Shows / UCL Uncovering Politics
UCL Uncovering Politics
The podcast of the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy at University College London (UCL). Through this podcast we explore key themes of contemporary politics and spotlight some of the fantastic research that takes place within our department.
Episodes
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How War Makes States
The late great sociologist and political scientist Charles Tilly said that ‘war made the state and the state made war’. Fighting and winning wars was, he…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Political Feasibility Of A Just Climate Transition
Action to address climate change is essential. But the effects of such action are often imbalanced: the benefits are diffuse and long-term, while the losses…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Opinion Polls
In the run up to the UK General Election we have a secial episode on opinion polls. Opinion polling is a staple of modern elections, captivating political…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
What’s Wrong with Neocolonialism?
Neo-colonialism concerns the actions and effects of certain remnant features and agents of the colonial era. One way in which neocolonialism can be seen is…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Role of Information in State-Building
One of the most basic questions regarding any state is 'can it act?' Does it have the capacity, that is, to uphold the rule of law and to deliver security and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Public Attitudes To The Economy
We're celebrating another inaugural lecture today and welcome the fantastic Professor Lucy Barnes. Lucy has made a career out of breaking new ground in the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Should Russian Assets Be Seized?
Ukraine's ongoing struggle against the Russian invasion incurs an annual cost of approximately $50 billion, with projections indicating that post-war…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Should Experts Set The Fiscal Rules?
We’re back from our Easter break, and since we were last on the airwaves a book has been published by a certain former UK Prime Minister arguing – among other…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The UK Healthcare Crisis
The NHS is currently in crisis: record numbers of people are on waiting lists, there are serious staff shortages, buildings and equipment are outdated, and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Responding to Civilian Harm in Millitary Conflicts
Armed conflict is all too common around the world today. One of the consequences of conflict is that civilians are harmed. Military forces – if they respect…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Do Protests Affect What Politicians Say?
Protest is a fundamental part of democracy. From thousands attending pro-Palestine marches in London, to farmers driving their tractors into Paris, Berlin, and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Settling Disputes Between Governments and Investors
In the wake of the 1917 Russian Revolution, the new Bolshevik regime, keen to destroy the power of global capital, expropriated the commanding heights of the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Death Threats and Online Content Moderation
Death threats, on the face it, appear to be exactly the sort of content that an online platform ought to censor – or ‘moderate’, as the preferred and obscuring…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Managing Diversity Amongst the EU Member States
For around a decade, the EU – which was founded by the principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law – has been struggling to contain anti-democratic…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Battle for LGBT+ Rights
One of the most remarkable transformations over recent decades has been the growing acceptance and celebration of LGBT+ rights. Here in the UK, for example…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How Parliaments Question Prime Ministers
How parliaments hold ministers (particularly prime ministers) to account is a fundamental part of parliamentary democracy. And one of those mechanisms of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Future of Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland
Peace in Northern Ireland is widely recognised as one of the leading achievements of politics in recent decades. The Good Friday, or Belfast Agreement, reached…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Improving Public Services
The quality of public services – whether health, education, water supply, or sewage disposal – has a big impact on all of our lives. How to enhance that…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Russian Discourses of Sovereignty
Analysts of Russia’s war in Ukraine have often – since its inception in 2014 – highlighted a seeming contradiction. On the one hand, Russia is violating the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Historical Research in Political Science
Political science is centrally concerned with understanding how politics works. It’s a discipline of the present tense, and the bulk of our research focuses on…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Climate Change Loss and Damage
Our guest today is Professor Lisa Vanhala. A Professor in Political Science here at UCL and an expert on the politics of climate change. Lisa recently gave her…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
'Acts of speech' and how people recieve them
Today we are examining speech acts and uptake. A central contribution from J. L. Austin has been the idea that our speech sometimes doesn’t only say things –…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Domestic Politics of IMF Lending
The book that we’re discussing in this episode suggests that IMF funding becomes a resource held by local leaders, which those leaders can use to benefit their…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of Migration
Immigration is a hot political issue in many countries. Its economic and social costs and benefits are widely debated. The people who are most directly…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Fiscal Transparency And The Public Purse
During the recent pandemic, unprecedented public spending was required to help tackle the deadly disease and minimise its economic fallout. But faced with…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Backyard Housing And The Dynamics Of Collective Action
Many people in South Africa live in very unsatisfactory so-called ‘backyard dwellings’. But few take part in collective action to improve their lot. Why not?…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Taking Offence
This week we welcome Dr Emily McTernan, co-host of this podcast, into the guest seat. Emily is talking about her new book, On Taking Offence. In it, she argues…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The State of US Politics
The soap opera of US politics rolls on. Joe Biden – the first octogenarian president – plans to run again in 2024. So too does Donald Trump, despite a series…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Resisting Colonialism
A common idea in academic theory and activism, as we start to move towards less unjust institutions, is that we need to decolonise things, from university…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Honouring the Career of Professor Albert Weale
Our guest this week is Professor Albert Weale, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and Public Policy at UCL. Following an event honouring his career on his…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Impact of Banning Protests
Governments in many countries have powers to authorize – or not authorize – planned demonstrations. So what are the effects of such decisions? We might think…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How Can We Fix Our Democracy?
In this episode we’re discussing elections, referenda, and how to fix our democracy, with none other than our long-time podcast host, Alan Renwick. In his…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Political Constitutionalism and Referendums: The Case of Brexit
This week we welcome Professor Richard Bellamy back to the podcast. Richard has appeared twice before on the following topics: ‘Does the UK Still Have a…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Democracies and LGBTQ Rights
A special episode coinciding with this week’s International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. It’s easy to assume that LGBTQ rights are more…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Military Technology and Intelligent Warfare
Despite Putin’s expectation of a swift victory, over one year on from his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, that country’s defenders are still fighting – and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
What Can Democracies Learn From Dictatorships?
This week we welcome a special guest who has direct experience at the sharp end of politics. Charles Dunst is a former foreign correspondent who has reported…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Parliamentary Battle over Brexit
The last seven years in British politics have been tempestuous. The turmoil has had multiple causes: Covid, Putin’s attack on Ukraine, and Trussonomics among…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Brexit and Northern Ireland
In 1998, after three decades of conflict, lasting peace was achieved in Northern Ireland through an accord variously known as the Good Friday Agreement or the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Do Higher Benefits Encourage Immigration?
Immigration is back near the top of the political agenda, here in the UK and elsewhere. The UK government’s so-called ‘Stop the Boats Bill’, which targets…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of Ordinary Hope
This week, we have a slightly different kind of episode to normal. Rather than discussing an academic publication, we’ll be looking at the ideas and career of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of the European Court of Human Rights
If you managed to catch our episode last week, you’ll know that we were talking about the European Court of Justice. This week we are looking at another…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of the European Court of Justice
One of the chief stumbling blocks in negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol has concerned the role of the EU’s top court, the European Court of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Role of Praise
At first blush, it might seem obvious that praise is a good thing. It involves complimenting others on what they have done; it tends to make them feel good…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Twitter, the Online Safety Bill, and Free Speech
Two current news stories raise important questions about online speech, and how it should be regulated. First, twitter has been taken over by Elon Musk, who…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Democracy in the UK – with Gina Miller
Regular listeners know that normally on this podcast we have conversations with our academic colleagues here at UCL. But this week we’re doing something a…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Precautionary State
At a time of breakdown in our public health service, unaffordable childcare bills, and a cost of living crisis, questions over how our society should be…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
War and Infant Mortality
It seems obvious that war harms civilian populations, not least children. But research can reveal much more about the nature and scale of those harms and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
A Primer on House of Lords Reform
Proposals for reform of the UK’s House of Lords are in the news. In the wake of a report by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Labour leader and – if the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
LGBT+ Politics
The transformation of LGBT+ lives in many societies has been one of the greatest advances of the last half century. Where previously there was criminalization…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Hypocrisy and Human Rights Around the World
Human rights atrocities make headlines around the world and are usually followed by a national and international debate over how the perpetrators should be…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How Should Politicians’ Behaviour be Regulated?
Questions about politicians’ behaviour have been high on the political agenda here in the UK in recent months and years. Boris Johnson’s premiership was dogged…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Global Tech Companies and the War in Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year has created Europe’s largest refugee crisis in a generation and caused major disruption to the world’s economy…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Climate Change: The Road to COP27
COP is back. This month, leaders from the worlds of politics, industry, activism, and academia will gather again – for COP27 – in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. A…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Parliament’s Role in Brexit
Politics in the UK is in a state of turmoil. Every time we think it can’t get any crazier, it finds a way of doing just that. Many of the roots of the trouble…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Robots and Immigrants
Rhetoric around immigrants ‘stealing people’s jobs’ has become common in contemporary British politics, especially during the debates around the 2016 Brexit…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How to Run Public Administration
We’re focusing this week on public administration. While mention of the word bureaucracy rarely lifts hearts, it’s incredibly important for the development of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The State of the World
The podcast has been on its summer break over the last few months, but politics certainly hasn’t stopped. The war in Ukraine has rumbled on. The global energy…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Role of Blame
Tackling injustice is one of the main motivations that many people have for getting involved in politics. Whether those injustices relate to income…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Disabilities in the Workplace
It is estimated that around a fifth of people working in the UK today are disabled in some way. Many of these people report feeling that their employers do a…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Limits of Technocracy
‘It’s the economy, stupid’. That, famously, was one of the organising principles of Bill Clinton’s campaign for the US presidency in 1992. Thirty years on…