Showing results for "Recordings" in Democracy

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle called man a political animal. But what did he mean by that? What is democracy? How do democracies differ from one another? How do they stack up against their alternatives, like dictatorship? And can democracy survive the many challenges it faces today? To answer these questions, look no further than Democracy and Its Alternatives. Political science, history, and current affairs rolled into one, these 24 lectures investigate democratic government in theory and practice.

Dan Smoot (October 5, 1913 to July 24, 2003), born in East Prairie, MO, was an FBI agent turned conservative political commentator. From 1956 to 1971, he published The Dan Smoot Report, which was a weekly newsletter and radio program. Smoot wrote four books, including The Invisible Government (1962), concerning early members of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the following recording, Smoot explains the importance of America as a Constitutional Republic.

In his 1988 CBC Massey Lecture, Noam Chomsky inquires into the nature of the media in a political system where the population cannot be disciplined by force and thus must be subjected to more subtle forms of ideological control. Specific cases are illustrated in detail, using the U.S. media primarily but also media in other societies.