Should we Redesign Democracy? With Mike Saward

In the final episode of season 2, Jess chats to Danny Shaw about the role of journalism in holding the justice system to account and how this interacts with democracy.Danny Shaw is a journalist and commentator on policing, criminal justice, prisons, security & immigration. He worked for the BBC for 31 years, and was an adviser to Yvette Cooper in the lead-up to the General Election, helping shape Labour's policies on crime, policing, security and immigration and prepare the Party for government. ⁠⁠For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://democracydifferently.org⁠

This week Keith chats to Marjoke Oosterom and Niranjan Nampoothiri from the Institute of Development Studies about the importance of democratic participation and their newly released report from the IDS, Where’s the demos in Democracy? Building Democratic Futures and Resisting Autocracy. Marjoke Oosterom and Niranjan Nampoothiri are both researchers in the Power and Politics Research Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies. For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://democracydifferently.org

In this episode Jess chats to Professor John Wall about extending suffrage to children. They discuss how giving children the right to vote could overcome some challenges currently faced by democracy such as short-termism and why some arguments against giving children the vote simply do not hold up to scrutiny.John Wall is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Childhood Studies at Rutgers University Camden, as well as Director of the Childism Institute and the Children's Voting Colloquium. His work focuses on ageless suffrage and empowering children, including developing the critical theory of childism.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://democracydifferently.org

In this episode host Keith Hyams speaks with Simon Caney with a focus on democracy and future generations, more specifically why democracy is currently ill equipped to consider the interests of future generations, and what we can do about it.Simon Caney is a Professor of Political Theory at the University of Warwick. He is a leading thinker in an array of topics such as climate justice, democratic theory and global justice.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org

In this episode of Democracy: Differently, Jess chats to Tatton Spiller, founder of Simply Politics, to discuss how politics can be more engaging and informative. Tatton Spiller is an author, journalist, former teacher and has worked at the Houses of Parliament delivering education sessions for school children. Simple Politics aims to help people have better conversations about politics by providing clear, impartial and accurate information about facts, topics and the opinions people hold.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Keith speaks to Molly Scott Cato about the nature and importance of constitutions and why the UK could benefit from a new one.Molly Scott Cato is an economist and former South West Member of European Parliament for the Green Party. She has written widely on areas including green economics, anti-capitalism and cooperative studies.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Jess sits down with Professor Michelle Phelps to discuss what policing and prisons show us about democracy, and the politics of police reform in Minneapolis. Michelle Phelps is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on the sociology of policing, probations and prisons and her latest book The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America won the 2026 Outstanding Book Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this special episode, host Jess discusses the first two weeks of the US-Israel war with Iran with Professor Faten Ghosn. They discuss the possibility for negotiations, events leading up to the strikes, and what this means for democracy. Professor Faten Ghosn is Head of the Department of Government at the University of Essex and affiliated faculty (Non-UA) at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona. Her work focuses, in part, on enemy images as obstacles to cooperation, militarized interstate disputes, and transitional justice.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Jess sat down with Professor Karen Celis and Professor Sarah Childs. The discuss how women can and should be represented in a democracy, democratic listening and design, and their book Feminist Democratic Representation.Karen Celis is Professor of Political Science and head of the research centre Democratic Futures, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, and Sarah is a Professor of Politics and Gender at University of Edinburgh and one of the principle investigators on the ERC Synergy grant QUALREP. For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

On this episode, host Keith Hyams sits down with Mike Saward to discuss how we can (re)design democracy, LEGO, and possible new directions for democracy.Mike Saward is Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. His work focuses on contemporary democratic theory, including theories of representation. His most recent book, Democratic Design, was awarded the W.J.M Mackenzie Book Prize by the UK Political Studies Association in 2023.For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org