Bungacast

The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages. Guests include: Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury...

On the long history of involuntary celibates.   Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, " The New Superfluous Men ". With growing global concern about incels and increasing anti-terrorism focus on the supposed risks posed by lonely, angry men, we discuss why this discussion has emerged today and why it's gone global.    Why do our societies seem no longer to find use for youn...

On Covid and the end of the end of history. Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book,  Shutdown . In 2020 everything changed... so that everything might remain the same. What were the reasons behind the global shutdown? Was it a result of over-protection, a policy of repression, or the result of structural tensions? Has China been the winner of the pandemic? How have central banks been victims...

On net-zero, CCP nanny state, and optimised dating.   We start off discussing the HBO series "The White Lotus" before tackling three articles on middle-class anxieties: climate change and pressures on UK living standards; the Chinese state's crackdown on private tutoring; and women's attempt to avoid crappy men through 'Female Dating Strategy'.   The full episode is available to patrons only. Sign...

On lockdowns, education, and the left. California middle-school teacher and social critic Alex Gutentag (@galexybrane) joins us to talk about the depredations of lockdown in California and the wider world. How has lockdown affected different segments of society, and how damaging have school closures been on education? Why has the professional middle class been so in favour of widespread restrictio...

We discuss Eli Zaretsky's essay, "Psychoanalysis and the Spirit of Capitalism" (also available as a chapter in his book Political Freud).   How convincing is Zaretsky’s idea that, as capitalism was becoming more organized and systematic, it also liberated relations between the sexes and enhanced a sense of individual subjectivity?   Was Freudianism a victim of its success? Did it ‘win’ and thereby...

On the Fall of Kabul, plus responding to your questions & comments. On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we take your critical comments on 'positive biopolitics' and authoritarian responses to Covid. Plus, whether neoliberalism is really ending, the usefulness of using 'PMC' or 'clerisy', and much more.  We start by discussing what's happening in Afghanistan, the 20 years of failure, and what happens next.  ...

What comes after neoliberalism - the protective state? We talk to Paolo Gerbaudo about his new book,  The Great Recoil , in which Paolo argues we are now turning inwards – globalisation is no longer a sea of opportunity and instead fear dominates. How convincing is his notion of an emerging 'protective state', and do either the left or right variants of it really promise us much at all?  Part two...

On post-liberalism: loving the state, crushing the individual?   For this 3A, articles from different 'conservative' outlets - but how conservative, and of what kind?   Articles: The real danger is insurgency on the right , William Hague, The Times (pdf attached in patreon) To curse social media is to exonerate society , Janan Ganesh, FT (pdf attached in patreon) We are all Britney now , Mary Harr...

What country best captures 20th and 21st century history?  For our 200th episode special, we posed the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020, and thereby understand the history of the whole world, which would you pick?" You voted on the ten submissions and now we invited the top 3 back on the pod to discuss in more depth: Dominik Leusder on Germany; David Br...

On Chinese investment, Swiss democracy, and fleeing from Afghanistan. In this Three Articles, we discuss flight or departure in various ways: China opening the gates for its huge savings to spill onto world markets; Switzerland leaving (or remaining outside) the EU; and the US's sudden departure from Afghanistan, without telling anyone.  'Three Articles' episodes are normally for subscribers only...

On pandemic & post-pandemic politics.   We talk to Benjamin Bratton about his new book, The Revenge of the Real , and its argument for a "positive biopolitics". What does an "epidemiological view of society" look like, and why should we let go of the idea that unmediated social relations are the most authentic kind? We touch on the work of Foucault and Agamben and why they are or aren't relevant t...

In our latest 3A, we discuss "the clerisy" and how it relates to the PMC; how the EU is doing forever war just as much as the US; and the hyper-commodification of football. The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Articles: Did Populism Start A 21st Century Anti-Clerical Revolution? , Angela Nagle, Substack Interview with Wolfgang Streeck: The EU’s war in Africa ,...

We discuss Michael Lind's  The New Class War . Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between those in the "heartlands" and those in the "hubs". How convincing is this account? What is his critique of technocratic managerialism and its symptom, populism? How convincing - and realistic - is his solution of "democratic pluralism"? And is this only...

On world history, 1900-2020. For our 200th episode special, we pose the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020, and thereby understand the history of the whole world, which would you pick?" We invited 10 contributors to each pitch one country, whose particularities capture the universal sweep of world history from the start of the 20th century till now. Vote...

We take your questions, comments & criticisms.   This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we discuss whether unions are still capable of fighting for their members; the Arab-Israeli conflict at the End of History; a lot more on the 'PMC debate'; plus: whether Phil is "reductionist in the service of his own prejudices".

On secularism, nationalism and identity politics.  India is held up as a model developing country: liberal, democratic, multicultural. Renowned Indian writer and activist Achin Vanaik joins us to examine how India has turned away from universalism and secularism.  How did Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress as a whole lay the seeds for today's Hindu chauvinism? What are the consequences of defining sec...

In the lead-up to our 200th episode later this month, we're exceptionally re-releasing our 100th episode special this week. On the 30 years since 1989. For our 100th episode, we invited our favourite guests to reflect on the question: “What one event, personal or political, most captures for you the past thirty years, since 1989?”  Are we still living in the death throes of the 20th century, or is...

We discuss the third and final in the series of Perry Anderson essays on the EU in the London Review of Books, " The Breakaway ", and wonder if the EU can - despite its crises - just carry on indefinitely. Reading Clubs are for monthly subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

On atrocity and sovereignty. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   The disasters of Iraq, Libya, Syria and beyond are there for all to see. Why hasn't an emphasis on Human Rights led to fewer atrocities? How has Western intervention made the world a less safe place? We discuss Philip's book Cosmopolitan Dystopia: International Intervention and the Failure of the...

On China, economic reform, and the future. While Russia famously succumbed to destructive neoliberal "shock therapy", China managed to avoid it. How and why? Isabella Weber, author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy , tells us about China's opting for gradual reform instead.  What did reform mean for understandings of socialism? Do communists make the best capitalists? And is the pursuit of growth...

On global insurrection and identity politics.  This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   We discuss an essay by the ultra-left collective 'Endnotes' that deals with the same political questions as we do, but comes up with different answers. Are the fragmented and ephemeral movements that have taken to the streets in France, Chile and the US, for example, the future o...

On liberal idealism and imperial overreach. Why did the winners of the Cold War turn 'revisionist', undermining their own order? How has utopianism come to dominate the discipline of IR, such that we have lost the means to critique power? We discuss Philip's recent book, The New Twenty Years’ Crisis 1999-2019: A Critique of International Relations, which is both a revisiting of EH Carr's internati...

On consequences of the pandemic + important local election results in Spain & UK.   We start off by discussing the telling results of some recent local and regional elections: in the UK, Labour continues its drift to becoming a middle-class party; while in Spain, Madrid goes to the right. Podemos flops, while voters seem to endorse an anti-lockdown stance.   Then we get to our three articles on th...

We discuss the second of Perry Anderson's three LRB essays on the making and unmaking of the EU: "Ever Closer Union?"   Our monthly Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast