Episodes

Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
/228/ Three Articles: Popular Backlash in Chile, India, Europe
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
On people power on three continents.
We discuss Chile's landmark elections, the first after the uprising of 2019-20, which see a face-off between left and far-right; Modi's repeal of controversial laws that provoked a huge mobilisation of farmers in India last year; and protests and riots against new lockdowns and vaccine mandates across Europe.
Articles:
- Has the Backlash to Progressivism Come to Chile?, Lili Loofbourow, Slate
- In Rare Show of Weakness, Modi Bows to India’s Farmers, Various, NYT
- Violence in Belgium and Netherlands as Covid protests erupt across Europe, Jon Henley, The Guardian
Other relevant episodes
- /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
- /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik

Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Excerpt: /212/ Three Articles: Middle-Class Anxieties
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
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Boris Johnson’s push for net zero plunged into chaos, Edward Malnick & Emma Gatten, The Telegraph (attached in patreon)
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China’s nanny state: why Xi is cracking down on gaming and private tutors, Tom Mitchell & Thomas Hale, FT (attached in patreon)
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‘Sales funnels’ and high-value men: the rise of strategic dating, Katie Cunningham, The Guardian

Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Excerpt: /209/ Aufhebonus Bonus + Kabul Falls
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at pateron.com/bungacast for access.

Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
/205/ The World In One Country: The Final ft. Many Guests
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
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 Broder on Italy; and David Adler on India.
Then Phil and Alex choose a winner (it's a "managed democracy").
Buy our book! Links to retailers

Tuesday Jul 20, 2021
/204/ Three Articles: People's Republic of Fleeing
Tuesday Jul 20, 2021
Tuesday Jul 20, 2021
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 - but this one's free. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast for regular access.
London book launch/bunga party: Register here
Articles:
- What happens if Chinese household wealth is unleashed on the world?, Thomas Hale and Tabby Kinder, FT (pdf in patreon)
- Swexit, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar-NLR
- US troops abandoned Bagram airport base in the dead of night..., various, Daily Mail

Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
/200/ The World In One Country ft. Many Guests
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
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 for which you think is best, and we'll have the top 3 back on to discuss in more depth: Link to voting page
Running order:
- (18:20) Germany - Dominik Leusder
- (23:02) Greece - Jonas Kyratzes
- (27:57) India - David Adler
- (33:46) Indonesia - Vincent Bevins
- (38:25) Iraq - Liam Meissner
- (44:03) Italy - David Broder
- (49:19) Mexico - Roger Lancaster
- (54:01) Taiwan - Nic Johnson
- (59:44) Turkey - Arash Azizi
- (01:04:32) Yugoslavia - Lily Lynch
Buy our book! Links to retailers
Come to our London book launch! Event link

Friday Jun 18, 2021
/198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Friday Jun 18, 2021
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 secularism as merely 'tolerance'? And how has caste come to function a bit like identity politics in relation to the state?
Readings:
- Nationalist Dangers, Secular Failings, Achin Vanaik, Aakar Books
- The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism, Achin Vanaik, Verso Books
- The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and the Failures of the Indian Left, Interview with Achin Vanaik, Jacobin

Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
/195/ No Shock China ft. Isabella Weber
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
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 and development at any cost China's own version of the End of History?

Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
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How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
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COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state, Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy

Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure.
Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myanmar (and why the word “coup” can be misleading), and explains the nature of the forces opposing the military, in the context of the country’s recent transition to civilian rule.
Then, from 40mins, we discuss how the UK failed in dealing with the pandemic, and how this applies across the West. Lee's recent work looks at the neoliberal "regulatory state" and its incapacities, so we compare the UK's failure with Korea's relative success.
Readings:
- Preliminary thoughts on the Myanmar “coup”, Lee Jones, Medium
- Responding to the Myanmar coup, Crisis Group
- How the Civil Disobedience Movement can win, Aye Min Thant and Yan Aung, Frontier
- How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
- COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state (pdf), Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy

Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
/156/ Cosmo-Jihad ft. Darryl Li
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
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 Islamist reaction become globalised? How far does Islamist globalism connect to radical legacies of Third Worldism, internationalism and radical solidarity? Political anthropologist Darryl Li, author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity joins us to discuss the transnational history of jihad over the last 30 years.
Reading:
The Universal Enemy - Book Forum, The Immanent Frame, Various Authors

Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
/150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
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 new book on Soleimani about the "local boy who made it", and look at how Soleimani masterminded Iran's interventions all over the region.
We also discuss how the Iranian Revolution represented a degradation of universalism, as it marginalised secular nationalism, socialism and communism. Would the Shia-Sunni conflict, with Iran as leader of the Shia faction, therefore be yet another step away from universalism? And what role did the US play in fomenting sectarian conflict?
Readings:
- Book: The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran's Global Ambitions, Arash Azizi, OneWorld
- Qassem Soleimani and How Nations Decide To Kill, Adam Entous & Evan Osnos, New Yorker

Thursday Jul 16, 2020
UNLOCKED /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?

Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Excerpt: /134/ The Call - Afterparty
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
This is a sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
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, and especially the Gulf States, and Wahhabism as religious justification for the Saudi state project.

Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
/133/ The Call ft. Krithika Varagur
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
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 was fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s such a formative experience for jihadists? And why has appeal of secularism faded?
Readings:
- The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project, Krithika Varagur
- How Saudi Arabia's religious project transformed Indonesia (Long excerpt from the book)
- The Coronavirus Threatens Saudi Arabia’s Global Ambitions, Krithika Varagur, Foreign Affairs
- Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters', Scott Shane, NYT
- China as the New Frontier for Islamic Daʿwah, Mohammed Turki al-Sudairi, Journal of Arabian Studies