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Rethinking Democracy Podcast

Where are we? How did we get here? And where are we going?

Rethinking Democracy is a series of three audio podcasts between Dr Elspeth Payne, Beate Schuler Research Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub and a number of key panellists from the ‘Rethinking Democracy in an Age of Pandemic’ webinar series organised in spring 2020 in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.

These new podcasts allow listeners to re-engage with questions around the pandemic and democracy explored through the original series, find out what has happened since the series ended and, as we come to the end of 2020 and witness the first inoculations against Covid-19, ask where we might be going next?  

The podcasts were recorded in November and December 2020.

Episode One:
Protests, Polling and the Culture of Democracy

In this episode, Melody Barnes discusses the developments in the Black Lives Matter movement, technology and misinformation, vaccine distribution and the 2020 US election.

Melody Barnes is co-director for Policy and Public Affairs for the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia. She is the Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor of Practice at the Miller Center of Public Affairs and a Distinguished Fellow at the School of Law. From 2009 until January 2012, Melody was Assistant to the President of the United States and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She also served as chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Show notes:
• Democracy without a public sphere. Trinity Long Room Hub and Society of Fellows and Heyman Center Rethinking Democracy in an Age of Pandemic webinar series. May 27, 2020.
• Aftermath 2020. Democracy in Danger Podcast: Episode 18. December 9, 2020.
• Barnes, Melody. “A Culture for American Democracy.” Democracy:59. Winter 2020.
• Kahrl, Andrew and Barnes, Melody. “A Global Contagion.” Trinity Long Room Hub COVID-19 Crisis Blog. November 4, 2020.
• Barnes, Melody and Walker, Corey D.B (eds.). Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy. Cheltenham (UK) and Massachusetts (US): Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.
• University of Virginia Institute of Democracy. Election 2020 and its aftermath.
• University of Virginia Institute of Democracy. From Election to transition.

Episode Two:
Trust, Borders and Brexit

In this episode, Etain Tannam explores the erosion of trust in British-Irish relations, issues of stereotyping, and the future of cross-border cooperation in the wake of Brexit and Covid-19.

Etain Tannam an Associate Professor International Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is currently writing a book on British-Irish Relations in the 21st Century. She is also part of the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland led by the University College London (UCL) Constitution Unit.

Show notes:
• Nations and borders. Trinity Long Room Hub and Society of Fellows and Heyman Center Rethinking Democracy in an Age of Pandemic webinar series. April 29, 2020.
• Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland. Interim Report. November 26, 2020
• BREXIT. Trinity Long Room Hub Behind the Headlines. May, 2016.
• Tannam, Etain. LSE blog posts. 2017-20.
• Harry. “Taoiseach distances himself from united Ireland, points to co-operation as way forward.” Irish Times. October 22, 2020.
• Ronan. “Irish people should not stereotype the British, says President.” Irish Times. December 4, 2020.
• Conor. “Trust between EU and UK 'damaged', says Coveney”. RTÉ. September 13, 2020.
• Martin, Micheál.“Online address by An Taoiseach on Shared Island.” October 22, 2020.
• Machnamh 100. December 4, 2020.

Episode Three:
Uncertainty and Post-pandemic Recovery

In this episode, Lilith Acadia examines the dangers of epistemic uncertainty and the possible use of post-pandemic recovery as a pretext to ignore pressing global issues, including climate emergency and social inequality, in the United States.

Lilith Acadia is a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Taiwan University. She is also involved in the Hublic Sphere, a podcast series created and produced by early career researchers in the Trinity Long Room Hub.

Show notes:
• Democracy in an Age of Pandemic. Trinity Long Room Hub and Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities Behind the Headlines. April 27, 2020.
• The Hublic Sphere Podcast.
• Sarah. “Can American democracy survive Donald Trump?” The Guardian. November 21, 2020.
• Pfattheicher, Stefan. Nockur, Laila, Böhm, Robert, Sassenrath, Claudia, and Petersen, Michael Bang. “The Emotional Path to Action: Empathy Promotes Physical Distancing and Wearing of Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Psychological Science 2020:31(11). pp 1363-73.
• Ripple, William J , Wolf, Christopher, Newsome, Thomas M, Barnard, Phoebe and Moomaw, William R. “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.” BioScience 2020: 70 (1). pp 8-12.

Download the 'Rethinking Democracy in an Age of Pandemic' Curriculum.

The Rethinking Democracy Podcast is produced by the Trinity Long Room Hub in partnership with the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University, with thanks to Elvira Blanco, PhD candidate at Columbia University for technical support.