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Small World, Big ProblemsAuthor: JHU SAIS Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies
Small World, Big Problems a SAIS Strategy Podcast. A SAIS student podcast supported by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. In Small World, Big Problems, we ask the experts about the biggest challenges in the world of strategy and national security. Its a small world, and its only getting smaller. But it seems like every day, there is a new problem on the horizon: great power conflict, political extremism, climate change the list goes on and on. In this student podcast sponsored by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, we ask leading experts in the fields of national security, strategy, and statecraft about what problems the world is facing and, more importantly, how to solve them. Please address any questions to SAISStrategyPodcast@gmail.com. Language: en Genres: Government, News, News Commentary Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Democracy in Decline: What a More Authoritarian World Means for Global Security and World Order
Episode 4
Monday, 16 February, 2026
Krithiga Narayanan hosts a conversation with Michael Coppedge, co-founder and principal investigator of the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem), one of the world’s leading efforts to measure and analyze democratic change. Drawing on V-Dem’s latest global data, Coppedge examines how shifts within democratic systems are reshaping the international order and altering global power dynamics. The discussion explores how democratic erosion often unfolds gradually rather than through abrupt breakdowns, why electoral autocracies are becoming more common, and how changes in large and influential democracies, such as India, carry consequences that extend beyond national borders. Together, they assess whether coordination among autocratic leaders is strategic or ad hoc, what the data reveals about early warning signs of democratic decline, and where opportunities for democratic resilience still exist. Produced by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS.Researched and hosted by Krithiga Narayanan; edited by Krithiga Narayanan
