Fostering and maintaining democracy, development and the rule of law is the great challenge of our time. Join Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and our host, political scientist Francis Fukuyama, for a series of conversations with thought leaders and academics alike that touch on the ways in which democracy and development are being challenged today by authoritarian resurgence, misinformation, the perils of a changing climate, and more.
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How Mongolia Became a Democracy, with Elbegdorj Tsakhia
39:39
39:39
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Elbegdorj Tsakhia was president of Mongolia from 2009-2017 and played a key role in the country's transition from Communism to democracy after 1989. In this episode, he talks to Francis Fukuyama about the current challenges to democratic institutions in Mongolia. Former President of Mongolia Elbegdorj joined the Freeman Spogli Institute for Interna…
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Year-End Review of Global Democracy with Larry Diamond
53:37
53:37
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Larry Diamond once again joins Francis Fukuyama for a year-end review to discuss the state of global democracy as 2023 draws to a close. Diamond also recounts his Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture, the 20th iteration of the annual lecture series named in honor of the famed political scientist and sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, sponsored jointly by …
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Homelands: A Conversation with Timothy Garton Ash
44:51
44:51
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Historian and author Timothy Garton Ash joins Francis Fukuyama to talk about his new book, "Homelands: A Personal History of Europe," covering a period from 1945 to the present. Bookended by World War II and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ash discusses the efforts made by Europeans to contain the demons of the early 20th century and measures the …
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China's Road to Ruin, with Michael Bennon
45:35
45:35
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This episode of Democracy IRL is a companion piece to Michael Bennon and Francis Fukuyama's essay, "China's Road to Ruin," published in the September/October 2023 issue of Foreign Affairs. Here, Bennon and Fukuyama discuss how bad Chinese Belt and Road projects are, leading to financial crises in developing countries, and how international financia…
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How Generative AI Will Revolutionize Everything
47:43
47:43
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Jerry Kaplan is a renowned Silicon Valley veteran, computer scientist, and serial entrepreneur who has previously authored two books on AI, with a new one on generative AI forthcoming from Oxford University Press. In this episode, he joins Francis Fukuyama to discuss why he has suddenly decided that GAI is a genuinely big deal and a technology that…
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On its 75th anniversary since independence, Israel's democracy has been both resilient and troubled over issues of national identity. Joining Francis Fukuyama in this episode to discuss is Professor Amichai Magen, a professor at the Lauder School of Government at Reichman University in Israel, currently in residence at Stanford University as a visi…
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The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State, with Anna Grzymala-Busse
24:47
24:47
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Political scientist Anna Gryzmala-Busse's new book disputes the scholarly consensus that war drove European state formation. She located the beginning of the state much earlier in Medieval history, with respect to institutions like law, parliaments, bureaucracy, and the like. In this episode, she joins Francis Fukuyama to discuss her new book on th…
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Will China Attack Taiwan? Interview with Oriana Skylar Mastro
28:16
28:16
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China has promised to reincorporate Taiwan, and the Chinese military, which has been growing very rapidly, is preparing for such a military contingency. Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro, a Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, joins Francis Fukuyama to talk about what such an invasion might look like and…
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Francis Fukuyama on Valuing the Deep State (2023 ASPA Donald C. Stone Lecture)
36:32
36:32
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On March 21, 2023, Francis Fukuyama delivered the prestigious Donald C. Stone Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the leading academic association focusing on the study of the public sector. This special episode is a recording of his talk, “Valuing the Deep State,” in which he defends the importan…
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How US and European Populisms Differ: A Conversation with Sheri Berman
36:38
36:38
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Sheri Berman, author of Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day, is a professor of political science at Barnard College and a Visiting Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. In this episode, she joins Francis Fukuyama to explain why populism is more threatening to American democr…
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Bruce Cain on the Politics of Climate Adaptation
33:22
33:22
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Bruce Cain, professor of Political Science at Stanford and Director of the University's Bill Lane Center for the American West, joins Francis Fukuyama to talk about the new book he is writing on the political challenges of adapting to a changing climate in California and other western states. Bruce Cain is an expert in U.S. politics, particularly t…
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Have We Reached Peak China? Interview with Andrew G. Walder
43:41
43:41
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Political sociologist Andrew G. Walder, the Denise O'Leary and Kent Thiry Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Senior Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, is a specialist on the sources of conflict, stability, and change in communist regimes and their successor states. Walder joins Francis Fukuyama to …
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To kick off our second season, Francis Fukuyama is once again joined by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer. The two discuss the prospects for negotiation in Ukraine, the origins of the Russian invasion, and how the war may evolve this winter. Steven Pifer is a nonresident senior fellow in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative,…
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Year-End Wrap-Up: The State of Global Democracy, with Larry Diamond
1:02:45
1:02:45
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As 2022 comes to a close, Francis Fukuyama sits down with his CDDRL colleague and democracy expert Larry Diamond for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of global democracy and the year's dramatic political developments in China, Iran, and the United States. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fe…
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Exploring China's Lockdowns, Protests, and the Communist Party, with Peidong Sun
44:34
44:34
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Peidong Sun is a Distinguished Associate Professor of Arts and Science in China and Asia-Pacific Studies in the History Department at Cornell University. Previously, she was a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai and has written extensively on social issues in China. Professor Sun joins Francis Fukuyama to discuss the protests that have taken …
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The Islamic Republic and Protests in Iran, with Political Scientist Saeid Golkar
42:43
42:43
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Saeid Golkar has been writing and teaching about Iranian politics for the last decade since he was forced to leave the country. A 2009 alumnus of CDDRL's Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, Saeid is an expert on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their Basij auxiliaries. Last month he joined Francis Fukuyama to discuss the nature and implic…
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The Inheritors: A Conversation with Eve Fairbanks
45:19
45:19
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Eve Fairbanks is a brilliant journalist who has lived in South Africa for the past decade. Francis Fukuyama speaks to her about her new book, The Inheritors, in which she provides a fascinating account of the way that both blacks and whites in that country have adjusted—or not—to democracy over the past generation. South Africa has undergone a tran…
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Diversity and Democracy, with Yascha Mounk
57:48
57:48
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Yascha Mounk, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University and founder of Persuasion joins Francis Fukuyama to talk about his new book, The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, which deals with ethnic and religious diversity in a democracy. Democracy IRL is produced by the C…
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The Crisis of Democracy in West Africa, with Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi
30:46
30:46
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Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, co-founder and board chair of Afrobarometer — the pan-African survey research network and global reference point for high-quality data on African democracy, governance, and quality of life — joins us to discuss the worsening crisis of democracy in West Africa, including that which is enveloping the region's largest …
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Examining China's Belt and Road Initiative, with Michael Bennon
39:01
39:01
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In the second installment of our series on policy and infrastructure, Michael Bennon returns to chat with Francis Fukuyama about China's Belt and Road Initiative and projects that have gone south. Michael Bennon is a Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) for the Global Infrastructure Policy Research In…
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The Difficulty of Reforming CEQA, with Michael Bennon
33:24
33:24
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In the first of a two-part series on policy and infrastructure, Michael Bennon joins Francis Fukuyama to discuss the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), its impacts, and how to overcome some of the challenges it creates. In a forthcoming report for California 100 — an ambitious statewide initiative to envision and shape the long-term succe…
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Liberalism and Its Discontents, with Francis Fukuyama
8:15
8:15
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Liberalism is neither the progressive politics of the American left, nor the center-right orientation of European parties like the German Free Democrats, nor libertarianism built around hostility to the state. In this special episode, Francis Fukuyama explains his use of the term and discusses his latest book, Liberalism and Its Discontents. The bo…
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Autocracy vs Democracy — From Venezuela to Ukraine and Beyond, with Leopoldo López
42:21
42:21
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How does the Venezuelan crisis of democracy relate to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other international trends? Venezuelan political leader and pro-democracy activist Leopoldo López joins the podcast to discuss with Francis Fukuyama and Marisa Kellam, a visiting scholar at CDDRL who researches the quality of democracy with a focus on Latin Am…
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German Foreign Policy and European Reactions to Ukraine with Johannes Ludewig
21:13
21:13
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Johannes Ludewig, a current visiting scholar at CDDRL, is a senior German government official who played a major role in German unification. In this episode, he joins Francis Fukuyama to reflect on the European reaction to the current crisis in Ukraine, as well as the leadership qualities that made unification possible almost 30 years ago. Dr. Joha…
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Larry Diamond on Election Reform: An Existential Issue for American Democracy
24:38
24:38
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"The future health, if not survival, of American democracy is in danger in a way that it hasn't been in our lifetime," warns Larry Diamond, who sat down with Francis Fukuyama to discuss voting rights, the Electoral Count Act, and what reforms are needed to avert a future political catastrophe. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institut…
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A Ukrainian Perspective on Ukrainian Politics with Nataliya Gumenyuk
33:14
33:14
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Continuing our discussion on the current situation in Ukraine, Francis Fukuyama speaks with Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Ukrainian author and journalist specializing in foreign affairs and conflict reporting. She joins the podcast from her home in Kyiv and shares her perspectives on the conflict, the Ukrainian government, and the country's political landsc…
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Former US Ambassador Steven Pifer on "What is Happening in Ukraine?"
29:05
29:05
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Fresh off the heels of a whirlwind trip to Kyiv with The Atlantic Council, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer sits down with Francis Fukuyama to talk about what he saw and where he believes the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine is headed. Pifer is a William J. Perry Research Fellow at the Center for International Security and Coop…
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