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How to Fix Democracy

How to Fix Democracy

By: Bertelsmann Foundation
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Since its origins, democracy has been a work in progress. Today, many question its resilience. How to Fix Democracy, a collaboration of the Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action, explores practical solutions for how to address the increasing threats democracy faces. Host Andrew Keen interviews prominent international thinkers and practitioners of democracy. Philosophy Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Cynthia Miller - Idriss | How Distrust Fuels Extremism
    Dec 2 2025

    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 eplore 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 relationships. She also discussed what might work to rebuild trust - from community level engagement to national service models - and why belonging, meaning and purpose might be the most powerful antidotes to extremism.

    A wide-ranging, urgent conversation about loneliness, democracy and whether America can restore trust before it is too late. Miller-Idriss offers a note of cautios optimism: most people, she argues, don't actually want to live this way.

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    38 mins
  • From FDR to AI: Derek Leebaert on Trust and Democracy
    Oct 30 2025

    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 what "responsible AI" might look like - and why transparancy, accountability, and common-sense regulation are vital in restoring trust in a digital age.

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    38 mins
  • Burt Neuborne | Law, Trust, and the American Constitution
    Sep 29 2025

    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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    39 mins
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