Welcome to the Peaceful Political Revolution in America podcast.
Democracy is under attack. The rise of Trumpism has created a lot of anxiety amongst those who believe in democracy, and for good reason. We have all witnessed the recent attack on our capitol, on our electoral system, on our right to vote, on vaccine mandates, and on immigration. There has been a sharp rise in white nationalist sentiment in America, and it's not only in the South. It has been fueled in part by the exponential increase of disinformation and increasingly difficult economic realities in our communities. The country is increasingly ravished by homelessness and hunger. One in three Americans have been affected by Climate Change and over 400 counties in America are reporting an increase of more than 1.5 degrees in average mean temperatures. More and more people are getting desperate and wondering if the rise of autocracy is inevitable. Or could there be a peaceful and more democratic alternative awaiting our future?
As noted in the previous episode with Richard Wolff, Chile and Portugal have both recently created new and more effective Democracies. They have it appears, successfully dealt with the disintegration of democratic principles and the very real impacts of autocratic leaders like Agusto Pinochet and the Estado Novo.
Putting the current crisis of democracy into historical perspective, Death by a Thousand Cuts chronicles how would-be despots, dictators, and outright tyrants have finessed the techniques of killing democracies. Matt Qvortrup is Professor of Political Science at Coventry University. He is Joint Editor of the top-academic journal European Political Science Review. His acclaimed biography, Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader, has been translated into 5 languages and he has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and more than a dozen books on comparative politics and constitutional law. He has served as a consultant to several governments around the globe and is described by the BBC as 'the world's leading expert on referendums', and he is here today to talk about how democracies die, and what happens, next.