Efficient Secrets
Constitutions provide the basic laws and principles of government for modern states. They determine the powers and duties of those who govern, and guarantee rights and freedoms to those who are governed. Yet few countries politics can be understood through these documents alone. Constitutions have, in Walter Bagehot’s famous formulation, “secrets” which don’t always align to “the traditional theory, as it exists in all the books”. This podcast looks at the different efficient secrets of democratic constitutions, as well as the challenges to them, to gain deeper insights into the unstable and fractious politics of the twenty first century – a time when democratic politics finds itself under increasing attack. The podcast is part of a broader project, the Oxford Constitutional Studies Forum, which brings together scholars of law and politics to understand the challenges faced by liberal democracies across the world today.
Efficient Secrets
Democratic Backsliding: The Politics of Backsliding
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Oxford Constitutional Studies Forum
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Season 1
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Episode 3
The second episode looks at the political process of backsliding and what happens to constitutions when this occurs, with experts on political institutions and the theory of (de)democratisation. What is democratic backsliding, why does it start, and when does it lead to transitions to authoritarianism? What kind of political regimes are more resistant to the impairment of democracy? And what can democracies do to prevent backsliding from occurring in the first place?
Music: Old Street by ORANGE PRODUCTION, licenced by Tunetank