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PODCAST

Bungacast

The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Politics is back but it’s stranger than ever: join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’. Interviews, long-form discussions, docu-series.

news politics

All Episodes

48:24

/504/ Vietnam's Victory: American War to...

Bungacast ·

2025/08/05

On resistance and reform in southeast Asia. Historian Sean Fear talks to Alex H and Lee Jones about Vietnam on the 50-year anniversary since the end of the war. How is Vietnamese identity wrapped up with the notion of resistance? Is Chinese influence as great as resistance to China? How is the ‘American War’ thought about in Vietnam today? How similar is Vietnam to China: defying Fukuyama’s thesis by retaining a state-socialist political system while adopting capitalism? Why has Vietnam

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33:59

/503/ Effervescent Decadence in the Third Modernity

Bungacast ·

2025/07/31

On the end of the end of history and what comes next.Phil is back on the pod, talking with George and Alex about the big themes of the podcast. In particular, we look at a recent essay in Foreign Policy by historian Christopher Clarke called "The End of Modernity". To what extent was the 1989 moment as significant in Beijing as Berlin? Is Trump actually Stalin (but in a good way)? Is Russia the revisionist power? And if so, in what regard and what are the consequences? Who says the choice

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04:48

/502/ Their Own Personal Jesus ft. Lamorna Ash

Bungacast ·

2025/07/31

On the "return of religion" in Britain. [Patreon Exclusive] Journalist Lamorna Ash talks to George and Alex about how and why young people might be turning to religion today. Have things moved on from the New Atheists and their critique of religion? What are the divides in Christianity today? How do culture wars over sexuality play out? Why do ritual, quiet, and the 'new monasticism’ hold appeal today? Is Gen Z's pessimism a type of apocalyptic thinking? Is it related to

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11:15

/501/ Reading Club: The Lower-Middle Class

Bungacast ·

2025/07/25

On Arno Mayer's "The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem".We kick off the third block of the 2024/25 Reading Club, which is dedicated to the question of the middle class: The abatement of class struggle between workers and owners has shone a light on the role of the middle classes. Beyond the resurgence of the debate around the much-maligned professional-managerial class (PMC), what is the true role of the middle class in politics and society? Who rules today – and how would we go about

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01:24:02

/500/ Disrupt, Decline, Decay

Bungacast ·

2025/07/22

We celebrate 500 episodes of Aufhebunga Bunga with a cold, hard look at the decay around us. Alex and George plus contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch wrangle with four principal questions: What does it mean to say our era is one of decay or decline? How does this relate to the non-death of neoliberalism – its intellectual destitution, its practical weakening, but also its mutation and perpetuation? How does neoliberal decay relate to the decline of a unipolar world under total

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27:41

/499/ Shame! Shame on Bungacast! ft. Taylor Hines

Bungacast ·

2025/07/15

On shame, guilt and responsibility.Taylor Hines, an editor at Damage magazine, talks to George and Alex about his essay "Fool Me Twice" in Issue 4 of the magazine, which deals with the theme Responsibility. Remember, subscribers to Bungacast get a complimentary online subscription to Damage! We discuss: Why is Robert Eggers' Nosferatu about shame? What about the Rape of Lucretia? What can Frédéric Gros’ A Philosophy of Shame tell us? What's the difference between shame and guilt? Do

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01:07:24

/498/ After the 12-Day War ft. Eskandar Sadeghi

Bungacast ·

2025/07/08

On Iran and its Axis of Resistance.Historian Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi talks to Alex about the leadup and aftermath of the so-called "12-Day War between Iran and Israel and the US. Hamas and Hezbollah have been humbled, Assad is gone from Syria – how weakened is Iran? Did the 12-Day War actually happen? What prevented it becoming a wider war? What is the meaning of Israel's maximalist aims of regime change and regional dominance? Why is Iran now leaning into Iranian nationalism, even

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31:52

/497/ Are We Living in Fast Times? ft. James Hughes &...

Bungacast ·

2025/07/01

On technology, transhumanism, and progress.James Hughes (Exec Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) and Eli Sennesh (postdoc, Vanderbilt) present a futurist approach to Alex and contributing editor Leigh Phillips. What is wrong with the acronym TESCREAL? Why is it wrong to worry about future transhumanism when we need to grapple with the technologies of now? What are the limits of bourgeois futurism? What is an alternative futurism? Has AI changed everything? Will

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22:06

/496/ Insane-Washing the War (Which Did Not Take Place)

Bungacast ·

2025/06/30

On the war on Iran that wasn't (yet). Alex and George review the past month in the world and on Bungacast: The crazy will-they-won't-they of a potential US war on Iran The ex post facto justifications on all sides Where does "sanewashing" come from Ways to understand and not understand US political polarisation And we deal with your questions and comments from the past month: Woke Dungeons and Dragons Being Safe versus Feeling Safe More on victimhood, authenticity and the PMC [For

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01:16:19

/495/ Heritage America vs the World? ft. James Pogue

Bungacast ·

2025/06/24

On land conflicts, MAGA , and the frontier.Journalist James Pogue talks to George and Alex about his book Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West. The book concerns the events surrounding the 2016 armed occupation of the Oregon Malheur National Wildlife Refuge led by the rancher Ammon Bundy. We discuss: Why were these 2016 events so important and so telling? Is the Jacksonian concept of America still relevant? Does knowing how these people think enable you to predict what Trump – or JD Vance

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54:16

/494/ National Democracy or Globalist War ft....

Bungacast ·

2025/06/17

On the dual crisis of the world.Wolfgang Streeck, renowned economic sociologist, is back on to talk to us about the crisis of capitalist growth and of democracy. We focus on the solutions proposed in his brilliant new book, Taking Back Control? States and State Systems After Globalism. Then, Lee and Alex discuss three key themes emerging from the interview: federalism and small states; the national interest; and the redefinition of democracy. [For the full episode, subscribe at

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30:01

/492/ The Armed Wing of the Deplatforming Movement...

Bungacast ·

2025/06/10

On the right to protest.[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Contributing editor Alex Gourevitch talks to Alex H and George about restrictions on speech and protest at US universities and beyond – particularly with regard to Palestine solidarity demonstrations. How have uni administrators not just undermined by seemingly attacked the right to protest? Why is Trump going after the universities this way? How have progressives undermined the right of protest by talking up

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01:04:27

/491/ Squeezed Between Two Empires ft. Maciej Szlinder

Bungacast ·

2025/06/03

On Poland's election, its history, its self-conception.Philosopher Maciej Szlinder joins us to talk about Polish politics, society and history. Maciej is a member of the general council of the left-wing political party Razem ("Together"), as well as the president of the Polish Basic Income Network, so we discuss these matters as well as the general context. How did Poland represent a beacon of neoliberal democracy to Western liberals in the 80s and 90s – and what happened next? What does Poland

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17:21

/490/ Reading Club: Who Is Anti-Nationalist?

Bungacast ·

2025/06/02

On the former Yugoslavia and the ethnography of anti-nationalists. [For the full episode, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast] [Reading Club LIVE: Sat 14 June, 9am LA, 12am NY, 5pm London, 6pm Berlin] In the third installment of this block on inter/nationalism in the 21st century, we take a look at the other side of nationalism, through scholar Stefaan Jansen's “Anti-nationalism: Post-Yugoslav Resistance and Narratives of Self and Society”. Who are the Somewheres and Anywheres in

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42:55

/489/ Boomer Death Rattle

Bungacast ·

2025/05/30

On the end of the (very) long 1960s.[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Contributing Editor Lee Jones joins Alex and George to talk through the themes and stories of the month, including MAGA's war on universities, right-populists in power, and culture war. Plus we deal with your questions and comments on: lawfare, video games, and the 'new class'. What is TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)? How should we respond to rightist attempts to rewrite the past? Why are Angela

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33:47

/488/ Homo-Techno, Homo-Solo ...Post-Homo? ft. Alex...

Bungacast ·

2025/05/27

On tech and the last hu-men. [For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Writer Alex Gender is back, talking to Alex and George about his recent essay, "Homo Algorithmicus", as well as reflecting on how incel culture has widened and deepened in the past five years. How does healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione exemplify a “rationalist” worldview? What is "TESCREAL" and how are those distinct ideologies underpinned an anti-human rationalism? Is "tech" or Silicon Valley split

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51:51

/487/ Did JD Vance Kill the PMC? ft. Christopher...

Bungacast ·

2025/05/20

On what is next for 'PMC theory'[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] The social media avatar known as Christopher Lasch's Angry Ghost joins us to unpick the conjuncture: as the Trump administration makes cuts and seeks to do away with progressives in bureaucracies, where does that leave the left-wing critique of the PMC? What would Lasch's ghost be telling us now? Is the PMC a class? Is it distinct people? Or is it more like procedures, and ways of thinking? Is woke

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56:31

/486/ Romania Is Following the Script ft. Enikő Vincze

Bungacast ·

2025/05/13

On Romania's annulled election – and the repeat.Academic and housing activist Enikő Vincze talks to Alex about why December 2024's election result was annulled, and how Romanian politics is following the script of European politics: lawfare, misinformation, techno-populism, and "sovereigntists" who provide the same neoliberal solutions. Who are the contenders in the May 2025 election and what do they represent? To what extent do Simion and AUR represent an 'anti-system' candidacy? How do they

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23:32

/485/ Can Games Teach Us Agency? ft. Pawel Kaczmarski

Bungacast ·

2025/05/06

On the promise of videos games.[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Pawel Kaczmarski – a literary critic who teaches modern and contemporary Polish literature at the University of Wrocław – talks to George and Alex about his piece in Damage, "The Promise of Video Games". How are things gearing up for Poland's election later this month? Are video games moving culturally "upstream"? How does a game like Helldivers 2 promise to teach us agency but fails? Is the problem

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30:44

/484/ No Justice in Politics ft. David Broder

Bungacast ·

2025/04/29

On the charges against France's Marine Le Pen.[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Alex and George discuss some main stories from the past month. After the death of Pope Francis, what's behind left-wing sympathy for the late Pope – and more widespread appreciation for Catholicism? Why do we want a progressive Pope, and would a reactionary one be better for us? Why is the US deporting people to Nayib Bukele's Salvadorian prisons, and what makes this so dystopian? Then Alex

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