In this episode of the comparative series Hunter and Liddell break down democratic institutions and electoral systems. How they impact the outcomes of democracy and then discuss if democracy is worth saving and hot to save it.

(0:00) Defining democratic institutions and electoral systems.

(15:00) Boix on class voting and electoral systems.

(16:50) Cusack, Iversen, and Soskice on labour strength and electoral systems.

(22:00) Perils of Presidentialism, Linz.

(41:00) Critiques of parliamentarism.

(50:00) Pros and Cons of different systems.

(66:00) Is democracy worth saving?

(1:10:00) Civil society as the engine of democratic recovery.

Boix, C., 1999. Setting the rules of the game: the choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies.Cusack, T., Iversen, T. and Soskice, D., 2010. Coevolution of capitalism and political representation: The choice of electoral systems

Juan J. Linz, 2003. “The Perils of Presidentialism.” In The Democracy Sourcebook, eds., Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub.

Arend Lijphart, 1991. “Constitutional Choices for New Democracies.”

In this episode of the comparative series Hunter and Liddell break down democratic institutions and electoral systems. How they impact the outcomes of democracy and then discuss if democracy is worth saving and hot to save it.

(0:00) Defining democratic institutions and electoral systems.

(15:00) Boix on class voting and electoral systems.

(16:50) Cusack, Iversen, and Soskice on labour strength and electoral systems.

(22:00) Perils of Presidentialism, Linz.

(41:00) Critiques of parliamentarism.

(50:00) Pros and Cons of different systems.

(66:00) Is democracy worth saving?

(1:10:00) Civil society as the engine of democratic recovery.

Boix, C., 1999. Setting the rules of the game: the choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies.Cusack, T., Iversen, T. and Soskice, D., 2010. Coevolution of capitalism and political representation: The choice of electoral systems

Juan J. Linz, 2003. “The Perils of Presidentialism.” In The Democracy Sourcebook, eds., Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub.

Arend Lijphart, 1991. “Constitutional Choices for New Democracies.”

This episode is all about different democratic institutions, electoral system and the pro/cons of presidentialism and parliamentarism. The podcast concludes with a segment on why democracy is worth saving and how civil society can help do that.

(2:00) Defining democratic institutions and electoral systems.

(15:00) Boix and elites picking electoral systems.

(16:50) Cusack, Iversen, and Soskice. Organized labour and electoral systems.

(22:00) Perils of presidentialism.

(40:00) Critiques of parliamentary systems.

(50:00) Pros and Cons of different systems.

(66:00) Is democracy worth saving?

(1:15:00) Civil society and democratic recovery.

Boix, C., 1999. Setting the rules of the game: the choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies.

Cusack, T., Iversen, T. and Soskice, D., 2010. Coevolution of capitalism and political representation: The choice of electoral systems

Juan J. Linz, 2003. “The Perils of Presidentialism.” In The Democracy Sourcebook.

Arend Lijphart, 1991. “Constitutional Choices for New Democracies.”

In this installment of the Comparative Series, Hunter and Liddell break down the different type of Authoritarianism and how it has survived in the 21st century. They then transition into the complex literature on civil society and its effects on democracy. They then conclude with a discussion on democratic backsliding.

(0:45) Defining Authoritarianism

(3:50) Types of Autocracies

(10:00) Competitive Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

(29:45) Bernstein on Russia and China

(40:00) Civil Society

(43:00) Putnam's civil society to save democracy.

(46:00) Berman and the fall of Weimar.

(58:30) Democratic Backsliding.

Arendt, H. 1973. The origins of totalitarianism. Harvest Book.

Thomas P. Bernstein, 2013. “Resilience and Collapse in China and the Soviet Union.” In Why Communism Did Not Collapse: Understanding Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Asia and Europe

Sheri Berman, 1997. “Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic"

Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, 2002. “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism"

Capoccia, G., 2005. Defending democracy: Reactions to extremism in interwar EuropeSkocpol, T. (1979). States and social revolutions: A comparative analysis of France, Russia and China.Mutz, D.C., 2006. Hearing the other side: Deliberative versus participatory democracy.

In Episode 3 Hunter and Liddell break down colonial impacts on state development, dependency theory, and inequal economic development . The podcast concludes with a discussion on globalization and Trump's disruption of the world order.

(3:00) Maya Tudor's process tracing of India and Pakistan independence

(11:30) Economic development and democratization

(14:00) Frank's Marxist critique of developed states

(19:00) Chang's kicking away the ladder of economic development

(29:00) Infant Industry Subsidization

(39:00) Globalization and Foreign Aid

(42:00) Trumps disruption of the globalized world order

Maya Tudor, 2017. “The Nationalist Origins of Political Order in India and Pakistan"

Andre Gunder Frank, 1984. “The Development of Underdevelopment"

Ha-Joon Chang, 2003. “Kicking Away the Ladder: Infant Industry Promotion in Historical Perspective.

In this installment of the Comparative Series Hunter and Liddell break down the differences between Marxism in theory and Marxism in practice, as they trace the evolution of class politics through the 20th century. Stopping briefly to describe modernization theory and the popular critiques of liberalism, the podcast concludes with a discussion on how left-wing parties can(t) accommodate modern progressives and traditional working class votes in the same coalition.

(2:00) Defining Marxism

(18:35) Liberalism and Modernization Theory

(33:00) What Modernization Theory Gets Wrong.

(36:20) Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi.

(40:00) Social Class and Working Class Politics.

(43:00) Neoliberalism and Globalization

- Karl Marx, 1978. “Manifesto of the Communist Party

- Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi, 1997. “Modernization: Theories and Facts.” Boix, C. and Stokes, S.C., 2003. Endogenous democratization.

- The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt- Esping‐Andersen, G., 1989. The three political economies of the welfare state

In the first installment of our series on Comparative politics, Hunter and Liddell discuss state strength via Tilly's foundational piece comparing the first states to organized crime rackets. We then go over Herbst's use of Tilly's argument, explaining state weakness in Africa. We conclude with Posner's excellent natural experiment studying ethnic fractionalization in Zambia and Malawi

(6:30) Tilly's War Making and the State

(19:30) Herbst State Weakness in Africa

(33:00) Ethnic and Civic Nationalism

(57:00) State Transitions and State Failure

(1:04:00) Posner's Natural Experiment in Africa

(1:14:00) Ethnic Nationalism and the 2015 Immigration Crisis

Charles Tilly, 1985. “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime

Jeffrey Herbst, 1990. “War and the State in Africa"

Daniel Posner, 2004. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi