New Books Network

About John McMahon

NBN Episodes hosted by John:

Political Science December 10, 2016

Starve and Immolate

The Politics of Human Weapons

Banu Bargu

Hosted by John McMahon
What is the relationship between state power and self-destructive violence as a mode of political resistance? In her book Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons (Columbia University Press …
Political Science November 28, 2016

Immigrants and Electoral Politics

Nonprofit Organizing in a Time of Demographic Change

Heath Brown

Hosted by John McMahon
Why do nonprofits representing immigrants participate (or choose not to participate) in electoral politics, and what forms does their participation take? In his new book, Immigrants and Electoral Politics: Nonprofit …
Critical Theory September 16, 2016

Embodied Power

Demystifying Disembodied Politics

Mary Hawkesworth

Hosted by John McMahon
How can we explain the "occlusion of embodied power" and "lack of attention to race, gender, and sexuality" in the discipline of political science, a field "that claims power as …
World Affairs June 26, 2016

Rightlessness in an Age of Rights

Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants

Ayten Gundogdu

Hosted by John McMahon
How does one "rethink and revise the key concepts of Hannah Arendt's political theory in light of the struggles of asylum seekers, refugees, and undocumented immigrants" (207)? In her new …
Critical Theory May 17, 2016

The Political Philosophy of G.A. Cohen

Back to Socialist Basics

Nicholas Vrousalis

Hosted by John McMahon
In his book The Political Philosophy of G.A. Cohen: Back to Socialist Basics (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), Nicholas Vrousalis (Leiden University) provides a thorough and complex reconstruction of G.A. Cohen's political …
World Affairs April 19, 2016

Humanitarian Intervention

Ideas in Action (3rd edition)

Thomas G. Weiss

Hosted by John McMahon
How are humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect changing in the current international political scene? In Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas in Action (3rd ed., Polity Press, 2016), Thomas G. Weiss …
Critical Theory March 7, 2016

The End of Progress

Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory

Amy Allen

Hosted by John McMahon
How can we de-colonize critical theory from within, and reimagine the way it grounds its normative claims as well as the way it relates to post- and de-colonial theory? Amy …
Environmental Studies January 21, 2016

Reason in a Dark Time

Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed - and What It Means for Our Future

Dale Jamieson

Hosted by John McMahon
How are we to think and live with climate change? In Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed - and What It Means for Our …
African American Studies December 18, 2015

Freedom as Marronage

Neil Roberts

Hosted by John McMahon
What does it mean to be free? How can paying attention to the relationship between freedom and slavery help construct a concept and practice of freedom that is "perpetual, unfinished …
Gender Studies December 1, 2015

Gender, War, and Conflict

Laura Sjoberg

Hosted by John McMahon
How does gender make war, and how does war make gender? In Gender, War, and Conflict (Polity Press, 2014), Laura Sjoberg (University of Florida) analyzes war and conflict through a …
Middle Eastern Studies October 27, 2015

The Islamic Worldview

Islamic Jurisprudence--An American Muslim Perspective (Volume One)

Azizah al-Hibri

Hosted by John McMahon
How can a perspective on Islamic law and jurisprudence be constructed responding to the lives and practices of diasporic Muslims while remaining deeply grounded in the foundational texts of the …
World Affairs August 27, 2015

Affective Relations

The Transnational Politics of Empathy

Carolyn Pedwell

Hosted by John McMahon
What are the multiple meanings, ambivalences, possible risks, and potentials for transformation that arise from interrogating empathy on a transnational scale? Carolyn Pedwell (University of Kent) thinks through these complex …
World Affairs July 21, 2015

Climate Justice

Vulnerability and Protection

Henry Shue

Hosted by John McMahon
How can a practical philosophical perspective concerned with justice and fairness help us address the problem of climate change? Henry Shue (Merton College, Oxford) tackles this essential question in his …
World Affairs July 8, 2015

Transnationalizing the Public Sphere (Polity, 2014)

Nancy Fraser

Hosted by John McMahon
How is "the public sphere" best conceptualized on a transnational scale? Nancy Fraser (The New School for Social Research) explores this pressing question in her book Transnationalizing the Public Sphere …