The end of world order as we know it
3/13/202636 min
Venezuela. Greenland. Iran. Things have been moving so quickly that we weren't even at war with Iran when we recorded this episode of The Gray Area with Sean Illing. It’s only March, but it’s been a long year. The war in Iran is only the latest sign that something deep is shifting in our global politics. Alliances fraying. Norms weakening. Democracies wobbling. So what exactly is happening? Is the liberal international order slowly eroding? Is it just going through a particularly turbulent chapter? Or are we watching it all collapse? Sean talks with Zack Beauchamp, author of Vox’s On the Right newsletter, about the global democratic backslide and whether the American-led liberal order is slipping, imploding, or just going through a rough patch. Their conversation, which was recorded before the conflict in Iran, digs into the Greenland saga, alliance politics, and why democratic decay can be both obvious and hard to see at the same time. Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling) Guest: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsKelly Clarkson0:00
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Robin Arzón0:15
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Sean Illing· Host0:45
[gentle music] My guest today is my friend and Vox colleague, Zack Beauchamp. Zack covers a lot of things. He covers, uh, ideology, particularly the, the political right, both here and abroad, and just sort of reports on the state of democracy, uh, around the world. And he's also one of the most reliable guests in the history of this show. He's the only person, I think, who I can count on to not forget to turn on his recorder and to not slap