Podcast

Political Reality

News, Politics, Society & Culture

Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”. We can find a shared political reality if we are willing.

Politics chart
#117
Episodes
35
Releases
Every two weeks
Typical length
57 min
On air since
2026
Latest episode
6 days ago

Episodes

35 episodes, newest first

  1. The "Low Voltage" Politics of New Zealand with Prof. Alex Tan

    Season 2, Episode 11

    Show notes

    Thank you to Dr. Alex Tan for joining us this week! Check out his podcast "Views from Down Underer”

    57 min
  2. Can polls be trusted? Trailer

    Season 2, Episode 10

    Show notes

    https://www.patreon.com/politicalreality/posts/can-polls-be-173029825

    11 min
  3. The most important election of our lives (until the next one, and the next one and the next)

    Season 2, Episode 9

    52 min
  4. PREVIEW: What Americans can learn from Australians about politics with Chas Licciardello Trailer

    Season 2, Episode 8

    Show notes

    https://www.patreon.com/politicalreality/posts/what-americans-171733279

    11 min
  5. PR ABROAD: Australian Political Primer + Panda Diplomacy

    Season 2, Episode 7

    Show notes

    https://www.patreon.com/c/politicalreality

    1 hr 3 min
  6. PREVIEW: WAR: why don't we stop having them? Bonus

    Season 2, Episode 6

    Show notes

    FULL EPISODE

    https://www.patreon.com/politicalreality/posts/war-why-dont-we-170386581

    1. ⚔️ Sun Tzu (circa 500 BCE), The Art of War
    https://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html

    2. 🏛️ Thucydides (circa 400 BCE), History of the Peloponnesian War (brief overview here)
    https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7142/7142-h/7142-h.htm
    https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/thucydides

    3. 🌐 Morgenthau (1949), Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (overview here)
    http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/04%20Conflict%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Morgenthau%20-%20Politics%20among%20nations%20(selected%20chapters).pdf
    https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/morgenthau-advances-realist-school-power-politics

    4. 🎓 By the way, many of these classic texts are currently available as PDFs on Branislav Sanchez’s course page for an international relations course he teaches at UCSD. Happy reading, and thanks, Prof. Sanchez for making these available! The syllabus on this page also offers a fantastic rundown of many of the themes we covered in this episode (plus many more, and deeper divers – enjoy!).
    https://polisci.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/faculty-directory/currently-active-faculty/slantchev-profile.html
    http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/

    5. 📘 Waltz (1959), Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis
    https://pages.ucsd.edu/~bslantchev/courses/ps240/02%20Levels%20of%20Analysis%20and%20Strategic%20Choice/Waltz%20-%20Man,%20The%20State,%20and%20War.pdf

    6. ♟️ Schelling (1960), The Strategy of Conflict
    https://www.sackett.net/Strategy-of-Conflict.pdf

    7. 💥 Blainey (1973), The Causes of War
    https://archive.org/details/causesofwar0000blai/page/n5/mode/2up

    8. 🔗 Keohane & Nye (1977), Power and Interdependence
    http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/05%20Cooperation%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Keohane%20&%20Nye%20-%20Power%20and%20interdependence%20%5BCh%201-3%5D.pdf

    9. 🌎 Waltz (1979), Theory of International Politics
    http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/03%20Anarchy,%20Hierarchy,%20and%20Sovereignty/Waltz%20-%20Theory%20of%20International%20Politics%20(Ch%205-8).pdf

    10. 🤝 Keohane (1984), After Hegemony
    http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/05%20Cooperation%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Keohane%20-%20After%20Hegemony%20%5BCh%204-6%5D.pdf

    11. 🔄 Axelrod (1984), The Evolution of Cooperation
    https://bert.stuy.edu/pbrooks/spring2015/materials/HumanReasoning-2/Axelrod_Robert_The_Evolution_of_Cooperation.pdf

    12. 🗳️ Fearon (1994), “Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes”
    https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Domestic-Political-Audiences-and-the-Escalation-of-International-Disputes.pdf

    13. ⚖️ Fearon (1995), “Rationalist Explanations for War”
    https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rationalist-Explanations-for-War.pdf

    14. 🕊️ B. Bueno de Mesquita et al. (1999), “An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace”
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/2586113

    15. 🌍 Mearsheimer (2001), The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
    https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393349276

    16. 📜 Fortna (2003), “Scraps of Paper? Agreements and the Durability of Peace”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/scraps-of-paper-agreements-and-the-durability-of-peace/70A924CC6B4785C30BADF415244FFA1F

    17. 🏢 Koremenos et al. (2003), “The Rational Design of International Institutions”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/rational-design-of-international-institutions/29B784E99033C7B3FC0564B96A64FE21

    18. 🧩 Ruggie (2005), “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge.”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/what-makes-the-world-hang-together-neoutilitarianism-and-the-social-constructivist-challenge/0160858E3E6D4D6468C926BCD6654FE9

    19. 🔎 E. Bueno de Mesquita (2005), “The Quality of Terror”
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/3647729

    20. 🧠 Wendt (2009), “Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/anarchy-is-what-states-make-of-it-the-social-construction-of-power-politics/B03BC7C9AAC5211B6DC319C077C1A854

    21. 🤝 Walter (2009), “Bargaining Failures and Civil War”
    https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.101405.135301

    22. ❓ Ramsay (2017), “Information, Uncertainty, and War”
    https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051215-022729

    23. 📚 Chenoweth et al. (eds.) (2019), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism
    https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28267

    24. 🤖 Murphy, et al. (2024), “The Promise of Machine Learning in Violent Conflict Forecasting”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/data-and-policy/article/promise-of-machine-learning-in-violent-conflict-forecasting/40D559ADA18FF7308915B08956B4E8F3

    25. 📊 Some datasets we mentioned: Correlates of War, Uppsala conflict data program, Fragile states index

    Correlates of War:
    https://correlatesofwar.org/

    Uppsala conflict data program:
    https://ucdp.uu.se/

    Fragile states index:
    https://fragilestatesindex.org/

    10 min
  7. How climate change got politicized

    Season 1, Episode 5

    1 hr
  8. Who has more diversity of thought: Democrats or Republicans? (Sorry Independents) Trailer

    Season 2, Episode 4

    Show notes

    FULL EPISODE

    1. 🧠 Dias et al. (2025), “American partisans vastly under-estimate the diversity of other partisans’ policy attitudes.”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/american-partisans-vastly-underestimate-the-diversity-of-other-partisans-policy-attitudes/CD71B9D75D10CFA0A9A07501E1CCD81A#article

    2. 👥 A few corporate-focused diversity of thought resources (Scott E. Page was my Ph.D. advisor so bias alert):
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_E._Page

    📘 1. Page (2007; 2025 second edition), The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies

    📗 2. Page (2019), The diversity bonus: How great teams pay off in the knowledge economy

    📄 3. Page & Hong (2004), “Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers”
    https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0403723101

    3. 📊 Democrats tend to be more diverse along many (not all) standard demographic/identity dimensions: Pew research
    https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/the-changing-demographic-composition-of-voters-and-party-coalitions/

    4. 🎓 Republicans tend to be more diverse along education (depending on how you measure it!): More Pew
    https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisanship-by-race-ethnicity-and-education/

    5. 📰 Older work on diversity of Democrat vs. Republican news consumption: Pew again!
    https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/

    6. 📱 More recent shifts in news consumption: rise of online, proliferation on the right

    🌐 Rise of online:
    https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/23818/2025-10-28/shifts-political-news-consumption.html

    ➡️ Proliferation on the right:
    https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly

    7. 📲 Chang et al. (2025), “Liberals and conservatives share information differently on social media”
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40697192/

    8. 🕸️ Lüders et al. (2023), “Attitude networks as intergroup realities: Using network-modeling to research attitude-identity relationships in polarized political contexts.”
    https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12665

    9. 📊 American National Election Studies (ANES) data on:

    ⚕️ 1. Abortion
    https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=abortion_by_law

    🌎 2. Immigration
    https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=immigrants_should_be_decreased_increased

    🔎 3. Guns
    https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=gun_purchase_control

    10. 🤔 Other background on ways we misunderstand each other:

    📄 1. Ahler (2014), “Self-fulfilling misperceptions of polarization”
    https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381614000085

    📄 2. Enders & Armaly (2018), “The differential effects of actual and perceived polarization.”
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-018-9476-2

    📄 3. Ahler & Sood (2018), “The parties in our heads: Misperceptions about party composition and their consequences.”
    https://repository.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:605549/datastream/PDF/view

    📝 4. Garton et al. (working paper; not peer-reviewed yet, but just to explore some of the latest/current/ongoing research), “Partisans overestimate their side’s intolerance.”
    https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7579935/v1

    10 min
  9. Are Americans getting less religious? w/ Dr. Melissa Deckman

    Season 2, Episode 3

    Show notes

    **1. ⛪ Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI):** https://prri.org/ --- **2. 👩‍🏫 More on Dr. Melissa Deckman:** https://www.melissadeckman.com/ --- **3. 📊 2025 PRRI Census on American Religion** https://prri.org/spotlight/2025-prri-census-of-american-religion/ --- **4. 🗺️ Mapping abortion views across the 50 states: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas** https://prri.org/research/mapping-abortion-views-across-the-50-states-insights-from-prris-2025-american-values-atlas/ --- **5. ✝️ Collection of PRRI’s research on Christian Nationalism** https://prri.org/prri-research/prri-issues/christian-nationalism/ --- **6. 📚 Melissa’s most recent book: *The politics of Gen Z: How the youngest voters will shape our democracy*** https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-politics-of-gen-z/9780231560085/ --- **7. 🔬 More of Melissa’s (many!) books and (prolific!) papers and other research here** https://www.melissadeckman.com/research --- **8. 📱 Follow/watch/read/learn more from PRRI on their:** **▶️ 1. YouTube** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1GzzUoUV9zsSB-FEOJDryg **📸 2. Instagram** https://www.instagram.com/prripoll/ **💼 3. LinkedIn** https://www.linkedin.com/company/public-religion-research-institute/ **📰 4. Substack** https://prri.substack.com --- **9. 💝 And you can always donate to their nonprofit work if you feel so moved!** https://prri.org/donate/

    59 min
  10. PREVIEW: Why haven't we had a woman president? Bonus

    Season 2, Episode 2

    Show notes

    1. 📊 Burns et al. (2025), What’s happened to the gender gap in political activity? Social structure, politics, and political participation in the United States
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/whats-happened-to-the-gender-gap-in-political-activity/1A6EFA30E995F841B8D61D6EDEC0F777

    2. 📄 Burns et al. (2018), “What’s happened to the gender gap in political participation? How might we explain it?”
    https://academic.oup.com/book/5111/chapter-abstract/147698891?redirectedFrom=fulltext

    3. 📚 Burns et al. (2009), The private roots of public action: Gender, equality, and political participation
    https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.4159/9780674029088/html

    4. 🗳️ Lawless & Fox (2019), “A Trump effect? Women and the 2018 midterm elections”
    https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/for-2018-0038/html

    5. 🎯 Fox & Lawless (2023), “The invincible gender gap in political ambition”
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/invincible-gender-gap-in-political-ambition/547D8E289D82299856644844269E2FC9

    6. 📈 Fox & Lawless (2022), “The gender gap in political ambition: Everything you need to know in ten charts” (not a peer-reviewed research paper; rather, is a helpful PDF with some charts of broad trends)
    https://thelawmakers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Gender-Gap-in-Political-Ambitions_Report_Final-Jen-Lawless-2022-3-1.pdf

    7. ⚖️ Hayes & Lawless (2021), “The contingent effects of sexism in primary elections”
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10659129211043134

    8. 🧠 Dolan & Lawless (2021), “The importance of political science for understanding the developmental roots of gender gaps in politics”
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1047840X.2021.1930762

    9. 📝 Dolan & Lawless (working paper), “Gender bias in primary elections? Survey says no” (note this is a working paper, which means it is still in progress and has not been peer reviewed)
    https://www.dannyhayes.org/uploads/6/9/8/5/69858539/dolan_and_lawless_ncapsa_paper.pdf

    10. 🏛️ Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) graph of percentage of members of Congress who are women (plus lots of other data and historical information)
    https://cawp.rutgers.edu/data/levels-office/congress#Current

    11. 👥 Overview of voter attitudes towards women in elections (also from CAWP)
    https://cawp.rutgers.edu/research-analysis/gender-and-politics-research-hub/research-Inventory/voter-attitudes-toward-women-politics

    12. 🔬 In general two people to follow who are leading researchers in this space are:

    👩‍🏫 1. Nancy Burns (bias alert! She was my professor for a research methods course in graduate school!)
    https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people/faculty/nburns.html

    🎓 2. Jennifer Lawless
    https://www.jenlawless.com/

    10 min
  11. What good is the electoral college anyway?

    Season 2, Episode 1

    Show notes

    ## Show Notes for Electoral College Ep. ### 🏛️ History & background 1. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Great_Compromise.htm 2. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/connecticut-compromise-great-compromise 3. https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/US-Constitution/Connecticut-Compromise 4. https://constitutioncenter.org/education/classroom-resource-library/classroom/4.4-info-brief-compromises-of-the-convention 5. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/generic/Connecticut_Compromise_Unveiling.htm 6. http://www.federalism.org/encyclopedia/no-topic/connecticut-compromise/ 7. https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/history/sherman.htm 8. https://connecticuthistory.org/the-connecticut-compromise/ ### ✅ Key arguments for the electoral college: 🛡️ **Prevents “tyranny of the majority”** 10. https://www.thoughtco.com/electoral-college-pros-and-cons-4686409 11. https://www.kqed.org/w/youdecide/election2008/electoral_college/02.html 12. https://www.arlnow.com/2026/02/12/bill-to-support-popular-vote-in-presidential-elections-passes-virginia-senate/ 13. https://www.sightline.org/2020/11/24/afraid-cities-would-rule-with-a-national-popular-vote-dont-be/ 🏘️ **Protects the voice of small states** 14. https://www.thepolicycircle.org/understanding-the-electoral-college/ 15. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-22/electoral-college-popular-vote-founders-james-madison-great-compromise 16. https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/the-importance-of-the-electoral-college/ 17. https://theconversation.com/the-electoral-college-system-isnt-one-person-one-vote-150342 🇺🇸 **Preserves federalism** 18. https://riponsociety.org/article/why-the-electoral-college-should-be-preserved/ 🏆 **Creates decisive mandates** 19. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/electoral-college 20. https://www.heritage.org/the-essential-electoral-college/the-benefits 🔎 **Localizes recounts** 21. https://legislature.maine.gov/testimony/resources/VLA20210511Ross132651777911040076.pdf 22. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-005-3210-4 23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_election 24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election ### ❌ Key arguments against the electoral college: 🗳️ **Conflict with popular vote** 25. https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/380960-understanding-the-us-electoral-college-who-what-why-when-and-how-we-elect-our-presidents 26. https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/virginia-bill-electoral-college-votes-national-popular-vote/291-fb82926e-ca20-4441-927b-97c491c4cdc1?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_13News_Now_-_WVEC 27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_in_which_the_winner_lost_the_popular_vote 🎯 **Hyper-focus on swing states** 28. https://www.polyas.com/election-glossary/electoral-college 29. https://foley.wsu.edu/research/ask-the-foley-institute/afi-electoral-college/ 30. https://www.albert.io/blog/electoral-college-ap-us-government-crash-course/ ⚖️ **Unequal vote weight** 31. https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html 32. https://www.monmouth.edu/magazine/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-the-electoral-college/ 33. https://www.kare11.com/article/news/nation-world/electoral-college-how-it-works-history/507-90d314dd-1e0d-4d85-b336-d2612dd1ef38 📊 **Winner-take-all distortion** 34. https://ash.harvard.edu/articles/the-electoral-college-and-our-broken-presidential-election-system/ 35. https://www.lwvme.org/NPVmyths 36. https://www.uchscommander.com/opinions/2025/01/31/electoral-college-disrupts-democracy/ 37. https://indianacitizen.org/kennedy-commentary-the-electoral-college/ 📉 **Depresses local turnout** 38. https://virginiahistory.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/7.4-Activity-3-Persuasive Writing.pdf 39. https://medium.com/@dukepolis/your-vote-does-not-count-why-the-electoral-college-erodes-the-foundations-of-democracy-3bc7632d3283 ### 🔧 Possible reforms 40. https://www.insidepolitics.org/brookingsreports/AbolishElectoralCollege.pdf 41. https://news.gallup.com/poll/2323/Americans-Historically-Favored-Changing-Way-Presidents-Elected.aspx 42. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact#cite_note-FOOTNOTENealeNolan20191-104 43. https://fairvote.org/archives/the_electoral_college-past_attempts_at_reform/ 44. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-to-get-rid-of-the-electoral-college/ 45. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/different-ways-reforming-electoral-college-past-and-present 46. https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/the-electoral-college

    54 min
  12. What We Hope You Learned

    Season 1, Episode 24

    Show notes

    Thank you for watching/listening to this season. We hope you find the show informative and will join us in Season 2

    43 min
  13. Season 1 Recap - What We Learned

    Season 1, Episode 23

    Show notes

    Thanks for joining on this new endeavor.

    55 min
  14. How Does Democracy Score

    Season 1, Episode 22

    1 hr 2 min
  15. PREVIEW: Being in Congress Trailer

    Season 1, Episode 20

    Show notes

    Full Episode https://www.patreon.com/posts/being-in-s01e21-159335999

    Thanks to Derek Kilmer for joining us!

    10 min
  16. How to Talk Politics with Prof. Lindsay Cormack

    Season 1, Episode 20

    Show notes

    •

    Prof. Cormack’s excellent book, How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It’s Up to You to Do It): https://howtoraiseacitizen.com/

    •

    Her DC Inbox searchable database of e-newsletters from members of Congress (well worth exploring): https://www.dcinbox.com/

    •

    More of her research and writing: https://www.lindseycormack.com/

    •

    Follow Prof. Cormack: https://www.instagram.com/howtoraiseacitizen/

    59 min
  17. European Affective Polarization Trailer

    Season 1, Episode 19

    Show notes

    🌍 Primary studies discussed in the episode:

    1. 📄 Wagner, Markus (2024), “Affective polarization in Europe,” European Political Science Review
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/affective-polarization-in-europe/36BDBF804365FE0B350E610E9E7C714E

    2. 📄 Boxell et al. (2024), “Cross-country trends in affective polarization,” The Review of Economics and Statistics
    https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/106/2/557/109262/Cross-Country-Trends-in-Affective-Polarization

    3. 📚 Reiljan, Andres (2025), “Affective polarization in Europe,” ch. 8 of the Handbook of Affective Polarization
    https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap-oa/book/9781035310609/chapter8.xml

    📘 Handbook of Affective Polarization
    https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781035310609/9781035310609.xml

    4. 📄 Iyengar et al. (2012), “Affect, not ideology: A social identity perspective on polarization,” Public Opinion Quarterly
    https://pcl.sites.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj22066/files/media/file/iyengar-poq-affect-not-ideology.pdf

    5. 📄 Iyengar et al. (2019), “The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States,” Annual Review of Political Science
    https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034

    6. 📄 Druckman & Levy (2022), “Affective polarization in the American public,” ch. 18 of the Handbook on Politics and Public Opinion
    https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800379619/book-part-9781800379619-30.xml

    7. 🎙️ And, of course, see our previous episode on this :).
    https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/videos/is-polarization-actually-a-problem-s01e05-teaser/

    Finally, you may be surprised to see that Turkey is included as a European country. We were also surprised! While only 3% of Turkey’s landmass (or 15% of its population) is in Europe (the rest is considered to be in Asia), it is relatively standard practice in global measures to categorize it along with other European countries.

    For example, see also the latest Economist Intelligence Unit 2025 democracy index report:
    https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2025/

    Or their Wikipedia page if you don’t feel like downloading it!:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

    Turkey is also a NATO member, member of the Council of Europe, and an EU candidate (though negotiations are currently frozen), among other European memberships. Most importantly, it’s also part of Eurovision ;).

    All of that said, this is an excellent example of how the “simple” act of classification, never mind quantification, is an enduring challenge in political science! You could certainly imagine a valid case for analyzing, say, aggregate European data both with and without Turkey included (as well as Russia, and some others).

    🧠 For a primer/refresher on affective polarization in general, see:🇹🇷 A quick note on Turkey and “Europe”

    10 min
  18. 1 hr 6 min
  19. PREVIEW: Politicization of Science Trailer

    Season 1, Episode 17

    Show notes

    https://www.patreon.com/posts/politicization-156907450

    10 min
  20. What would it take to solve homelessness in America? with Andrew Heaton!

    Season 1, Episode 16

    Show notes

    1. 🎙️ Check out Andrew Heaton’s podcast and Substack, The Political Orphanage
    https://www.thepoliticalorphanage.com

    2. ▶️ You can also find his podcast and other videos on YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewHeatonTPO

    3. 📚 Here’s one of his many books: Tribalism is Dumb
    https://www.amazon.com/Tribalism-Dumb-Where-Came-about/dp/B0DJKSZP6J

    4. 🎧 Here are some of his Political Orphanage episodes that are about homelessness:

    🏚️ Homelessness, and our stupid solutions
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homelessness-and-our-stupid-solutions/id1439837349?i=1000548447580

    🦖 How Godzilla beat the housing crisis
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-godzilla-beat-the-housing-crisis/id1439837349?i=1000710268550&l=fr-FR

    🏘️ The best tiny house village in America (an interview with Alan Graham, the founder of Community First! Village, an organization we discussed in the episode)
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-tiny-house-village-in-america/id1439837349?i=1000549032659

    🐶 We’ll watch your dog while you’re in rehab (an interview with Evan Taylor and Cindy Webb, who lead Pause for Paws, one of the organizations we talked about in the episode)
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-watch-your-dog-while-youre-in-rehab/id1439837349?i=1000685060836

    5. 🏡 More information about Community First! Village
    https://mlf.org/community-first/

    6. 🐾 More information about Pause for Paws
    https://www.pause4pawsok.org

    7. 🌐 Check out all of Andrew Heaton’s goings on:
    https://mightyheaton.com/

    8. 😂 You can also watch him in comedy videos about politics, like this one!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z_xtOmgek

    1 hr 5 min

On these lists

Political Reality is one of the shows picked out on this list

All News lists