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:
Excerpt: /118/ Three Articles: Covid
/117/ Against The Virus ft. John McAfee
/116/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (1) ft. Nick Frayn
Excerpt: /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
Excerpt: /114/ Reading Club: The Light That Failed
/113/ Globoville ft. Richard Williams
Excerpt: /112/ Ideologies of the Near Future
/111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell
Excerpt: /110/ Three Articles: De-democratising
/109/ Bunga Goes Ballard ft. Simon Sellars
/108/ Coronageddon? ft. Mark Honigsbaum / Lee Jones
/107/ Ireland’s Return to History ft. Colin Coulter
Excerpt: /106/ The Endless Scrolling of Cinema ft. Maren Thom
Excerpt: /105/ The Lorax & the AK-47 ft. Leigh Phillips
/104/ The Aristocracy of Finance ft. Alexander Zevin
Excerpt: /103/ Three Articles: The Future!
[UNLOCKED] /77/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 2
/101/ UK Election: A Disaster Foretold
/100/ What Was the End of History? ft. Many Guests
Excerpt: /99/ Proof in the Pudding
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