It All Happened Before

Ekin and Burcu
  • 0.0 (0)
  • POLITICS

Democracy doesn't collapse overnight—it follows a script. Join us as we decode America's current political crisis through the eyes of those who've seen it unfold elsewhere. Drawing on Turkey's experience and voices from across the globe, we explore the rise of autocracy and populism with guests who understand these forces intimately. This isn't just analysis—it's a search for solutions, guided by those who know that the past isn't just prologue, it's a roadmap.

Episodes

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Episode 2: We Still Vote

    Burcu flew from Germany to Turkey for 36 hours just to vote. She went to the polls right after her back surgery. And still — she's not sure she fully trusts the outcome. In this episode of It All Happened Before, Ekin and Burcu explore what elections look like inside a competitive authoritarian system: formally intact, fiercely contested, and deeply uncertain. With Americans worried about whether the 2026 midterms will even be held, Turkey's story offers a sobering reframing — the greater danger isn't that elections stop. It's that they become fragile enough to doubt, confusing enough to suppress participation, and contested enough to be dismissed whenever the results are inconvenient.

    47 min

  2. 19 MAR

    Episode 1: We've Seen This Before

    Some people are surprised by what's happening in America. We are not. It All Happened Before is a conversation between two people who grew up watching democracy erode in Turkey — and who now see the patterns repeating in the country they also call home. In our first episode, we talk about why we started this project, what firsthand experience with authoritarianism actually teaches you, and how we hold onto ourselves while living across two countries in two different stages of a similar story.

    50 min
  • 2 Episodes

About

Democracy doesn't collapse overnight—it follows a script. Join us as we decode America's current political crisis through the eyes of those who've seen it unfold elsewhere. Drawing on Turkey's experience and voices from across the globe, we explore the rise of autocracy and populism with guests who understand these forces intimately. This isn't just analysis—it's a search for solutions, guided by those who know that the past isn't just prologue, it's a roadmap.

Information

  • Creator
    Ekin and Burcu
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Ekin and Burcu
  • Show Website
    It All Happened Before
  • Provider