In the 35th episode, I speak to Kasia Paprocki (https://www.lse.ac.uk/geography-and-environment/people/academic-staff/kasia-paprocki), Associate Professor in Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science on her recent book Threatening Dystopias: The Global Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in Banglades (http://cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501759161/threatening-dystopias/#:~:text=Threatening%20Dystopias%20is%20a%20masterful,climate%20change%20adaptation%20in%20Bangladesh.&text=Threatening%20Dystopias%20advances%20policy%20and,%2C%20migration%2C%20and%20climate%20change.)h published by Cornell University Press. The conversation begins by asking about the genesis of the book and the focus on Bangladesh. Then we move to understand why political economy questions should be asked when understanding climate change and its effects. Next, we tackle the book’s key conceptual contribution, that of an adaptation regime - what they constitute, where they exist, and how they configure climate interventions in specific contexts like Bangladesh. We also discuss how various domestic forces, especially elites, use the climate crisis and certain dystopian imaginaries to generate support for an export-driven economic model. The conversation ends covering the current discussion around climate futures’ and why it’s important to embed those ideas around deeper structural conditions which affect climate mitigation; whether we need new social science approaches to understand climate change; and the hardest parts of writing the book.
15 Aug 2023
Aditya Balasubramanian - Toward a Free Economy
In the 34th episode, I speak to Aditya Balasubramanian, Lecturer in Economic History, at Australian National University (https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/balasubramanian-a) on his first book Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics published by Princeton University Press (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205243/toward-a-free-economy). The conversation begins by enquiring about the origins of the project and why focus on Swatantra as an opposition party in post-independence India. Then we cover why this book appears to be the first ever written on economic conservatism in India. The conversation then moves to understand India’s political economy in 1950s that facilitated Swatantra’s rise. Then we move to the core of the book by exploring what Balasubramanian means by ‘free economy’ and how the concept differs from free market and why Swatantra Party leaders did not seriously think about the intersection of economics and law and the political conditions and motivations of the Indian middle class. The book also highlights the efforts of certain individuals/families like the Lotvalas’ who spread the gospel of economic conservatism through their organisation. The conversation ends by covering a big contribution of the book to the study of India’s political economy of development through the political ideas and work of associations and cultural figures; by asking why Indian films have not focused on or featured free-market ideas; and finally by asking what the book offers to the global history of neoliberalism.
https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/balasubramanian-a (https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/balasubramanian-a)
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205243/toward-a-free-economy (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205243/toward-a-free-economy)
18 May 2023
Paul Staniland - Ordering Violence
In the 33rd episode, I speak to Paul Staniland, Political Scientist at the University of Chicago (https://political-science.uchicago.edu/directory/paul-staniland) on his recent book Ordering Violence: Explaining Armed Group-State Relations from Conflict to Cooperation (https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761126/ordering-violence/#bookTabs=2) published by Cornell University Press. The book is a theoretically savvy, empirically rich contribution on armed politics or how governments work with armed non-state actors across South Asian countries. The conversation begins by asking Staniland how a second book differs from the first before connecting his first book unpacking insurgent rebellions to the second that’s much broader in scope. Then we tackle the core focus and arguments of the book that covers armed politics or the relationship between the government and non-state armed groups and what shapes how governments work with these groups and why they sometimes choose not to and what happens when there’s alignment on some issues but not all. Then we move to discuss the connection between politics and violence and why a more sensitive context-specific approach is required to understand that dynamic. The conversation then explores the case studies that are all South Asian - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Myanmar and the logic in selecting and analysing regionally comparative cases. The conversation ends by asking whether this specific dynamic could change when considering unarmed non-state actors like trade unions and religious organisations and how they work with governments in South Asia; the hardest part of writing the book; and what's next.
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761126/ordering-violence/#bookTabs=2 (https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761126/ordering-violence/#bookTabs=2)
Politics of Opposition in South Asia - https://carnegieendowment.org/specialprojects/politicsofoppositioninsouthasia (https://carnegieendowment.org/specialprojects/politicsofoppositioninsouthasia)
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