This episode explores the main differences between contemporary, quasi-dictatorial regimes based on spin, and older 20th-century dictatorships based on overt repression and fear. Why do spin dictators demonstrate a commitment to democratic elections and how do their actions undermine democracy from within? Listen to find out what such regimes teach us about internal contradictions of Western democracies and how similar spin dictators are to so-called populist leaders.
Today, liberal democracies are under unprecedented strain from within and without. In each episode of Democracy in Question, renowned social anthropologist and CEU President and Rector Shalini Randeria invites a leading scholar or public figure to explore the challenges and dilemmas facing democracies around the world. They investigate what needs to be done to ensure the future well-being of our democratic institutions and practices.
Join Randeria and her guests for a series of dynamic discussions about democratic issues worldwide. Listen to the trailer and subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts.
To hear the first two series co-produced by the Graduate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) Vienna, visit here.


CEU President and Rector Shalini Randeria