On the US election, a huge turnout and the end of Trump.
We survey the results of the presidential and legislative elections, peer through the exit polls and discuss some counterintuitive fa...
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss cosmopolitanism, the end of austerity (maybe?) and social control in the pandemic.
The paywalled articles are available as attachments on patreon.com...
2020-11-03 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Internationalism used to be a defining characteristic of the Left. Globalism is a defining characteristic of neoliberal capitalism. Both seem to be characteristic of Islamist jihadism. How did Isla...
2020-10-27 07:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We start off by discussing the beheading of a French teacher for having shown his pupils the Mohammed cartoons in a class on free speech. Then we discuss your points, questions and criticisms from ...
2020-10-22 12:28:09 +0000 UTC View Post
On the Covid election.
Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are the two parties selling? Are they coherent e...
2020-10-19 23:13:23 +0000 UTC View Post
On the country of the future.
Italy has stagnated for 30 years, becoming a neoliberal gerontocracy with crumbling infrastructure (sound familiar?). Worse, it's a country without a Left. How d...
2020-10-13 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
On why anti-fascism is a problem.
The Trump presidency and the current protests in the US have led many to argue this is just like the 1930s. The implication is that fascism is rising and th...
On Iran at the End of History.
When the US assassinated Iran's 'shadow commander', Qassem Soleimani, everyone thought WW3 would break out. What happened instead? We talk to the author of a ne...
2020-09-29 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On unemployment.
The Covid crisis has led to millions out of work - but the situation was none too rosy before, either. Post-crisis recoveries seem increasingly 'jobless', while the overall l...
2020-09-24 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.
Readings:
On modernism and its end.
We're joined by 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Benjamin Moser to discuss the tensions between hating your national culture and wanting to leave it behind, and the ...
2020-09-15 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
In a change to our usual approach, we're now announcing the upcoming Reading Clubs for the next half-year, so you have time to plan your reading in advance. We've gone for a balance of books and es...
2020-09-12 12:48:57 +0000 UTC View Post
We decided to respond to the many requests we've received over the past years, and set up our own merch shop. We know you were dying to show off to your pals that you're a citizen of the Republic o...
2020-09-09 18:43:19 +0000 UTC View Post
On class.
Class as an idea and an identity is now supposedly redundant. It’s been replaced by conflicts between generations and transcended by more up-to-date identities linking people toge...
2020-09-08 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On political decline and realignment.
The editor of American Affairs joins us to discuss the decay of conservatism and we ask whether this decay doesn't apply to other par...
2020-09-01 14:20:11 +0000 UTC View Post
In this semi-regular slot, we respond to your comments and criticisms received over the past month or so.
Discussion features whether we're right about the "end of the End of History", social...
2020-08-25 19:49:03 +0000 UTC View Post
On US foreign policy.
Following on from our episode on the political-economy of dollar hegemony (2020-08-18 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
On Lebanon's crisis.
We call up Rima Majed in Beirut to talk us through the aftermath of the enormous explosion and ensuing protests. How has Lebanon's history since the civil war created suc...
2020-08-13 06:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss the durability or otherwise of right-populism in the UK, US and Brazil.
Reading:
Our next Reading Club will be on chapter 8 of The 'Death of the Subject' Explained by James Heartfield. The chapter has recently been republished as "The New Social Movements Against the O...
2020-08-09 14:03:36 +0000 UTC View Post
On dollar hegemony.
Dutch disease has long been seen as the curse of resource-rich economies in which a currency appreciates and jobs are lost overseas. But what if the greenback is having th...
2020-08-04 06:45:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The protests in the US against police violence - and their globalisation - prompts us to discuss radical proposals for what to do about the police. We look at the US, the UK and Brazil, each in the...
2020-07-28 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
On British decline.
Much ink has been spilled over the Britain’s fate since the end of its empire. Could it be that decline has been overstated? And what will happen to Britain as it leaves...
2020-07-21 07:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Mailbag + bonus content ft. Corey Robin
In this new semi-regular slot, we feature bonus recordings (here, 20mins of additional discussion with Corey Robin from episode 129) and respond to you...
2020-07-14 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostOur next Reading Club will be on Wolfgang Streeck's discussion of technology, war and the growth of the state, in the 2020-07-09 21:15:41 +0000 UTC View Post
The three of us discuss some of the themes that emerged from our interview with Krithika Varagur (ep.133) - the entanglement of the US state with Islamism, the Americanisation of the Middle East, a...
2020-07-07 07:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
On Saudi religious proselytism. Saudi Arabia has actively sought to export Salafism. How has it done this - and what have been its effects, in countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and Kosovo? Why...
2020-07-07 06:21:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Aleksandar Vučić's coalition won the recent (21 June) Serbian parliamentary elections amidst a mass boycott. We talk to Balkanist editor Lily Lynch about what Vučić represents - violent ultrana...
2020-06-30 09:16:05 +0000 UTC View Post
On this latest Three Articles, we discuss the global Black Lives Matter protests.
Reading:
On the left case for freedom.
We talk to Corey Robin about how the left has sacrificed the realm of freedom to the right. And why the Left's weakness is also the Right's. Plus, why is i...
2020-06-22 13:09:44 +0000 UTC View Post