On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state.
We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorisms on social theory and politics.
The rational-legal state seems to be under threat by politicians who have no sense of the division between public and private – patrimonialists like Donald Trump, or Silvio Berlusconi. What are we to make of this attack on the notion of office?
Anti-corruption politics is often the response, but what happens when the left positions itself as the defender of the 'impartial' bourgeois state – rather than its overthrower? And was democratic capitalism the achievement of a militant working class – or a concession made after the working class had already been disciplined by fascism and war?
The second half of the interview, and our After-Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
/421/ Who Are the Wrong Ukrainians? ft. Volodymyr Ishchenko
/420/ Fertility Freefall & Gender Strife in South Korea ft. Hyeyoung Woo (sample)
/419/ Who Owns Power ft. Fred Stafford (sample)
/418/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown System, German-Style ft. Gregor Baszak (sample)
/RE-RELEASE/ Silvio Berlusconi: An Oral History
/417/ Has India passed peak Modi? ft. Achin Vanaik
/416/ Aufhebonus Bonus (sample)
/415/ Left-Populism That Works? (II) ft. Juan David Rojas
/414/ Zone of Banality or the Authority of Evil?
/413/ Left-Populism That Works? (I) ft. Roger Lancaster
/412/ No Future But Future Music ft. Simon Reynolds
/411/ What Kind of American Are You?
/410/ Reading Club: Deutscher's Stalin
/409/ Palestine, Protest, Repression: The Wider Context
/408/ Was It Raining When You Fled Paris? ft. Peter Gourevitch
/407/ Beyond Bare Life ft. Dustin Guastella
/406/ AufheBonus Bonus (sample)
/405/ Size Queen Nation ft. Christie Offenbacher & Benjamin Fife (sample)
/404/ Emotion Sickness: The Politics of Feelings (IV) ft. Catherine Liu (sample)
/402/ Revolution and Conservatism, e.g. in Mexico ft. Roger Lancaster (sample)
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