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
Public Opinion in Russia
It almost goes without saying that public opinion matters in a democracy, where leaders can be scrutinised in the free press and held accountable at free and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How to Transform Our Politics
Uniquely, this week we are discussing both a new publication and a new institution. The publication is a book called Out of the Ordinary: How Everyday Life…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Population Displacement
Displacement of civilian populations is a feature of politics in many parts of the world. War is perhaps the most familiar driver of displacement – we have…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Political Philosophy and Climate Change
Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing humans today. Yet politics appears to be failing to deliver the required response. Students of politics…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Politics in Northern Ireland
Most of the UK went to the polls last week, and the vote in Northern Ireland was perhaps particularly significant. Next year will mark 25 years since the 1998…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Voting Systems and the Representation of Women
No democracy in the world has yet achieved equal representation for women in its national parliament. So it’s important to understand what could be done to…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of Climate Change
Climate change is – as the article we’re discussing this week puts it – ‘the quintessential long-term problem’. Action is needed to avert massive long-term…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Origins of the Secular State
Some states are secular, while others are based, to a greater or lesser degree, on religion. The difference matters. Secular states are more likely to respect…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Courage in Politics
We’re looking this week at the political role of courage. The current, dreadful conflict in Ukraine provides numerous extraordinary examples of courage: of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Transformation of British Welfare Policy
A new book out this month by our colleague Tom O’Grady begins with a remarkable quotation from a UN Special Rapporteur writing in 2018 about welfare reforms in…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Origins of Social Trust
We talk a lot about trust – or, more often, the lack of trust – in politics. Often we’re referring to people’s trust in politicians. But social trust – our…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Why did Argentina invade the Malvinas/Falklands in 1982?
The fortieth anniversary of the Malvinas/Falklands War of 1982 is coming up in just a few weeks’ time. There will no doubt be many retrospectives, which, here…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Pedagogy of Politics
How should we teach about politics? How – if at all – should teaching politics be different from teaching hard sciences, such as physics, or arts and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Freeing Bureaucrats to Succeed
How can you best deliver effective public services? Is it better to exert top-down control over the work of bureaucrats on the ground – through targets…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Taking Offence
It’s sometimes said that we’re living through an epidemic of taking offence. We have become hyper-sensitive, the story goes, to any slight against our sense of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Intermarriage and Voting in Africa
Ethnic voting means voting on the basis of ethnic identity, rather than, say, policy preferences or how well or badly you think the incumbents have governed…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Governments and Private Sector Suppliers
Now, no one would claim that the subject of contracts between governments and private sector suppliers is all that sexy. But the last two years of the Covid…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Public Preferences on Taxes and Spending
Few issues in public policy are as important as the size of the state. How much should the state spend? How much, therefore, should it raise in taxes? And what…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Online Public Shaming: Social Media, Ethics and Punishment
Today we’re looking at a brand new article, Against Online Public Shaming: Ethical Problems with Mass Social Media, by Guy Aitchison (Loughborough University)…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Legacies of Armed Conflict in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland experienced three decades of violence from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Thousands of people were killed, injured, or bereaved. The…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
COP26 in Review: Reflections on Glasgow
Today we’re taking a retrospective look at the outcomes of the COP-26 conference that was held in Glasgow earlier this month. COP – or Conference of the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Regulating the Internet
We’re focusing today on the regulation of the internet. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen argues that her former employer persistently puts profit above…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Analysing Politicians’ Words
Today our focus is on what politicians say – and on processes for analysing what politicians say. Politicians’ speech is, of course, a fundamental part of…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Global Politics of Climate Change
COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and is the annual UN climate change conference. The conference will be attended by the countries that signed the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Prison Protests in Palestine
Today we’re looking at protest by prisoners. Some of the most famous cases of protest politics involve protests by prisoners. Think of hunger striking…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
How Has Covid Affected Voter Preferences
In this episode we are looking at a new piece of research - Flight to Safety: COVID-Induced Changes in the Intensity of Status Quo Preference and Voting…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Alexei Navalny and the Future of Russian Politics
In this, our first episode of the new academic year, we’re looking at politics in Russia. Alexei Navalny – who hit the headlines around the world last year by…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Should the Civil Service Be Neutral?
In this our final episode for the current academic year, we’re going to tackle one of the biggest questions of political science: How do you run an effective…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Principles of Education Policy
Many of the most important policy decisions that a state can make relate to education. What kind of education should children receive? How far should parents…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Deciding Northern Ireland’s Future
The future of the Union here in the UK – that is, the union of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – is very much in the news. In Scotland, many…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Does the UK Still Have a Political Constitution?
Most countries have a document call the Constitution – a legal text setting out basic principles of how that country is governed. And in most of those…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Ethics of Violent Protest
The coming week sees the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. His killing by a white police officer in the American city of Minneapolis, sparked a…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Fostering Norms for Dispute Resolution
Alexandra Hartman is Associate Professor in Political Science and Public Policy here at UCL, and her research focuses on the political economy of institutions…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Biden’s First 100 Days
This week, we’re focusing on politics in the United States. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been in office for a little over 100 days…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Ideas of Democracy
Democracy is what one social scientist once famously called an ‘essentially contested concept’ – one that we are never likely all to agree about. And…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Global Climate Justice
We’re returning this week to the topic of climate change. You may have heard our episode a few weeks ago exploring global climate governance. Well this week…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Prerogative Powers of Governments
We typically divide the modern state into three branches: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. On a traditional view, the legislature makes the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Business Lobbying in the EU
How the European Union relates to the world of business has long been a matter of great contention. Scepticism towards the EU on the right of politics has for…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Global Climate Governance
There is common agreement that climate change poses the greatest policy challenge of our age. The costs of getting it wrong would be immense, but the barriers…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Politics of Asylum
The politics of asylum is more important than ever before. At the end of 2019, according to data from the UNHCR, there were 80 million displaced persons around…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Care and Punishment
Care ethics is a branch of moral philosophy that focuses on how we relate to, respond to, and care for each other. Its central question is not about what…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Limits of Free Speech on Social Media
Talking with each other about matters of politics and policy is an essential part of democracy. And today much of that conversation takes place online, through…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Trump's Legacy and the Biden Presidency
Joe Biden is President, Kamala Harris is Vice-President, and Donald Trump is out of office. The Senate and the House are both controlled by Democrats. A…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Contentious Politics under Covid-19
This week we focus on the political impact of Covid-19, and particularly the pandemic’s effects on so-called ‘contentious politics’ – politics conducted…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The State of the European Union
Brexit is back in the news, at least here in the UK. A huge amount is said in the UK media about UK perspectives on how the talks are going and what the key…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The Principles of Collective Decision-Making
Politics is the process by which we make collective choices – by which we decide how generous the welfare state will be, what kind of education system we will…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Decolonising the University
When we look back at the extraordinary year of 2020, one of the major themes – alongside, of course, Covid-19 – will be Black Lives Matter. Large-scale…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Survivors of Violence
Civil war has ravaged all too many societies in recent decades. And civil wars leave deep scars long after the fighting is over. Our colleague Dr Kate…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Voter Information
Many of us are very concerned about the quality of information that’s available to voters during election and referendum campaigns. Misinformation and…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
The US Elections: What's Next?
What does the election tell us about the state of US democracy, and what does the future hold? And what are the next four years likely to bring in policy terms…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Views of the Economy
We talk endlessly about the economy in politics. The state of the economy is said to shape election results, with incumbents doing well if it's up, and badly…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Monarchy in Modern Democracy
Serious books on monarchy are rare, but a new volume on Europe’s eight contemporary democracies helps to fill the gap. Does monarchy still deserve the…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Is Risk Good for Us?
Amidst pandemic and economic recession, living with risk – the possibility that something bad may happen to you – is part of many people’s daily reality. Some…
- UCL Uncovering Politics
Checks and Balances in Democracy
The long-standing idea that democracy needs checks and balances is questioned in some quarters. So what is the case for checks and balances, and what are the…