Bungacast

On the politics of consultancy   [ Patreon Exclusive . Sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast ]   The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?   It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the...

On the internet being sh*t.   Tech critic, author and blogger Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about his new book, The Internet Con. He tells us his ONE SIMPLE TRICK to fix the internet: interoperability. Breaking down the tech giants' walled gardens is the first step to dethroning them.    How does Big Tech depend on intellectual property to cement their monopolies? How can their grip be loosened?...

On US politics being stuck.   [ Patreon Exclusive ]   We talk to political theorist Benjamin Studebaker about his new book, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut . Studebaker holds that hope is a problem because it's used by professionals to keep people engaged in a system that simply doesn't deliver. Hence the culture wars and the focus on various 'vices'.   How are both left...

On the 3rd and final part of Jurgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [ Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive ]   We wrap up this challenging book by debating some key points. Habermas already felt we lived in a post-truth society. How does his notion differ from the contemporary one concerned with misinformation? And is it possible to get beyond the notion of political authority grounded in (arbitra...

On the American drug binge.   Forget all the stereotypes – drug use is no longer confined to particular subcultures. US Americans are taking world-historic levels of drugs. Benjamin Fong tells us about his new book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge , which covers everything from morphine to mushrooms, SSRIs to speed, caffeine to cocaine.    Ultimately, is al...

On Australian and New Zealand at the End of History.   Antipodean political scientists Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor join us to discuss the history and politics of Australia and New Zealand. If Australia is the “lucky country”, what about New Zealand? What explains the courses both countries took economically and politically over the twentieth century? And where do the two countries find themselve...

On everyday, private tyranny.      Sohrab Ahmari, one of the editors of Compact Magazine, joins us to talk about his book, Tyranny, Inc . We discuss the sorts of private coercion that are found in the US workplace and marketplace, rather than originate with the state – and how relatively uncommon it is for a conservative like Ahmari to follow that line of critique.    Also: the NY Post's scathing...

On film and left-wing terrorism.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We talk about Uli Edel’s 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tells the story of the Red Army Faction in 1960s and 70s Germany. What sorts of myths do films create? Is the attempt to break down myths in fact a way of re-making those myths? Is a Red Army Faction response possible today - and what does terrorism at the End of the End of...

On geopolitical competition over Africa.   This episode was originally for subscribers only. To join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw mat...

On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [ Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive ]   What made postwar capitalism 'organised'? And why did many believe it had overcome economic crisis?   In this second episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 2 of Habermas' book, where its main concerns reveal themselves. How does the role of the state in managing the economy transfer crises into the realm of pol...

On music, pop culture, and the politics of the spectacle.   Musician, host of This is Revolution and Sublation columnist, Jason Myles joins us to talk about how every podcast is a failed band, if pop music is dead, and whether the contemporary left is a lifestyle brand feeding into the all-encompassing politics of the spectacle. We also discuss the music of De La Soul and the role of what Jason ca...

On China, Russia, the US and UK. Professor Emeritus and one of the founders of ‘Radical Philosophy’, Sean Sayers , joins us to talk about Marxist philosophy, how it’s developed and changed over the course of the twentieth century and into this one. We talk about Sean’s background and experience in the radical academy of the 1960s, and how the New Left fed through into the founding of ‘Radical Phil...

On the radical right in the global periphery.   [ Patreon Exclusive ]   Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone, the first three are still going strong, in government for a decade or more. What unites these figures? They’re all right wing and authoritarian, but also popular and anti-establishment.   How similar are these politicians to their analogues in the core o...

On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast ]   We are in crisis, no doubt about that. But what kind? And what is the relation between economic, political and socio-cultural crisis?   In this first episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 1 of Habermas' book, to try to understand some key concepts: system integration versus social...

Live event at Housman's Bookshop .   George Hoare hosts Dan Evans (author of A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie ) and Bungacast regular Catherline Liu (author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class ) in a conversation about the middle class.    How should we conceptualise the middle class, how has it come to dominate politics, an...

On your questions and criticisms.   Bumper edition of Aufhebonus Bonus where we discuss whether we're technologically determinist with regard to artificial intelligence; whether the left should be bulding stuff; why criticising wokeness is boring; work, retirement and time; more on family abolition; and everyone's favourite topic – the PMC/new elite, etc.   Event: The Professional-Managerial Class...

On reactionary feminism.    [ Patreon Exclusive ]   We continue our discussions on contemporary feminism by looking at the diametric opposite of the atomistic vision presented by Sophie Lewis: the conservative, communitarian approach advanced by Mary Harrington.     Harrington is critical of 'Progress Theology'. What does that mean, beyond rejecting new orthodoxies on gender – does that mean rejec...

RIP Silvio   Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died on 12 June 2023 at the age of 86. In this special episode, we say goodbye to the towering figure of the End of History, and explore how the contradictions he exemplified spoke to our age.    Contributions in order of appearance: Mattia Salvia Alice Oliveri Nadia Urbinati  Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti Paolo Gerbaudo  Thomas Fazi  Pier Pa...

Silvio Berlusconi is no more. In mourning of our evil patron saint's passing, we're unlocking this previously paywalled episode in which we discuss a cinematic depiction of the big man. Keep an eye out for more on Berlusca coming out from us in the next days! ——— We discuss Paolo Sorrentino's "Loro" (2018), a dreamlike cinematic depiction of Silvio Berlusconi. Does the film succeed in capturing Si...

On power, values and class.   [ Patreon Exclusive ]   British professor Matt Goodwin joins us to talk about his recent new book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics published earlier this year with Penguin. Matt has argued that a new elite has come to dominate public life, leading institutions and the cultural industries in Britain and across the wider Western world, and that they ar...

On work stoppages and work-doings. Ben Hickman, published poet and senior lecturer in English at the University of Kent , joins us to discuss his project on different understandings of work, or rather, The Work.  What is The Work and why is it so pernicious? Ben wrote a piece for Compact regarding how the American poet and radical professor Audre Lorde transformed the way we think about work. We t...

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. We continue on the theme of freedom by discussing Martin Hägglund's case for 'democratic socialism'. In this episode, we leave the book itself to one side and attempt to "put the concepts to work".  We survey the many intelligent responses the book has generated and discuss what their strengths and weaknesses are.   Is 'secular faith' just a therapeutic ethos to do...

On family abolition. [ Patreon Exclusive ] Amber A'Lee Frost joins us to talk through recent radical proposals to do away with the family as an institution. Author Sophie Lewis claims that "ever since the capitalist victory over the long Sixties, the shout for abolition of the family has been buried beneath a strange kind of shame”, but that now it’s back. Why? What problems does family abolition...

On utopia and individualism. Renowned intellectual historian and critic Russell Jacoby joins us to talk about his lifetime of left critique. We discuss his early criticisms of psychology in light of the advance of therapy culture over the past 50 years, before moving on to the question of utopianism. Will the breakdown of the neoliberal era lead to new utopian thinking? Does enthusiasm for a unive...

On Turkey's elections. Alp Kayserilioglu joins us to talk about a crucial election. Erdogan’s rule is seriously threatened for the first time, with high inflation biting into living standards.  Who are the main candidates and do what they propose? Where does AKP draw its support from, and what has sustained its legitimacy? We discuss the supposed supposed culture war between conservative Islamic v...