In 2016, Russian trolls worked doggedly to polarize Americans more than they already were. To do it, they peddled cynicism and pandered to the belief that you can’t change anyone’s mind anyway. Our guest tries to prove them wrong.

The Chilean constitution was designed for a neoliberal dystopia under authoritarian military rule, where market fundamentalism reigned. Two years ago it seemed destined for the dustbin of history. A political theorist explains why the effort to replace that document failed so spectacularly.

Our university — and our town — has been visited yet again with violence. Three students are dead, two are wounded, and our hearts are in tatters. The show’s hosts and producers ponder the questions we need to ask, and the pathways to healing we need to find.

Historian Kimberly Gauderman explains how scholars can serve as expert witnesses in asylum cases, shedding light on the sociocultural dynamics driving applicants to escape their countries of origin.

The FBI ran covert surveillance programs in its earlier history against civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. It also went after the KKK and white hate groups. An acclaimed writer assesses the bureau’s mixed past and its ambiguous present.

Patrícia Campos Mello has faced online abuse for doing her job — reporting on Brazilian politics under the administration of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Now Bolsonaro is the underdog in an election the results of which he may not accept.

The biggest roadblock to democratic progress in the United States may be the U.S. Constitution itself. We turn to a political theorist and a constitutional law professor — and ask them what the heck Americans can do about it.

The faith Americans have in the federal bench has hit rock bottom. And that might be a good thing, says NYU constitutional law professor Christopher Sprigman. He says it’s high time to strip the high court of its stranglehold on democracy, one case at a time.

Four years ago, ethnographer Emily Van Duyn embedded herself in a group of covert progressives in rural Texas. Does their story tell us what’s wrong with America’s political climate — or what might save it?