The USA 250 years after Independence with Adam Smith

It's the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year, but the mood isn’t purely about celebration. If you've wondered why the US and US politics feel so unstable despite the country being richer and more powerful than ever, this episode explains the paradox.

In this episode of the We Society with Will Hutton, join Adam Smith, Professor of United States Politics & Political History at the University of Oxford, and Edward Orsborn, Director of the Rothermere American Institute. They discuss why the country that once called itself "humanity's last best hope" is now better known for polarisation, misinformation, and political gridlock than democratic optimism. For more on US politics and political history, find Adam Smith’s podcast here: https://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/podcast 

This episode is ideal for listeners interested in topical issues, contemporary US politics, US history and British / US relations.

In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy of Social Sciences president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems. In this series social science calls on aspects of business, education, economics, geopolitics, healthcare, human geography and more, exploring their impact on society and the social policy they can inspire. The We Society is for those interested in how social science impacts their world, and how evidence backed research can improve it.

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The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert 
A Whistledown Production for the Academy of Social Sciences