Show notes
Join the editors as they apply the theoretical and historical lessons from our past two episodes on the "stationary bandit" to the United States! Are there latent authoritarian characteristics in the political and economic institutions of the US?To what extent have we eliminated them, and to what extent to authoritarian legacies persist?How can democracy both assist a political and economic rebalancing of social forces in favor of citizens over elites?--Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter!To comment on this episode, click here!To listen to written articles from Spectacles read aloud, click here!Follow us on Twitter!--Further Reading"Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," by Mancur Olson, in The American Political Science Review.Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.The Narrow Corridor, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.Table of Contents00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping00:32 - Today's topic and questions05:50 - Starting at the Founding08:42 - Dangers of federalism14:14 - Robber barons, the Gilded Age15:41 - Political leadership19:15 - Active failures of power-checking26:00 - Creeping totalitarianism30:57 - Conclusion32:44 - Signing Off
