UCL Uncovering Politics
112 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsThe podcast of the School of Public Policy and the Department of Political Science at University College London. Through this podcast we plan to explore key themes of contemporary politics and spotlight some of the fantastic research that takes place within our department.
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Episodes
Trump's Legacy and the Biden Presidency
January 21, 2021 09:06 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBJoe 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 dramatic power shift is (more or less) complete. But the process of getting there has been fraught, and potentially damaging for American democracy for years to come. So what are the repercussions of the last few weeks – and indeed the last four years – likely to be? And what will the presidency of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris bring? We exp...
Contentious Politics under Covid-19
January 14, 2021 08:15 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBThis week we focus on the political impact of Covid-19, and particularly the pandemic’s effects on so-called ‘contentious politics’ – politics conducted through confrontational means, whether protests, or strike actions or, indeed, insurrections. What is the role of contentious politics in the political process as a whole? And how has the pandemic changed contentious politics around the world? Has the heightening of inequalities increased people’s willingness to protest? Or have social dist...
The State of the European Union
December 17, 2020 10:23 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBBrexit 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 issues are but we hear much less about thinking within the EU. Despite this, there’s a whole lot of other stuff that the EU is also up to. It has just agreed its budget for the next few years. It is responding to the challenge of Covid-19 and seeking to address the global climate emergency. It’s navigating its way through a rapidly chan...
The Principles of Collective Decision-Making
December 10, 2020 10:07 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MBPolitics 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 operate, what crimes will be punishable with what penalties, and so on. But what are the basic principles that should guide us in making such choices. How should a society go about making its collective decisions? That is perhaps the most fundamental question of politics, and it’s a question that is addressed in a magisterial new book...
Decolonising the University
December 03, 2020 09:30 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBWhen 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 protests began in Minneapolis in late May following the killing of George Floyd, and rapidly spread across much of the world. In consequence, as shown through analysis by the Oxford English Dictionary, references to ‘systemic racism’ grew seventeen-fold from 2019 to 2020. There were demands for reform of many institutions, practices, and habi...
Survivors of Violence
November 26, 2020 09:27 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBCivil 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 Cronin-Furman, who is Lecturer in Human Rights and Director of the MA in Human Rights here at UCL, conducts research into the experiences of victims of civil war violence. One of her recently published papers, co-authored with Roxani Krystalli from the University of St Andrews, focuses on the relatives of people who have been ‘disappeared’ dur...
Voter Information
November 19, 2020 08:34 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBMany of us are very concerned about the quality of information that’s available to voters during election and referendum campaigns. Misinformation and manipulation appear to be rampant, and voters can struggle to find the information that they want from sources they trust. Few people would doubt the importance in democracy of ensuring that voters can hear a wide range of different viewpoints and that information is accurate, accessible, and relevant to people’s lives and priorities. But is ...
The US Elections: What's Next?
November 05, 2020 15:36 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBWhat 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 – on the domestic front, in foreign policy, and on action against climate change? Host: Professor Jennifer Hudson Dr Colin Provost Dr Julie Norman Dr Thomas Gift UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including internatio...
Views of the Economy
October 29, 2020 06:52 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBWe 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 if its down, but what is the economy? Do we all agree on what this idea means? Do different conceptions lead to different ideas across society about the policies that should be pursued? Questions such as these were cast into sharp light by the vote for Brexit in 2016. Did leavers and remainers have different understandings of the econo...
Monarchy in Modern Democracy
October 22, 2020 06:18 - 30 minutes - 28 MBSerious 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 attention of students of politics? And is the fact that most of the world’s healthiest democracies are monarchies anything more than a coincidence? We ask one of the new book’s co-authors, Robert Hazell. Host: Dr Alan Renwick Professor Robert Hazell UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulat...
Is Risk Good for Us?
October 15, 2020 10:14 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MBAmidst 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 political philosophers suggest that risk is good for us – that it can enhance our self-respect. But is that supported by evidence? We discuss with Lucy Barnes, whose recent research gives cause for doubt. Host: Dr Alan Renwick Dr Lucy Barnes UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulat...
Checks and Balances in Democracy
October 08, 2020 12:32 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBThe 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 arguments against? Should we look upon different kinds of checks and balances in different ways? And what are the contemporary tensions bringing these debates to the fore? We explore with three of our leading thinkers on constitutional politics. Host: Dr Alan Renwick Professor Meg Russell Professor Richard Bellamy Professor Jeff Kin...