Can Better Conversations Save Democracy?

Disagreeing Well: The Podcast About Polarization · Oct 15, 2026 · 59m

In this episode of Disagreeing Well: The Podcast About Polarization, I talk with Rob Danisch, Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo and co-author of Radically Civil: How to Save Democracy One Conversation at a Time. Drawing on his research in rhetoric, persuasion, and democratic dialogue, Danisch argues that democracy depends on our ability to listen, build trust, and engage constructively across differences – something that is becoming increasingly more difficult in our polarized times.

We discuss why facts alone rarely change minds, how the way we approach political…