Tim Kuhner is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research, teaching and writing focus on the intersection of economic and political inequality and the law of democracy. In his 2014 book „Capitalism v. Democracy. Money in Politics and the Free Market Constitution“, he shows how the US Supreme Court created a legal situation in which financial elites exert a dominating influence on political processes. In 2020 he published „Tyranny of Greed“, which examines the causes and effects of Donald Trump’s presidency.
In the interview I was most interested in how the predominant influence of financial elites on democracy came about and why there isn’t more public resistance against this extreme concentration of power. The interpretation of the US Constitution underlying this status quo is only poorly legitimized with referral to liberal ideals and does not withstand empirical scrutiny. Nonetheless there is very little medial attention to and public objection against the structures maintaining this system.
Kuhner warns against short attention spans, blind careerism and resignation and demands political equality and healthy outrage in the face of structurally corrupt democracies and catastrophic climate change.
The interview is also available in written form in German and English.