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PODCAST

New Books in Political Science

New Books Network

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox:

science social sciences

All Episodes

0:00

The Long Reach of the Strong Arm: Evolving Forms of...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/30

How do authoritarian regimes silence critics across borders? And what are the repressive tools and strategies that authoritarian regimes use transnationally? In this episode we are joined by Arild Engelsen Ruud, Mubashar Hasan and Karin Zackari to discuss the role of digital surveillance, emotional blackmail, enforced family isolation, psychological harassment, and the imprisonment of relatives on fabricated charges by Asian authoritarian regimes seeking to control populations and narratives across

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57:13

Adam Y. Liu, "Authoritarian Markets: The Politics of...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/28

Authoritarian Markets explores the political foundations of China's banking boom and its far-reaching impact on the Chinese economy.In 1978 China had no commercial banks. Today it commands the world's largest banking system, with assets equal to 40 percent of global GDP. In Authoritarian Markets: The Politics of China's Banking Explosion (Cornell University Press, 2026), Dr. Adam Y. Liu argues that this rise was not the product of market reforms but of political bargains and bureaucratic

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38:37

Galina Bogatova, "Casting War As Love: Russian...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/25

Casting War As Love: Russian Colonialism in Familial Terms(Palgrave Macillan, 2026) by Dr. Galina Bogatova unpacks the hidden imperial logic behind Russia’s dominance over its neighbors, revealing how the Kremlin weaponizes "familial system" myths to justify control, including its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From the Tsarist empire to Putin’s digital propaganda, Dr. Bogatova examines how Russia portrays itself as a disciplining “father,” a self-sacrificing “mother,” or an “elder brother”

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42:35

Julia R. Azari, "Backlash Presidents: From...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/23

Julia Azari, Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, has a new, award-winning[*]book centering on the connection between race and the American presidency, specifically in the reaction to presidents who made progress on the issue of race in the United States.Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American Historyfocuses on four different periods in American political history and a number of different presidential administrations including: Abraham Lincoln,

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57:30

Dana Burchardt, "The Authority of International...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/23

Why do some international courts wield broad authority while others face pushback or fade into irrelevance? The Authority of International Courts: A Behavioural Framework(Hart Publishing, 2026) by Dr. Dana Burchardt provides novel theoretical and empirical insights into this question. It offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective on the authority of international courts, drawing from law, political science and behavioural research. It develops, in Part I, a theoretical model and

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0:00

Building A Freedom Infrastructure in the Age of...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/23

Host Licia Cianetti talks to Venezuelan democracy activist and co-founder of the World Liberty Congress Leopoldo López. As part of PPP’s ongoing collaboration with theJournal of Democracythey discuss Leopoldo’s recent article onDemocracy in an Age of Networked Control. They discuss the technological challenges that democracy activists worldwide face today, and how some activists are rethinking their use of technology to elude the infrastructure of control and create new infrastructures for

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54:37

Michael Patrick Cullinane, "Theodore Roosevelt and...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/22

In his final days in office in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt invited dozens of friends to the White House for lunch. They had never met as a group, but they had one thing in common: Each played tennis with the president and advised on policy matters. Roosevelt half-joked that the public would never know how much these tennis partners did to make his administration a success. Journalists dismissively called them the “Tennis Cabinet,” making light of their contribution, but Roosevelt knew

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37:33

Kurt Warner, "False Idols: How Diversion is...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/21

False Idols: How Diversion is Destroying Democracy(Vernon Press, 2024)examines how modern forms of diversion shape civic life and weaken democratic responsibility. Drawing on the ancient Roman idea of “bread and circuses,” Kurt Warner explores how contemporary society is saturated with distractions that keep citizens focused on what is immediate, pleasurable, profitable, or spectacular, rather than on what is politically and socially meaningful. The conversation introduces listeners to the book’s

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53:26

US 250: A Conversation with Peter John Loewen

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/18

This week onDemocracy Dialogues, Rachel Beatty Riedl speaks with Peter John Loewen to reflect on the 250thanniversary of US independence. They discuss the ways in which America’s unique founding moment has shaped democratic institutions and practice, and the paradox of America’s profound democratic experiment. In this episode, Loewen describes his research on the representative nature of elected politicians – how they are similar to and different from ordinary people in their decision making. He

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64:40

Ambrogio Caiani, "Flirting with Evil: The Catholic...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/18

It's a shadowy, ornate world of cover-ups and hidden motives. In Flirting with Evil:The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation (Apollo, 2026), Ambrogio Caiani lifts back the heavy velvet curtains of thechancel and peers behind the locked mahogany doors of the Vatican to reveal the shocking truths that make up a century of Catholic corruption. For many, Catholicism's flirtation with evil has become impossible to ignore: a pope courting Nazi officials and, horribly, turning

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54:22

Fenwick McKelvey, "SimPolitics: America’s Quest to...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/17

This book is available open access. For more than six decades, the public has been promised that computers will revolutionize politics, both nationally and internationally. In SimPolitics: America’s Quest to Solve Politics with Computers (MIT Press, 2026), Dr. Fenwick McKelvey traces the entwined history of politics and computers from the 1960s to the late 1980s. He shows how programmers, consultants, academics, political scientists, and peace activists all worked—sometimes in tandem,

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59:21

Christopher M. Federico et al., "The Authoritarian...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/16

Political Scientists Christopher Federico, Stanley Feldman, and Christopher Weber have an important and fascinating new book from Oxford University Press focusing on understanding authoritarianism, especially in the American context. As experts in political psychology, the authors are keen to consider authoritarianism as a psychological concept, which is more about submitting to authority, as a kind of conformity, and less about a particular political regime structure.The Authoritarian Divide:

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36:57

Luna Sabastian, "Fascism in India: Race, Caste, and...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/16

Fascism swept the world in the 1920s and 1930s, but not only because of the seductive rhetoric of Mussolini, Hitler, and their collaborators. In India as well, a distinctive brand of fascist thought emerged—influenced by Euro-American ideologies but also departing from them in critical ways. The first systematic examination of this political philosophy,Fascism in India: Race, Caste, and Hindutva(Harvard UP, 2025)revises our sense of what fascism can be, while demonstrating that it is very much

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60:00

The Emerging Anocracy: AI, Tech Oligarchs, and the...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/12

In this episode ofInternational Horizons, RBI Acting Director Eli Karetny sits down with Alexis Cruz, founder of Enough Consulting and former strategic advisor for governance at Meta. Cruz explores how the proliferation of AI and digital platforms has shifted global politics into an "anocracy"—a precarious gray zone situated between traditional democracy and authoritarianism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member

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70:25

Democratic Backsliding and Resistance: Poland’s Civil...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/12

This week onDemocracy Dialogues, Frances Cayton speaks with four experts on Polish politics about the success of Poland’s opposition coalition in 2023, and the headwinds that democracy continues to face today. What challenges do parties and civil society face in building pro-democracy electoral coalitions? If victorious, how do these challenges affect post-election governance and efforts at pursuing democratic renewal? This episode brings together politicians, political scientists, and civil

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33:41

Dan Altman, "Taking Territory: The Persistence of...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/12

Taking Territory: The Persistence of Conquest Since 1945(Cornell University Press, 2026) is an eye-opening account of why territorial conquest persists today. The end of World War II seemingly brought about a decline in territorial conquest. Many have argued that a strong territorial integrity norm in the postwar era explains this decline. Yet as Dan Altman shows, states have seized territory numerous times since 1945. Large-scale conquests have waned, but small, targeted seizures have

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58:28

Diana T. Kudaibergen, "What Does It Mean to Be...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/11

In early 2022, protests rocked Kazakhstan. Initially peaceful demonstrations turned violent after brutal government crackdowns, leaving at least 238 dead during "Bloody January." Many feared the unrest might fracture the country along ethno-linguistic lines—yet ethnicity played little role. It was deep socio-economic grievances and anti-regime sentiment that brought people onto the streets. In What Does It Mean to Be Kazakhstani?: Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Central Asia (Oxford University Press,

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56:42

Vignesh Rajahmani, "The Dravidian Pathway: The...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/10

In the rich political landscape of Tamil Nadu, few movements have had as profound and enduring an impact as the Dravidian movement. Vignesh Rajahmani’s The Dravidian Pathway (Hurst Publishers, 2025) offers a compelling and detailed account of how the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) transformed a powerful socio-cultural and anti-caste movement into a highly successful electoral political force. Focusing on the pivotal decades of the mid-20th century, Rajahmani traces the strategic

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77:08

What are the Limits of Political Speech? A...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/10

A New Approach to Political Speech:Democratic Theory, Constitutional Law, and Public Liberty After January 6(de Gruyter, 2026)challenges conventional understandings of political speech and its relationship to democracy. Through a focused case study of Donald Trump's role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and the prosecutions stemming from it, Erik Olsen develops a critique of the prevailing view that political speech is a private right that is only instrumentally related to political

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0:00

Campaigning, Parties and the Digital in Contemporary...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/07/08

Politics, parties and campaigning are all changing. AI, digital tools and the rapid spread of messages all mean that the conduct and content of politics are changing. In many respects, it feels like the only constant is change. But closer observation often illuminates a patchier picture with elements of change and elements that remain. Moreover, change can be more evolutionary than revolutionary, and the change is not always along the lines we might predict. So, how and in what ways is political

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892 results

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