Episodes
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
On sectarianism & identitarianism.
Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Middle East and the World".
Lebanon has been used as a model for other Middle Eastern countries, even though its confessional system is a disaster. But Lebanese-style sectarianism isn't a form of 'feudal' backwardness – in fact it represents a precursor of the multicultural and identitarian politics in the West.
Who are the enemies of universalism today, East and West? And what sort of political projects are capable of rejuvenating secular universalism?
See also:
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Buy our book: The End of the End of History
Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/Bungacast
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Excerpt: OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 3
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
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Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
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Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
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Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
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Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University
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Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling
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Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University
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Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
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Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
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Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
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Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
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T. Morri / Nuthin' but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
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American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 - Lionsgate
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Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France
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Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C'est Canteloup
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Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
/218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang Streeck
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
On German's elections – and the costs of stability.
Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?
We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France.
The second part of the conversation – where we debate the end of neoliberalism and capitalist crisis – is over at patreon.com/bungacast.
Readings:
- Will it Be Enough?, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar
- “Order” Prevails in Berlin, Gregor Baszak, The Bellows
- Things Can’t Go on Like This for the German Left, Alexander Brentler, Jacobin
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
/216/ Goodbye Mutti! Election Preview ft. Dominik Leusder
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
On Germany's election this week.
Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longevity? How has such a non-ideological, post-political figure lasted so long?
Germany is finally leaving her motherly embrace. But why is continuity on the cards, despite the many global crises Germany has passed through?
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 03, 2021
Excerpt: /206/ Three Articles: Post-Liberalism
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
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The real danger is insurgency on the right, William Hague, The Times (pdf attached in patreon)
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To curse social media is to exonerate society, Janan Ganesh, FT (pdf attached in patreon)
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We are all Britney now, Mary Harrington, Unherd
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
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
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
Excerpt: /197/ Reading Club: The Breakaway
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
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
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Excerpt: /192/ Three Articles: Pandemic (Dis)Satisfactions
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
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Stayed home, live streamed, got the T-shirt, Lev Parker, The Conservative Woman
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The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown, Emma Green, The Atlantic
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Broad commodities price boom amplifies ‘supercycle’ talk, Neil Hume et al, FT
Monday May 10, 2021
Excerpt: /191/ Reading Club: Ever Closer Union?
Monday May 10, 2021
Monday May 10, 2021
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
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
UNLOCKED /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Readings:
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A Left For Itself, David Swift, Zer0 Books
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How the Left lost all purpose, James Bloodworth, Unherd
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How not to be a white anti-racist, David Swift, Unherd
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton Jäger
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
On cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK.
Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'. We examine Biden's massive trillion-dollar spending plans and ask if this means we're leaving neoliberalism. What are the limitations to the 'cashification of welfare'? Also comparisons with cash transfers or lack thereof in the UK, Brazil and Belgium.
Plus Anton talks us through recent Belgian history and why its immobilism and bureaucracy has actually prevented a full-on neoliberal assault.
[Part 2 available at patreon.com/bungacast]
Readings:
- “Welfare without the welfare state”: the death of the postwar welfarist consensus, Anton Jäger & Daniel Zamora, New Statesman
- Joe Biden Is a Transformational President, David Brooks, NYT
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