Politics Theory Other

Are Johnson's days as PM numbered? w/ Will Davies

Boris Johnson's grip on power seems more precarious than at any other point during his time in office. PTO spoke to Will Davies about whether we're at the beginning of the end of the Johnson era, and why Will compares Boris Johnson to a financial asset - and his allies and supporters to investors.

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Listeners' questions: Lea Ypi

Lea Ypi will be returning to the show to respond to your questions on the recent episode on her extraordinary book, Free: Coming of Age at the End of History which tells the story of Lea's upbringing in Stalinist Albania and the post-communist transition of the 1990s. As well as describing Lea's personal experience, the book also includes Lea's reflections on the meaning of freedom under the eastern bloc regimes and under liberal democracy. If you'd like to put a question to Lea on a...

Coming of age at the end of history w/ Lea Ypi

Lea Ypi joins PTO to talk about her new book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History. It tells Lea's story of growing up in Stalinist Albania, the end of communist party rule in 1990, and the country's slide into violent chaos in 1997. We talked about Albania's isolation during the cold war after schisms with first the Soviet Union, and then with China, and how the regime made sense of Albania's place in the world. We also discussed Lea's childhood and her reaction to learning that...

Listener's questions w/ Richard Seymour (part two)

Part two of Richard Seymour responding to listener's questions, including on Amia Srinivasan's work, and also on critiques of psychoanalysis - a practice that plays a very important role in Richard's writing.

Jason Hickel on how degrowth will save the world (part one)

Jason Hickel joins PTO to talk about his book, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. In part one of the interview we discussed the comprehensive and all-encompassing character of the ecological crisis which extends well beyond the issue of CO2 emissions. We also talked about the violent emergence of capitalism, and how that process entailed the radical transformation of human subjectivity and how humans relate to the natural world. Finally, we talked about the emergence of ...

Listener's questions w/ Richard Seymour (part one)

Richard Seymour, who was recently on the show to discuss supply chains and the ecological crisis, returns to  respond to the excellent questions sent in by listeners. We talked about how the left should respond to the issue of consumerism and Richard's opinion of Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. And we also talked about the question of constitutional politics with regard to popular movements in Chile and more broadly.

Neither artificial nor intelligent - Kate Crawford on AI

Kate Crawford joins PTO to talk about her book, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. We talked about why some proponents of AI are so convinced - against so much evidence - that systems of machine learning will truly be able to replicate human intelligence, and how the extraordinary material impacts of AI systems - from rare earth mining to electrical power needs - tend not to be discussed. We also talked about the early history of statist...

Listener questions: Richard Seymour

Richard Seymour will be returning to the the show soon to respond to your questions - both on the recent episode on supply chains, environmental breakdown, and the UK's covid-19 situation - and more broadly. As anyone who follows his excellent blog will know, Richard's writing ranges far and wide - from Marxist theory to psychoanalysis, to current events and much else besides. If you'd like to put a questi...

PTO Extra - From Covid to civilisational crisis w/ Richard Seymour

Richard Seymour joins PTO to talk about his recent articles on the supply chain and fuel crisis - both in the UK and abroad - and how they portend a future of climate related disruption. We also talked about the significant uptick in the UK's Covid-19 cases and death toll, and why the government scaled back public health regulations so dramatically.

Is support for the Conservatives finally starting to erode? w/ Andy Beckett

Andy Beckett joins PTO to talk about the recent Conservative and Labour Party conferences and whether the supply chain and fuel crises might finally undermine support for Boris Johnson's government. We also chatted about why Keir Starmer seems to have made so little effort to make political capital out of the government's current difficulties. 

Sex and the politics of desire - w/ Amia Srinivasan

Amia Srinivasan joins PTO to talk about her new book, The Right to Sex. We spoke about whether it's legitimate to interrogate our sexual desires and to think about how desire is shaped by patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and heteronormativity. We also talked about why Amia takes the case of so-called incels as the way into discussing those questions. Finally, we considered the anti-pornography critique of Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, and whether their work can be generative...

Germany's election - the end of Merkelism? w/ Ines Schwerdtner and Adrian Daub

Ines Schwerdtner and Adrian Daub join PTO to talk through the Bundestag election. We talked about the election results and the partial revival of the SPD. We also talked about the permutations of possible governing coalitions, and the unusual extent of the red scare tactics deployed by the CDU and the other parties of the right against Die Linke and the SPD. Finally, we chatted about the legacy of Angela Merkel and why Germany's longest serving chancellor since Helmut Kohl is so admired by li...

The AUKUS pact w/ Paul Rogers and David Brophy

Paul Rogers and David Brophy join PTO to talk about AUKUS, the new security pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. We spoke about the significance of Australia acquiring nuclear powered submarines through the deal, the fallout from the cancellation of Australia's prior deal with France, and finally we discuss how the deal will be perceived in Beijing amid rising tensions between the US and China.

Listener's questions: James Meadway on the end of neoliberalism

James Meadway joins PTO again to respond to listener's questions on the recent episode on the end of neoliberalism. We chatted about who might be the winners of a post neoliberal settlement, whether neoliberal ideology is compatible with a more state directed economy, and why James believes we will likely see a shift in power towards workers in the coming years.

Adam Tooze on Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy

Adam Tooze joins PTO to talk about his new book, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy. We talked about the problems and pitfalls of writing instant history, why 'shutdown' is a more useful way of thinking about how governments and ordinary people responded to the Covid19 crisis than 'lockdown'. And finally, we chatted about why China's radical efforts to suppress the virus in Wuhan, Hubei province and beyond was not as typical of the regime as is commonly supposed. 

The graveyard of empires... A second Vietnam... - Timothy Nunan on the cliches of the war in Afghanistan

Timothy Nunan joins PTO to talk about the current situation in Afghanistan, the refugee crisis in the country, the US media discussion around the American withdrawal, and what descriptions of Afghanistan as 'a graveyard of empires' or a 'second Vietnam' obscures regarding the history of the country in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Variations: Juliet Jacques on stories of Britain's transgender history

Juliet Jacques joins PTO to talk about her debut collection of short stories, Variations. Inspired by found material and real-life events, the book explores the history of transgenderism in Britain, from the time of the Oscar Wilde trial to the second decade of the 2000s. We talked about why Juliet chose to use fiction to address the history of trans, the feelings of responsibility that come with describing the experiences of characters based on the lives of real people who lived, lo...

Questions for James Meadway

Due to illness the Listener's Questions episode with James Meadway on the end of neoliberalism ended up being pushed back a bit, but we'll now be chatting on Tuesday so there's still time to send in a question. You can either comment here or email politicstheoryother@gmail.com  - please include 'listener's questions' in the subject line. Thank you for your patience with this one! 

Listener questions: Paul Rogers on the aftermath of the Taliban's victory

Paul Rogers returns to PTO to respond to listener questions on the situation in Afghanistan and the implications of the Taliban's victory.

Listener questions: Paul Rogers on the aftermath of the Taliban's victory

International security expert Paul Rogers will be returning to PTO to respond to listener questions on the situation in Afghanistan and the implications of the Taliban's victory.  Topics we might touch on include: how the Taliban will govern Afghanistan, the human rights implications of their victory, the UK and European responses to American withdrawal, the failure of Western intelligence, and what the defeat means for American prestige. If you'd like to put a question to Paul on these ...

The Taliban on the verge of victory w/ Paul Rogers

Paul Rogers joins PTO to talk about the Taliban's advance across Afghanistan and the possibility of an imminent takeover of the capital Kabul. We spoke about why the Taliban have been so successful against the more numerous and better equipped and supported Afghan government forces, what the Taliban's victory might mean for India, Pakistan and China, and finally we discussed how history will judge Western military intervention in the country.

Listener questions: James Meadway on the death of neoliberalism

The recent interview with James Meadway prompted lots of discussion on social media regarding his contention that neoliberalism is in the process of being superseded by what some are calling 'authoritarian capitalism'. Some of that discussion has focussed on how neoliberalism is distinct from capitalism more generally, whether aspects of neoliberal ideology will persist under a different regime of accumulation, and whether a break with neoliberalism might portend something even worse...
2021-08-04 10:36:49 +0000 UTC View Post

PTO Extra! - Owen Hatherley responds to listener questions on Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances

Owen joins PTO to respond to listener questions on our recent discussion on Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances, a career spanning new collection of his writings. 

After neoliberalism w/ James Meadway

James Meadway joins PTO to talk about his forthcoming article for Open Democracy on the end of neoliberalism. We talked about why James believes that we're witnessing a transition away from neoliberalism and towards what some are calling authoritarian capitalism, why the left needs to focus more on the high point of globalisation of the early 2000s when thinking about neoliberal forms of governance rather than the late 1970s and 1980s, and we also talked about how the platform tech g...

The Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World w/ Benjamin Bratton

Benjamin Bratton joins PTO to discuss his new book, The Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World. We talked about how the Covid-19 pandemic could transform our sense of human subjectivity, how to think about planning at a planetary scale - in a way that neither falls prey to techno utopianism, nor retreats into a romantic localism. We also talked about what the pandemic means for populism, and why taking an epidemiological view of society will aid us in dealing with fu...

Listener questions: Owen Hatherley on... anything and everything

The recent episode with Owen Hatherley on the new career-spanning collection of his work, Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances barely scratched the surface, so I'll be putting some more questions to him in a PTO Extra! episode. Topics covered in the book that we didn't get to discuss include The Pet Shop Boys, the architecture of Warsaw, Kraftwerk, the poetry of Andrew Jordan, German expressionism, and architecture and war in Israel-Palestine. If you've read the book then pleas...

Late capitalism at 20,000 ft. w/ Margret Grebowicz

Margret Grebowicz joins PTO to talk about her new book, Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. The End of the World. We talked about how the notion of the boho climbing rat, who forgoes a normal life and conventional ideas of success has given way to the idea of the modern climber as emblematic of entrepreneurial achievement and heteronormativity. We also talked about Free Solo, the 2018 documentary on Alex Honnold's attempt to free climb the vertical rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite ...

PTO Extra! - Jeremy Gilbert responds to listener questions on Labour and left strategy

Jeremy Gilbert joins PTO to respond to listener questions on our recent discussion about the Labour Party. We talked about whether Jeremy holds a "stagist" approach to political consciousness and social change, what the far more positive public discussion around migration in Scotland suggests about possibilities elsewhere in the UK, and what - if anything - Labour can do to win over the support of home owning retirees.

Clean living under difficult circumstances w/ Owen Hatherley

Owen Hatherley joins PTO to discuss a new career spanning collection of his writings, Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances. We talked about the early 2000s blogging scene as a reaction to New Labour, Owen's writings on music and how Black Box Recorder's work seemed to anticipate the world of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. And finally, we talked about Owen's review of K-Punk - the collected writings of Mark Fisher - and the strange phenomenon of American leftists seeing Fisher ...

Listener questions: Jeremy Gilbert on the Labour Party

The recent episode with Jeremy Gilbert on Labour and Keir Starmer's leadership has generated lots of interesting comments and questions. And so later this week Jeremy will be doing a PTO patrons-only episode where he'll be responding to some of those comments. If you'd like to put a question to Jeremy please comment below or email politicstheoryother@gmail.com (with 'listener questions' in the subj...