Bungacast

On political capitalism and divided workers.

Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics.

What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation?

Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment?

How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity?

What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today?

Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics?

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Links:

Relevant Episodes

/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley

/515/ State Capitalism Is Now ft. Ilias Alami

Riley & Brenner

Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022 

The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025

Some Key Responses

Reflections on Political Capitalism, Lola Seaton, New Left Review, 2023

Notes on ‘Political Capitalism’, John Ganz

Seven Theses on Brenner and Riley's "Political Capitalism", Tim Barker

Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation, Seth Ackerman, Jacobin

From Politics to Theory and Back, Benjamin Fong, Damage

 Notable pieces in Sidecar by Dylan

Lenin in America

First Principles

Contra Arendt

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 correct in his characterisation of Alasdair MacIntyre as a prelapsarian?

Does hyperliberal individualism lead to a search for meaning, and thus to communitarianism?

 Is the competition between liberalism and post-liberalism now our political spectrum? 

Is contemporary liberalism now reducible to professionalisation of the state and civil society?

If liberalism has failed – a basic point of this podcast from the start – has post-liberalism now also failed?

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Links:

The End of History and the End of the End of History, Alasdair MacIntyre

How to Save British Liberalism, John Gray, New Statesman

What ever happened to post-liberalism, Nicolas D Villarreal, Substack

/533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?

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 is the scale of Fidesz’s wipeout?

Who is Péter Magyar, and is he actually to the right of Orban?

What was Orban’s rule built on, and what parts of it have been rejected?

Does Orban mark a shift from national-populism to radical conservatism? From anti-politics to hyperpolitics?

What is the impact on global radical right? Was there a global Orbanism, and is it over?

How will this impact European “unity” and will Orban's defeat lead to escalation in Ukraine?

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Links:

The Mittel Man, Ivan Krastev, Equator

Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Model Has Collapsed, David Broder, Jacobin

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 some firm consequences, beyond the immediate situtation.

Why did Trump go to war?

Is this Netanyahu's war? And will he continue it regardless of the US?

Will the Islamic Republic become more conservative now? 

What has the war revealed about asymmetric warfare? About US vulnerability?

What is the state of the Hormuz weapon now?

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Links:

Arash Azizi:

Reasons to be Hopeful in Iran, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic

/24/ #IranProtest ft. Arash Azizi

/150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi

/444/ Opportunism & Revenge in the Middle East ft. Karl Sharro & Arash Azizi

Analyses:

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, NY Times

Netanyahu’s Iran War Is Also the War of Global Neocon Elites, Nimrod Flaschenberg, Jacobin

Trump's War, Daniel Luban Dissent Magazine

The world energy shock is coming, Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk, New Statesman

One battle after another: Netanyahu’s new security doctrine, FT 

/532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet

Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump's National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs

On abolishing queer theory.

Ran Heilbrunn talks to Lee Jones and Alex Hochuli about his chapter, "Abolish Queer Theory!" in the edited collection Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual.

What is queer theory and why should it be abolished?

What is the meaning behind the shift in terms: invert, to homosexual, to gay, to queer?

How does queer theory politicise sex and why is this bad?

Do our libidos care about social inclusion? Can they?

Is identity okay but identity politics bad?

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Links:

Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual, Aman Namaman and Pierre d’Alancaisez (eds.), Verdurin, 2025