Democracy, power and governance
Scott Timcke considers the impact of AI systems on democratic politics, as our lives become managed experiences optimised for efficient data extraction, and our social relations mediated by computer engineering.…Read more
Gerardo Arriaga reminds us that the Academics Stand Against Poverty manifesto audit will scrutinise parties’ policies on poverty, climate change and gender equality in the run up to the UK election.…Read more
In this episode, George Miller talks to the author of What are Prisons for?, prison inspector and visiting professor of law at Oxford Hindpal Singh Bhui, about why we lock so many people up.…Read more
Hindpal Singh Bhui of HM Inspectorate of Prisons looks back at the politics of imprisonment, at the disproportionate numbers of minority ethnic prisoners, and the role prison played in replacing slavery as a means of controlling Black people.…Read more
Katie Schmuecker, Principal Policy Advisor at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, calls on politicians to stop ignoring poverty, and to come up with a plan for reducing hardship – otherwise the grim records will keep on coming and storing up problems for the future. …Read more
Jennifer M. Piscopo and Julieta Suárez-Cao consider the effects of gender parity in Chile’s first constitutional convention and ask if women’s presence in elected office leads to policy outcomes that benefit women.…Read more
Lee Gregory introduces Academics Stand Against Poverty UK‘s audit of party manifestos, specifically their commitment to addressing poverty and inequality, ahead of the general election. …Read more
Michael Orsini and Jennifer M. Kilty discuss the impact of emotions on political discourse, highlighting the common tendency to dismiss emotions as distractions that hinder "reasoned debate".…Read more
In this episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Anna Durnova about the weaponisation of truth, the important difference between being told you are safe and feeling you are safe and the need to bring the harnessing of emotions back to democracy.…Read more
Maaike Matelski, author of 'Contested Civil Society in Myanmar', considers the Spring Revolution resistance movement in Myanmar, three years on from the military coup.…Read more