The internet has redefined American politics in many ways. Among the most significant is the increasing use of memes by politicians and extremist groups. Once dismissed as an online joke, memes have proved to be effective tools for energizing a…
India, Brazil, Poland, Hungary, Hong Kong, and other states throughout the world have in recent years seen an erosion of democracy as populist leaders take control of countries, both through elections or sometimes through violent coups. “You've seen countries that…
Experts discuss how the American Revolution united the states against the common enemy of the British monarchy, versus how Abraham Lincoln’s election and the Civil War brought our democracy and the nation to its brink. “They [the South] didn't claim…
The U.S. wasn’t the first democracy, nor is it the first nation to have issues with it. Struggles are inherent to the democratic process, experts explain, and America is at a critical turning point. “Very few countries have had stable…
Experts discuss one of American democracy’s biggest vulnerabilities: race relations. This isn’t solely a contemporary tension within our democracy; it’s been present since the founding of the country, then a young nation deeply invested in the slave trade. Racial divisions…
Democracy in America is balanced on a knife edge, says political scientist Barbara F. Walter, but it may not be too late to rescue it. Walter is the author of "How Civil Wars Start" and she speaks with Hari Sreenivasan…
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) Discusses January 6, 2021 with Margaret Hoover, host of PBS' "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover." He explains that in the days before the deadly riot at the United States Capitol, he was getting death threats and…
The January 6 Capitol Riots revealed that democracy is more fragile than many realized. Historian Joanne Freeman and journalist Jelani Cobb discuss the ongoing conflicts American democracy faces in the aftermath of those riots.
Follow the pursuit of democracy from the Revolutionary War through recurring cycles of civil rights progress and backlash, the 2021 Capitol riot and beyond. Explore the impact of voter rights and a civics curriculum on engaged and informed citizens.
FRONTLINE’s season premiere investigates American political leaders and choices they made that have undermined and threatened democracy in the U.S. In a two-hour documentary special premiering ahead of the 2022 midterms, FRONTLINE examines how officials fed the public lies about…