Shows / Bungacast
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.
Episodes
- Bungacast
/567/ Did They Dump Trump on Blue Tuesday? ft. Ryan Zickgraf
On the US midterms and the beginning of the end of Trump. Ryan Zickgraf talks to Alex about an election of real import, and whether it is an endorsement of the…
- Bungacast
/566/ The Last Big French Crisis ft. Charles Devellennes
On the pupils' protests and wider riots. Charles Devellennes, author of books on Macron and French protests, is back on the pod, talking to Alex about a month…
- Bungacast
/565/ New Right Modernizers? ft. Orlando Lima [in Portuguese]
On Brazil and national reconstruction. In our first ever episode in Portuguese, Alex speaks to Orlando Lima (editor of Valete, in-house magazine of new…
- Bungacast
/564/ The Wealth of Those with No Wealth ft. Joscha Abels
On infrastructure – who owns and who controls it. Scholar Joscha Abels talks to Lee and Alex about global infrastructure, from satellites to cloud computing to…
- Bungacast
/563/ Kingly Contradictions in Morocco ft. Merouan Mekouar
On migration, monarchy, and legitimacy. Merouan Mekouar, professor of development studies at York University in Toronto, gives Alex and Lee an in-depth view of…
- Bungacast
/562/ No More Populist Shortcuts? ft. Daniel Tutt & C. Derick Varn
On dead ends and new beginnings. Socialist writers, teachers and podcasters, Daniel Tutt and C. Derick Varn, talk to Alex and George about their pamphlet, The…
- Bungacast
/561/ Who Actually Rules Brazil? ft. Juliano Fiori
On sovereignty and Brazil's election. Juliano Fiori, Alameda Institute director, talks to Alex about Lula versus (Flávio) Bolsonaro through the lens of…
- Bungacast
Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part four.
A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in…
- Bungacast
Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part three.
A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in…
- Bungacast
Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part two.
A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in…
- Bungacast
Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part one.
A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in…
- Bungacast
/560/ Indonesia's Putin ft. Vedi Hadiz
On oligarchy and the end of reform. Vedi Hadiz is back on to talk to Lee and Alex about Indonesia, amidst severe economic instability in the country. What does…
- Bungacast
/559/ Global Jihad: 9/11 at 25 ft. Philip Cunliffe
On the complex connections between globalisation and political Islam. The OG Bunga Boys reflect on the quarter-century since that spectacular terrorist attack…
- Bungacast
/558/ Sewer Socialism, or Left in the Toilet? ft. Ross Barkan
On Zohran Mamdani. Writer Ross Barkan, author of The Revolutionary on the New York mayor, talks to Ryan Zickgraf and Alex Hochuli about what Mamdani means for…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/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…
- Bungacast
/540/ Welcome to the Apolar and Post-Multilateral World ft. Tom Chodor
On "non-hegemony" and world disorder. Tom Chodor, IR & politics scholar at Monash University, joins us to talk about a world that still retains the formal…
- Bungacast
/539/ Reading Club: Where's Our Flying Cars?
On the slowing rate of technological progress. Alex, George and contributing editor (and science writer) Leigh Phillips discuss David Graeber's 2012 essay, Of…
- Bungacast
/538/ Muskism ft. Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff
On the operating system of the 21st century. Historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff talk to Alex Hochuli and Alex Gourevitch about their new…
- Bungacast
/537/ Letters to the Editors: Feb 2026
We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month or so. Key issues this month are: What are the wrongs of the postmodern right – aand…
- Bungacast
/536/ Can Racism Be Overcome Within Capitalism? ft. Paul Gomberg
On anti-racism, communism, and philosophy. Alex Gourevitch talks to political philosopher Paul Gomberg about his original and deep Marxist arguments for what…
- Bungacast
/535/ Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Conservatism ft. Matt McManus
On postmodern conservatives. Matt McManus talks to Alex and George about a Right increasingly shaped by the parameters of postmodern culture – and his Damage…
- Bungacast
/534/ Is There a Doctrine Called Donroe? ft. Juan David Rojas
On Trump and Rubio, Venezuela and Cuba. Writer Juan David Rojas talks to Alex and Lee about the abduction of Maduro, what next for Venezuela, and Trump's…
- Bungacast
/533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?
On "thin ideologies" in a postmodern age. The Reading Club kicks off with an exploration of illiberalism, a "new ideological universe" that exists in "a…
- Bungacast
/532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet
On Trump & radical right ideology. Jean-François Drolet, a leading researcher into the 'World of the Right', talks to Alex and Lee about Donald Trump's…
- Bungacast
/531/ Interiorising the Border ft. Ryan Zickgraf
On ICE, Minneapolis – and your questions & comments. Contributing editor Ryan Zickgraf is back from Minnesota and tells us what is happening on the ground. We…
- Bungacast
/530/ Urgent and Immediate and Impossible ft. Christie Offenbacher & Ricky Levitt
On the social turn in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysts Christie and Ricky talk to Alex and George about their article in issue #5 of Damage, on ill-fated…
- Bungacast
/529/ Don't Pick Up: The Scam Economy ft. Mark Bo
On Southeast Asia's scam compounds. Mark Bo, organised-crime researcher and co-author of Scam, talks to Alex and Lee about his book, his experiences and why…
- Bungacast
/528/ The Heroic Bourgeoisie in the Democratic Post-Colony ft. Sandipto Dasgupta
On the making of independent India – and its lessons. Assistant professor of politics at The New School, Sandipto Dasgupta, talks to contributing editor Alex…
- Bungacast
/527/ Exit the Minoritarian ft. Panagiotis Sotiris
On the collective subject at the end of the End of History. Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism editorial board member and assistant professor at the…
- Bungacast
/526/ Come On Feel the Paranoise
On US derangement on screen. The OG Bunga boys get togther for the annual end-of-year film episode. We discuss Ari Aster's Eddington, as well as a bit of Paul…
- Bungacast
/525/ Neoliberalism in One Country? ft. Branko Milanovic
On homoploutia and national market liberalism. Branko Milanovic, Research Professor at City University of New York, talks to Phil and Alex about his most…
- Bungacast
/524/ You've Been Diagnosed with Subjective Problems ft. Amber Trotter
On overmedicalisation and the crisis of authority. Amber Trotter, practicing psychologist and an editor at Damage magazine, and George Hoare tell Alex about…
- Bungacast
/523/ Woke in the Dark ft. Ryan Zickgraf
On post-woke strategies. Ryan Z is back on, talking to Alex and George about the US Democrats' attempt to respond to Trump/MAGA. In association with Damage…
- Bungacast
/522/ At the Bottom of the Tar Pit ft. Benjamin Studebaker
On legitimacy and chronic crisis. Benjamin Studebaker talks to Alex and Lee about his book, Legitimacy in Liberal Democracy – and why the absence of the threat…
- Bungacast
/521/ Too Smart to Read ft. C. Derick Varn
On the crisis in literacy. Poet, podcaster and teacher, C. Derick Varn – who has taught in Mexico, Korea, Egypt and the US, at various levels – joins Alex and…
- Bungacast
/520/ Conspiracy Culture & Paranoid Styles ft. Catherine Liu
In this special episode, we present talks given by contributing editor Catherine Liu and co-host George Hoare on the paranoid style at a recent conference at…
- Bungacast
UNLOCKED: /519/ Reading Club: White Collar & Post-Mass Culture ft. Dustin Guastella
[We are unlocking this episode from the Bungacast Reading Club, originally released Nov 2025, which is normally available only to Reading Club subscribers. If…
- Bungacast
UNLOCKED: /497/ Are We Living in Fast Times? ft. James Hughes & Eli Sennesh
On technology, transhumanism, and progress. James Hughes (Exec Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) and Eli Sennesh (postdoc, Vanderbilt)…
- Bungacast
/518/ We Have Never Been Postmodern ft. Geoff Shullenberger
On free speech, the tech right, and politicisation. Geoff Shullenberger, managing editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to talk about Peter Thiel, René…
- Bungacast
/517/ Wonders of the Modern World ft. Pier Paolo Tamburelli
On places of ritual. Architect Pier Paolo Tamburelli talks to Alex about his project to catalogue modern wonders – structures that are very big, that pretend…
- Bungacast
/516/ France's Two Peripheries: Riots and Insurrection ft. Fred Lyra
On 20 years since the 2005 riots. Fred Lyra, philosopher and musicologist based in Paris, joins Alex to talk about France through 4 moments: 1995 – the last…