In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee sits down with Oscar Pocasangre and Dustin Wahl to discuss the representation of young people in politics. Pocasangre is a Senior Data Analyst at New America, and Wahl is the Executive Director of Fix Our House. Together, they co-authored a new report, The Age Divide, published by Protect Democracy (2025).

Is gerontocracy a uniquely American problem? How can we bring more young people into politics? And what changes to our electoral system could make politics more representative? These are some of the questions Lee explores in this week’s episode.

In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James catch up on the state of redistricting in the U.S. They discuss Lee’s latest Substack piece, “Democracy in Pieces: Did the Texas Gerrymander Just Break the Districting Game ?”

Who writes the rules? Does the Democrats’ response to redistricting in Texas affirm the idea that political actors ultimately control the electoral process? And does it undermine Democrats’ past claims of supporting independent redistricting? Do the people still have meaningful influence over the process?

In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee Drutman discusses with Anne Meeker how case work and constituent services would work under proportional representation. Meeker is Deputy Director of POPVox and co-author of a white paper titled How Would Constituent Services in American Multi-Member Districts Work?

In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the role of conflict in policy making, guided by E.E. Schattschneider's The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (1960).

How can conflict drive change? How do our current views of partisanship and conflict inform decision-making? How does who controls the scope of conflict shape democratic participation? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode.

In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question, James and Lee talk with Soren Dayton about cycles of electoral reform. Dayton is the Director of Governance at the Foundation for American Innovation.

What are the boundaries of presidential power? How has power been centralized within the Executive Branch throughout history? What role does partisan politics play in the current conflicts over the separation of powers? These are some of the questions James and Lee explore in this week’s episode.

In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Didi Kuo about the evolution of political parties in America. Kuo is a Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don't (Oxford University Press, 2025).

Why do we need strong political parties? What is the foundation for a “good” political party? And how do we get them? These are some of the questions Lee and Julia explore in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James talk with Jonathan Rauch about Christian nationalism and its relationship to democracy. Rauch is a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the author of Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Yale University Press, 2025).

How new and distinct is this version of Christianity in American public life? What has been the historical role of Christianity in American democracy? And what exactly is civic theology? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James talk with Samuel Bagg about participation and democracy. Bagg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and the author of The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2024).

What are the origins of deliberative democracy? What is the role of participation in the 21st century? How should we think about democracy beyond individual decision-making? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode.