logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
24m 55s

How to fix our flawed democracies

Financial Times
About this episode

Gideon talks to Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, about his new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. They discuss why the post-war settlement between democratic governments and their people is no longer fit for purpose and what can be done to restore our faith in it.


More on this topic:

FT podcast survey

Martin Wolf: in defence of democratic capitalism

The great disruption has only just begun

CEOs beware: cost-cutting isn’t the same as growth


Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Jul 9
What would a far-right government in France look like?
Marine Le Pen has run for the French presidency several times before, but her chances of winning next year look better than ever. Gideon talks to the FT's Victor Mallet about the source of her growing popularity and what a far-right government would mean for France and the EU. Cl ... Show More
29m 10s
Jul 2
Lebanon peace deal: can it hold?
The war in Iran triggered a new round of conflict between the Hizbollah militia in Lebanon and the Israeli army. More than 4,000 people have been killed and about a million displaced. Lebanon and Israel signed a peace deal in Washington at the weekend to end the fighting, but wit ... Show More
20m 54s
Jun 28
Bonus episode: Rahm Emanuel on how to fix America
In this special edition of the Rachman Review, Edward Luce, the FT's Washington commentator, talks to Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff for Barack Obama, about where the Democratic party has gone wrong in recent years and how to win back the confidence of middle Ame ... Show More
27m 57s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2023
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: epilogue
<p>In this last episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the FT’s chief economics commentator sits down with the FT’s executive opinion editor, Jonathan Derbyshire, to give his concluding thoughts on the state of the world’s democracies. Drawing on arguments in Martin’s latest book, <em> ... Show More
20m 20s
Mar 2023
The crisis of democratic capitalism with Martin Wolf
Some analysts argue that capitalism would work better without democracy, while others believe that democracy would be better off without capitalism – so what’s the solution? In his new book “The crisis of democratic capitalism”, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Fin ... Show More
33m 35s
Jun 2023
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: the ‘democratic recession’
<p>In this second episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the renowned FT columnist and economist speaks to Larry Diamond, a leading contemporary scholar in the field of democracy studies and a senior fellow in global democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies a ... Show More
43m 28s
May 2023
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism
<p>In the first of this four-part series, the renowned FT columnist and economist Martin Wolf tells the FT’s executive opinion editor Jonathan Derbyshire why he fears the marriage of liberal economics and democracy may be facing its toughest test in decades. Drawing on arguments ... Show More
46m 37s
Jun 2023
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: resisting autocracy
<p>In this third episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the renowned FT columnist and economist speaks to the journalist and historian Anne Applebaum, who has written extensively about the history of communism and the development of civil society in central and eastern Europe. Drawing ... Show More
43m 13s
Jul 2025
The Wolf-Krugman Exchange: The future of the postwar system
In the fifth of this six-part series of The Economics Show, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman discuss the way American politics is crashing against both the guardrails of a stable, democratic system and the rules and ... Show More
44m 3s
Jun 2023
Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: Hillary Clinton
<p>In this fourth episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the FT’s chief economics commentator discusses the rise of populist politics with someone who was hit by its hard edge: Hillary Clinton. Drawing on arguments in Martin’s latest book, <em>The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism,</em> ... Show More
41m 42s
Jul 2024
Rethinking Democracy Ep. 3: Economic Conditions and Support for Democracy with Daron Acemoglu and Tamara Cofman Wittes
<p><strong>About the series:</strong> This is a critical year for the future of democracy. Half the world's population will go to the polls in 2024, at a time when citizens in America and across the globe are losing faith in democratic institutions. We often view the rollback of ... Show More
1h 2m