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New Books in Politics and Polemics

Interviews with Authors of Politics and Polemics about their New Books Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

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All Episodes

30:20

When Should the Majority Rule – and is it time to...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/16

When do limits on majorities enhance democratic rule, and when do they undermine it? Join Nic Cheeseman as he talks to Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, well-known as authors of the best-selling book How Democracies Die, about their new framework for understanding when the best way to protect democracy is to constrain the wishes of the majority, and when we need to empower them. Lumping all majoritarian measures into the same category, they argue, can lead us to preserve and prescribe outdated and

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58:06

“Plato and the Tyrant” with author James Romm

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/13

In 388 BCE, Plato, at the age of about forty and in the midst of writing The Republic, visited for the first time the then-Greek city state of Syracuse, on the eastern shores of Sicily. Syracuse was ruled by a tyrant, Dionysius, who on death was followed by his son, also a tyrant. Over the course of his three separate visits to Syracuse over the years, encountering both father and son, Plato arrived at the model for tyranny laid out in The Republic. That’s the argument of James Romm’s splendid

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67:49

Is the U.S. helping speed up its own decline? with...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/08

We begin the new season of International Horizons by asking a crucial question: is the U.S. helping speed up its own decline? RBI Deputy Director, Eli Karetny talks with political writer and scholar Damon Linker about how Trump’s movement sees presidential power, why it challenges long-standing rules and institutions, and what it means for America’s role in the world. They explore whether U.S. influence has shifted from leading a global order after World War II to carving out its own “sphere of

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39:53

Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley, "Good Change: The Rise...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/08

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions?It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland’s Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much

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41:51

Sarah McLaughlin, "Authoritarians in the Academy: How...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/07

In an era of globalized education, where ideals of freedom and inquiry should thrive, an alarming trend has emerged: foreign authoritarian regimes infiltrating American academia. In Authoritarians in the Academy, Sarah McLaughlin exposes how higher education institutions, long considered bastions of free thought, are compromising their values for financial gain and global partnerships. This groundbreaking investigation reveals the subtle yet sweeping influence of authoritarian governments

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53:45

Santiago Zabala, "Signs from the Future: Philosophy...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/04

Returning to NBN is the philosopher Santiago Zabala, here to introduce his new book Signs from the Future: A Philosophy of Warnings (Columbia University Press, 2025). Warnings, for Zabala, are not synonymous with predictions. They are instead as much about the present as the future. They point towards already present crisis and contradictions. They also attempt to reorient us towards alternative paths. Embedded deeply in the critical hermeneutics of writers such as Heidegger, Arendt and Beauvoir but

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54:25

Maddalena Cerrato, "Michel Foucault's Practical...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/02

Michel Foucault's thought, Maddalena Cerrato writes, may be understood as practical philosophy. In this perspective, political analysis, philosophy of history, epistemology, and ethics appear as necessarily cast together in a philosophical project that aims to rethink freedom and emancipation from domination of all kinds. The idea of practical philosophy accounts for Foucault's specific approach to the object, as well as to the task of philosophy, and it identifies the perspective that led him to

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69:31

Cordelia Fine, "Patriarchy Inc.: What We Get Wrong...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/01

Inequality in the workplace impacts all areas of our lives, from health and self-development to economic security and family life. But, despite the world's richest countries' long-avowed commitments to gender equality, there is still so much to fix - and so much we don't see.With perceptive and razor-sharp insight, in Patriarchy Inc.: What We Get Wrong About Gender Equality – and Why Men Still Win at Work (W.W. Norton, 2025) award-winning author Cordelia Fine reveals how the status quo - Patriarchy

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55:30

David Edmonds, "Death in a Shallow Pond: A...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/09/01

Imagine this: You’re walking past a shallow pond and spot a toddler thrashing around in the water, in obvious danger of drowning. You look around for her parents, but nobody is there. You’re the only person who can save her and you must act immediately. But as you approach the pond you remember that you’re wearing your most expensive shoes. Wading into the water will ruin them—and might make you late for a meeting. Should you let the child drown? The philosopher Peter Singer published this thought

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62:18

Thane Gustafson, "Perfect Storm: Russia's Failed...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/29

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought a tragic close to a thirty-year period of history that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reopening of Russia to the West after six decades of Soviet isolation. The opening lasted for three tumultuous decades and ended with a new closing, driven by the Ukrainian war, the imposition of Western sanctions, and the Russian responses to them.In Perfect Storm: Russia's Failed Economic Opening, the Hurricane of War and Sanctions, and the

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53:45

Donald G. Nieman, "The Path to Paralysis: How...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/25

Much has been written about political polarisation in the United States, but no one has examined it through the lens of recent U.S. history. There is nothing deterministic about how we became polarised, and it happened more recently than many think. To fully understand the problem, we must take the long view, the perspective provided by history, with its attention to change over time and the role of contingency. That’s what The Path to Paralysis does. The book illuminates the broad forces that have

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38:48

Nick Spencer, "The Landscapes of Science and...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/24

The relationship between science and religion has long been a heated debate and is becoming an ever more popular topic. The scientific capacity to manipulate and change humans and their environment through genetic engineering, life extension, and AI is going to take a huge leap forward in the twenty-first century, provoking endless debates around humans “playing God”.But what do we mean by this? Asking this question is surprisingly hard work. Attempts to 'essentialise' science, let alone religion,

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65:20

Todd Mcgowan, "Pure Excess: Capitalism and the...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/20

Todd McGowan forges a new theory of capitalism as a system based on the production of more than what we need: pure excess. He argues that the promise of more—more wealth, more enjoyment, more opportunity, without requiring any sacrifice—is the essence of capitalism. Previous socioeconomic systems set up some form of the social good as their focus. Capitalism, however, represents a revolutionary turn away from the good and the useful toward excessive growth, which now threatens the habitability of

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46:38

Catherine Malabou, "Stop Thief!: Anarchism and...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/20

Why do so many philosophers value anarchy but refuse to call themselves anarchists? Why don’t philosophers draw on the classical anarchist tradition? How can we think de facto anarchism as distinct from dawning anarchism? What is at stake in doing so? Does philosophy need anarchism? To answer these questions, in Stop Thief! Anarchism and Philosophy (Polity Books, 2023), Catherine Malabou reads submerged counter-revolutionary themes in the texts of several key philosophical thinkers. By doing so,

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91:59

Alyssa Battistoni, "Free Gifts: Capitalism and the...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/19

Capitalism is typically treated as a force for relentless commodification. Yet it consistently fails to place value on vital aspects of the nonhuman world, whether carbon emissions or entire ecosystems. In Free Gifts, Alyssa Battistoni explores capitalism’s persistent failure to value nature, arguing that the key question is not the moral issue of why some kinds of nature shouldn’t be commodified, but the economic puzzle of why they haven’t been. To understand contemporary ecological problems from

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37:37

What Makes for Successful Civil Resistance?

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/18

As authoritarian leaders attack democracy from all sides, and the rights of women, ethnic minorities and the LGTBQI+ community are increasingly threatened, civil resistance is more important than ever. But what forms of resistance are most effective, and how can we build movements so that they have the greatest chance of success? Join the People, Power, Politics podcast as we talk to Erica Chenoweth, author of Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, to discuss these issues and so much

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52:29

James Kimmel, Jr., "The Science of Revenge:...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/14

There is a hidden addiction plaguing humanity right now: revenge. Researchers have identified retaliation in response to real and imagined grievances as the root cause of most forms of human aggression and violence. From vicious tweets to road rage, murder-suicide, and armed insurrection, perpetrators almost always see themselves as victims seeking justice. Chillingly, recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies of the human brain show that harboring a personal grievance triggers revenge desires and

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75:23

David Theo Goldberg, "The War on Critical Race...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/14

The War on Critical Race Theory: Or, The Remaking of Racism (Polity Press, 2023) by David Theo Goldberg discusses how “Critical Race Theory” is consuming conservative America. The mounting attacks on a once-obscure legal theory are upending public schooling, legislating censorship, driving elections, and cleaving communities.In this much-needed response, renowned scholar David Theo Goldberg cuts to the heart of the claims expressed in these attacks. He punctures the demonization of Critical Race

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57:38

Every Purchase Matters: How Fair Trade Farmers,...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/12

We all have the power to change the world through the products we buy. This simple premise has driven the growth of the conscious consumer movement for decades. Indeed, what started with a handful of niche sustainability brands has exploded into the mainstream with labels like Organic, Non-GMO, and Fair Trade Certified now adorning products in major retailers across the country. Yet the true promise of ethical sourcing and conscious consumerism has not been fully realized. Paul Rice has dedicated

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63:52

Ryan Griffiths, "The Disunited States: Threats of...

New Books in Politics and Polemics ·

2025/08/11

Is the breakup of an increasingly polarized America into separate red and blue countries even possible?There is a growing interest in American secession. In February 2023, Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that "We need a national divorce...We need to separate by red states and blue states." Recent movements like Yes California have called for a national divorce along political lines. A 2023 Axios poll shows that 20 percent of Americans favor a national divorce. These trends show a sincere interest

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1,397 results

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