Episode 4.12: Adapting to the End of U.S. Technological Dominance – Melissa Flagg
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Release Date: 04/07/2023
Episode 7.10: Democracy as Dispersion of Power: A Conversation with Samuel Bagg
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Over the past decade we have witnessed an unfolding global crisis of democracy, in its liberal-democratic, representative, capitalist form. As elite power has continued to grow without constraints, classical democratic theory has struggled to keep pace with these momentous changes. In this episode, political theorist SAMUEL BAGG sat down with RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN to discuss how elites gain systematic advantages in modern society, and why resisting this state capture is crucial for thinking about the future of democracy. Episode recorded in February 2025.
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Episode 7.9: Unlimited Money, Limited Oversight: Virginia’s Democracy on Trial
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: MATT BERKMAN. Journalist and anti-corruption investigator JOSH STANFIELD joins host MATT BERKMAN to unpack Virginia’s feverish election season, discussing campaign cash, a runaway data-center boom, and ethics enforcement. Drawing on his FOIA work, Stanfield details lawsuits over nondisclosure by statewide officials, ICE activity, and government surveillance, reflecting on what all of this means for democracy in Virginia today.
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Episode 7.8: Socialism, Logically: Scott Sehon on Rights, Welfare, and Markets
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. Philosopher SCOTT SEHON joins the podcast to discuss his book Socialism: A Logical Introduction (Oxford University Press). Sehon presents a “master argument” for socialism and defines socialism along two axes: collective economic control and egalitarian distribution. He addresses common critiques of socialism based on rights, the sanctity of private property, and concerns about exploitation. The discussion spans Hayek and Friedman, climate change as the clearest market failure, and how logical reasoning can cut through today’s polarized...
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Episode 7.7: Stemming the Tide of Vaccine Refusal: Beyond MAHA’s Vision of Patient Empowerment
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. Anti-vaccine rhetoric is on the rise in the U.S., encouraged now by MAHA-dominated health policies emerging from Washington. It is tempting to paint this as a top-down process, but neonatologist and immunologist BENJAMIN A. FENSTERHEIM argues that the problem runs deeper and is rooted in the institutional arrangements of our healthcare system. In his conversation with historian Matthew Roth, he describes his work caring for newborns, the increasing pushback by parents against routine preventive measures, and his reflections on how the relationship between doctors and...
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Episode 7.6: Credibility in Prisons
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: CARRIE WELSH. Why does the American criminal justice system produce unreliable knowers? In this episode, host CARRIE WELSH is joined by philosopher and prison education director JOHN FANTUZZO and re-entry consultant and executive director RAYMOND POWELL for a conversation about the epistemological foundations of mass incarceration. Drawing on a forthcoming paper and lived experience, they unpack how the prison’s economy of credibility systematically undermines the efforts and perspectives of incarcerated people and extends punishment far beyond...
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Episode 7.5: Trump and the Era of Ungoverning: A Discussion with Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In their 2024 book Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos, Professors RUSSELL MUIRHEAD (Dartmouth) and NANCY ROSENBLUM (Harvard) analyze the emergence of “ungoverning,” a political trend aimed at limiting or dismantling key functions of the administrative state. They situate this development within broader shifts in American politics, tracing its roots to earlier debates over the role of government and examining how it has been intensified in the Trump era. In conversation with historian Matthew Roth,...
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Episode 7.4: The Age of Choice: A Conversation with Sophia Rosenfeld
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: JOSHUA ROSE. Historian and Penn Professor SOPHIA ROSENFELD discusses her new book The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life, exploring how choice became central to modern ideas of freedom — and why our obsession with it can leave us anxious, overwhelmed, and divided. From the rise of shopping and religious freedom to romance, politics, and reproductive rights, she traces the surprising history and complicated legacy of living in an “age of choice.”
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Episode 7.3: Rethinking the COVID Era: A Conversation with Frances Lee and Stephen Macedo
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. When the Sars-CoV-2 spread across the world in the spring of 2020, it triggered unprecedented lockdowns in nearly every country, including democracies where such drastic measures were previously considered unlikely to be feasible. The hope was that the virus could be stopped and eventually eliminated, and that deaths could be minimized in the meantime. In their new book, , political scientists FRANCES LEE and STEPHEN MACEDO examine the sequence of decisions that led to these policies and conclude that not only did they not work as envisioned, but that the...
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Episode 7.2: Brazil's Pink Tide and the Politics of Redistribution
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: RAFAEL KHACHATURIAN. In this episode, host Rafael Khachaturian speaks with sociologist and political theorist NARA ROBERTA SILVA about the trajectory of Brazil’s left over the past two decades. Together, they unpack the rise and contradictions of the Workers' Party (PT), Brazil’s role in the Latin American “pink tide,” and the tensions between grassroots mobilization, state power, and neoliberal constraint. From participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre to Lula’s turn to pragmatic governance, Silva offers a sharp, historically grounded reflection on the promises and limits...
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Episode 7.1: The Workings of Canadian Democracy in the Shadow of Trump
The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. In an era that has seen the rise of right-wing populism, which has often pitted itself against the institutions of liberal democracy, recent election outcomes in Canada and Australia hint at a counter-trend. Political scientist LORI TURNBULL, an expert on not just Canadian politics but of the nuts-and-bolts of Canadian democracy, guides us through her country’s recent election, which in many ways was similar to that of the 2024 US election. A highly unpopular leader was dragging down the electoral prospects of his party as it was challenged by an insurgent...
info_outlineInterviewer: ZACHARY LOEB. In the period following World War II and during the Cold War, the United States was the indisputable world leader in technological development, putting the U.S. government in a privileged position to shape technologies for its own economic and security ends. National security expert MELISSA FLAGG argues that since 2000 these circumstances have changed drastically: there are now many more actors in technological development, both in terms of countries across the globe and corporations, domestic and transnational. In her discussion with historian of science and technology Zachary Loeb, she describes the new landscape of emerging technology and the failures of the U.S. government to adapt to it. Having lost its ability to dictate priorities and to limit the challenges that new technologies pose, Flagg argues that the government should work to build coalitions with private sector companies, as well as other nations, and to revamp its approach to promoting innovation.