Democracy, Populism, and the Tyranny of the Minority

We the People

National Constitution Center

History, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Three political scientists join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss democratic instability, backsliding, and demagogues from a historical and global perspective. Guests included Harvard’s Steven Levitsky, author of Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, the University of Texas-Austin’s Kurt Weyland, author of Democracy’s Resilience to Populism’s Threat, and Princeton University’s Frances Lee. This program originally aired on November 27, 2023. Resources: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point Frances Lee, “Populism and the American Party System: Opportunities and Constraints” Kurt Weyland, Democracy’s Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].   Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.  You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National
0:06.7	Constitution Center and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of
0:10.2	constitutional debate. The National Constitution Centers a nonpartisan nonprofit
0:14.8	chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution
0:19.3	among the American people.
0:21.1	In November, the NCC convened a great town hall on democracy, populism, and the
0:25.8	tyranny of the minority.
0:27.5	I was joined by three of America's leading political scientists on Democratic instability,
0:31.9	backsliding, and demagogues.
0:34.0	Francis Lee of Princeton, Stephen Levitsky of Harvard, and Kurt Wayland of the University of
0:38.3	Texas at Austin.
0:39.5	We explored threats facing American democracy in a global and historical perspective, including some possible solutions.
0:47.0	Today we're re-erring the conversation on We The People. Enjoy the show.
0:51.0	It is a great honor to introduce our panel on an extremely significant topic which is
0:59.6	populism and democracy in America.
1:03.5	Francis Lee is jointly appointed
1:06.3	in the Department of Politics
1:07.8	and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
1:10.3	where she's professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University.
1:14.7	She's the author of many books including most recently the limits of party, Congress, and
1:20.4	lawmaking in a polarized era. Stephen Levitsky is David Rockefeller
1:24.5	Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard
	...

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