RevDem Podcast

Review of Democracy
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

RevDem Podcast is brought to you by the Review of Democracy, the online journal of the CEU Democracy Institute. The Review of Democracy is dedicated to the reinvigoration, survival, and prosperity of democracies worldwide and to generating innovative cross-regional dialogues. RevDem Podcast offers in-depth conversations in four main areas: rule of law, political economy and inequalities, the history of ideas, and democracy and culture.

  1. Challenging Archives, Episode 1: Hungarian-Language Theaters in Socialist Romania

    2d ago

    Challenging Archives, Episode 1: Hungarian-Language Theaters in Socialist Romania

    Challenging Archives is a new series of podcasts jointly organized between Review of Democracy and Blinken Open Society Archives, based in Budapest. We will invite scholars to discuss about their investigation in this archive. The Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA), is a complex archival institution. On one hand, it is a repository of vast collections that document how power operated across the twentieth century. OSA holds 10,000 linear meters of archival material, 17,000 hours of audiovisual recordings, and 15 TB of digital records, as well as 150,000 photographs, 6000+ documentary film titles and 22,000 library items. Their catalogue is available online. OSA is not only an archive. It is one of Europe’s leading research centers on the history of the Cold War, state socialism, human rights, and surveillance. The OSA Archivum also provides fellowships for promising researchers that want to investigate the archival funds. Particularly the Visegrad Fellowship supports scholars, engaged artists, journalists, scholars at risk who want to work directly with these materials. Since its start in 2010, the Visegrad Scholarship has been awarded to more than 290 fellows from over 65 countries. In our series, we will invite the Visegrad Fellows to share us their experience with working with this fascinating archive. In our first episode, we discuss about Hungarian-language theater in socialist Romania with Eszter Szabó-Reznek. Her case offers a unique perspective into how ideology, culture, and bureaucracy intertwined. Eszter Szabó-Reznek is currently an Associate Lecturer at the University of Bucharest. She was a New Europe College Fellow in Bucharest. Her area of expertise is the social and economic history of cultural institutions, with a particular focus on Hungarian and Romanian theater.

    38 min
  2. The Ancient World Mobilized for Hate: A Conversation with Curtis Dozier

    6d ago

    The Ancient World Mobilized for Hate: A Conversation with Curtis Dozier

    Ancient Greece and Rome are often celebrated as the foundations of Western civilization, democracy, and political thought. But what happens when these revered historical traditions are mobilized to legitimize exclusionary and authoritarian politics? In this episode of the Review of Democracy podcast, we speak with Curtis Dozier, author of The White Pedestal – How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate (Yale University Press, 2026), about the enduring political power of classical antiquity. Drawing on years of research into extremist appropriations of the ancient world, Dozier explains why white nationalists are so drawn to Greece and Rome, how concepts such as race, hierarchy, decline, and Western civilization are anchored in selective readings of the classical past, and why these interpretations resonate far beyond the political fringes. The conversation explores the surprising continuities between extremist and mainstream narratives about antiquity, the role of historical prestige in legitimizing political projects, and the ways in which the classical tradition has been used to justify slavery, imperialism, exclusion, and domination. At the same time, Dozier reflects on the responsibilities of historians and classicists today, arguing for a reorientation of the field that takes seriously the political afterlives of ancient texts and foregrounds the diverse experiences often excluded from traditional accounts. This is a timely discussion about the uses and abuses of history, the construction of collective identities, and the urgent need to think critically about how the past continues to shape our present. Curtis Dozier is an Associate Professor and Chair of Greek and Roman Studies at Vassar College. He is also the Director of Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics.

    43 min
  3. Georgia’s Struggle Between Democracy and Autocracy – In Conversation with Ghia Nodia

    Jun 15

    Georgia’s Struggle Between Democracy and Autocracy – In Conversation with Ghia Nodia

    In our latest episode of the special series produced in partnership with the Journal of Democracy, we discuss the recent article by Ghia Nodia, entitled “Georgia: Between Democracy and Autocracy” (Journal of Democracy, Vol. 37, No.2, April 2026) Over the last couple of years, Georgia has frequently been in foreign news due to two related issues. Firstly, in 2024, the current Georgian government, after a failed initial attempt, has adopted the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” thereby joining a global trend of countries adopting so-called “Foreign Agents Laws.” While facially claiming to protect a country against threats posed by foreign interference, such laws are often used by governments with authoritarian tendencies to suppress their country’s civil society. The second related issue is the long protests of Georgian civil society against the authoritarian tendencies of the incumbent party, Georgian Dream. Georgia is known for its vibrant and active civil society, which has often shown its willingness to take to the streets and confront its government. In a recent article in the Journal of Democracy, Ghia Nodia analyzes the hybridity of the Georgian state resulting from these opposing tendencies and asks in which direction the country is headed: Democracy or Autocracy. Ghia Nodia is a professor of political science at Ilia State University and director of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Democracy. In 2008, Prof. Nodia served as Georgia’s Minister of Education and Science.

    47 min
  4. Mixed Families in Post-Conflict Societies- A Discussion with Karolina Lendák-Kabók and Lucija Balikić (Part 2)

    Jun 8

    Mixed Families in Post-Conflict Societies- A Discussion with Karolina Lendák-Kabók and Lucija Balikić (Part 2)

    Are interethnic marriages bridges or fault lines in post-conflict societies? What happens when the politics of national identity enter the intimacy of home? Who were the main agents to oppose or promote mixed marriages in East-CentralEurope? Was it the Church? Was it the legal framework? Were it depending on local culture? Was it determined by class? In our podcast in two parts, we discuss this topic with Karolina Lendák-Kabók and Lucija Balikić, around their research project called entitled “Mixed Families: Searching forIdentity and Belonging in Post-Conflict Societies”. Their research group emerges from the The Momentum (Lendület) 2025 project hosted at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of MinorityStudies and it is financed by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Flagship Program of the Academy. By following marriages that crossed lines of language, confession, and social status, the research project “MixedFamilies: Searching for Identity and Belonging in Post-Conflict Societies” trace how states, churches, and communities sought to regulate intimacy long before theyregulated borders. In our second part, we discuss why mixedness shouldbe treated as a long historical process instead of a simple past-present comparison. Legal norms, religious prescriptions, social expectations, and gendered assumptions shaped mixed families across generations. To unfold thiscomplex phenomenon, Karolina Lendák-Kabók and Lucija Balikić move between micro‑level family dynamics, meso‑level institutions such as schools and churches, andmacro‑level political frameworks to trace how mixedness is produced, negotiated, and transmitted over time. The second part of this episode also explores theproject’s diverse source base: legal codes, canon laws,  minority association records, ego‑documents, and oral interviews. Finally, the conversation opens toward the future of the field. Karolina Lendák-Kabók and Lucija Balikić expand on emerging research avenues, including the understudied role of children in mixed families, the methodological challenges of combining quantitative and qualitative data, and the potential for expanding the geographical scope beyond Central and Southeastern Europe.

    22 min
  5. Dictocrats and Dictobrats – James Loxton on Why We Elect Former Dictators and Their Children

    Jun 1

    Dictocrats and Dictobrats – James Loxton on Why We Elect Former Dictators and Their Children

    In the new episode of our series produced in collaboration with the Journal of Democracy, Ferenc Laczó speaks with James Loxton about his article, “Why We Elect Former Dictators and Their Children.” James Loxton discusses prominent cases of former dictators or the children of former dictators being elected democratically as president or prime minister; how suchleaders deal with their authoritarian inheritance; what we might have misunderstood about democratization in the light of this rather widespread phenomenon;and how it might be countered more effectively in the future.

    28 min
  6. Worlds of Wartime: Duncan Kelly on the First World War and Modern Politics

    May 28

    Worlds of Wartime: Duncan Kelly on the First World War and Modern Politics

    How did the First World War reshape the way we think about politics, economics, empire, and democracy? In this episode of the Review of Democracy podcast, we speak with Duncan Kelly, Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge, about his book Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics, published by Oxford University Press. Kelly’s book explores the First World Waras one of the defining moments in the reconstruction of modern political and economic thought. Moving across Europe, the United States, Ireland, India, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, it examines how intellectuals, public figures,revolutionaries, and political thinkers tried to understand a world transformed by war. The discussion highlights how debates about empire, geopolitics, federalism, global capitalism, national self-determination, and democracy werefar more interconnected than is often assumed. The episode also introduces some of the central ideas of the book, including Kelly’s proposal for a “modernistintellectual history” of political and economic ideas, the role of “idea makers” beyond elite politicians and military leaders, and the problem of the “closed world” that shaped geopolitical and economic thinking during and afterthe conflict. It also asks why the First World War’s intellectual legacies still matter today, especially for understanding the limits and possibilities of modern democratic politics. At its core, the conversation shows that the First World War was not only a military or diplomatic rupture. It was also amoment when the political and economic futures of the modern world were imagined, contested, and reconstructed, with consequences that continue to shape our present.

    47 min
  7. Birthright Citizens: Martha Jones on Race and Rights in the U.S.

    May 25

    Birthright Citizens: Martha Jones on Race and Rights in the U.S.

    Since assuming office at the beginning of 2025, Donald Trump’s administration has targeted numerous people in the U.S. Those who have suffered the most and are the most vulnerable to the administration’s policies are the ones Trump and his compatriots believe are unworthy of living their lives on U.S. soil in peace, especially so-called “illegal immigrants.” The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has illegally chased and deported people and even brutally harmed and killed some who tried to resist them. However, the Trump administration is also attempting to justify its agenda via legal means. In early 2025, the U.S. President issued an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship as it had been accepted since the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted three years after the end of the Civil War in 1868. While it had long been uncontested that all children born on U.S. soil would gain the country’s citizenship, according to this order, this would no longer hold for children of illegal immigrants. Thus, large groups of people would be stripped of their rights. Currently, a case is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court that is supposed to define whether this executive order violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In this conversation, Prof. Martha Jones explains the historical roots of birthright citizenship and the current U.S. administration’s attempt to undermine it. Martha Jones is a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and the author of various books, including Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America, which was published in 2018 by Cambridge University Press. The interview was conducted by Konstantin Kipp. Alina Young edited the audio file.

    56 min
  8. Beyond National Democracy: China’s Ideas and Ideas of China

    May 21

    Beyond National Democracy: China’s Ideas and Ideas of China

    This interview with historian Professor Xu Guoqi explores the major themes of his latest book The Idea of China ata moment marked by the weakening of the international order and the global resurgence of nationalism. We begin by tracing the changing meanings of “China” and “Chineseness.” The conversation then moves to thinking about Chineseuniversalism, its alignments and tensions with Western liberalism, conflicts between evolving historical identities and the projection of a stable national order, and the role of “cooked past” in constructing modern Chinese identity.We also discuss the importance of diasporas, foreign influences, sport, religion, and bodily discipline in shaping modern China beyond purely political or economic frameworks. Finally, the interview reflects on the relationshipbetween science, democracy, and governance in contemporary China, and what alternative histories of “Chineseness” might still remain possible.

    45 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
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About

RevDem Podcast is brought to you by the Review of Democracy, the online journal of the CEU Democracy Institute. The Review of Democracy is dedicated to the reinvigoration, survival, and prosperity of democracies worldwide and to generating innovative cross-regional dialogues. RevDem Podcast offers in-depth conversations in four main areas: rule of law, political economy and inequalities, the history of ideas, and democracy and culture.

Information

  • Creator
    Review of Democracy
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    425
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Review of Democracy
  • Show Website
    RevDem Podcast

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