267 | Twilight of Democracy

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David talks to the writer Anne Applebaum about her highly personal new book, which charts the last twenty years of broken friendships and democratic failure.  We start in Poland with the story of what happened to the high hopes for Polish democracy, including what we've learned from this week's presidential election.  But we also take in Trump and Brexit, Hungary and Spain. What explains the prevalence of conspiracy theories in contemporary politics? Why are so many conservatives drawn to the politics of despair?  Is history really circular?  And is democracy doomed?

222 | Michael Ignatieff on the Future of Democracy

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A special live edition recorded in front of an audience in Cambridge: David talks to writer, broadcaster, academic and politician Michael Ignatieff about his personal experiences of democratic politics.  From his bruising time as Liberal party leader in Canada to his recent confrontations with the Orban government in Hungary, from climate change to populism, from Johnson to Trump, we discuss what's happened to
democracy and where he sees the grounds for hope.  A wide-ranging conversation about the good and the bad of contemporary politics.

218 | Are We Losing Faith in Democracy?

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We talk to Roberto Foa about some of the findings in his groundbreaking new report 'Global Satisfaction with Democracy'.  Where are people most dissatisfied with democracy and why?  Is it being driven by economic factors or is something else going on?  And why does democratic satisfaction divide Europe north/south and east/west?  Plus we talk about what might happen to satisfaction with democracy in the UK post-Brexit.  With Helen Thompson.

113 | Crashed

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Helen and David talk to historian Adam Tooze about his epic new book Crashed: How A Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. Why did the crash of 2008 take so many people by surprise? How did it spread from the US around the world? Why was Europe so vulnerable? And how do the answers to these questions help explain Brexit, Trump and what's now going on in places from Hungary to China? Plus, as we approach the 10-year anniversary of the event the triggered the crisis, we explore what might have happened if Lehman Brothers had been saved.

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68 | Jan-Werner Müller on Populism

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This week, as one of our LRB author specials, we talk to regular LRB contributor Jan-Werner Müller about populism, Trump and the state of democracy.  Jan has long argued that populism is not just an election winning strategy, it's also a governing philosophy.  We ask whether Trump's first year in office bears that out.  Does he have a governing philosophy?  How does it compare with other populists, from Berlusconi to Modi?  And what difference does it make that he has a nuclear arsenal at his disposal?  With Helen Thompson and Chris Bickerton.