Show Notes
Democratic societies are a melting pot of people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, but when political alliances are formed around a particular identity it can lead to division and sometimes violence. In this episode Ben explores one of the most extreme examples of ethnic conflict - the Rwandan genocide - and asks whether it’s possible to have a peaceful democracy after so much bloodshed.
Guests: Sharun Mukand, Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick James Chin, Professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania
What’s Wrong with Democracy? is produced by Tortoise Media and supported by the Open Society Foundations.
To find out more about Tortoise:
Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists.
Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content.
Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more.
If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact [email protected]
Host: Professor Ben Ansell Producers: Ada Barume and Eleanor Biggs Editor: Lewis Vickers Original artwork: Jon Hill | Emma O’Neil
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from What's Wrong with Democracy?
For the final episode of the series, Ben goes back to basics and asks: how can democracies hold free and fair elections? It’s not as simple as setting up polling stations and handing out ballot boxes, so what does it take to create a truly even electoral playing field?
This week, we’re looking at another big potential challenge facing democracy: AI, or artificial intelligence. Ben wants to know how worried we should be when it comes to the rise of these new technologies. Might they spell the death knell for trust in our institutions? Or can technology play a helpful role in boosting modern democracies?
One of the biggest challenges of our time is climate change. This week, Ben wants to know how effective democracies are when it comes to fighting the climate crisis. How can we settle on solutions when there’s so many different interests at play?
Democracy can often be knocked off course by political violence, but in some places it’s become an ingrained part of how politics is done. This week Ben wants to find out why violence and democracy can be so hard to separate, and how to stop violence taking hold of our politics in the first place.
Where does the boundary lie between bad behaviour and outright corruption? This week Ben wants to understand how corruption and the fight against it are destructive forces in a democracy.