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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:

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62:04

The Political Philosophy of Mark Twain: On His...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/02

While many know that Mark Twain created some of the most famous characters in literature—Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Jim and Puddn’head Wilson—too few have understood that the Missouri author wasn’t only America’s greatest humorist, but also one of its most subtle political thinkers. But what was the political philosophy of the elusive and ironic Mark Twain for his new democratic America?To help answer that question, as we continue Season 6, I have as our guest Ivan Kenneally. A contributor

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72:34

Richard Ned Lebow, "Why Nations Still Fight"...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/30

Drawing on an original data set of interventions and wars from 1945 to the current day, as well as numerous short case studies, Richard Ned Lebow offers a novel account of their origins and outcomes - one that emphasises miscalculation, failure to conduct meaningful risk assessments, and cultural and political arrogance.A successive work to Why Nations Fight (2010), in this bookWhy Nations Still Fight(Cambridge UP, 2026)he explains why initiators routinely lose militarily and politically when

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60:35

Catherine Reyes-Housholder, "How Women Win...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/28

Between 1990 and 2020, women candidates won only 6% of the world’s presidential races. How Women Win Presidential Elections in Latin America (Temple University Press, 2026) explains the factors, strategies, and perceptions that help (or hinder) women to democratically access their country’s highest political office. Dr. Catherine Reyes-Housholder introduces a theory of gendered incentives and perceived potential to reveal why a political party would break with tradition and nominate a woman. She

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56:54

Srirupa Roy, "The Political Outsider: Indian...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/28

Defying the dire predictions that attended its birth as an independent nation-state in 1947, the Indian republic is more than seventy-five years old. And yet, it is a place where criticisms of actually existing democracy are intense and strident. In recent years, the trope of victimized people suffering at the hands of a predatory elite and political dysfunction has reaped rewards. The populist language of redemptive outsiders pledging to combat a corrupt system has been harnessed in

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50:51

Paul Johnson, "Challenging Inequalities: How We Got...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/26

There is a widespread sense throughout the developed world that progress towards a better society has stalled. Many countries, including the UK, have experienced persistent economic stagnation accompanied by declining trust in institutions. Governments are struggling to respond not only to traditional economic problems but also to newer challenges posed by climate change, migration and technological change. Challenging Inequalities: How We Got Stuck and Where We Go Next(Princeton University

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53:00

After Putin: A Discussion with Political Scientist...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/25

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, at 73 years old, is still very much alive, yet the “After Putin” conversation is an active one inside and outside of Russia. Whatcouldcome next and how to think about that question? My guest is Julian G. Waller, a political scientist at George Washington University and author of a recentForeign Affairsarticle “After Putin: Russia’s Coming Succession Crisis.” In our discussion, Waller anchors the “After Putin” question in historical context, as to how succession played

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39:48

Edward Goldring, "Purges: How Dictators Fight to...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/24

Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive (Cornell University Press, 2026) by Dr. Edward Goldring delves into one of the key tactics that autocrats deploy to maintain power: the removal of individuals from within the regime. From Kim Jong Un's execution of his uncle to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's removal of over a hundred Turkish generals, purges bear significant consequences for the survival and endurance of autocrats. Yet much remains unknown about why dictators use purges and whether they

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64:48

Mark Leonard, "Surviving Chaos: Geopolitics When the...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/22

"Expansive visions. Universal institutions. Ideas of progress. Itwas on the back of these that the West surged ahead and built a global order. I was born into that world. But my children have entered a world of Un-order." We live in an explosive world. Trump is blowing up political order. Xi Jinping is scrambling the economy. And Putin is redrawing the map of Europe. At a time when every crisis bleeds into the next — from pandemics and wars to climate shocks and AI revolutions — the old

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49:02

Seth Masket, "The Elephants in the Room: How Trump...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/20

Political Scientist Seth Masket’s new book,The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders(Cambridge UP, 2026)is acompanion book to his earlier work,Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020(Cambridge University Press, 2020). In researching both these works, Masket spends time with party leaders throughout the United States, discussing the loss at the presidential level (for Democrats in 2016, for Republicans in 2020) and seeking to understand what the

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69:24

Deborah Mayersen, "Genocide Prevention: An...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/18

There has never been a more promising time for genocide prevention. More resources and research are being focused on prevention than ever before. Yet we still lack vital knowledge as to the most effective ways to stabilise and reduce the risk of genocide in current at-risk societies.Genocide Prevention: An Evidence-Based Approach(Cambridge UP, 2026)offers a compelling new approach: to understand how to prevent genocide, we need to examine societies in which genocide has been prevented. It is in

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62:20

Elizabeth Tynan, "Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, Power...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/16

Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, Power and the Biggest Atomic Blast in Australia(NewSouth, 2026)tells the shocking story of the two British atomic weapons test series held at Western Australia's Monte Bello Islands in 1952 and 1956. Operation Hurricane and Operation Mosaic took place at a rugged archipelago 100 kilometres off the Pilbara coast, and each of the three bombs sent fallout over vast distances across the country. One of the tests, Mosaic G2 in June 1956, the largest nuclear weapon

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54:53

Matias E. Margulis, "Shadow Negotiators: How UN...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/15

Shadow Negotiators: How UN Organizations Shape the Rules of World Trade for Food Security (Stanford University Press, 2023) by Dr. Matias E. Margulis is the first book to demonstrate that United Nations (UN) organizations have intervened to influence the discourse, agenda, and outcomes of international trade lawmaking at the World Trade Organization (WTO). While UN organizations lack a seat at the bargaining table at the WTO, Dr. Margulis argues that these organizations have acted as "shadow

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32:13

Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/14

A stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, who eventually taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Eric Hoffer wrote philosophical treatises in his spare time while living in the railroad yards.The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements—the first and most famous of his books—was made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences. Called a “brilliant and original inquiry” and “a genuine contribution

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97:08

Hossam el-Hamalawy, "Counterrevolution in Egypt:...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/14

Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic(Verso Books, 2026)is a rare and comprehensive examination of the structures, hierarchies, and methods of the military, police, and intelligence agencies. Drawing on meticulous research, it reveals the strategies deployed to suppress the revolutionary wave, from propaganda and surveillance to mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings. El-Hamalawy traces the power dynamics within these institutions to show how their uneasy unity was both a

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64:50

Kathleen J. Frydl, "Liberalism and the Reinvention of...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/13

This is a really good book.Really good.Liberalism and the Reinvention of the Modern Corporation(Oxford UP, 2026)takes the reader on a fascinating, and perhaps unexpected, journey through Catholic hospitals, the expansion of the carceral state, and corporate and union access to the protections of First Amendment freedom of speech. All the while, Kathleen J. Frydl is rigorously constructing an understanding and positioning of the modern corporation within the governmental structures and protections of

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67:52

Dalit Studies with Ramnarayan Rawat, K. Satyanarayana...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/10

This episode featured a conversation with Ramnarayan Rawat, K. Satyanarayana, and Sanal Mohan, three scholars in the burgeoning field of Dalit Studies. We began with the significance of the 1990s as a point of departure for new work in this field and segued to the interventions made by their two edited volumes published in 2016 and 2025. We discussed the paths opened up by earlier radical historiographical paradigms, such as Subaltern Studies, which nonetheless failed to address the caste question

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52:27

Ka-ming Wu, "Infrastructural Urbanism in Contemporary...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/09

Infrastructural Urbanism in Contemporary China: Volunteering, Infrastructures and Civic Imaginations(Leiden University Press, 2026)examineshow Chinese citizens negotiate their everyday experiences with urban spaces, improved city infrastructure, and an increasingly tight surveillance regime through volunteering. This book asks how citizens connect to city spaces where facilities for transit, culture, and leisure have been substantially upgraded. Drawing on extensive research, Ka-ming Wu

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58:04

Beyond Free Speech: Why AI Governance Demands Freedom...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/09

Are we driving our technology, or is it starting to drive us? In this thought-provoking conversation, Eli Karetny sits down with researcher and author Eduardo Albrecht to explore the invisible, rapidly encroaching frontier of AI governance and data surveillance.Moving far beyond traditional debates about data privacy, Albrecht warns of a near future where the state and corporate partners bypass human speech entirely, relying instead on "sentiment detection" to ascribe thoughts and make decisions

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86:31

Giulio Boccaletti, "The Environmental Republic: Why...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/07

Republicanism is arguably the most powerful political idea in history, an extraordinary feat of human imagination that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility. The Environmental Republic: Why Citizens Will Save the World (Princeton University Press, 2026) reclaims this idea as the path to sustaining our life together on a changing planet, reframing our relationship to the environment not as a constraint on liberty but as its republican foundation. Giulio Boccaletti

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51:48

Georgia Kernell, "Inside Parties: How Party Rules...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/08/06

Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness(Cambridge UP, 2025) by Georgia Kernell examines how party rules determine how parties select candidates, nominate leaders, and set policy goals. Most research on party organisation pays very little attention to what happens within political parties; this book addresses this gap by examining how internal party rules and procedures shape party membership and political responsiveness. Drawing on an original dataset of party statutes

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