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Political Science
Nordic Asia Podcast December 8, 2023

Humanitarian Issues of Immigration in Japan

From Historical Background to Current Policies

Yoko Demelius and Sara Park

Hosted by Satoko Naito
Japan has historically maintained extended periods of isolationist policies and continues to uphold some of the strictest immigration laws in the world today. The country has also long had a …

Political Science

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The New Books in Political Science podcast provides lively discussions of politics based on the work of political scientists (and scholars concerned with politics in other disciplines). The podcast thinks holistically about politics – from global to local.

Our hosts! Lilly Goren is professor of Political Science at Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Susan Liebell is professor of Political Science at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Lamis Abdelaaty is associate professor of Political Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs.

Political Science December 8, 2023

Support the Troops

Military Obligation, Gender, and the Making of Political Community

Katharine M. Millar

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In the past, it was assumed that men, as good citizens, would serve in the armed forces in wartime. In the present, however, liberal democratic states increasingly rely on small …
Religion December 7, 2023

Borders of Belief

Religious Nationalism and the Formation of Identity in Ireland and Turkey

Gregory J. Goalwin

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Despite theories to the contrary, religious nationalism, and the use of religion to determine membership in the national community, has continued to play a role in processes of identification in …
Political Science December 7, 2023

Violent Exceptions

Children's Human Rights and Humanitarian Rhetorics

Wendy S. Hesford

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty
Violent Exceptions: Children's Human Rights and Humanitarian Rhetorics (Ohio State UP, 2021) turns to the humanitarian figure of the child-in-peril in twenty-first-century political discourse to better understand how this figure …
Recall This Book December 7, 2023

Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism (Episode 1 of 3)

A Discussion with Balmurli Natrajan (with Lori Allen and Ajantha Subramanian)

Balmurli Natrajan, Lori Allen, and Ajantha Subramanian

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
"The Slippery Slope to a Multiculturalism of Caste" Professor Balmurli Natrajan has long studied questions of caste, nationalism and fascism in the Indian context: his many works include a 201 …
Critical Theory December 6, 2023

Undoing Work, Rethinking Community

A Critique of the Social Function of Work

James A. Chamberlain

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
This revolutionary book presents a new conception of community and the struggle against capitalism. In Undoing Work, Rethinking Community: A Critique of the Social Function of Work (ILR Press, 2018) …
Middle Eastern Studies December 5, 2023

Conflict Mediation in the Arab World

Ibrahim Fraihat and Isak Svensson

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Today I talked to Isak Svensson (editor) and Laurie Nathan (contributor) about Conflict Mediation in the Arab World (Syracuse UP, 2023), a very important and timely work focusing on mediation in the Arab …
Political Science December 4, 2023

Gun Country

Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America

Andrew C. McKevitt

Hosted by Susan Liebell
The United States has more guns than people – a condition that is “unprecedented in world history.” Scholars often focus on gun culture, the Second Amendment, or the history of …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones December 4, 2023

The Future of the State

A Discussion with Graeme Garrard

Graeme Garrard

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The Reagan-Thatcher neoliberal era started the retreat of the state. Privatisation and deregulation meant power was handed over to corporations and markets. Now that neoliberalism has run its course, will …
Religion December 3, 2023

Sacred Foundations

The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State

Anna M. Grzymała-Busse

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki
In Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State (Princeton University Press, 2023), political scientist Anna Grzymała-Busse corrects a long-standing distortion in the study of state formation …
Environmental Studies December 3, 2023

Evolution of a Movement

Four Decades of California Environmental Justice Activism

Tracy E. Perkins

Hosted by Avery Weinman
Despite living and working in California, one of the county's most environmentally progressive states, environmental justice activists have spent decades fighting for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink …
Southeast Asian Studies December 1, 2023

Indigenizing the Cold War

The Border Patrol Police and Nation-Building in Thailand

Sinae Hyun

Hosted by Patrick Jory
Listen:
Historians have tended to view the Cold War as a global ideological confrontation between an expansionist communist Soviet Union and a capitalist United States which sought to contain communism. And …
World Affairs November 30, 2023

Reluctance in World Politics

Why States Fail to Act Decisively

Sandra Destradi

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
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Why do international actors, including powerful states, often fail to develop clear foreign policies and instead adopt indecisive, ‘muddling-through’ approaches? In Reluctance in World Politics: Why States Fail to Act …
American Studies November 30, 2023

American Insecurity and the Origins of Vulnerability

Russ Castronovo

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
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An incisive critique that examines the origins of contemporary American ideas about surveillance, terrorism, and white supremacy. For more than three centuries, Americans have pursued strategies of security that routinely …
America and Beyond with Paul Starobin November 30, 2023

On “Henry Kissinger and His World”

A Discussion with Barry Gewen

Barry Gewen

Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:
In my talk with Barry Gewen on his 2020 book, The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World (W. W. Norton, 2020), we explore the disparate influences that shaped Kissinger …
World Affairs November 29, 2023

The Project-State and Its Rivals

A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Charles S. Maier

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
We thought we knew the story of the twentieth century. For many in the West, after the two world conflicts and the long cold war, the verdict was clear: democratic …
Middle Eastern Studies November 28, 2023

Waiting for the Revolution to End

Syrian Displacement, Time and Subjectivity

Charlotte Al-Khalili

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Listen:
Waiting for the Revolution to End: Syrian Displacement, Time and Subjectivity (UCL Press, 2023) by Dr. Charlotte Al-Khalili explores the Syrian revolution through the experiences of citizens in exile. Based on …
Critical Theory November 27, 2023

A Queer Theory of the State

Samuel Clowes Huneke

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
Queer theory has often been hesitant to align itself with a politics of the state, approaching it with a negative or pragmatic framework. A Queer Theory of the State (Floating …
Diplomatic History November 26, 2023

The Burden-Sharing Dilemma

Coercive Diplomacy in US Alliance Politics

Brian D. Blankenship

Hosted by Nathan Moore
The Burden-Sharing Dilemma: Coercive Diplomacy in US Alliance Politics (Cornell UP, 2023) examines the conditions under which the United States is willing and able to pressure its allies to assume …
European Politics November 24, 2023

Russia and Ukraine

Entangled Histories, Diverging States

Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel

Hosted by Tim Jones
Russia and Ukraine have alternative histories and alternative destinies. After the Soviet Union collapsed - depending on who you spoke to – they were either a single people artificially divided …