In the sixth episode of the Political Science Podcast, its host and presenter Enes Kulenović spoke with Ana Matan, assistant professor at the Department of Political and Social Theory at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. Matan is an expert on the work of John Rawls, teaching theories and policies of peace and theories of democracy, and also a political activist at the local level. In the first part of the conversation, Matan spoke about democratic innovations such as participatory budgeting and deliberative polling that empower citizens, create social capital and strengthen citizens’ capacity for agency as well as the resilience of democracy as a whole. In the second part of the conversation, Matan spoke about the relationship between political theory and practice. She emphasized the need for theoretical reflections to be applicable in terms of the development of institutional innovations and policy improvement, but she also stressed the difficulties of applying theoretical knowledge in civic engagement. Finally, in the conversation about the future of political science, Matan pointed out the importance of pluralism and cooperation of different schools, methodologies, and perspectives. If you want to find out what participatory budgeting looks like in Pazin, why assistant professor Matan's experience in the deliberation on the urban renewal of the Karlovac Star was in the end traumatic, or what does it mean that a political scientist acting as a politically engaged citizen makes a contract with the diabolical forces – listen to the sixth episode of the Political Science Podcast!
The episode can be listened to on Anchor.fm, HPD's YouTube channel or at Spotify:
