Talking Thai Politics: Why Thai Politics isn’t All About China
How far does geopolitics relate to domestic political leanings? Are politically progressive Thais more likely to be pro-US, and more politically conservative Thais likely to favour China? A recent art...
22 Marras 202432min
Erica Benner, "Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power" (Penguin, 2024)
Democracy is a living, breathing thing and Dr. Erica Benner has spent a lifetime thinking about the role ordinary citizens play in keeping it alive: from her childhood in post-war Japan, where democra...
21 Marras 202450min
Robert B. Talisse, "Civic Solitude: Why Democracy Needs Distance" (Oxford UP, 2024)
An internet search of the phrase "this is what democracy looks like" returns thousands of images of people assembled in public for the purpose of collective action. But is group collaboration truly th...
21 Marras 20241h 34min
Tom Theuns, "Protecting Democracy in Europe: Pluralism, Autocracy and the Future of the EU" (Hurst, 2024)
The European Union has a big problem—a potentially fatal one. How should it deal with a member state or states that reject democracy and the rule of law? So far, not even Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has tu...
16 Marras 202445min
Lizhi Liu, "From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China" (Princeton UP, 2024)
How do states build vital institutions for market development? Too often, governments confront technical or political barriers to providing the rule of law, contract enforcement, and loan access. In F...
16 Marras 202454min
Samuel Fury Childs Daly, "Soldier's Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire" (Duke UP, 2024)
In Soldier's Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire (Duke UP, 2024), Samuel Fury Childs Daly tells the story of how Africa’s military dictators tried and failed to transform their societies into ...
16 Marras 202451min
How Can Going Inside the Political Mind Help Us to Better Understand Development?
Why do efforts to build effective states and deliver services to citizens so often go wrong? And how can understanding the inside of the political mind empower us to achieve better results? In this po...
15 Marras 202444min
Postscript: Reflections on the 2024 American Presidential Election
Many pundits are rushing to judgement – claiming to identify the “one” reason that Donald Trump won or Kamala Harris lost the 2024 Presidential Election. Today’s Postscript offers a nuanced conversati...
14 Marras 20241h 1min
