About Rachel Beatty Riedl

Launching a new podcast to support academic research and connection to policy & practice regarding Democracy (and representation, rights, participation, rule of law, etc).

My research expertise is on democracy and authoritarianism globally, and particularly across Africa. I have focused on questions of participation, institutions, political parties, and local governance. I serve as the Peggy J. Koenig ’78 Director of the Center on Global Democracy in the Brooks School of Public Policy and Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University.

NBN Episodes hosted by Rachel:

A Year of Autocratization: Steep Declines in Democracy Registered in 2025 V-Dem Report

March 22, 2026

A Year of Autocratization

with Kenneth Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government, Cornell University Paul Friesen, Research Associate, Brooks Center on Global Democracy, Cornell University

This week on Democracy Dialogues, host Rachel Beatty Riedl speaks with Kenneth Roberts and Paul Friesen, democracy experts at Cornell University, to u…