US Elections Untangled is a weekly podcast series by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs that dives deep into the big questions surrounding the 2020 elections. Drawing on the expertise of FIIA researchers, the podcast looks at the elections mainly from the perspective of international relations.
The series is hosted by FIIA Visiting Research Fellow Maria Annala, an expert in present-day American politics. Joining her in the studio will be a wide array of international relations experts from FIIA.
In the first episode, Annala and FIIA director Mika Aaltola talk about the state of American democracy and the threats posed to it by the 2020 elections.
“The biggest stake in the game right now is the fate American democracy itself,” says Aaltola.
“We are living in very dramatic, tense times and quite a lot is hanging in the air.”
Aaltola sees many red flags about the health of the American democracy. One of them is the partisan gridlock that has made the US very difficult to govern. When it comes to election security, even an external threat hasn’t been enough for the two parties to come together.
“The US hasn’t actually done much to secure the elections, so there’s kind of a standing invitation to come and meddle. And the Russians are by no means the only meddlers currently,” Aaltola says.
Listen to the first episode of the US Elections Untangled podcast on the FIIA website
You can also listen to the series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
Further information:
Visiting Research Fellow Maria Annala
maria.annala@fiia.fi, +358 9 432 7766, Twitter: @maria_annala
Read more about the US elections:
Covid-19 pandemic threatens US elections: The pandemic adds significantly to the risk of a contested result and a constitutional crisis, FIIA Briefing Paper 285
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