Joe Biden used the word “democracy” in his inaugural address more times than any other President, signaling a shift in rhetoric from his predecessor. But the opposition party that stands in the way of his agenda is openly pursuing less democracy, not more. We wrap up season two with a former republican congresswoman who rejects the cult of Trump, and we hear from political analysts Larry Sabato and Nicole Hemmer.

As India approaches the 75th anniversary of its independence, the future that the country’s founders envisioned — of a diverse, dynamic, egalitarian nation — has been cast in doubt. Historian Manu Bhagavan along with two journalists, Kapil Komireddi and Vidya Krishnan, help Will and Siva ponder whether India is, after all, too big to fly.

Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a Russian-made nerve agent in August 2020. When he recovered, he returned to his own country, knowing he would face persecution. New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen says that sort of audacity is a cornerstone of the opposition movement.

Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a Russian-made nerve agent in August 2020. When he recovered, he returned to his own country, knowing he would face persecution. New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen says that sort of audacity is a cornerstone of the opposition movement.

Historian Thomas Zimmer explains why he’s not terribly worried about the far-right in Germany, even though the xenophobic Alternative for Germany party now leads the opposition in parliament. And Constanze Stelzenmüller, an expert on foreign relations, credits Angela Merkel for holding democratic ideals together in Europe with a firm hand.

Sayra is from Mexico. Alejandro from Bolivia. Their journeys are different but the limbo they’ve experienced growing up undocumented in America has shaped them in parallel ways. Also on this episode, American University law professor Amanda Frost reflects on how the hidden history of citizenship-stripping can inform naturalization policy in the present.

Gema Kloppe-Santamaría, a sociologist and historian of Latin America, studies the long and painful arc of extralegal violence in the region — from vigilante justice to the dirty wars and the drug wars. And, she says, the United States should play a role in solving the regional problems it has helped create.

Science can tell us why the climate is changing (it’s people, people). But it can’t tell us what to do about it. That’s where politics and a sense of community come in, climate writer Kendra Pierre-Louis says.

According to Syracuse University media scholar Whitney Phillips, information pathways run as deep and interwoven as the roots of redwood trees, and when they’re contaminated it threatens the whole forest.