Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Bending Time | 20211109 | 20211115 (R4) | Time might not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about politics. But it actually underpins the very idea of modern democracy. Representative democracy is a system of deliberation that puts a brake on decision-making. It has a highly artificial rhythm - of checks, of balances, of electoral cycles. In a technology-fuelled world with a need for speed, democracy was designed to be slow. In this three-part series, David Runciman looks at how democracies might think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future. He moves through space and time, from Ancient Greece to our automated future, via 1930s America, post-communist Eastern Europe, and a stretch of motorway around Newport, Wales. In order to tackle the existential threats facing our societies and our natural world, do we need to find a way for politics to get up to speed? In episode one, David looks at how power bends time. How do political leaders speed things up and slow things down? How does time change in a crisis? And what can we learn from the past to stop democracy being beaten by the clock? Presenter: David Runciman Producer: Ant Adeane A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 How to stop time from unravelling politics. How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future? |
| 02 | Surviving the Future | 20211116 | We have always been on the brink of apocalypse. It's a claim made in every era. But now predictions of our imminent destruction have considerably more substance. We face cataclysmic threats - climate change, pandemics, demographic shifts, economic upheaval. That puts pressure on how politics plays out across the world. In fact, it's one of the distinctive features of 21st century politics - the future is quite hard to imagine.
And that has led to political leaders around the world turning endlessly to the past.
In episode two of Political Time Zones, David Runciman looks at how the present is being pulled apart by the past and the future. How might we re-imagine the relationship between the past, present and the future to help us survive the apocalypse?
Presenter: David Runciman
How to bring the future into politics. How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future? | |
| 02 | Surviving the Future | 20211116 | 20211122 (R4) | We have always been on the brink of apocalypse. It's a claim made in every era. But now predictions of our imminent destruction have considerably more substance. We face cataclysmic threats - climate change, pandemics, demographic shifts, economic upheaval. That puts pressure on how politics plays out across the world. In fact, it's one of the distinctive features of 21st century politics - the future is quite hard to imagine.
And that has led to political leaders around the world turning endlessly to the past.
In episode two of Political Time Zones, David Runciman looks at how the present is being pulled apart by the past and the future. How might we re-imagine the relationship between the past, present and the future to help us survive the apocalypse?
Presenter: David Runciman
How to bring the future into politics. How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future? |
| 03 | Accelerated Speed | 20211123 | The machines have arrived - artificial intelligence, automation, news feeds driven by algorithms. And they have a different relationship to time than we do. As their influence on society grows, might it change our perception of time?
David Runciman, Professor of Politics at Cambridge University, looks at whether we are on the cusp of a fundamental shift in our experience of time - and what that might mean for politics.
Presenter: David Runciman
Politics in a world of accelerated speed. How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future? | |
| 03 | Accelerated Speed | 20211123 | 20211129 (R4) | The machines have arrived - artificial intelligence, automation, news feeds driven by algorithms. And they have a different relationship to time than we do. As their influence on society grows, might it change our perception of time?
David Runciman, Professor of Politics at Cambridge University, looks at whether we are on the cusp of a fundamental shift in our experience of time - and what that might mean for politics.
Presenter: David Runciman
Politics in a world of accelerated speed. How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future? |