Welcome to The Context

A podcast about how to get democracy to work for everyone—and why that’s so hard to do.

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Do you ever watch the news and wonder, “How did we get here?” Or think to yourself, “Things are bad . . . What can I do?”

The Context is here to help. Our show breaks down the ideas, history, and trends that are shaping democracy. And you don’t need to be an expert to follow along. Every other Tuesday, host Alex Lovit talks about timely topics with big-picture thinkers and hands-on practitioners, like activists, writers, historians, and community leaders.

The topics are heavy, but we try to have fun along the way. To build the future we want, we’ll need knowledge—but also camaraderie and joy.

We hope you’ll join us.

About the Host

Alex Lovit is a senior program officer and historian at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.

Alex studies the political history of the United States and the virtues and flaws that have marked American democracy from the founding to the present. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Michigan.

Alex is a regular listener of many podcasts focused on democracy and American politics and represents Kettering’s perspective on The Context with a mixture of curiosity, care, and humor. He enjoys that working on The Context gives him the opportunity to read and talk about a wide variety of topics related to democracy in the United States and around the world.

More Episodes

  • One-Party Governance is Not Healthy Democracy

    Published On: August 27, 2024

    Democracy should work for everyone. Christine Todd Whitman explains how political parties are more concerned with maintaining power than solving problems for...

  • DEI Is In America’s DNA

    Published On: August 13, 2024

    American history is a story about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Stacey Abrams discusses why Americans should embrace and defend DEI as...

  • Stop Giving Demagogues Permission Slips

    Published On: July 30, 2024

    American democracy relies on nonpartisan civil servants to detect and combat corruption. Alexander Vindman was one such civil servant when he reported...

  • SCOTUS Is Delegitimizing Itself

    Published On: July 16, 2024

    The Supreme Court does not belong in the crosshairs of the American political debate. Neal Katyal discusses how the court’s rush to...

  • Reimagining Democracy Through Art

    Published On: July 2, 2024

    What if the January 6 attack on the US Capitol had been successful? Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan explore just that in...

  • Defending LGBTQ+ Rights Is Defending Democracy

    Published On: June 18, 2024

    The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans for the first time in 2023. In state houses across...

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The Democracy Group

The Context is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.