Bungacast

[FROM THE VAULT] /44/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome (N.O.B.S.)

FROM THE VAULT: ALEX'S PICK (1)

In which we lay the liberal establishment down on the shrink's sofa. It's a systematic analysis of liberal derangement: of the inability to accept, explain, or respond to the breakdown of the current order. Why can't the liberal establishment accept that the 2008 crisis would eventually have political consequences? Why can't liberals explain why they keep losing? Why can't they offer anything but more of the same?

Symptoms:

• Incredulity and denial of political change
• Unwillingness to take responsibility
• Moralisation
• No belief in political causation (things just happen)
• Fetishising disinformation
• Elite persecution complex
• Hysteria & catastrophism
• Nostalgia for a very recent past & rewriting history
• Repetition compulsion

 

[FROM THE VAULT] /74/ Order Not Freedom ft. Quinn Slobodian

FROM THE VAULT: GEORGE'S PICK (2)

On the unexpected origins of neoliberalism. We talk to Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists, about how neoliberals look back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the League of Nations. Why does neoliberalism talk about freedom, but promote order? Is neoliberalism about more or less state - or is it about what kind of state?

Plus why the genuine neoliberals didn’t care about the Cold War and how Murray Rothbard laid the ground for Trump.

Readings:

• Globalists, Quinn Slobodian
• Neoliberalism’s World Order, Adam Tooze
• Why I am not a conservative, F.A. von Hayek
• The EU is a betrayal of Europe’s exceptionalism, Douglas Carswell

Subscribe for access to the Synthesis Session, where the guys discuss the broader implications: patreon.com/bungacast

[FROM THE VAULT] /161/ Culture is Bad for You ft. Mark Taylor

FROM THE VAULT: GEORGE'S PICK (1)

On “culture”.

 

We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask what’s the ploblem with culture anyway and end up defending “low culture” from Red Hot Chili Peppers (well, sorta) to food guys.

 

Reading:

Culture is Bad for You, Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor, Manchester UP

[FROM THE VAULT] /46/ Exiting Capitalist Realism

FROM THE VAULT: PHIL'S PICK (2)

The third in our Neoliberal Breakdown series. In which we discuss the late Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism, 10 years on. Does his analysis still hold? The mood music of the time - the age of 'TINA' and the end of history - was acutely described by Fisher. But did it only really describe Britain? And has the world now entered a new period?

Readings:

Capitalist Realism http://www.zero-books.net/books/capitalist-realism 

'Exiting the Vampire Castle' https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mark-fisher/exiting-vampire-castle 

Mark Fisher's k-punk blog https://k-punk.org/ 

 

Cover image: 📸 Stephanie Jung

[FROM THE VAULT] /136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

FROM THE VAULT: PHIL'S PICK (1)

On British decline.

Much ink has been spilled over the Britain’s fate since the end of its empire. Could it be that decline has been overstated? And what will happen to Britain as it leaves the European Union? We discuss how the history of the Industrial Revolution and Cold War militarism still shapes British politics today, as David Edgerton joins us to talk about the his latest book, 'The Rise and Fall of the British Nation'.

Readings:

• A misremembered empire, David Edgerton, Tortoise
• Britain’s 20th-century industrial revolution, Colin Kidd, New Statesman (review of Edgerton's book)
• Britain's persistent racism cannot simply be explained by its imperial history, David Edgerton, The Guardian

/381/ Contemporary Art: Inane Spectacle & Pompous Discourse, ft. JJ Charlesworth

On contemporary art.

 

Critic and editor at Art Review, JJ Charlesworth, joins us to talk about why so much contemporary art is bad. We discuss:

• Why is art no longer about beauty?
• Are we stuck between art that is either superficial or hyperpolitical?
• Why has there been a turn towards the mystical and irrational in art?
• How are ideas of the indigenous and the ecological represented in art today?
• Is there a romantic revolt against reason and is it new?

Links:

• Criticism, Art and Theory in 1970s Britain: The Critical War, JJ Charlesworth
• The Return of Magic in Art, JJ Charlesworth, Art Review
• Gabriel Massan’s Decolonial Games, JJ Charlesworth, Art Review
• The naked truth about Marina Abramović – her ‘art’ is a joke, JJ Charlesworth, Telegraph

Excerpt: /380/ Josephine’s Body Count

On Ridley Scott's Napoleon.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We couldn't avoid discussing the new biopic about the "world soul" himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. The film isn't great, but what can we learn from it? And how does it sit in a context in which most biopics today are about musicians, business leaders and scientists?

 

We discuss:

• Why did Scott choose to focus on Napoleon's relationship with Josephine?
• What is Scott trying to say, if anything, about Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars?
• Where are the depictions of youth, revolution and modernity?
• Are there any redeeming aspects to the film?
• What do we make of Phoenix's portrayal?
• Are we seeing the return of films about Great Men of History?

/379/ Sexy Pictures of Taylor Swift (Not Brexit)

On taking control.

 

The Netherlands has elected an anti-EU rightist, but he won't take the Netherlands out of the European Union. Britain left the EU, but net migration to the UK has soared to its highest levels. What's going on?

 

In this special episode, Alex treats Phil and George as interview guests and grills them over their book, Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy after Brexit. We discuss:

• Why all the fuss for Brexit, when things have ended up the same as they were before?
• Why Brexit when the same politicians are still in charge?
• Why was no section of society able to lead Brexit with a positive vision of the future?
• Did Brexiteers need a more concrete proposal beyond "democracy"?
• What lessons can be learned from Brexit by others in the EU?

Excerpt: /378/ Reading Club: Globalisation (II)

On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century

 

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

 

We discuss the Part 2 of this landmark book from 2008, debating theories of Western economic decline: Robert Brenner's, and Arrighi's critique of it.

 

Points discussed:

• Are you 'Team Brenner' or 'Team Arrighi'?
• Was neoliberalism a counter-revolution? A passive revolution? A restoration?
• How does the depression of the 1870s compare to that of the 1970s or the post-2008 period?
• What are the characteristics of our own Belle Époque (1993-2007)
• What matters more in explaining the downturn: inter-capitalist global competition? Upward wage pressure? The role of the global South?

Links:

• Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008)

/377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor

On Australia's lockdown.

 

We welcome back Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor to talk about their new book, The Locked-Up Country, to try to learn some lessons from Australia's response to Covid-19. We also talk about the country's recent Indigenous Voice referendum and ask whether it was Oz's "Brexit Moment".

 

In the episode we ask:

• Was the pandemic another success for the 'lucky country'?
• How was the Australian state transformed from the 1970s to the 2020s?
• Why was Australia's pandemic planning inadequate?
• What was up with the hotel-based quarantines?
• Why did the public largely support these measure?
• And what can the rest of the world learn from the experience?

Excerpt: /376/ AufheBonus Bonus - Nov 2023

On your criticisms.

 

[Patreon Exclusive - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

We respond to your points made in the comments on Patreon over the past few months. The first section is of course dedicated to the Gaza war, followed by discussion on hyperliberalism, neutrality, big tech, outsourcing, and drugs.

 

Now available also as video on Patreon.

Excerpt: /375/ From Hyperliberalism to the Grayzone

On John Gray's The New Leviathans.

 

[Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, follow the link]

 

We discuss the British post-liberal philosopher's new book, looking at his background, ideological journey, and why he might be of interest. We also ask:

• How does John Gray use Hobbes and the idea of a Leviathan?
• What is a "state of nature", and what would an artificial state of nature be?
• Is Gray right in this characterization of liberalism?
• Is hyperliberalism the product of liberalism's decay?
• What is postliberalism and how does Gray’s project fit with it?

Readings:

• The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, John Gray
• Pseudo-Leviathans, George Hoare, Damage

/374/ You’re Gonna Need Representation ft. Vincent Bevins

On a decade of protest around the world.

 

Journalist Vincent Bevins is back on the podcast to talk about his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. We discuss the 2010s protest wave across countries as varied as Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Chile, Bahrain, Yemen, South Korea and Tunisia.

 

We ask:

• Why were protests in places that were so different all look so similar?
• Why was there such a focus on spontaneity, leaderlessness, peformativity, and horizontalism?
• What are some examples of the ways protests rejected representation?
• Was class or generation more important in driving these protests?
• Why did media becomes so important in pursuing political change?
• How can we avoid a repeat of the failures of the 2010s?

Links:

• If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, Vincent Bevins, Public Affairs
• The mass protest decade: why did the street movements of the 2010s fail?, Vincent Bevins, The Guardian
• The End of the End of History: Politics in the 21st Century, Bungacast authors, Zer0 Books
• /121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins
• /279/ Society of the Speculative ft. Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou

Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality

 

[Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

• Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
• What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
• How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
• Why were the realists right?
• How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
• Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
• And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

• Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

Excerpt: /372/ Reading Club: Globalisation (I)

On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century

 

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

 

We discuss the Introduction and Part 1 of this landmark book from 2008 and ask if Arrighi's vision of China, the West and the structure of the global economy was correct.

 

Points discussed:

• What's at stake in thinking of East Asian growth as a renaissance, or correction of the historical blip of European ascendency?
• How compelling is the account of East Asian success as a fusion of industrious and industrial revolution?
• Was Arrighi right to focus on the neoconservative Project for a New American Century?
• What do we think about Adam Smith's account of different classes' capacity for political action
• What's at stake in the revisionist view of Adam Smith as pro-state Enlightenment thinker rather than patron saint of the free market?

Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

• Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008)
• The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today, Razmig Keucheyan, Verso (2010)