🎉 NEW EPISODE 🎉 w/ guest @GCasaroes on Bolsonaro's sentencing, Trump's tariffs on Brazil, and the bailout of Milei. 🗣️ Is Bolsonarismo the closest to MAGA among the global radical right? 🗣️ Will a "Populist International Order" follow the Liberal International Order? ⏬

🔥 NEW EPISODE 🔥 The Reading Club is back with a discussion on Göran Therborn's Dreams and Nightmares of the World’s Middle Classes. 🗣️ What politics do the middle classes generate? Is the middle-class dream increasingly only a dream? ⏬

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 If we're all distracting ourselves to death, as Neil Postman called it, should we at least do it with King of the Hill? Our conversation with @ryan_zickgraf on the power of the "boob tube."

Here's Orlando Patterson on the legacy of slavery that identitarians don't want to talk about. Patterson was our guest this week to talk about his recent book: The Paradox of Freedom ⬇️

Jimmy Carter's "I believe in the sanctity of ethnic neighborhoods" speech was the precursor to the modern identity politics movement. Orlando Patterson says now we get Trump's embrace of white ethnic identity ⏬

Jimmy Carter's "I believe in the sanctity of ethnic neighborhoods" speech was the precursor to the modern identity politics movement. Orlando Patterson says now we get Trump's embrace of white ethnic identity ⏬

Hey kids, here's a handy guide to the U.S. Congress...

📚 FROM THE ARCHIVES 📚 With Keir Starmer insisting Britain is not broken, revisit our 2020 discussion of the stakes involved in such claims. What is decline? Is it relative or absolute? When did it start? David Edgerton explains… 👇

Listeners! Here's a sneak peek at what's coming this month

👀 ICMYI We've rereleased our special five-part series on the problem of generations. — How to understand generational cleavages —The emergence of 'youth' as a political concept —A look at each generation since the 21st century—from the Lost Generation to Gen-Z ⬇️

"In history as in nature, decay is the laboratory of life" — Marx That's the bright side of the decline in Britain and Western Europe!

On the site that stacks the Subs: Catch up on the best content from August, links to writing elsewhere from the Bungaverse, and find out what's coming up in September! ⏬

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 It's our monthly review episode in which we touch on "The Four Ds": disruption, disturbance, decline, decay (a slightly mellower Four Horsemen) Also, we take your questions and quibbles:

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Our Reading Club episode on Michael Lind's The New Class War. Here are the Cliffs Notes:

We spent $50,000 to hire a branding company to refresh our look. What do you think: A or B? 😅

🔓 UNLOCKED 🔓 Our 2021 conversation with Michael Lind on his book: The New Class War ⏬

We're taking a break to rest up for fall podcast season (or something) — but you'll still hear from us! —Tuesday: We're unlocking an old episode on Michael Lind's book – The New Class War. —Thursday: a new review episode will be out + a new S*bst*ck post —Sept. 2: The re-release of Generations!

Was Wolfgang Streeck right: are we in a proto-revolutionary moment in history? 👇

🤔 Did You Know? 🤔 Vietnam has transformed abandoned American military bases into export processing zones. ⏬

Are we shaping politics for the nation or the globe? 🗣️ Phil Cunliffe 👇

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 A spectre is haunting Bungacast and it is Phil - back with a book in tow. What is "the national interest" and why is it newly relevant in the era of Trump II? Why did it disappear from our political vocabulary? Can anyone truly claim it? ⏬

🎉 COMING TOMORROW 🎉 Phillip Cunliffe is back to talk about his new book: The National Interest. Remember Phil? Remember nation-states? Stay tuned!

Reminder: Subscribe to Bungacast on Patreon and get access to our pals at @damagemag!

Our latest episode is on the rise of workout and steroid culture. Want to dig deeper? Here are some viewing recommendations: ⬇️

The state of modern "sexiness" no longer has anything to do with sex. 🍆 - @alex1789.bsky.social

🎉 NEW EPISODE 🎉 Our guest is @J_Myles_TIR of @TIRShowOakland — here to talk about increasing steroid use. 🗣️ If steroids are a short-cut, how do we understand the "work" in "working out"? 🗣️ Is the taboo on drug use completely gone? Are we Alpha Bunga Bunga Now? ⏬

Are Boomers truly evil and greedy, or is that more Millennial cope? Phil says....

Why the terminology of the "middle class" may be problematic...

📚 NEW READING CLUB 📚 We visit Franz Jakubowski's 1936 book to explore wider questions regarding ideology, social totality, and the middle classes. Take a look, it's in a book! ⏬

Historian Sean Fear on South Vietnam as a hydra-like character that always seems to regroup. Why is it an anomaly in the region? ⏬

Hey, Vietnam, what's with all the rapid growth and development while your neighbours have failed? We asked historian Sean Fear: ⬇️

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 Our guest is historian Sean Fear to chat about Vietnam on the 50-year anniversary of the end of the war with America. 🗣️ All Vietnam does is win, but maybe not forever. Also, Is Chinese influence as great as resistance to China? ⬇️

Is 2025 seeing a political seismic shift like 1945 and 1989, but without a specific trigger point?

Was 1989 both the ultimate victory of liberalism and also a moment of ascendance for the anti-liberal power of China? —Alex Hochuli ⬇️

🎉 NEW EPISODE 🎉 Phil is back in the podcast saddle and we're talking about the end of history and the "End of Modernity", a recent essay in FP by historian Christopher Clarke.

📚 From the Archives:📚 With our episode on Vietnamese history coming soon, check out our deep dive on China’s internal fragmentation and external policy from 2024: ⏬

Start prepping your AirPods now...

Whether liberal democracy or wither liberal democracy? Our 500th episode party continues on S*bst*ck. 👀 Read On: buff.ly/qRV7Iwm

Declinism and saying "Things aren't the way they used to be" is an age old human story. But it doesn't necessarily describe the specific moment we're in.

Do you have a favorite Bungacast episode or guest in our 500? Share it and tag us in the post. You'll be entered to win a free one-year sub to our top tier on Patreon!

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 On Arno Mayer's "The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem" 🗣️ Is the lower middle class a "classless class"?

👍

Brexit: The Non-Event That Shook A Nation 👇

It's not just a podcast—it's a 500 podcast

Trump is using presidential powers not seen since Nixon to impose tariffs and lead America into a managed decline. —Alex Gourevitch

Listeners! Of the 500 Bungacast episodes, what's your favorite? Share it and tag us in the post. You'll be entered to win a free one-year sub to our top tier on Patreon (includes Reading Club + access to @DamageMag)

Listeners! Of the 500 Bungacast episodes, what's your favorite? Share it and tag us in the post. You'll be entered to win a free one-year sub to our top tier on Patreon (includes Reading Club + access to @DamageMag)

Are we in a moment of political possibility in the West, or are we merely bearing witness to the decay of democratic institutions? —Alex Gourevitch ⬇️

🎉 NEW EPISODE 🎉 The year was 2017. Trump and Brexit were fresh. Things were good for Bashar al-Assad, Shinzo Abe, and Justin Trudeau. A little podcast called Bungacast released its first episode. 500 episodes later — we're still here. ⏬

Has the world mainly been guilt and shame-free since the 1990s? 👇