IDEAS series asks where democracy is going now
CBC Radio | Posted: December 9, 2022 10:51 PM | Last Updated: July 7, 2023
It's an all-too familiar roll-call: the escalating climate crisis, geopolitical volatility, the continuing rise of ultra-nationalism — all of it sloshing around in a toxic stew of disinformation and misinformation. But what does it all point to?
To help answer that question, IDEAS created a series called The New World Disorder.
While our ideal of democracy may still stand, its legs do appear to be buckling. So what hope does democracy have when geopolitical instability is mounting, and public discourse is drowning in a sea of misinformation and disinformation? There is hope — according to two former CBC Massey Lecturers, Ron Deibert and Jennifer Welsh. They begin our series, The New World Disorder with a public discussion on the future of democracy.
Nationalism is an ideology with a slippery character. Different definitions of history and national identity have fuelled Russia's brutal war and inspired Ukrainian resistance, for example. In this episode, political researchers and co-authors Maya Tudor and Harris Mylonas reflect on the nature of nationalism, and why it persists.
The U.S. is at a turning point and experts say the country hasn't been this divided since the Civil War, and before. Some are predicting the end of American democracy, while others claim the potential for political violence looms. IDEAS contributor Melissa Gismondi unpacks the idea that America is ending, explores where the country might be headed and what — if anything — can save it.
Democracy is shriveling and illiberalism is on the rise. We've been watching this unfold for more than three decades but the sense of urgency has, perhaps, never been so great. In this episode, we hear from people on the front line of the fight against rising authoritarianism — how they understand the struggle and what they're doing to survive it.
Money is a pervasive force in life, as anyone feeling the pinch from inflation knows all too well. It's also unpredictable, unstable, unnatural, abstract, and deeply invested with emotion, trust and politics. IDEAS explores the strange history of money and how it confounds attempts to understand and control it.
*The New World Disorder series was produced by Greg Kelly, Lisa Godfrey, Melissa Gismondi and Naheed Mustafa.