In this Direct interview, John is joined by American demographer, academic and author Joel Kotkin. John and Joel discuss some of the key theses of Joel’s widely-praised recent book, 'The Coming of Neo-Feudalism'. Joel shines the spotlight on the Western progressive elite or, as he terms them, the 'new clerisy', who sideline and silence anyone who speak or, increasingly, think against the orthodoxy. He paints a worrying comparison between this status quo, the Chinese experience of authoritarianism and the medieval feudalism known to Europe for hundreds of years. Joel Kotkin is often described as “America’s uber-geographer”, and is an internationally recognised authority on global economic, political and social trends. Mr. Kotkin is the Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California and Executive Director of the Houston-based Urban Reform Institute. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conversations feature John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewing the world's foremost thought leaders about today's pressing social, cultural and political issues. John believes proper, robust dialogue is necessary if we are to maintain our social strength and cohesion. As he puts it; "You cannot get good public policy out of a bad public debate." If you value this discussion and want to see more like it, make sure you subscribe to the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnYSEGViOnb7k8ezUaWUww?sub_confirmation=1 And stay right up to date with all the conversations by subscribing to the newsletter here: https://johnanderson.net.au/contact/ Follow John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnAndersonAC Follow John on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnandersonac/ Support the channel: https://johnanderson.net.au/support/ Website: https://johnanderson.net.au/ Podcast: https://johnanderson.net.au/podcasts/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Kotkin: https://twitter.com/joelkotkin https://joelkotkin.com/ https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/joel-kotkin