Podcasts · Democracy Paradox

Kenneth Roberts Says the Left Pays a Steep Price for Breaking with Democracy

13 May 2026 · 47 min · S2 E18

The left pays a very steep price when they break with democratic norms and procedures.

Kenneth Roberts

Kenneth Roberts is the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government at Cornell University. He is the coauthor (with Santiago Anria) of Polarization and Democracy in Latin America: Legacies of the Left Turn.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20 • The Origins of the Left Turn - 3:21 • Polarization and Its Discontents - 13:18 • The Autocratic Temptation - 21:40 • Populism and the Left's Democratic Reckoning - 37:24

Links

Learn more about Kenneth Roberts

Read his book Polarization and Democracy in Latin America: Legacies of the Left Turn

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

Register for the 2026 Global Democracy Conference at the University of Notre Dame.

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Email comments or questions to jkempf@democracyparadox.com

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Links in the notes 8

• https://kellogg.nd.edu/
• https://keough.nd.edu/
• https://wp.me/pavhaU-2Uc
• https://government.cornell.edu/kenneth-roberts
• https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo264522679.html
• https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScATV28REQcadiy132TV-Y6jCtglQcWheXbwU0jA7Hvsvvidw/viewform
• https://kellogg.nd.edu/global-democracy-conference-2026-confronting-public-support-anti-democratic-leaders
• https://www.patreon.com/demparadox