Terms of Engagement Episodes

Terms of Engagement main graphic with picture of Matthew Baum.

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Matthew Baum on What Voters Fear, What They Don’t Know and Where They Look

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, new research raises an urgent question: are Americans operating within fundamentally different information realities? In this episode, Professor Matthew Baum examines what voters know about election rules, where they get their information, and how partisan divides shape perceptions of the voting process.

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Terms of Engagement – Matthew Baum on What Voters Fear, What They Don’t Know and Where They Look
Terms of Engagement main graphic with picture of Matthew Baum.

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Matthew Baum on What Voters Fear, What They Don’t Know and Where They Look

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, new research raises an urgent question: are Americans operating within fundamentally different information realities? In this episode, Professor Matthew Baum examines what voters know about election rules, where they get their information, and how partisan divides shape perceptions of the voting process.

Terms of Engagement – Does American Politics Have a Nazi Problem?
Picture of Saladin Ambar in the Terms of Engagement header.

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Does American Politics Have a Nazi Problem?

For decades, racial appeals in American politics were most effective when they could be denied. Today, that carefully maintained distance between coded language and explicit hostility is rapidly eroding. In this episode, Saladin Ambar joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine what this transformation reveals about American politics and democracy.

Terms of Engagement – Is Democracy Eroding from the Top?
Picture of Larry Bartels in Terms of Engagement image.

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Is Democracy Eroding from the Top?

Larry Bartels, the Vanderbilt political scientist who wrote “Democracy for Realists” and “Democracy Erodes from the Top,” joins Terms of Engagement to explore the question, is Democracy eroding from the top?

Terms of Engagement – The Fight for the Student Vote: Campus Democracy Under Pressure

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – The Fight for the Student Vote: Campus Democracy Under Pressure

Jen Domagal-Goldman, the executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and Yael Bromberg, a constitutional rights attorney and leading scholar on the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, join Terms of Engagement to explore what’s at stake in the ongoing partisan battle over student voting rights and civic participation.

Terms of Engagement – Men Without Work: Is a Hidden Trend Fueling American Populism?

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Men Without Work: Is a Hidden Trend Fueling American Populism?

American Enterprise Institute political economist Nicholas Eberstadt joints Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss falling male labor force participation and what he says are its effects on politics and society.

Terms of Engagement – Amanda Carpenter on Democracy and Trump’s Golden Age of Corruption

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Amanda Carpenter on Democracy and Trump’s Golden Age of Corruption

Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine how today’s alarmingly-high levels of political corruption undermine democratic institutions and public trust, distort policymaking, and make citizens increasingly cynical about the democratic process.

Terms of Engagement – How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
Episode 49 graphic.

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

What does it take to stand up for what you believe in when your personal safety, security and even liberty are at stake? Ami Fields-Meyer, a political strategist and former senior policy advisor in the Biden-Harris White House, joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to speak about speaking out in tumultuous times.

Terms of Engagement – Thomas Hicks on the Gutting of the Election Assistance Commission

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Thomas Hicks on the Gutting of the Election Assistance Commission

Thomas Hicks, who was fired as head of the federal Election Assistance Commission on July 9 when President Donald Trump dismissed all three serving commissioners, joins Terms of Engagement to discuss what the agency does and what the move might mean for the upcoming midterms and future elections.