Andrew Keen

Humanity in Action and the Bertelsmann Foundation invites you to a live discussion with Anne Applebaum and Michael Ignatieff about the decline of liberal democracy and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. The event will be hosted by Andrew Keen, host of the How to Fix Democracy video and podcast series. 

"One of the areas which is not as well understood is the contributions and problems of our economic system to the lost of trust in institutions and in our economic system, capitalism."

Beginning in Mississippi in the 1890s, distinguished Professor Carol Anderson shows viewers how our current moment and fears of a free and fair election in November 2020 are not a aberration in United States history.

"For most of their history, you can see why liberalism and the defense of rights and the rule of law exists in some particular cases in a close relationship with the development of capitalism."

"Modern Monetary Theory upends so many deeply held beliefs of the role that public money and taxes and debt play in our government's finances... The obsession we have and the fear we have of government deficits is very much ill-conceived and misguided."

Join host Andrew Keen and panelists Leon Botstein, Rebecca Henderson and Earl Lewis on discussing contemporary challenges to democracy and the recent online launch of the documentary film "How to Fix Democracy."

"[Capitalism] is simultaneously one of the greatest inventions of the human race and a major disaster."

"I don't do nostalgia [for the days of when capitalism seemed to be fairer]. I don't want to look back and cling to the past... However, there was a fairer system post-War [World II]."

"You have markets in feudalism. You have markets in slavery. To celebrate the market doesn't tell you what organization of production and distribution of services a system has."

"As you can see from the stock market response, even the $2 trillion stimulus [during the coronavirus pandemic] did not save us. I tend to think that the private sector is going to be the salvation and that the market already recognizes that."

"In the 1970s, the legacy of the New Deal had petered out. A new generation of leadership had come into Washington that did not have at the center this antagonistic, skeptical approach toward concentrated corporate and economic power."

"We've known since the 1950s and 60s that the market cannot deliver healthcare and it doesn't... this is one of the serious forces undermining democracy in America today"

"There is an incompatibility between democracy and socialism. What capitalism thrives on is economic competition, what democracy thrives on is political competition."

"Capitalism has to be essentially an amoral society, where law replaces moral incubation usually obtained through religion or ethics."

"We who believe that democracy is a worthy goal and indeed a moral imperative have to have a better answer than its simply not as bad as any authoritarian alternative."

"Democracy itself is so controversial within the UN that it is not written in the charter."

"The most difficult thing about democracy is that it does something people don't want to do, and that is to take responsibility for their own lives."

Ralph Nader believes that democracy is about civic organization, not just public opinion. He reminds the public that there is something that politicians want more than money from special interests: your vote. 

"Democracy is not a fancy beast!" Canadian political philosopher and writer John Ralston Saul discusses how the crisis in democracy today is self-inflicted and intentional.

Humanity in Action is pleased to announce an upcoming benefit, "How to Fix Capitalism" to take place this fall.

"The fight of today's age is against the present zeitgeist."

Contanze Stelzenmüller, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, discusses how domestic problems have led to disruptions in foreign policy - turning international allies into enemies.

Maria Ressa, CEO and Co-Founder of Rappler and a Time Magazine's 2018 Person of the Year, discusses the effects of President Duterte's election on the distortion of facts through his attacks on the war on drugs as well as her experiences as a target of propaganda campaigns.

Resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute Norman Ornstein describes how his publication titled "Why Republicans Are to Blame" led him to lose many friends.

Former White House and State Department official, Laura Rosenberger, shares her belief that threats to democracy are threats to national security.

To Cornell William Brooks, former president of the NAACP and current professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, democracy is an ever-changing question of "who is a citizen?"

From the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the collapse of the neoliberal Washington Consensus in 2008, Luce illustrates how political developments frame how we experience economic events.

A thought leader on disinformation, Anne Applebaum comments on current political polarization by arguing that unless you can have debates based on a commonly agreed upon set of facts, you cannot have democracy at all. 

Amr Moussa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, explains two theories behind the so-called Arab Spring (a term he doesn’t agree with): creative anarchy and the failure of Arab governments.

In a conversation that touches upon Brexit, the Cold War, and China’s rise, Sir Malcolm Rifkind frames the challenge to liberal democracy today as a battle between “rule of law” and “rule by law.”

Tzipi Livni talks about the current state of politics in Israel, what she thinks is essential for political parties to contribute to the strength of democracy, and how supporters of liberal democracy around the world can band together to defend it.

From Kansas City, where she was holding the Aspen Ministers Forum in May 2019, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke with Andrew Keen about why her first president, Harry Truman, was such an inspiration to her.

Dr. Earl Lewis speaks on the four main challenges to American democracy and what brings him hope.

At the Bertelsmann Foundation's Washington Symposium in April, 2019, we asked leaders from business, politics, and culture to respond to the question: “How do we fix democracy?” These are their answers.

From Prague, where he served as Ambassador from the United States, Norman Eisen discusses the ups and downs of democracy in the Czech city over the course of the 20th century.

Soraya Chemaly challenges the idea that democracy in the United States was every "unbroken." Click to learn more.

Adrian Wooldridge, political editor and Bagehot columnist at The Economist, speaks with Andrew Keen on how to reinvent liberalism.

Hear how Professor Anderson’s research and teaching focus on public policy reveals how domestic and international policies intersect through the issues of race, justice and equality in the United States.

David Runciman, Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, talks about his take on the challenges to democracy in the second installment of How to Fix Democracy.

See Michael Ignatieff, esteemed rector and president of Central European University, gives his insights on the state of democracy.

"For democracy to work, there needs to be informed citizens... what is different now is the universality and instantaneousness of disinformation."