Welcome to Patsy of the world, I'm Ben Rhodes and this is the first in a series of special

episodes we're doing in the lead up to November's election. We will be asking

what the stakes are in a Harrison Trump match up when it comes to our foreign policy, our national security, and

America's role in the world. I hope you'll join us as we look at some of the biggest

issues we face globally across the course of five episodes. So in the coming weeks we'll be looking at the issues

that we've been talking about a lot on the outside of the world and how they're

going to impact the election, what the results of the election are going to

mean for the rest of the world. The future of the war in Ukraine, the economic and

military competition with China, the war in Gaza, an instability across the Middle East,

and the most consequential threat of our time which hasn't gotten a lot of attention in the campaign,

climate change. But first, we're going to talk about the battle for global democracy,

and what the outcome the election will mean for the future of democracy in this country and around the world.

To begin with, it's important to understand that it's not just the United States that is holding

an election this year. More people will vote in elections in 2024 than ever before. 64

countries, about half of the world's population. Now you might think that's good

news for democracy, but not all of those elections are exactly free and fair.

For instance, Russia held an election earlier this year, and the outcome wasn't really in doubt.

And it's not just Russia. A growing share of the

world's population lives under some form of authoritarianism. Even within

democracies, including the United States, we see the rise of the far right.

I'm recording this just after a far right party

won the most votes in Austria, a party that was literally founded by Nazis.

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