New Books in Political Science

Interviews with Political Scientists about their New BooksSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Time to Rethink Democracy: Participatory and More-Than-Human Perspectives
May 6, 2025 – 39:25
Stephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
May 5, 2025 – 59:15
Jerome Powell: “We don't think you're a straight shooter"
May 4, 2025 – 51:15
Janet Yellen: “She had a view that the world was on fire”
May 3, 2025 – 59:43
Ben Bernanke: “Like being a paleontologist”
May 2, 2025 – 44:27
Nicholas D. Anderson, "Inadvertent Expansion: How Peripheral Agents Shape World Politics" (Cornell UP, 2025)
May 1, 2025 – 34:26
Alan Greenspan: “The man who knew”
May 1, 2025 – 49:08
The Vote Gap: What’s Pulling Young Men and Women Apart?
Apr 30, 2025 – 55:33
The Good Father Syndrome: Why Strongmen Still Seduce
Apr 29, 2025 – 32:50
Caitlin Killian, "Understanding Reproduction in Social Contexts" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Apr 28, 2025 – 01:07:52
Ian Boyd, "Science and Politics" (Polity, 2024)
Apr 27, 2025 – 01:11:14
Russell Blackford, "How We Became Post-Liberal: The Rise and Fall of Toleration" (Bloomsbury, 2023)
Apr 26, 2025 – 01:20:48
Randy Laist and Brian Dixon, "Figures of Freedom: Representations of Agency in a Time of Crisis" (Fourth Horseman, 2024)
Apr 25, 2025 – 50:06
Maurizio Ferrera, "Politics and Social Visions: Ideology, Conflict, and Solidarity in the EU" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Apr 24, 2025 – 01:22:50
China’s Trade War Strategy: How Xi Jinping Uses Autocracy, Fear, and Innovation to Compete with the West
Apr 23, 2025 – 48:00
Marcus Kreuzer, "The Grammar of Time: A Toolbox for Comparative Historical Analysis" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
Apr 22, 2025 – 56:59
Postscript: Political Scientists Ring Alarm Bell Over Trump’s Second Administration
Apr 21, 2025 – 42:41
Fernanda Gallo, "Hegel and Italian Political Thought: The Practice of Ideas, 1832-1900" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Apr 20, 2025 – 48:06
Agnieszka Pasieka, "Living Right: Far-Right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe" (Princeton UP, 2024)
Apr 19, 2025 – 46:29
Political Mythmaking in Nepal
Apr 18, 2025 – 33:12
Is Democracy and Peace Possible in Myanmar? A Conversation with Claire Smith
Apr 17, 2025 – 41:11
Is Liberal Democracy Dying?
Apr 16, 2025 – 01:06:42
Engage and Evade in 2025: Asad L. Asad on Latino Immigrants in America
Apr 15, 2025 – 51:48
Dána-Ain Davis and Christa Craven, "Feminist Ethnography: Thinking Through Methodologies, Challenges, and Possibilities" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022)
Apr 14, 2025 – 56:21
David Wiles, "Democracy, Theatre and Performance: From the Greeks to Gandhi" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Apr 13, 2025 – 01:11:24
Pandemic Power: The Covid Response and the Erosion of Democracy - A Liberal Critique
Apr 12, 2025 – 01:05:20
James Davison Hunter, "Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis" (Yale UP, 2024)
Apr 11, 2025 – 38:43
Matthew D'Auria et al., "The Cambridge History of Nationhood and Nationalism" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Apr 10, 2025 – 01:41:07
Benjamin M. Studebaker, "Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)
Apr 9, 2025 – 01:04:06
Adam J. Berinsky, "Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It" (Princeton UP, 2023)
Apr 8, 2025 – 44:47
Eric Min, "Words of War: Negotiation as a Tool of Conflict" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Apr 7, 2025 – 01:02:52
Frances Yaping Wang, "The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Apr 6, 2025 – 24:38
Populism, Power, and the Crisis of Globalism: A Conversation with Wolfgang Streeck
Apr 5, 2025 – 39:28
Colonial Origins of Democracy and Dictatorship: A Discussion with Alexander Lee and Jack Paine
Apr 4, 2025 – 36:27
We Have Never Been Woke: A Conversation with Musa al-Gharbi
Apr 3, 2025 – 45:37
Postscript: Collective Action to Support Students at American Colleges and Universities
Apr 2, 2025 – 47:40
Political Entertainment in a Post-Authoritarian Democracy
Apr 1, 2025 – 01:02:10
Postscript: History, Narratives, and Political Power--An Emergency Oral History Project
Mar 31, 2025 – 46:07
Andrew Canessa and Manuela Lavinas Picq, "Savages and Citizens: How Indigeneity Shapes the State" (U Arizona Press, 2025)
Mar 30, 2025 – 01:01:11
Rhys Machold, "Fabricating Homeland Security: Police Entanglements Across India and Palestine/Israel" (Stanford UP, 2024)
Mar 29, 2025 – 40:47
Marc Owen Jones, "Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media" (Hurst/Oxford UP, 2021)
Mar 28, 2025 – 27:23
Amy Adamczyk, "Fetal Positions: Understanding Cross-National Public Opinion about Abortion" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Mar 27, 2025 – 01:00:20
Human Rights in the Trump Era: A Conversation with Kenneth Roth
Mar 26, 2025 – 32:47
Madhavi Devasher, "Crossing Lines: Cross-Ethnic Coalitions in India and Prospects for Minority Representation" (Routledge, 2024)
Mar 25, 2025 – 42:07
Postscript: Not a Matter of Left or Right: Historians Fighting Censorship
Mar 24, 2025 – 43:28
Gerald J. Postema, "Law's Rule: The Nature, Value, and Viability of the Rule of Law" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Mar 23, 2025 – 01:01:54
Adam K. Webb, "The World's Constitution: Spheres of Liberty in the Future Global Order" (Routledge, 2025)
Mar 23, 2025 – 01:51:40
Vuk Vuksanovic, "Serbia’s Balancing Act: Between Russia and the West" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Mar 22, 2025 – 43:58
In Covid’s Wake: How our Politics Failed Us--A Conversation with Stephen Macedo (Part 2)
Mar 21, 2025 – 52:57
Marilyn Nissim-Sabat and Neil Roberts, "Creolizing Hannah Arendt" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)
Mar 20, 2025 – 01:04:22

Recent Reviews

Concerned Political Scientist

John Yoo?

No.
A Syrian NoOne

Syrian

Big thank you Political Science. To Blumenthal’s critics: Keep your dirty petrodollars, your crazed Takfiri radical militants from China, Chechnya, and from all over the world, keep the mountains of media campaigns of deception, cynicism, and lies. Keep those maniac sectarian psychos who deny the river of blood shed at the hands of your “Moderate Rebels.” But give us “Management of Savagery.”
Galacto Overtron

Engaging and well-paced

I really enjoy New Books in Political Science, the hosts make sure that their discussions are free of jargon, and explain the ideas in these cutting-edge works in a clear and accessible manner. It's solidly in my podcast rotation alongside the best of NPR and Pacifica radio.
saradems

Useful and Interesting

This is a great way to stay up on new books in the field! I also love using these podcasts with students, to expose them to new ideas when there isn’t room for an entire book on the syllabus.
Melbrooksjr

Your Lit Review Has Arrived

Love this podcast. I listen during my mega commute to campus. I've learned a lot about new books coming out in the field. It's a wonderful public service. Thank you!
an Archy

Fascinating but flawed

The New Books podcasts do me a huge service by keeping me up to date on my field (American elections and public opinion) while introducing me to work is never have thought to read on my own. For example, I really enjoyed the recent episode on Buddhist politics in Myanmar. However, they also occasionally remind me how much academics struggle to explain their work. Obviously these podcasts aren't aimed at a lay audience, but the interviewees often have trouble conveying why even another academic outside their subfield might care about their subject. And the interviewers sometimes seem indifferent when not talking about their own are; sometimes it feels like they're just skimming the chapter titles to guide their questions. On the whole, though, very edifying podcasts and I'm extremely grateful to the people who volunteer their time to make them happen.
Knel5

Please buy a new microphone

I will listen to all of your podcasts as the content is superb, but please spend $40 on a microphone made this century!
Cat lover in NYC

Excellent

Enjoyed that podcast a bunch.
Podcast fan 11219

Learned a lot

I always learn a lot from these podcasts
Memwall

Interesting and Enjoyable

This podcast helps me stay up to speed on the latest publications in my field. It is relevant, interesting and enjoyable.
PSCDC

New Books in Political Science

The concept is promising and the subject interesting, but the podcasts end up disappointing. Poor sound quality. Interviews are chatty.