8 January 2007
Monday 8 January 2007 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Philip Dodd and guests discuss the buoyant emerging cultures of India and China. Political philosopher Ronald Dworkin talks about our unquestioning acceptance of democracy.
Playlist
American politics are in an appalling state and the nation is fiercely divided over every central issue. The last election was portrayed almost as a national war between a blue and a red army. So argues Ronald Dworkin, one of the world's leading legal and political philosophers. In a new book he describes the political landscape in America and asks "Is Democracy possible here?"
Ronald Dworkin is Philip Dodd's live studio guest on tonight's Night Waves and discusses the value of democracy as a universal model and its realisation in America.
Throughout this week Night Waves looks ahead at some of the potential major issues of the near future. Tonight Philip Dodd and guests compare and contrast the emerging powers that are India and China. Both countries have undergone something of an economic miracle to emerge as hugely influential global players. But how profoundly have these nations actually transformed themselves and how great is their cultural imprint around the world? Rana Mitter, who has written widely on Chinese cultural and political history, argues for China; the historian Dr Joya Chatterji advocates India.
