Professors Calin Hintea and Maria Aristigueta speak with Troy Mix, Associate Director of the University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA), about challenges facing democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and the United States, the importance and evolution of relationships among countries in this region and the U.S., and potential roles for engaged universities and public administration programs to strengthen these relationships while bolstering democracy. Professor Hintea is the Dean of the College of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences at Babes Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (https://www.ubbcluj.ro/en/facultati/stiinte_politice_administrative_si_ale_comunicarii). He teaches strategy and management courses and has extensive experience working with public and private organizations on strategy development topics. He is the chair of the Accreditation Committee of the European Association for Public Administration Accreditation, senior editor of the Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, and former president of The Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (https://www.nispa.org/). Maria Aristigueta, Emerita, was the Founding Dean of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and Charles P. Messick Chair of Public Administration at the University of Delaware. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania and at the University of Salerno, Italy. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and a past-president of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and a past-member of the Executive Council of Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA). To learn more about the interplay of universities, communities, and democracy, review articles from a 2024 special issue of the Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences (https://doi.org/10.24193/tras.SI2024). This episode was recorded on February 26, 2025, for First State Insights, a podcast presented by the Institute for Public Administration (IPA). For more First State Insights episodes, visit https://soundcloud.com/first-state-insights or search for "First State Insights" wherever you listen to podcasts. IPA is a research and public service center within the University of Delaware's Biden School of Public Policy & Administration. For more on IPA, visit https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/ipa. Opening and closing music: "I Dunno" by Grapes, used under Creative Commons 3.0 License.