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: /355/ F***ing and shooting are not the same
UNLOCKED /328/ The New Scramble for Africa
Excerpt: /354/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (II)
/353/ Bunga Sells Out ft. Jason Myles
Excerpt: /352/ Cold War Marxism, East & West ft. Sean Sayers
Excerpt: /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs
Excerpt: /350/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (1)
/349/ The PMC & Their Politics ft. Dan Evans & Catherine Liu
Excerpt: /348/ Aufhebonus Bonus: June 2023
Excerpt: /347/ Feminists Touch Grass w/ Amber A’Lee Frost
Silvio Berlusconi: An Oral History
UNLOCKED: /87/ Berluscoming
Excerpt: /345/ Who Is The New Elite? ft. Matt Goodwin
/344/ Don’t Do The Work ft. Ben Hickman
Excerpt: /343/ Reading Club: Freedom (4)
Excerpt: /342/ Maybe Don’t Abolish the Family? w/ Amber A’Lee Frost
/340/ How to Grow a Backbone ft. Russell Jacoby
/339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
/338/ The Energy Theory of Everything ft. Matt Huber
/337/ Nigeria Rising Downwards ft. Sa’eed Husaini
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