Rafael Behr talks to Demos' CEO Polly Curtis about the urgent case for upgrading our democracy and repairing the broken relationship between citizen and state.

The conversation is loosely based around this new Demos paper released today (2 July) that sets out the challenges of the global democratic emergency, how this is threatening the political landscape in Britain and what we can do about it.

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Host Rafael Behr is joined by political scientist Prof. Michael Bang Petersen, whose research challenges the common belief that those who share misinformation are simply uninformed or gullible.

Instead, Petersen suggest that many of these individuals are politically savvy and highly motivated, not by truth, but by the usefulness of information in advancing their political goals.

The conversation also explores the concept of the "need for chaos": a psychological drive found in a significant minority who actively seek to destabilise political systems, not just support one side over another.

Petersen also talks how status anxiety, feeling stuck or left behind in a rigid social hierarchy, fuels this destructive impulse.

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Do please take a moment to complete our listener survey which will only take 2-3 minutes.

It will help us work out a sustainable funding model to make more Politics on the Couch episodes.

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This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation between Rafael Behr and writer and broadcaster David Aaronovitch, about ripples from the pandemic that still shape politics, with a digression on the ways that Britain is not America and whether that makes 'Maga-populism' less contagious.

Links

David Aaronovitch's substack - https://davidaaronovitch.substack.com

BBC's Briefing Room presented by David Aaronovitch - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002bj77

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

Help shape the future of Politics on the Couch

Do please take a moment to complete our listener survey which will only take 2-3 minutes.

It will help us work out a sustainable funding model to make more Politics on the Couch episodes.

Many thanks!

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.