New Books in Political Science

00:29:40

Tyrell Haberkorn In Conversation with Duncan McCargo

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/16

In this episode of Talking Thai Politics,Professor Tyrell Haberkorn discusses her new book, Dictatorship on Trial: Coups and the Future of Justice in Thailand (Stanford UP, 2024). This book examines five court cases brought during the regime of the National Council for Peace and order, involving protests and human rights. It features alternative judgments by the “Court of the People” which are offered alongside critical discussions of the actual case outcomes.Tyrell Haberkorn is a prominent scholar

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00:58:46

Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardner...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/16

The first full biography of the controversial and complex First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler--an unjustly scandalized New Yorker, the second wife to President John Tyler, and a savvy and consequential political figure in the age of the Civil War.Myths, rumors, and gossip have long circulated around First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler. Commonly believed to be politically insignificant, most of our fascination with Tyler surrounds her reputation as a highly desired superficial flirt. This salacious mythos

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00:34:13

The Democracy Exchange: Asia Asks, Latin America...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/12

What can democracies in different parts of the Global South learn from one another - and what can democracies in the Global North learn from them? The Democracy Exchange: South to South is a new mini-series from the People, Power, Politics podcast, bringing together researchers and activists from across the Global South to exchange ideas and experiences of democratic resilience. Produced as part of the Southern-led Approaches to Democratic Resilience project, with support from the International

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00:36:20

Civil Societies, Uncivil States: Government...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/12

Why would a government bother to go after groups that carry no weapons and hold no power? Suparna Chaudhry argues that the answer says a lot about where politics is heading. In Civil Societies and Civil States: Government Repression of NGOs(Cornell University Press, 2026), she shows that states are targeting advocacy organizations less often with violence and more often with laws. These laws cap foreign funding, restrict advocacy, and bury groups in paperwork, to name just a few examples. Because

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01:00:41

Crime and No Punishment: Wealth, Power, and Violence...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/11

The United States is an exceptionally violent country, increasingly unable or unwilling to stem violence in its many forms. A growing corporate crime wave has gone unprosecuted and unpunished, with those in the C-suites largely escaping accountability. Meanwhile, the country has doubled down on pursuing people accused of street and drug crimes and immigration offenses. Corporate impunity, the financialization of the economy, militarized policing, the burgeoning carceral state, and the forever wars

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00:50:50

God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/10

In this episode, I spoke with Jacob Ware, co-author, with Bruce Hoffman, of God, Guns and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America, published in 2024 by Columbia University Press, and winner of the 2025 Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize.Shocking acts of terrorism have erupted from violent American far-right extremists in recent years, including the 2015 mass murder at a historic Black church in Charleston and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. These incidents, however, are neither novel

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00:39:45

The Technocratic International: Experts and the...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/09

Most international organisations today-from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to the World Health Organisation-present themselves as technical institutions separate from political concerns. And yet they are frequently accused, whether by the public or by governments, of hiding behind this technocratic veil only to privilege a few rich and powerful nations. Experts appear as guardians of stability and protectors of an unequal status quo. Scholars of International Relations (IR) and

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01:09:44

The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism,...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/08

When American fascists suddenly goose-stepped down Main Street in the 1930s, fascism was seen by the rest of the country as a terrifying and radical new European import. It was not. It didn’t come from abroad. Nor was it new or radical. The seed of American fascism was planted by elite southern planters who insisted that slavery need not be addressed in the Constitution because it would soon die out on its own.In The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915(Bloomsbury, 2026),

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00:44:10

Down and Out in Utopia: Unemployment as Moral...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/07

Imagine that you have just lost your job. You wonder: “Who or what can I depend on now?” The answer, it turns out, varies significantly depending on where you live. In Norway, a small European social democracy, you would almost certainly turn to the country’s comprehensive public welfare system. With a work history, you could be eligible for two years of unemployment benefits that replace upwards of 62% of your previous salary. Meanwhile, you would not be too worried about covering other major

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00:30:37

A Healthy Union: How States Can Lead on Environmental...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/07

In the absence of adequate federal safeguards against pollution and toxic chemicals, state policies are the strongest tools available to create safe, sustainable environments. The good news is, around the country, red states and blue states are taking up the charge. In California, state agencies are partnering with disadvantaged communities to measure air quality, reduce pollution, and advance environmental justice. In Texas, a state law requires every school to cut down on the use of dangerous

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00:54:33

Notes from the Sex Worker Left: Lumpen Theory with...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/07

“If whores were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free” (ix). Notes from the Sex Worker Left: Lumpen Theory (Duke UP, 2026)opens with a quote from Clara expanding on the Combahee River Collective 1977 statement. Interweaving interviews and writing by sex workers like Clara, Notes from the Sex Worker Leftby Heather Berg offers a political theory that critiques family/couple-form, work, and state, envisioning militant community care. Rejecting the pressure to fit into a category

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00:47:52

Conspiracy: The History of a Political Obsession with...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/06

Pundits, scholars, and the general public alike have argued that conspiratorial thinking is the greatest threat to liberal democracy. In Conspiracy: The History of a Political Obsession (Harvard UP, 2026), Dr. Nicolas Guilhot, however, challenges us to see conspiracy theories as a sign of the public’s desperation in light of liberal democracy’s failures. Conspiracism is widespread across the political spectrum, as citizens struggle with their disenfranchisement. How are we to imagine the future at

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01:12:30

The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/05

What is Russia? For two centuries, observers inside and outside the country have tried to answer that question, and most of them have looked west. The familiar story holds that Peter the Great pulled a backward Muscovy toward Europe and that Catherine the Great finished the job by declaring Russia a European state.In The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and Its Eurasian Counterparts (Yale UP, 2026), Professor Michael Khodarkovsky looks south and east instead. He argues that Russia is best

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00:42:12

Beyond Incremental Reform: Rethinking the United...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/03

As the United Nations faces mounting geopolitical tensions, financial pressures, and new global challenges, what would meaningful reform actually look like? In this episode of International Horizons, RBI Fellow Peter Hoffman speaks with economist and Global Governance Forum Executive Director Augusto López-Claros about the UN’s record of achievements and shortcomings, the limits of past reforms, and the prospects for more fundamental institutional change. They discuss Security Council reform, the

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01:07:39

Rhetorical Powers: How Rising States Shape...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/10/02

Recent years have seen a striking resurgence of anti-imperial and anticolonial rhetoric on the international stage, from Global South to Global North and from the Left to the Right. Why do states deploy these forms of rhetoric in global politics? How do practitioners from the so-called non-Western world differ in their use and performance of rhetoric, and in what ways do they shape international order?In Rhetorical Powers: How Rising States Shape International Order(Columbia UP, 2026)Sasikumar

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01:04:43

How to Stay Human Forever: On America's Digital...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/30

Many Americans have a constant dread of impending doom. Glued to the screens of our computers and smartphones, we sense that some total catastrophe is just around the corner. But what if our anxiety stems from an event that’s already completely destroyed an old world? What if the real cataclysm was the introduction of those computers and smartphones, and our current political, cultural, and social crisis is just our way of merely dealing with the fallout?So argues the political theorist James

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00:29:23

Compromised Coalitions: The Paradox of Postconflict...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/29

When an election turns violent and neither side will concede, why is the usual answer to put both sides in the same government?Alex Noyes has spent nearly two decades asking whether that reflex works. Compromised Coalitions: The Paradox of Post-Conflict Power Sharing in Africaout in 2026 from the University of Pennsylvania Press, draws on more than 120 interviews with senior politicians and stakeholders in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Togo to give an unsettling answer.Power sharing can advance democratic

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00:55:52

Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/29

Great Power Diplomacy. The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger(Princeton UP, 2025) is acaptivating history of diplomacy—and an urgent reminder of why we need to revive its lost arts to survive in a dangerous era of great power competition. From the beginning of time, human societies have found themselves confronted by enemies too numerous or ferocious to defeat solely by force of arms. In these dramatic moments, wise leaders have turned to diplomacy to rearrange the gameboard in

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01:00:37

Smuggling Law: Unsettled Sovereignties in Turkey's...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/29

The Kurdish-populated Wan/Van Province is a major smuggling hub between Turkey and Iran. Kurdish smugglers cross this 180-mile-long land border, transporting everyday consumer goods—fuel, tobacco, sugar, and tea—as well as more illicit goods, and the province supports the financial, technical, and labor capacities that sustain these smuggling economies. As the Turkish state has enacted increasingly punitive anti-smuggling laws, smuggling has also become a site of contentious politics. Smuggling Law:

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00:34:30

The Return of the Great Powers with Brendan Simms...

New Books in Political Science ·

2026/09/29

From the dawn of the modern era to the end of the Cold War, global history was defined by rivalries between Great Powers. In the West, this meant the struggle for supremacy in Europe and the Americas, while in the East, it encompassed those vying for control over the successor states to Genghis Khan’s empire. Between 1989 and the year 2000, Great Power rivalry temporarily gave way to globalization, with liberal democracy on the march and national chauvinism seemingly in retreat. But events of the

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