Podcast: Martin Wolf on democracy’s year of peril

In the final episode of a five-part special FT podcast series on the challenges facing democratic institutions across the world in 2024, Martin Wolf spells out his concerns to the FT’s executive opinion editor, Jonathan Derbyshire. They discuss what Martin has gleaned from his conversations with Robert Kagan, Fiona Hill, Anne Applebaum and Raghuram Rajan. Did they ease his concerns in any way?

Over five episodes, the new series Martin Wolf on democracy’s year of peril: 2024 sees Wolf interview leading political thinkers about the future of the western, liberal democratic system.

Across the world, billions of citizens are being asked to cast their vote in elections taking place in more than 50 countries, making this a pivotal year for democracy. But these polls come as populist, illiberal and far-right parties are either growing in support or consolidating gains they have already made, with worrying consequences for the future of democratic institutions.

Episodes of Martin Wolf on democracy’s year of peril: 2024 will be published on Sundays starting June 2. Listen to the series below, or subscribe and listen to episodes on the FT News Briefing podcast - on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to last year’s special series, Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism, and read transcripts of each episode here.

For Martin’s FT columns click here.

Martin Wolf on democracy’s year of peril: 2024

Listen to episode 5 - Epilogue:

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Listen to episode 4 - Fiona Hill:

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Listen to episode 3 - Raghuram Rajan:

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Listen to episode 2 - Anne Applebaum:

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Listen to episode 1 - Robert Kagan:

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 “for services to financial journalism”.