The Political Cycle

Overnight on Tuesday, South Korea descended into crisis. President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, which opposition leaders called "insurrection". Within a day, the threat of martial law was over, but President Yoon is now facing impeachment. How did things go so wrong, so quickly? Joining Emily Tamkin and Rohan Venkat is Steven Denney, a professor of Korean Studies at Leiden University. They...

In the UK, Rachel Reeves' first budget has led to significant unhappiness within the farming community, with thousands of farmers (and supporters like Jeremy Clarkson) marching on Downing Street. Is this just a matter of tax fairness or is Reeves jeopardising food security in an already precarious industry? Tom Hamilton gives the view from London and, with Emily Tamkin away for Thanksgiving, Rohan...

In India, the Supreme Court ruled that "bulldozer justice" is illegal – forcing the BJP to come to terms with a flailing justice system. But it's not just India that is struggling with the question of due process: in the US, following the re-election of Donald Trump, people are gearing up for the controversial ignition of a mass deportation programme, and in the UK the courts system continues to s...

Politicians and political movements are constantly reinventing themselves, and few have done it as effectively as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2019, Modi's BJP came to power with more hard-line, anti-minority rhetoric, which, in some ways, mirrors the campaign run by Donald Trump in returning to the White House. Emily Tamkin and Rohan Venkat discuss how these two leaders have managed th...

Donald Trump will be the next US President. From Washington, Emily Tamkin reflects on an election that felt like a shock to the system – even if the result is not wildly different to what we anticipated at the start of the year. So, what happened? And where did the Democrats' campaign to prevent Trump 2.0 go astray? From Cairo and London, Rohan Venkat and Tom Hamilton give the international perspe...

Everyone is talking about who will the US election. Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? That's the question on everyone's lips, which is why we, at The Political Cycle, decided to take our lips out of the equation for a week and offer something a little different. Here are our pop cultural picks – films, TV shows, even a song or two – to get you election ready and distract you from the nightmare possib...

Issues surrounding women and, in particular, reproductive rights have become a big issue in the US Presidential Election. With just a couple of weeks left until polling day, the Political Cyclists gather to discuss the impact this is having on the race, and are joined by Kelly Weil, a writer and author of the MomLeft newsletter. As Emily Tamkin and Kelly discuss the natalist movement, the comments...

With the US election only a few weeks away, the Political Cyclists gather to discuss how Kamala Harris and the Democratic machine are targeting former Republican voters. Can this make an impact? And how do her more progressive policies sit with this caucus of undecided voters? Emily Tamkin reports from a busy DC, while Rohan Venkat and Tom Hamilton offer the perspective from across the continents,...

On this week's episode of The Political Cycle, Rohan Venkat, Emily Tamkin and Tom Hamilton gather to take a 'vibes check' on their respective nations. Are the narratives emerging – that Kamala Harris has blown it, that Narendra Modi is in crisis, that Keir Starmer is another lame duck PM – matching reality? We also touch base with the results of the Haraya assembly elections and look at where they...

In an historic week for relations in the Middle-East, which saw Israel launch a ground invasion of Lebanon and Iran fire hundreds of missile towards the Israeli capital, The Political Cyclists gather to discuss the impact that war in the region is having on the American election. The US is widely seen as the most influential foreign policy actor in this conflict (outside of the immediate protagoni...

This week we're turning our attention (with Tom off to Liverpool for the Labour party's first conference in power) to Sri Lanka. Raisa Wickrematunge, deputy editor of Himal Southasian magazine, joins Rohan and Emily to discuss this month's election and how Anura Kumara Dissanayake (aka AKD) has re-aligned Sir Lanka's political compass. What has happened to the United National Party and the Sri Lan...

Last week, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took to the stage for the first – and, increasingly likely, the only – Presidential debate. In it, Trump propounded a conspiracy theory about Haitian migrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio. What was going on there? And why does the Trump campaign want to keep talking about immigration in this campaign? Emily Tamkin gives the full debate...

On today's episode of The Political Cycle, with Emily Tamkin away and American politics on hold until last night's debate (more on that next week), we've decided to peddle over to France where Emmanuel Macron has named Michel Barnier as his new Prime Minister. Barnier is well known to British audiences as the EU's chief negotiator on Brexit, but what does his appointment as PM mean for the politic...

This week, for the first time since the Second World War, elections in Germany provided significant victories for the far-right. In Thuringia, candidate Björn Höcke of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) hailed an "historic victory". But what does this mean for German and European politics? And what broader trends might we look at in terms of increasing far-right success at the ballot box? To di...

In the weeks since the announcement that Joe Biden would no longer be the Democratic candidate in the 2024 Presidential election, the narrative has shifted from one of senile intransigence to graceful benevolence. As Biden appeared – tearful – on-stage at the DNC, Emily Tamkin asks whether the reframing of this decision to hand the baton to Kamala Harris could be a masterstroke? And could it also,...

Recent polling shows that the Democrat's shiny new candidate – Kamala Harris – is ahead in almost all the swing states. Meanwhile, the British far-right, who seemed so potent last week, have bee repelled by anti-fascist campaigners and the criminal justice system. Is the tide beginning to turn in favour of reasoned debate? Emily Tamkin and Tom Hamilton report back, while Rohan Venkat, back from va...

They call it 'midsummer madness', the fit of rash and often violent behaviour that seems to strike in the long, hot days. In the UK, right-wing thuggery has descended on a number of cities following the tragic murder of three young girls. What is motivating these riots? And who is stoking the flames of this racially-motivated disorder? Tom Hamilton reports back from a broiling, roiling London. Mea...

Are Donald Trump and JD Vance quite a weird political combo? That's the attack line coming out of Kamala Harris's camp, as the Democrats gear up for their new candidate's campaign. Emily Tamkin discusses the changing landscape in the US election scene, while Rohan Venkat reports back on Rahul Gandhi's attempts to cast aspersions about the Hindu credentials of the BJP. You can now subscribe to the...

After months of growing pressure, Joe Biden has finally ditched his bid for a second term in the Oval Office, paving the way for his VP, Kamala Harris, to lead the Democratic ticket. But who really is Harris, the former California senator? What challenges will she face in the campaign crucible? And what does Team Trump make of all this toing and froing? Emily Tamkin reports on an historic week in...

When secret service agents ushered Donald Trump offstage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, there was much confusion as to what had actually happened. The events, as they came to light over the next few hours, reshaped the narrative of the election, with Trump surviving a very real assassination attempt. Reshaped, sure, but has it changed the course of the election? Emily Tamkin reports on the fa...

A new day has dawned in the UK, with Keir Starmer's Labour romping to a landslide victory in the General Election, ending 14 years of Tory rule. Tom Hamilton – himself a former Labour advisor – talks Emily Tamkin and Rohan Venkat through the results, the rise of Reform, and the other big stories of the night. Did the landslide result paper over some cracks in the Labour party's performance? And wh...

It's the morning after the night before (well, a few nights before) and America is still reeling from the first Presidential debate. The earliest TV debate in history ended in renewed fears about Joe Biden's competence to continue as US President – let alone as the Democrat candidate. Emily Tamkin leads us through the fallout to both the debate and the Supreme Court's verdict on Donald Trump's par...

On this week's episode of The Election Tricycle we're talking to Art Goldhammer to talk about what's going on in France's parliamentary elections. Was Macron "totally insane" to call this surprise election? Who, on both the Left and the Right, is a danger to the President? How has the far-Right – particularly the National Rally – evolved over time? And how is Emmanuel Macron personally rated among...

Rohan takes us to the Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian parliament – to look at how the fallout from the general election is impacting the vote there. A new Speaker will be elected at the end of June, but will the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) secure the post? In London, Tom talks us through the impact that Nigel Farage and his Reform party is having in reshaping the landscape of the British Ri...

The Trike makes a brief detour this week, over to mainland Europe where EU elections have rocked the continent. A strong showing from the far and hard right has led President Macron to call a snap election in France. So what's really going on in Europe? To discuss this, the podcast is joined by Zselyke Csaky from the Centre for European Reform, who guides Emily Tamkin, Tom Hamilton and Rohan Venka...