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Bungacast

The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Politics is back but it’s stranger than ever: join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’. Interviews, long-form discussions, docu-series.

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21 episodes
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English

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#575
Tuesday · 35 min
/557/ Letters to the Editors: Aug 2026
We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month. Key issues: How big a deal, historically, is the US's failure in Iran? Is populism rooted in resentment and/or cynicism? Why is fascism not the right label for Trump? How to debate immigration? Are NGOs and international organisations actually relevant? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: /152/ I Can't Believe It's Not Weimar ft. David Broder Debating the F-Word, Bunk History The National Interest in Women’s Freedom, The Northern Star The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe, Dylan Riley
#574
July 21 · 4 min
Where's Bungacast? Nowhere...Everywhere
Taking a short break – back in late August.
#573
July 13 · 1 hr 43 min
/556/ World Cup 2026: Stick to Politics ft. Many Guests
On politics and football. Alex is joined by Karl Sharro, Juan David Rojas, Tim Abrahams, and Euan Marshall to pick over the stories of this World Cup. If the World Cup is a branding exercise for the hosts, what exactly is the USA selling here? And Mexico? Canada? Are conspiracy theories good, actually? Is Argentina evil? Should you support the global South against the colonisers? Are evangelicals responsible for Brazilian failure? Do you need central planning to become good at football? When 23% of players at the WC are foreign born, how can globalisation be ending? >> For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast << Links: Football won’t rescue the nation, Alex Hochuli, Africa Is a Country Note to Leftists, Do Not Squander The World Cup!, Juan Rojas, Substack Blood ties and opportunity: Why more World Cup players than ever are not representing their birth nations, BBC
#572
July 7 · 43 min
/555/ Who Denies US Empire? ft. Daniel Bessner
On 'imperialist realism'. Daniel Bessner, historian, is back on to discuss the relation between US foreign policy and ideology. He talks to Alex and Lee about his forthcoming book and other writings. Why has acceptance of imperialism accompanied declining support for empire? What is the US's sense of mission and how does this coexist with cynicism? Is US politics stuck between liberal guilt and conservative suprematism? Does nothing ever actually change? Is the US even a democracy? What would an effective anti-imperialist politics look like? The full episode is for subscribers only, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Power without Ideology, Daniel Bessner, The Ideas Letter Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century, Daniel Bessner, Zer0 Books /464/ Decline Under The Donald ft. Daniel Bessner
#571
June 23 · 1 hr 30 min
UNLOCKED: /551/ Reading Club: Mythologies ft. Catherine Liu
On Roland Barthes' Mythologies. (This is an unlocked episode from our Reading Club. Subscribe for more like this.) Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right. If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth? Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation? What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts? Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things?
#567
June 16 · 1 hr 14 min
/554/ Capitalism Is When the State... ft. Corey Robin
On writing the history of capitalism. Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and Alex G about what is wrong with Sven Beckert's monumental new Capitalism: A Global History. Have historians returned to writing about big themes and grand narratives? Why does Beckert date capitalism's emergence to 12th century Arabia? Is capitalism essentially about free markets and free trade – or about the state, coercion, violence? If capitalism has no beginning and no end, then does that mean we're still at the end of History? Links: The Long Revolution, Corey Robin (review of Sven Beckert), The Nation /481/ Everything is Plausible: Oligarchy – or Worse ft. Corey Robin
#568
June 9 · 41 min
/553/ Energy Sovereignty = Political Independence? ft. Benjamin Bradlow
On global shortages and their political consequences. Benjamin Bradlow, assistant professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton, talks to Alex and Lee about the world-historic impact of the Hormuz Strait closure. How will shortages – beyond oil and gas – reverberate through global supply chains? Why are markets so sanguine about all this? Are financial economic elites too insulated from consequences? Will China be the big beneficiary as more countries turn to importing its tech for renewables? Do countries want to trade dependency on the Middle East or US for dependency on China? Would a world of energy autarky be more or less peaceful? Are "electrostates" a thing? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Winners and Losers of the Iran Energy Shock, Benjamin Bradlow, Foreign Affairs The energy crisis may just be starting, Martin Wolf, FT
#570
June 1 · 2 hr 15 min
/552/ Bunga Live: Is History Back (Baby)?
Audio from the live event held at Verdurin, London, on 28 May 2026. The OG Bunga Boys - Alex, George, and Phil - present their takes, followed by responses from contributing editor Lee Jones and friend-of-the-pod Nina Power - and audience questions.
#569
May 26 · 31 min
/551/ Reading Club: Mythologies ft. Catherine Liu
On Roland Barthes' Mythologies. Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right. If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth? Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation? What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts? Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
#566
May 19 · 1 hr 14 min
/550/ The New Dollar Imperialism ft. Costas Lapavitsas
On world money and war. Costas Lapavitsas, professor of economics at SOAS, London, talks to George and Alex about financialisation, arrested development, and the Strait of Hormuz. What is the state-led stabilisation of finance capital? How does today's imperialism differ from prior versions – even if they also inhibited development outside the core? What is the "liquidity tribute" that developing countries must pay? How is the war on Iran a perfect case of dollar imperialism: "the dollar and the F35"? Why is the talk of "colonialism" today a distraction? London event: History's Back, Baby! Links: A Topography of the New Dollar Imperialism, Costas Lapavitsas, NLR Trump’s Chaotic Imperialism: Economic Warfare, Geopolitical Truculence and Domestic Authoritarianism, Costas Lapavitsas, Socialist Register For forthcoming Monthly Review article, see here /139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder /142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner
#565
May 15 · 1 min
History’s back, baby! (Event in London)
History’s back, baby! Thu 28 May, Verdurin, London Tickets: https://verdur.in/store/historys-back-baby-admission/ It is obvious today that the “end of history”, postulated by Francis Fukuyama in 1992, is over. Liberal democracy as the final form of human organisation? Pah! The arc of history tending towards justice? Pah! Will the end of twentieth-century modernity be the start of something new? The building blocks of the past – political parties, ideologies, and institutions – are decaying around us, and nothing new emerges to take their place. Yet history now has new protagonists: states, corporations, and oligarchs, often acting in synthesis. What if history’s back but not as we wanted it? The stakes are high: the sunset of the US hegemony is in sight and even Fukuyama now agrees on the impending primacy of the “Chinese model”. Yet even such geopolitical shifts aren’t leading to the creation of a new hegemony – disorder is the order of the day. Five years on from the publication of The End of the End of History, its authors and hosts of Bungacast reflect on a world in a state of accelerated decay, with responses from guests Lee Jones and Nina Power. They say that “nothing ever happens”. Pah! Something ever happens.
#564
May 12 · 32 min
/549/ Why Has Politics Genderised? ft. Ashley Frawley
On angry young women. Ashley Frawley, sociologist and senior editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to delve more deeply into young people's political polarisation on gender lines. Why is there a lack of mutual understanding or goodwill between young men and women when we have never been more equal? Why do differing political views on anything from Israel/Palestine to Donald Trump cause such interpersonal rancour? Young women are centrally concerned with pain, trauma, and empathy – and see men as lacking. What's behind this? How is the conservative explanation (bad lefty ideas) just as faulty as the lefty one (patriarchy)? What will the political consequences be of gender polarisation? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Revealed: the new radicalism among young women, Scarlett Maguire, New Statesman Meet the Angry Young Women, Emily Lawford, New Statesman Why young women are so angry, Pippa Bailey, New Statesman Don’t panic about “Angry Young Women”, Jack Davey, The Critic Magazine Why do young women hate men?, New Statesman, YouTube /394/ Girls, Left / Boys, Right ft. Nina Power (see for additional links) Girls and Boys are becoming very different, Alex Hochuli, Substack
#563
May 5 · 36 min
/548/ Post-Legitimate Society ft. Will Charles
On the gig economy, big tech, and ideology. Sociologist Will Charles talks to Alex about a form of social organisation that has stopped trying to justify itself. How should the gig economy work and how does it actually work? Is any worker in this economy a 'true believer'? Why isn't digital sophistication a proof of economic efficiency? What's the relationship between secular stagnation, value capture, and rentierism? Do workers hold to a latent moral economy that could provide the basis for revolt? Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast Readings: Muskism and the Myth of Productive Revolution, Will Charles Post-Legitimate Society, Will Charles & Ryan Gunderson Muskism Is the Specter Stalking Our Present, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin Relevant episodes: /538/ Muskism ft. Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff /522/ At the Bottom of the Tar Pit ft. Benjamin Studebaker /540/ Welcome to the Apolar and Post-Multilateral World ft. Tom Chodor /546/ Reading Club: Are We All Post-Liberal Now? ft. Geoff Shullenberger /547/ What Are the Politics of Stagnation? ft. Dylan Riley
#562
April 28 · 1 hr 20 min
/547/ What Are the Politics of Stagnation? ft. Dylan Riley
On political capitalism and divided workers. Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics. What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation? Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment? How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity? What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today? Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics? –> For more like this, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast <– Links: Relevant Episodes /312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley /515/ State Capitalism Is Now ft. Ilias Alami Riley & Brenner Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022 The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025 Some Key Responses Reflections on Political Capitalism, Lola Seaton, New Left Review, 2023 Notes on ‘Political Capitalism’, John Ganz Seven Theses on Brenner and Riley's "Political Capitalism", Tim Barker Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation, Seth Ackerman, Jacobin From Politics to Theory and Back, Benjamin Fong, Damage Notable pieces in Sidecar by Dylan Lenin in America First Principles Contra Arendt
#561
April 21 · 38 min
/546/ Reading Club: Are We All Post-Liberal Now? ft. Geoff Shullenberger
On postliberalism, MacIntyre and Gray. How was the 1950s "end of ideology" (Bell, Lipset) different from the Fukuyaman 1990s "end of history"? Is John Gray correct in his characterisation of Alasdair MacIntyre as a prelapsarian? Does hyperliberal individualism lead to a search for meaning, and thus to communitarianism? Is the competition between liberalism and post-liberalism now our political spectrum? Is contemporary liberalism now reducible to professionalisation of the state and civil society? If liberalism has failed – a basic point of this podcast from the start – has post-liberalism now also failed? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The End of History and the End of the End of History, Alasdair MacIntyre How to Save British Liberalism, John Gray, New Statesman What ever happened to post-liberalism, Nicolas D Villarreal, Substack /533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?
#560
April 15 · 51 min
/545/ Orbanism without Orban: the New European Centre? ft. Szilard Pap
On Hungary's elections. Hungarian political analyst and editor of Partizan, Szilard Pap, talks to Alex about the end of 16 years of Fidesz in government. What is the scale of Fidesz’s wipeout? Who is Péter Magyar, and is he actually to the right of Orban? What was Orban’s rule built on, and what parts of it have been rejected? Does Orban mark a shift from national-populism to radical conservatism? From anti-politics to hyperpolitics? What is the impact on global radical right? Was there a global Orbanism, and is it over? How will this impact European “unity” and will Orban's defeat lead to escalation in Ukraine? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Mittel Man, Ivan Krastev, Equator Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Model Has Collapsed, David Broder, Jacobin
#559
April 14 · 1 hr 25 min
/544/ Iran War: Rogue State USA ft. Arash Azizi
On the brave new world we have entered. Historian Arash Azizi is back on the pod, talking to Alex H and Lee Jones about the ongoing war. We try to draw out some firm consequences, beyond the immediate situtation. Why did Trump go to war? Is this Netanyahu's war? And will he continue it regardless of the US? Will the Islamic Republic become more conservative now? What has the war revealed about asymmetric warfare? About US vulnerability? What is the state of the Hormuz weapon now? For more like this, join us at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Arash Azizi: Reasons to be Hopeful in Iran, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic /24/ #IranProtest ft. Arash Azizi /150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi /444/ Opportunism & Revenge in the Middle East ft. Karl Sharro & Arash Azizi Analyses: How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, NY Times Netanyahu’s Iran War Is Also the War of Global Neocon Elites, Nimrod Flaschenberg, Jacobin Trump's War, Daniel Luban Dissent Magazine The world energy shock is coming, Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk, New Statesman One battle after another: Netanyahu’s new security doctrine, FT /532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump's National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs
#558
April 7 · 30 min
/543/ Squeamish About Sex, Aroused By Identity ft. Ran Heilbrunn
On abolishing queer theory. Ran Heilbrunn talks to Lee Jones and Alex Hochuli about his chapter, "Abolish Queer Theory!" in the edited collection Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual. What is queer theory and why should it be abolished? What is the meaning behind the shift in terms: invert, to homosexual, to gay, to queer? How does queer theory politicise sex and why is this bad? Do our libidos care about social inclusion? Can they? Is identity okay but identity politics bad? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual, Aman Namaman and Pierre d’Alancaisez (eds.), Verdurin, 2025
#557
March 31 · 29 min
/542/ Letters to the Editors: March 2026
We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month. Key issues: The difference between radical conservatism and the far right Racism in class society in decomposition Tech bro übermenschen (or just Uber men) Who is doing the work of justifying this order? And Ursula, the villainous Cecaelian sea witch, about whom songs must be sung For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: To Keep and Bear Arms, Garry Wills, The New York Review David Graeber vs. Peter Thiel: Where Did the Future Go? /495/ Heritage America vs the World? ft. James Pogue
#556
March 24 · 1 hr 8 min
/541/ Wedging in a Lever ft. Benjamin Fong
On Amazon, labour & logistics, and trains. Benjamin Fong, of ASU's Center for Work and Democracy, as well as an editor at Damage and co-author of the substack On The Seams, talks to Alex and George about organising workers in locations of corporate vulnerability. We also preview the forthcoming print issue of Damage, Trains, by discussing modernity and its avatars, and development and de-development in Brazil. Why target Amazon above all else? What are the "seams" and why are they important? Can labour still "go after the big targets"? Do these still exist given the dispersion of production and distribution? How much public appetite is there for blockages at pain points? Links: On the Seams, Substack The Labor Movement Must Go All In on Organizing Amazon, Benjamin Y Fong, Jacobin Organizing Logistics Chokepoints: Hitting Them Where It Hurts, Benjamin Y Fong, New Labor Forum The Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data, Benjamin Y Fong, Phenomenal World

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