall of early democracies and what lessons we can learn from them today.

We talk with technology expert Jennifer Pahlka about why government systems seem so bad — and how everyone can contribute to making them better.

Chris Beem talks with former Republican political operative Tim Miller about the party's loyalty to Donald Trump and where it might go in 2024 and beyond.

We're back from summer break and diving into the 2024 election season, Donald Trump's indictments, the spread of election deniers, and more.

We're excited to present an episode from our sister podcast, When the People Decide, about how libraries can be sites of civic engagement and building a new social fabric in America's cities and towns.

This week, we bring you an interview from the Democracy Paradox podcast about the political crisis in Peru and how it fits into the bigger picture of democratic erosion around the world.