Ep. 6 - Democracy Is a System Not a Person, with Thomas Carothers

For the sixth episode of Budapest, I was joined by Thomas Carothers — senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and one of the world's leading scholars of democratic backsliding and democracy promotion.

From the United States to Poland, autocracies don't rise by chance — they follow a playbook. Together with Thomas, we explore how that playbook deploys, how to recognise it before it's too late, and why a solid system of checks and balances remains democracy's most reliable defence.

European democracies are under pressure too: from the economic fragility of the middle class, and from a failure to make the case for what immigration actually brings.

Yet Carothers reminds us that democracy is an ongoing process — and there is always time to challenge our own way of thinking.

In this episode:

∙ The pressures on Western democracies

∙ The legacy of Donald Trump's presidency on the US system

∙ Immigration and diversity: challenges or resources for democracies?

∙ How the autocratic playbook works

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps

1:05 – Elections in Hungary matter for the EU

4:40 – The turning point in American politics

10:00 – The legacy of Trump's presidency

16:00 – Building democracy is a cultural process

18:50 – Why the autocratic playbook spread

22:20 – The anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda

25:40 – Weaknesses in Western Europe

30:50 – All the reasons why we need immigration

33:40 – The Polish case and the role of the judiciary

37:30 – Democracy can always get back

41:00 – Get out of your bubble

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua