On the weakness of state and capital – and their fusion.
Ilias Alami joins Alex and Lee to talk about his essential co-authored book, The Spectre of State Capitalism.
Why is state capitalism not just a China story, but is global?
What does the rise of state capitalism tell us about the health of contemporary capitalism?
How did globalisation and stagnation combine to give birth to it?
Is this an extension of neoliberalism or something new and different?
Does this represent a 're-politicisation' of the economy – and does it open up more hopeful political futures?
Links:
The Spectre of State Capitalism, Ilias Alami & Adam D Dixon, Oxford UP [OPEN ACCESS]
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1:14:14
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1:14:14
/514/ The Expressway World ft. Richard Williams
On living with modernity.
Richard J Williams talks to Alex and George about his new book, The Expressway World and how cities have adapted to the infrastructural legacies of the mid-20th century. We talk about New York, London, São Paulo, Madrid, Glasgow and Seoul.
Why do people hate expressways – and who actually loves them?
What are Big Man cities? How do expressways bring together populism, authoritarianism, and capital?
Why is the antidote to 20th century car-centricity always gentrified and sanitised public space?
What are the class struggles that emerge over the expressway world?
Is there a basic lie behind many "ecological" infrastructure projects?
Links:
The Expressway World, Richard J Williams, Polity
Intersections, Owen Hatherley, Sidecar
/113/ Globoville ft. Richard Williams
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59:29
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59:29
/513/ Global Right: LATAM Division ft. Guilherme Casarões
On the Bolsonaros, Milei and MAGA.
Alex talks to Guilherme Casarões, Associate Professor of Brazilian Studies at Florida International University, about Bolsonaro's sentencing, Trump's tariffs on Brazil, and the bailout of Milei.
Is the motivation behind the tariffs on Brazil just partisan interest?
How has Jair Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo, become point-man for the Latin American radical right's connection to MAGA?
Is Bolsonarismo the closest to MAGA among the global radical right?
Will a "Populist International Order" follow the Liberal International Order?
Why is the nationalist Trump bailing out the libertarian Milei?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Then George, Alex and Ryan Zickgraf discuss the global radical right and whether Charlie Kirk's killing was its "George Floyd moment".
Finally, the boys take listener questions & comments from the past month. (NB recorded 25 September)
On Göran Therborn's article, "Dreams and Nightmares of the World's Middle Classes".
The penultimate episode of this block on the middle class, we discuss the differing fortunes and politics of the global North and South middle-classes – as well as ways they may be similar.
Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Is the middle-class dream increasingly only a dream?
Can the "ever-rising middle-class wave" in China and India sustain itself?
Is being middle-class defined by one's consumption? By income? By something else?
How have fears changed: from being politically "squeezed" between to proletariat and bourgeoisie, to being economically "squeezed" and fearing falling?
What politics do the middle-classes generate? What kind of populism?
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25:31
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25:31
/511/ Britain's Tinderbox ft. Lisa McKenzie
On the UK's working-class unrest.
Sociologist Lisa McKenzie talks to Alex and contributing editor Lee Jones about why the country feels like a powder-keg.
What's behind protests like Unite the Kingdom? How responsible are far-right agitators?
Why are threats posed to women and children such an explosive issue?
What is the type of nationalism that is behind the proliferation of English and British flags?
What are Farage's Reform promising and will they deliver? What of the immigration question?
How is Corbyn's "Your Party" going, and why can't the Left seem to speak for or to the working class?
Links:
Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain, Lisa McKenzie, Bristol UP
Lockdown Diaries of the Working Class, Lisa McKenzie
James Treadwell thread on raising of flags, X
The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Politics is back but it’s stranger than ever: join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’. Interviews, long-form discussions, docu-series.
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