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PODCAST

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast

The ANDREA MITCHELL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DEMOCRACY aims not just to promote, but to understand, democracy. Global in its outlook, multifaceted in its purposes, the Mitchell Center seeks to contribute to the ongoing quest for democratic values, ideas, and institutions throughout the world. In THE ANDREA MITCHELL CENTER PODCAST, we interview scholars, journalists, and public thinkers grappling with the challenges facing our democracy. Many of the episodes are linked to our other programming, such

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All Episodes

58:48

Episode 7.9: Unlimited Money, Limited Oversight:...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/10/31

Interviewer: MATT BERKMAN. Journalist and anti-corruption investigator JOSH STANFIELD joins host MATT BERKMAN to unpack Virginia's feverish election season, discussing campaign cash, a runaway data-center boom, and ethics enforcement. Drawing on his FOIA work, Stanfield details lawsuits over nondisclosure by statewide officials, ICE activity, and government surveillance, reflecting on what all of this means for democracy in Virginia today.

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57:13

Episode 7.8: Socialism, Logically: Scott Sehon on...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/10/21

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Philosopher SCOTT SEHON joins the podcast to discuss his book Socialism: A Logical Introduction (Oxford University Press). Sehon presents a “master argument” for socialism and defines socialism along two axes: collective economic control and egalitarian distribution. He addresses common critiques of socialism based on rights, the sanctity of private property, and concerns about exploitation. The discussion spans Hayek and Friedman, climate change as the clearest

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45:16

Episode 7.7: Stemming the Tide of Vaccine Refusal:...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/10/10

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Anti-vaccine rhetoric is on the rise in the U.S., encouraged now by MAHA-dominated health policies emerging from Washington. It is tempting to paint this as a top-down process, but neonatologist and immunologist BENJAMIN A. FENSTERHEIM argues that the problem runs deeper and is rooted in the institutional arrangements of our healthcare system. In his conversation with historian Matthew Roth, he describes his work caring for newborns, the increasing pushback by parents

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22:44

Episode 7.6: Credibility in Prisons

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/09/18

Interviewer: CARRIE WELSH. Why does the American criminal justice system produce unreliable knowers? In this episode, host CARRIE WELSH is joined by philosopher and prison education director JOHN FANTUZZO and re-entry consultant and executive director RAYMOND POWELL for a conversation about the epistemological foundations of mass incarceration. Drawing on a forthcoming paper and lived experience, they unpack how the prison’s economy of credibility systematically undermines the efforts and

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46:45

Episode 7.5: Trump and the Era of Ungoverning: A...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/08/26

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In their 2024 book Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos, Professors RUSSELL MUIRHEAD (Dartmouth) and NANCY ROSENBLUM (Harvard) analyze the emergence of “ungoverning,” a political trend aimed at limiting or dismantling key functions of the administrative state. They situate this development within broader shifts in American politics, tracing its roots to earlier debates over the role of government and examining how it has been

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42:53

Episode 7.4: The Age of Choice: A Conversation with...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/08/08

Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. Historian and Penn Professor SOPHIA ROSENFELD discusses her new book The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life, exploring how choice became central to modern ideas of freedom — and why our obsession with it can leave us anxious, overwhelmed, and divided. From the rise of shopping and religious freedom to romance, politics, and reproductive rights, she traces the surprising history and complicated legacy of living in an “age of choice.”

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46:23

Episode 7.3: Rethinking the COVID Era: A Conversation...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/07/10

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. When the Sars-CoV-2 spread across the world in the spring of 2020, it triggered unprecedented lockdowns in nearly every country, including democracies where such drastic measures were previously considered unlikely to be feasible. The hope was that the virus could be stopped and eventually eliminated, and that deaths could be minimized in the meantime. In their new book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, political scientists FRANCES LEE and STEPHEN MACEDO

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01:39:13

Episode 7.2: Brazil's Pink Tide and the Politics of...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/06/18

In this episode, host RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN speaks with sociologist and political theorist NARA ROBERTA SILVA about the trajectory of Brazil’s left over the past two decades. Together, they unpack the rise and contradictions of the Workers' Party (PT), Brazil’s role in the Latin American “pink tide,” and the tensions between grassroots mobilization, state power, and neoliberal constraint. From participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre to Lula’s turn to pragmatic governance, Silva offers a sharp,

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52:00

Episode 7.1: The Workings of Canadian Democracy in...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/06/11

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In an era that has seen the rise of right-wing populism, which has often pitted itself against the institutions of liberal democracy, recent election outcomes in Canada and Australia hint at a counter-trend. Political scientist LORI TURNBULL, an expert on not just Canadian politics but of the nuts-and-bolts of Canadian democracy, guides us through her country’s recent election, which in many ways was similar to that of the 2024 US election. A highly unpopular leader was

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01:13:15

Episode 6.15: Panic Wisely: Navigating Collapse in an...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/05/13

In this episode, RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN speaks with IRA ALLEN, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media Studies at Northern Arizona University, about his latest book, Panic Now: Tools for Humanizing. Allen explores panic as a vital, practical response to the unfolding crises of climate, capitalism, and colonial legacies. He argues for embracing panic as a catalyst for solidarity, novel social forms, and collective resilience in the face of civilizational collapse—offering a

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33:57

Episode 6.13: Crossing the Line: Finding America in...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/05/06

Author SARAH TOWLE discusses her book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands.

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41:14

Episode 6.13: Democracy's New Frontier: Integrating...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/04/22

In this episode of the Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast, host Cathy Bartch is joined by environmental experts Carolina Angel Botero and Fernanda Jiménez to explore innovative approaches to democracy that extend beyond traditional, human-centered perspectives. Together, they discuss the Rights of Nature movement emerging from Latin America, the complexities of recognizing ecosystems as democratic participants, and how redefining our relationship with the natural world could shape a more inclusive and

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40:50

Episode 6.12: Dying Abroad: A Conversation with Osman...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/03/11

In this episode, MATT BERKMAN speaks with OSMAN BALKAN, Associate Director of the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Dying Abroad: The Political Afterlives of Migration in Europe. Their conversation delves into the profound yet often overlooked decisions migrants face around death and burial—choices that reflect deeply contested questions about belonging, citizenship, and identity. Drawing from Balkan’s firsthand experiences as an undertaker and extensive research in

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38:16

Episode 6.11: The Path Ahead for Syrian Reconstruction

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/03/06

INTERVIEWER: YARA DAMAJ. The collapse of the Assad regime has reshaped Syria’s political landscape, bringing both significant opportunities and deep uncertainties. This episode unpacks the factors behind Assad’s downfall, the power struggles within the opposition, and the ongoing fight for justice after years of repression. As regional dynamics shift, the future of Syria remains uncertain, with major implications for governance, security, and diplomacy. Penn PhD Candidate YARA

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47:12

Episode 6.10: Fetal Personhood, Bodily Autonomy and...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/02/21

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Since it was overturned in 2022, Roe v. Wade has continued to represent to many what the restoration of abortion rights would look like. As philosopher BERTHA ALVAREZ MANNINEN has long pointed out, however, Roe itself was vulnerable to challenges from the fetal personhood movement. Two years before Roe, on the other hand, an essay by Judith Jarvis Thomson presented a defense of abortion robust enough to withstand the claims of fetal personhood in an essay that is both

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28:22

Episode 6.9: A Conversation with Slavoj Žižek

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/02/12

AMC Director Jeff Green is joined by Slavoj Žižek, renowned Slovenian philosopher and cultural theorist whose work spans psychoanalysis, politics, and popular culture. Known for his sharp wit, provocative style, and ability to blend complex theory with humor, Žižek has been a major voice on the Western intellectual left since the 1990s. As one of the most influential public intellectuals of our time, his insights continue to challenge and inspire debates on ideology, power, and society. To watch

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46:13

Episode 6.8: Seeking the Fifth Voice: A Journey into...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2025/01/14

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In late 2020, in the midst of COVID lockdowns and the national election, speechwriter and opinion columnist FRANCIS BARRY bought an RV and, with his wife Laurel, traveled across from New York to San Francisco via the Lincoln Highway, interviewing citizens along the way to explore what still bound the nation together in divisive times. In his discussion with historian Matthew Roth, he focuses on two possibilities: our history, as memorialized by the monuments that marked

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50:07

Episode 6.7: We the People: How Citizens Prevented...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2024/11/15

Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In theory, the US Constitution established a system by which the three branches of government keep each other in check. Political scientist and constitutional scholar COREY BRETTSCHNEIDER argues that, in fact, it has more often been citizen pressure – not the courts or the legislature – that has rescued us from the anti-democratic exercise of presidential power. In his discussion with historian Matthew Roth, he describes how the core democratic principles of the

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56:25

Episode 6.6: Battleground PA: Voters, Values, and the...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2024/10/28

Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, Professors MARC MEREDITH and MICHAEL MORSE from the University of Pennsylvania unpack Pennsylvania's pivotal role in the upcoming U.S. election. They explore Pennsylvania’s unique political geography, its electoral laws, and the critical implications of mail-in ballots. The discussion dives into the evolving demographics and the shift in political messaging from both parties since 2016, particularly around issues resonating with Pennsylvania voters,

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57:58

Episode 6.5: Ian Lustick on Israel-Gaza and the...

The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast ·

2024/10/14

Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. Penn Professor (emeritus) IAN LUSTICK, who has been teaching on the Israel-Palestine conflict at Penn since 1991, returns to the podcast to share his thoughts on the ongoing crisis.

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