About Public Sphere
Public Sphere is a newsletter for people trying to make sense of democratic decline — and not just in the context of Donald Trump. As a journalist with reporting experience, historical knowledge, and language skills in Russia and Eastern Europe, I look to the region as a possible warning of how democracies can fall sometimes swiftly and sometimes imperceptibly. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I have traveled there several times reported stories for this newsletter.
I have interviewed journalists, authors, former officials, and politicians for the newsletter, including Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov, Paul Thomas Chamberlin, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Eugene Finkel, Amb. John Sullivan, Julia Sonnevend, Elle Reeve, Laura Beers, Isaac Arnsdorf, Timothy Ryback, Byron Tau, Zoë Schiffer, Tina Nguyen, Daniel Ziblatt, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Susan Neiman, Jeffrey Toobin, Dr. Ian Garner, Zsuzsanna Szelényi, Robert Draper, Michael Beckley, Josh Chin and Liza Lin, Tim Miller, Marie Yovanovitch, Rep. Peter Meijer, Casey Michel, Rep. Ruben Gallego, Tim Mak, Samantha Rose Hill, Dr. Fiona Hill, Spencer Ackerman, Sheera Frenkel, and Hana Meihan Davis.
There’s a free version of this newsletter, but the real action is behind the paywall. Why? As an independent journalist with no advertising (or a billionaire backer), I need to earn money by charging for subscriptions. For just $70 a year ($5.83 a month) or $7 billed monthly, you get access to:
All of the content of Public Sphere. That means all of the biweekly posts, all of the interviews, and all of my videos.
Commenting privileges. You can join a community of people who want to save democracy too.
The full archive. I’ve been doing this since 2021, and there is a wealth of content that you can peruse on many topics in global affairs. It’s perfect if you are looking for the next book to read or information about a global hotspot.
I have done live videos with Substackers Dave Keating and Claire Berlinski. If you want to talk world politics or have me on a podcast, send me a message at Lukegjohnson AT proton mail dot com.
About Luke Johnson
I’m a Berlin-based journalist. I cover politics, media, and society in Central and Eastern Europe, primarily focusing on the War in Ukraine and its regional effects.
Having covered the region for over a decade, I’ve interviewed public figures like Alexei Navalny, profiled imprisoned writers and artists, and covered democracies on the brink of authoritarianism. In reporting on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I’ve focused on telling the stories of civilians and soldiers in war. My reporting and analysis has been published by The New Republic, Foreign Policy, Columbia Journalism Review, Internationale Politik Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Parliament Magazine, Fortune, The Daily Beast, and many other outlets.
