Hélène Landemore | Who Owns Democracy? Citizens vs. Elites
How to Fix Democracy
As trust in political institutions fades, who really holds power in democracy? Helene Landemore argues that elite decision-making has left democracies less responsive and less resilient. In this episode she joins Andrew Keen to explore how citizen assemblies, broader participation, and new approaches to governance could reshape the future of democratic life.
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Maury Giles: Courageous Citizenship — Practicing Resilience in an Age of Outrage
How to Fix Democracy
As How to Fix Democracy opens its seventh season on democratic resilience, host Andrew Keen welcomes Maury Giles, the new CEO of Braver Angels, for a candid conversation about whether American democracy can withstand what Giles calls the "industrial outrage complex." In a year marking the nation's 250th anniversary, Giles argues that resilience is not something institutions deliver from above, but something citizens practice from below. Drawing on his experience leading one of the country's largest cross-partisan civic movements -and on the lived reality of raising a political...
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Richard Edelman | From Polarization to Insularity: Can Trust be Rebuild
How to Fix Democracy
For 26 years, Richard Edelman has measured the world's trust levels through the Edelman Trust Barometer. In this final episode of our trust series, he joins Andrew Keen to diagnose a new and troubling phase: insularity. After years of polarization, grievance, and activism, societies are hardening into self-contained camps, "turtles in shells", as Edelman puts it, trusting only those who share their values, media and worldview. Governments are faltering, media credibility is shrinking, and a widening mass class divide is fueling pessimism about the future. Yet amid AI disruption, nationalism,...
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Rebuilding Trust: Can We Fix America’s Social and Political Fractures? | Featuring Dr. Michael Neblo and Frederick J. Riley
How to Fix Democracy
In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen explores America's deepening crisis of trust, both social and political. Joined by Frederick Riley of Weave at the Aspen Institute and Dr, Michael Neblo of the Ohio State University, the conversation examines rising isolation, collapsing confidence in institutions, and the growing divide across communities. From neighborhood-level connection to large-scale democratic reform, they discuss practical, evidence-based ways to restore trust, and why small, everyday actions may be the key to saving democracy.
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Cynthia Miller - Idriss | How Distrust Fuels Extremism
How to Fix Democracy
In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen sits down with Cynthia Miller-Idriss - scholar of extremism, founder of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), and author of Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism. Together they explore one of democracy's most fragile foundations: trust. From gender polarization and the rise of the "manosphere", to the declining institutional confidence, to why young men are increasingly vulnerable to online radicalization, Miller-Idriss explains how mistrust is reshaping politics, culture, and everyday...
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From FDR to AI: Derek Leebaert on Trust and Democracy
How to Fix Democracy
In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen speaks with Derek Leebaert - historian, technologist and author of Unlikely Heroes - about the shifting foundations of trust in democracy. From Franklin D. Roosevelt's efforts to rebuild confidence in government during the New Deal era to today's rapid rise of articifical intelligence, Leebaert traces how accelerating technological change has shortened the lifespan in trust in institutions, leaders, and even truth itself. As AI transforms knowledge, work and power, is it a threat to democracy or a chance to renew it? Leebaert explores...
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Burt Neuborne | Law, Trust, and the American Constitution
How to Fix Democracy
Can democracy survive without trust in the law? In this episode of How to Fix Democracy, host Andrew Keen speaks with Burt Neuborne, founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice and professor of law at NYU, about the complex relationship between law and trust in America. From Hobbes and Rousseau to Madison, Lincoln, and the U.S. Constitution itself, Neuborne explores how law can both deter or worst instincts and inspire our better angels.
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Richard Kreitner | Trust, Mistrust, and the Myth of American Unity
How to Fix Democracy
Is mistrust a defining feature and flaw in American democracy? Or is it a manifestation of basic opposition against long-term democratic and aspirational concepts such as "all men are created equally"? In this thought provoking conversation author and historian Richard Kreitner joins Andrew Keen to explore the deep mistrust in U.S. political life. Drawing on themes from his book Break it up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union. Kreitner traces the fractured origins of the American project, argues that national cohesion may be neither possible nor desirable...
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Joan Williams | Outclassed: Rebuilding Trust Between Political Elites and the Working Class
How to Fix Democracy
Legal scholar and author Joan Williams joins How to Fix Democracy to unpack the breakdown of trust between political elites and the American working class. Drawing from her new book Outclassed, Williams explores how class-blindness, cultural signaling, and economic inequality have shaped political divides - and what the left must do to win back working class voters. From language to long-term coalition-building, this episode offers a sobering but essential roadmap for restoring trust.
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Jonathan Rauch | High Tech and Low Trust - An American Quandary
How to Fix Democracy
In this episode Brookings's scholar Jonathan Rauch explores America's historically unprecedented position as a "high-tech, low trust society" - a dangerous combination where technological advancement coexists with collapsing social trust. Trust levels have plummeted since the 1970s warns Rauch, with America now ranking 52nd globally in believing strangers would return a lost wallet. He traces this decline to systematic attacks on institutions from both left and right, fomented by libertarian populists. He warns that without rebuilding trust - which is seven times more important in determining...
info_outlineIn this episode, host Andrew Keen sits down with Francis Fukuyama to explore the concept of trust. Fukuyama defines it as a byproduct of virtuous behaviors like reliability, truthfulness, transparency, and keeping commitments. He describes trust as a crucial "lubricant" for social interactions and distinguishes between interpersonal and institutional trust, both of which are built through experiences of reliability and can be eroded by betrayal and disappointment. Fukuyama discusses how trust originates within families and extends to broader social circles. He also examines the global decline in trust over the past 30 years, attributing it to several key factors: the rise of technology and anonymous online interactions, higher education fostering more critical thinking, increased transparency exposing institutional failures, and growing political polarization reinforcing tribal identitities. Connecting trust to his earlier work on "the struggle for recognition, " he argues that as liberal democracies secure equal rights, individuals increasingly seek recognition for specific identities - such as religion, ethnicity, or gender - which can contribute to societal fragmentation. To address this decline, Fukuyama emphasizes the importance of governments reliably delivering on promises and providing expected services. However, he acknowledges that while competent governance is essential, it alone may not be enough to fully restore trust in institutions and society.