Democratic Decline

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 6th of January marks one year since the United States Capitol attack of 2021, whereby a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald J. Trump stormed the Capitol Building. On today’s anniversary, what can we learn from prehistory to the present, about democratic decay, corruption and cronyism?

Dr. Brian Klaas, UCL Associate Professor in Global Politics, Washington Post Columnist, and author of ‘Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us’ is today’s guest on the podcast. So, are tyrants made or born? If you were thrust into a position of power, would new temptations to line your pockets gnaw away at you until you gave in? As one of the world's leading and most effective commentators of democratic decline, Brian joins Dan to answer these questions.

They discuss the rise of hierarchy in prehistoric times, how cognitive biases from our Stone Age minds continue to cause us to select the wrong leaders and what we can learn about King Leopold II of Belgium about whether power or systems, corrupt.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I've really welcomed Dan Snow's history here.
0:04.3	We are living, I think it's fair to say, we're living through a range of democratic
0:07.4	decline.
0:08.4	Democracy is under pressure in the US, in Eastern Europe we know in places like Turkey,
0:13.7	Brazil, the Philippines, all over the shop.
0:16.6	We got a total crazy guy running for power in France at the moment.
0:19.4	It makes me feel slightly better about Brexit.
0:21.2	I mean, that guy believes that parts of the North and Italy should be French.
0:24.2	I mean, Jeepers creepers.
0:25.2	I mean, that's proper 19th century revanchism.
0:28.9	I believe the word is anyway.
0:31.2	So we know what era of democratic decline, why?
0:33.1	What's going on?
0:34.1	What is it?
0:35.1	Is it us?
0:36.1	Are we drawn to idiotic, demagogic, strong men?
0:40.0	It's too depressing for words.
0:42.2	But anyway, Brian Klass, who's been on the podcast many times, he's class is our Brian
0:46.0	Klass.
0:47.0	He is a political scientist.
0:48.0	He works at Washington Post, but he's also associate professor at Global Potts, the University
0:52.8	College of London.
	...

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