{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Political Science","slug":"new-books-in-political-science-408770","podcast_index_feed_id":408770,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT7047417664","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/79c533fc-f4de-11e8-9aba-c776eb4c2a32/image/af9ef2afee05125bb265ca99804e6c8a.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":1000,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770"},"episode":{"title":"Who Is Democracy Actually For? People, Power, and the Fight Against Democratic Decline","slug":"who-is-democracy-actually-for-people-power-and-the-fight-against-democratic-decline","published_at":"2026-04-29T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/who-is-democracy-actually-for-people-power-and-the-fight-against-democratic-decline","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK9954142004.mp3?updated=1777442939","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK9954142004.mp3?updated=1777442939","summary":"This week on Democracy Dialogues, host Esam Boraey speaks with Shandana Khan Mohmand and Marjoke Oosterom, democracy experts at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, to unpack the takeaways of the newly released Democracy Report “Where’s the Dēmos in Democracy? Building Democratic Futures and Resisting Autocracy.” At a moment when autocracies outnumber democracies for the first time in twenty years, this report argues that the democratic crisis is not simply an institutional one, it is a crisis of exclusion. For too long, efforts to build democracy have focused on formal institutions like legislatures, courts, and electoral commissions, while neglecting the people those institutions are supposed to serve. The report puts forward eight building blocks for recentering citizens in democratic life, from building active citizenship and supporting informal mobilization, to reclaiming digital agency and strengthening accountability mechanisms. Drawing on decades of research across the Global South, from Pakistan and Zimbabwe to Uganda, Brazil, and beyond, Shandana and Marjoke bring the report's findings to life with vivid examples of how ordinary people fight back against backsliding, reclaim civic space, and keep democratic values alive even under authoritarian pressure. The conversation also addresses the role of inequality in driving democratic decline, the double-edged nature of digital technology, the power of youth movements, and what the dismantling of USAID means for global democracy support. Transcript here and the report is here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science","meta_description":"This week on Democracy Dialogues, host Esam Boraey speaks with Shandana Khan Mohmand and Marjoke Oosterom, democracy experts at the Institute of Developme…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3489,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-political-science-408770/episodes/who-is-democracy-actually-for-people-power-and-the-fight-against-democratic-decline/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/who-is-democracy-actually-for-people-power-and-the-fight-against-democratic-decline.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}