How to save democracy

Welcome to How To Save Democracy, a new podcast that aims to heal society’s broken relationship with democracy. Join us – Omezzine Khelifa, Jon Alexander, and our producer Jo Barratt – as we hold the space for the tough conversations we need to have.

We love democracy, genuinely, wholeheartedly. But it’s like a dysfunctional relationship. Democracy today is full of flaws. It’s not “by the people, for the people” anymore. There are resentments and frustrations and anger, and we can’t go on like this. We want to make this relationship work though. It’s a long term thing, it’s valuable, we need to work through this. We need to have the tough conversations, and that’s what we are doing on this podcast.

Episodes

The first six episodes are below and we’ve got some great conversations lined up, from legendary musician and artist Brian Eno, to the former Chief Creative Officer of Mexico City, to the former Portuguese Minister who introduced the world’s first national participatory budget…

But if we’re going to make more, we need to know you want it and we need your support. We’re seeking funding from a range of foundations, but every little helps – and every sign up and every donation demonstrates the appetite to potential funders. So if you can’t contribute right now, please do sign up for the mailing list at the bottom of the page.

Donate here to help make Season One

Meet our co-host, Omezzine Khelifa — someone who’s lived every facet of this fight: reformer, revolutionary, politician, and practitioner.

Co-host Omezzine Khelifa turns the mic on her fellow presenter, Jon Alexander. Expect thoughtful (and tough) questions about Jon’s journey from consumer culture to citizen action

We’re not looking away. We’re acknowledging the cracks in our democracies and asking what can still be done. Recorded live with political strategist Paul Hilder, and journalist Ece Temelkuran.

We meet Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart, and explore their radical, hopeful idea: that being a citizen is something we do, not something we are. It’s a call to action and a reminder that democracy is not a product, but a practice.

Get under the surface of one of the most hopeful stories of the last 20 years of democracy, with three of the people who’ve been closest to it: the political scientist who had the original idea, the civil servant tasked with making it happen, and a randomly selected citizen who’s gone on to become a global advocate of participatory democracy.

We meet Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador and former Minister of Digital Affairs, and a true democracy pioneer. The story of Taiwan’s crowdsourced Covid response, and how it came about, is one everyone needs to hear.