It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone.

A new book argues that a global crisis of democracy began in 2016 with Brexit, the election of

Donald Trump, and the rise of far-right parties across Europe. And the book argues it was not

inevitable, but the result of specific choices by Western leaders across both parties in this

country and multiple administrations. And that it really began at the end of the

Cold War 35 years ago. Ian Shapiro is the Sterling Professor of Political Science and Global

Affairs at Yale and his new book is called After the Fall from the End of History to the Crisis

How Politicians Broke Our World. Professor Shapiro fall from the end of history to the crisis of democracy, how politicians broke our world.

Professor Shapiro traces a through line from NATO expansion in the early 1990s and the War on Terror

to the 2008 financial crisis, arguing that these decisions fostered what he calls the zero-sum

worldview now fueling populist movements

in democracies around the world. And he joins us now. Professor Shapiro, thanks for coming on.

Welcome to WNYC. Thank you so much for having me on, Brian. I really appreciate it.

You opened the book with the optimism of 1989. The Berlin Wall came down,

democracy was on the march, and the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama declared

the end of history. That was the title of a book that he wrote around then. And by 2016,

you're right, all of that euphoria had evaporated.

So for listeners who may or may not have lived through that period and watched the optimism

fade, what was the prevailing vibe at the starting point of your narrative, 1989?

Yeah, I think it's very hard to overstate the widespread euphoria and optimism that prevailed

when the Berlin Wall came down.

It was an almost unique moment.

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