Democracy and Its Discontents: An IGCC Miniseries

U.S. democracy is facing unprecedented challenges. Political polarization is at its highest level in decades. An uncharted new media environment is spreading questionable information and undermining public trust. And profound economic and societal changes are prompting deep dissatisfaction with democratic institutions and procedures.

What’s going on with democracy—and how can we save it?

For forty years, IGCC’s network of scholars from across the University of California has leveraged world-class academic expertise toward addressing the most serious matters of global security. As the world experiences reversals in democratic governance and a resurgence of authoritarianism, understanding the causes of U.S. democratic discontent could not be more salient to IGCC’s mission of utilizing rigorous research to help build a more peaceful and prosperous world.

This has been the year of the election, bringing half the world’s population to the polls in contests of varying degrees of legitimacy. As 2024 closes with a general election in the United States, we are releasing a five-episode Talking Policy podcast miniseries featuring in-depth conversations about the most pressing problems faced by U.S. democracy and how they can be addressed.

Democracy and Its Discontents will explore the spread of misinformation in political discourse, the influence of money on the U.S. electoral system, how political actors promote division and enmity, and how the rise of populist demagogues is testing democracies across the world. The series will place these challenges in historic context to ask if the risks to U.S. democracy are really so unprecedented and how we can reinvigorate the democratic ideals that the nation was founded upon.

Listen to the trailer above, and subscribe to Talking Policy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episodes release weekly starting September 9, 2024