SPERI Presents... (SPERI)

This introductory episode of SPERI Presents… gives listeners a taste of political economy as a discipline and SPERI as an institute while setting the scene for series to come.

Dr Remi Edwards is joined by current SPERI co-director Professor Andrew Hindmoor and SPERI affiliates Dr Natalie Langford and Dr Liam Stanley. They discussed how they understand political economy as a field of study, the unique insights it offers for understanding dynamics of contemporary capitalism, and how they use it in their own research. Previous SPERI co-directors Professor Genevieve LeBaron and Professor Tony Payne offered their reflections on the research agendas of SPERI and its contributions to the field of political economy.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Dillon Wamsley, Chris Saltmarsh and Remi Edwards. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer and David Lammy face the immediate foreign policy challenges of wars in Ukraine and Gaza, volatility in Europe, and geopolitical conflict between the US and China.

Lord Stewart Wood, now a Fellow of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Treasury from 2001 to 2007 and Gordon Brown’s foreign policy adviser at No 10 from 2007 to 2010. He joins Michael and Mems to discuss his experience of working across a range of issues under the last Labour government and offer advice to Keir Starmer's new Labour government. They discuss Gordon Brown's diplomacy in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the challenges of managing relations with the EU and its member states in a post-Brexit world, and how to position the UK amid the US-China trade war.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Debates about migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats dominated the 2024 general election. The Labour government will now face pressure from all sides to resolve the issue decisively but humanely.

Lord David Blunkett was Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1997-2001), Home Secretary (2001-4) and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2005). He joins Michael and Mems to discuss his time at the Home Office and immigration policy during Tony Blair's administration. They discuss whether the Home Office is fit for purpose, running the ministry in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, negotiating with France's Nicolas Sarkozy over asylum policy, and the debate around whether (and when) asylum seekers should receive the right to work.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Labour is now in power for the first time in over 14 years. How does Keir Starmer hit the ground running? What are the challenges of running a government after so long away from 10 Downing St?

Baroness Sally Morgan, now Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, was Tony Blair’s Director of Government and Political Relations at No 10 from 1997 to 2005. Gavin Kelly, now Executive Chair and formerly Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, was Deputy Chief of Staff at No 10 under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. They join Michael and Mems to discuss the challenges of managing the Prime Minister's diary, collaboration between No 10 and key departments, relationship with the media, and how Keir Starmer should start his administration on the right footing.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer inherits a series of broken public services after fourteen years of austerity and economic stagnation. Can the new Labour government turn them around while remaining so reluctant to invest public money?

Nick Pearce, now Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Institute of Policy Research, University of Bath, was Head of the No 10 Policy Unit 2007-10 and Special Adviser at the Dept of Education and Employment and Home Office (2001-7). He joins Michael and Mems to discuss New Labour's record on education, (including the controversial policy of academisation), investment in the NHS and social care, and housing (including the continuation of Right to Buy). How should Keir Starmer approach public service reform? They also consider the importance of taxation to fund public spending, the role of local government and combined authorities, and how the civil service will respond to the new government.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Foreign aid spending has long been a political football kicked around by the major parties. Now that Keir Starmer has formed a new Labour government, what will its approach to international development tell us about the UK's place in the world?

Clare Short was Secretary of State for International Development from 1997-2003 under Tony Blair. She joins Michael and Mems to discuss overseas development and foreign policy, including the founding of the Department for International Development, its relation to the Foreign Office, and American influence over British foreign policy making. They also consider the challenges faced by the new Labour government, including the war in Gaza and Britain's declining stature in world politics.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs, Chris Saltmarsh and Remi Edwards. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A key issue in Labour's 2024 general election campaign was the conflict between the moral imperative to end child poverty and the party's stringent fiscal rules. The debate over whether Starmer's new government will end the two-child limit in Universal Credit is already a live issue during his first period as Prime Minister.

Carey Oppenheim, now an independent consultant on early years policy and adviser to the Nuffield Foundation, was Special Advisor to Tony Blair in the Number 10 Policy Unit from 2000 to 2005, working on employment policy, social security, childcare and poverty. She joins Michael and Mems to discuss New Labour's pledge to eradicate poverty, the Sure Start initiative, the challenges of building institutions that last beyond particular governments, reimagining social security, and the legacy of the minimum wage.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards, Michael Jacobs and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Starmer's Labour has secured an overwhelming majority in what will surely be one of the most significant Parliamentary terms in the history of British climate politics. The clock is ticking on decarbonisation, but the new Labour government appears reluctant to take full advantage of the chance to be forever remembered as climate heroes. Will it make the most of this opportunity?

Michael Jacobs, now Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sheffield, was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Treasury from 2004 to 2007 and special adviser to Gordon Brown at No 10 on energy, climate and environmental policy from 2007 to 2010. He joins Mems and guest co-host Chris Saltmarsh (doctoral student and co-founder of the campaign group Labour for a Green New Deal) to discuss the remarkable consensus around the Climate Change Act 2008; failure and success at UNFCCC summits from COP15 in Copenhagen to COP21 in Paris; and the challenges facing Ed Miliband in his new role as Secretary of State for Energy. They also consider the new Labour government's plans on climate, including Great British Energy, and how the climate movement needs to kick itself into gear to pile on the pressure for stronger action.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Remi Edwards. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It would appear that every Opposition party promises sweeping House of Lords reform while every government roundly fails to make any meaningful progress in that domain. What challenges will Keir Starmer's new Labour government face when it comes to constitutional and Parliamentary reform?

Meg Russell, now Professor of Politics at University College London and Director of the UCL Constitution Unit, was Special Adviser to Robin Cook as Leader of the House in 2001-3. She joins Michael and Mems to discuss the dynamic between the Prime Minister and Parliament; the need for reform in the House of Commons; the politics of House of Lords appointments; and the endlessly frustrating challenge of achieving meaningful reform to the upper house.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Remi Edwards. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer's new government must now walk the line between the short-termist incentives of Parliamentary politics and the imperative to tackle the medium and long-term social issues that Labour has been elected to solve. What mode of governance can effectively strike this balance?

Sir Geoff Mulgan, now Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London, was Director of the Performance and Innovation Unit, Head of the Strategy Unit and Head of Policy in No 10 (1997-2007). He joins Michael and Mems to discuss strategies for addressing multidimensional and complex social issues; how Starmer should pursue his missions; the allure and limitations of incrementalism; and the challenges of a hollowed out Whitehall.

Lessons in Power is a SPERI Presents... podcast. Professor Michael Jacobs and Mems Ayinla interview ministers and advisors from the New Labour administration (1997-2010) to tease out lessons on a range of issues for Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… working group, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley, Andrew Hindmoor, Mems Ayinla and Michael Jacobs. This episode was edited by Michael Jacobs and Remi Edwards. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political economists are inspired to understanding the major challenges that face our society today: climate breakdown and global environmental change, workers' rights across global supply chains, the intensification of war, the rise of the far-right, public health crises and so much more. But what exactly is political economy? Is it a discipline, sub-discipline, field, approach, all of these, or none? How does it help us understand capitalism, history, our everyday lives?

Professor Andrew Hindmoor is Professor of Politics at University of Sheffield and Co-Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). Dr Liam Stanley is Senior Lecturer in Politics at University of Sheffield. Dr Natalie Langford is Lecturer in Sustainability at University of Sheffield. For this first episode, they join Dr Remi Edwards for a fascinating discussion in which they share their perspectives on what exactly political economy is, how they came to pursue it, and the role it has played in their research careers so far.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

Papers referenced in the podcast include:

Stanley, L. (2014) ‘We're Reaping What We Sowed’: Everyday Crisis Narratives and Acquiescence to the Age of Austerity', New Political Economy, 19(6), 895-917.

Jessop, B. and Sum, N. (2010) 'Pre-disciplinary and Post-disciplinary Perspectives', New Political Economy, 6(1), 89-101.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Queer men bear a disproportionate burden of HIV in Africa, but how do they experience the global development agenda of sexual health and sexual rights? What does a political economy approach bring to research on global development? How does queer political economy build on feminist approaches to help us locate contemporary Ghanian politics in histories of capitalism and colonialism? What are the lived experiences of queer men in Ghana in this context and what are their priorities in the struggle for queer liberation? How does an ethnographic methodology help researchers answer these questions and more?

Dr Ellie Gore is a Lecturer in Global Political Economy at University of Manchester and Dr Natalie Langford is Lecturer in Sustainability at University of Sheffield. They join Dr Remi Edwards to discuss Ellie's new book Between HIV prevention and LGBTI rights: the political economy of queer activism in Ghana (University of Michigan Press).

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

Publications referenced in the podcast include:

Ellie Gore (2024) Between HIV Prevention and LGBTI Rights: The political economy of queer activism in Ghana. University of Michigan Press.

Ellie Gore (2022) 'Understanding Queer Oppression and Resistance in the Global Economy: Towards a Theoretical Framework for Political Economy', New Political Economy 27/2, 296-311.

Saidiya V. Hartman (2021/2006) Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. Serpent's Tail.

María Lugones (2007) 'Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System', Hypatia 22/1, 186-209.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite decades of public knowledge about climate change and well-established international governance institutions designed to facilitate global energy transition, emissions continue to rise as climate breakdown intensifies. Why is climate modeling so important and what are technocrats getting wrong? What are the assumptions underlying these models of future climate scenarios and how do they misinform policy makers about the true costs of the climate (in)action? How can a constructivist approach to international political economy (IPE) help us understand the contestation the occurs within and between institutions on questions of climate mitigation?

Professor Ben Clift is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick and Dr Caroline Kuzemko is a Reader in International Political Economy also at the University of Warwick. They join Dr Remi Edwards to discuss their recent paper The social construction of sustainable futures: how models and scenarios limit climate mitigation possibilities (2024).

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

Acronyms used in this podcast:

IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

COP - Conference of the Parties

IAM - Integrated assessment models

OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

IMF - International Monetary Fund

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1970s crisis of stagflation is often represented as a crisis of capitalism inciting transformation from post-war social democracy to neoliberalism, but was that really how the crisis was experienced at the time? Was capitalism itself at risk, or was this just a crisis in capitalism and of British politics? Is social democracy the right way to understand the post-war period? Were the unions as powerful as we're told? Did Thatcherism decisively solve the problem of inflation as is claimed? Given the prevalence of historical analogy, what can the 1970s (and, indeed, the 1930s) tell us about our current crisis-ridden conjuncture?

Colin Hay was a founding co-Director for SPERI in 2012 and remains in that position today. He is also a Professor of Political Sciences in the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics at Sciences Po in Paris. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the international factors underpinning the1970s crisis of stagflation, misunderstandings about trade unions and inflation during the Winter of Discontent, ironic legacies of Keynesianism, Thatcherism as a political project, neoliberalisation as a process, and constructivist approaches to crisis.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Colin Hay, Narrating Crisis: The Discursive Construction of the `Winter of Discontent', Sociology (1996)

2) Leo Panitch, The Impasse of Social Democratic Politics, Socialist Register (1986)

Works referenced in this episode:

Colin Hay's doctoral thesis: 'Re-stating crisis : strategic moments in the structural transformation of the state in post-war Britain' (1995)

Ben Bernanke's doctoral thesis: 'Long-term commitments, dynamic optimization, and the business cycle' (1979)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is crisis a core feature of capitalism? What role does crisis play in the history of capitalism? How useful is crisis as a concept for understanding contemporary political-economic upheavals, for both scholars and activists? Are we in the midst of a crisis or new era of polycrisis or permacrisis? How can we understand our location within it?

Chris Saltmarsh is a postgraduate researcher at University of Sheffield. Dillon Wamsley is a postdoctoral researcher the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). They are producers and co-hosts of Crisis Point, a SPERI Presents... limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present. In this first episode, they discuss how the concept of crisis is variously understood in political economy literatures, begin to develop a working theory of crisis, and introduce key questions that will be applied to historic and contemporary crisis events throughout the series.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Andrew Gamble, Crisis Without End? The Unravelling of Western Prosperity (2014), Chapter 2, pp. 28-47.

2) Stuart Hall and Doreen Massey, Interpreting the Crisis, Soundings (2010)

3) Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, Capitalist Crises and the Crisis this Time, Socialist Register (2011)

4) Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks (1971), pp. 399-401

Works referenced in this episode:

1) Adam Tooze, Defining polycrisis – From crisis pictures to the crisis matrix (2022)

2) Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (2010)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to pioneering political economist Adam Smith, the liberalisation of trade was supposed to progressively grow social wealth for all nations and eliminate the need for social evils such as slave labour. Why, then, with production organised at a transnational scale and capital so mobile, do giant multinational companies continue to hoard profits while development stagnates for so many? And why does slavery and forced labour persist in global supply chains?

Dr Maha Rafi Atal is Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at University of Glasgow. She joins Dr Remi Edwards to discuss her recently co-authored article Adam Smith: His continuing relevance for contemporary management thought (2024). They consider what we can learn from Adam Smith to explain contemporary political economy challenges associated with global corporations including failures of corporate responsibility and regulation, extreme concentrations of power and wealth, and the difficulties of labour organising across borders.

Publications discussed also include Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) and Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).

Find out more about the Adam Smith 300 project at the University of Glasgow, including its' exhibition of his student's lecture notes discussed in the episode.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Long Depression spanned the 1870s into the 1890s, characterised by a prolonged squeeze on capitalist profits, deflation, protectionism and class conflict. How were the harms of this period distributed between classes? What does this early crisis of capitalism tell us about the relationship between crisis and capitalism more generally? How can it help us understand the contributions and limitations of marginalism and neoclassical economics?

Matthew Watson is Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the Long Depression, how it was experienced differently by elites and non-elites, its debatable status as a crisis, and its place in the thought of marginalists and early political economists.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts (2000)

2) Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 (1987)

Works referenced in this episode:

Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (1890)

François Quesnay, Tableau Economique (1758)

W. Stanley Jevons, Commercial Crises and Sun-Spots (1878)

Albert Musson, The Great Depression in Britain, 1873–1896: a Reappraisal (1959)

Quentin Skinner, Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas (1969)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Climate change is one of the most urgent and existential challenges to emerge in capitalism's history. It threatens to undermine the basic conditions of capitalist accumulation not to mention human life itself. And yet, emissions continue to rise. Why? Climate change is often termed the climate crisis, but what does it actually have in common with historic crisis events like the 1930s or 1970s? What does this tell us about the possibility of resolving it through global energy transition? What can we learn about the nature of crisis in capitalism more generally?

Jeremy Green is a Professor of Political Economy at University of Cambridge. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the climate crisis, its intimate relationship to capitalism, and how it differs to other crises in capitalist history, and possibilities of overcoming it.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading:

1) Jeremy Green, Comparative capitalisms in the Anthropocene: a research agenda for green transition, New Political Economy (2023)

2) Matthew Paterson, 'Climate change and international political economy: between collapse and transformation', Review of International Political Economy (2021)

3) Brett Christophers, 'Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition', New Political Economy (2022)

Works referenced:

Andreas Malm, Fossil Capital (2016)

Jason W. Moore, Capitalism in the Web of Life (2015)

Timothy Mitchell, Carbon Democracy (2011)

Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (2010)

For Kondratiev's long waves: Nathan Rosenberg and Claudio R. Frischtak, Technological innovation and long waves (1984)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austerity has dominated Western politics since the 2008 financial crisis, but where did it come from? And why has it proved so enduring as a response to capitalist crises (real or perceived) despite appearing so unpopular? Has the nature of austerity changed over time as capitalism develops? Or does it retain a fundamental character across space and time?

Clara Mattei is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Heterodox Economics at The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss austerity as an elite strategy throughout capitalism's history from the interwar period to 2008; the relationship between capitalist crisis and austerity; and how it binds together liberalism and fascism; and its resilience.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading:

1) Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism (2022)

2) Liam Stanley, 'Legitimacy gaps, taxpayer conflict, and the politics of austerity in the UK', The British Journal of Politics and

International Relations (2016)

3) Liam Stanley, '‘We're Reaping What We Sowed’: Everyday Crisis Narratives and Acquiescence to the Age of Austerity', New Political Economy (2012)

4) Dillon Wamsley, 'Crisis management, new constitutionalism, and depoliticisation: recasting the politics of austerity in the US and UK, 2010–16', New Political Economy (2023)

Works referenced in this episode:

Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World (2024)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many the Great Depression represents the first and most devastating crisis in capitalism's history. How did it come about about? How did it change both the lives of ordinary people and capital accumulation? Was the Great Depression to be a model for future capitalist crises occurring in cycles, or a singular event producing a unique configuration of consequences?

Gareth Dale is Reader in Political Economy at Brunel, University of London. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss how the ideas of Karl Polanyi can help us understand the 1930s Great Depression in the longer history of crisis and capitalism.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading:

1) Karl Polanyi (1944), The Great Transformation

2) Gareth Dale (2010) Karl Polanyi: The Limits of the Market

3) Eric Helleiner (2014) Forgotten Foundations of Bretton Woods: International Development and the Making of the Postwar Order

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the human costs of caring labour? Where does this labour take place, who takes it on and how can we best study it?

Shirin M. Rai is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies SOAS, University of London. Dr Jayanthi Lingham is a Research Associate at the Centre for Care. They join Dr Remi Edwards to discuss Rai's recent book Depletion: The Human Costs of Caring.

Works referenced:

Lingham & Johnston 2024

Budlender, 2010

Butler & Hoskyns, 2017

Cooper, 2014

Dowling, 2021

Elson, 1979

Federici, 1975

Fraser, 2016

Hirway & Jose, 2011

Katz, 2001

Mezzadri, 2022

Rai, Hoskyns & Thomas, 2014

Rai & True, 2020

Stevano et al, 2019

Bhattacharya, 2017

Waring, 1988

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2008 financial crisis is the most totemic political-economic event in living memory. What were the causes of the crash? How does it relate to previous crises in capitalism, like 1970s stagflation? Many believed that 2008 signalled the end of neoliberalism. How did neoliberalism endure in its immediate aftermath? Does China's alternative economic model represent a serious challenge to neoliberalism almost two-decades on? How should we make sense of the post-2008 multipolarity in global politics?

Scott Lavery is Lecturer in Political and International Studies at University of Glasgow. His first book is British Capitalism After the Crisis (Springer, 2019). He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the short and long-term causes of the 2008 financial crisis, what the crisis has meant for neoliberalism, the fundamental conditions of British capitalism, and how we can use political economy to analyse contemporary crises.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Colin Crouch, The Strange Non-death of Neo-liberalism (Polity, 2011)

2) Adam Tooze, Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crisis Changed the World (Penguin, 2018)

3) Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire (Verso, 2013) (chapter 12)

Works referenced in this episode:

Helen Thompson on inflationary pressure

Nicholas Crafts and Terence C. Mills on productivity slump

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The housing crisis is a term used to describe a housing system characterised by extortionate rents with the only prospect of financial security realised through the huge debts associated with purchasing residential property. How did housing become financialised? What role does it play in capital accumulation today? Is this a normal condition of capitalism or are we right to understand it as a crisis? What chance do we have of transforming the system so housing re-takes its rightful place as a source of security and community?

Johnna Montgomerie is Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at University of British Columbia. She joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the role of the housing system in the functioning of capitalism, the ways in which it constitutes crisis, and why the system is so hard to change.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Colin Crouch, 'Privatised Keynesianism: An Unacknowledged Policy Regime', The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 11(3) (2009)

2) Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper, Martijn Konings, The Asset Economy (Wiley, 2020)

Works referenced in this episode:

Johnna Montgomerie's articles on housing:

'Austerity and the household: The politics of economic storytelling', British Politics, 11 (2016)

'Round the Houses: Homeownership and Failures of Asset-Based Welfare in the United Kingdom', New Political Economy, 20 (2015)

Susan Strange on economic power

Martijn Konings on the bailout nation

Greta Krippner on small savers in the US

Jonathan Hopkins on anti-system politics

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the 1997 East Asian Financial Crisis tell us about capitalism and crisis more generally? Should we include it alongside the 1930s, 1970s and 2008 as a major crisis in the history of capitalism? Or does it simply an early symptom of the conditions that eventually gave rise to 2008?

Jomo Kwame Sundaram is a Malaysian economist holding such positions including Visiting Senior Fellow at Khazanah Research Institute, Visiting Fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor at the International Islamic University in Malaysia. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis including the role of the IMF in causing it; its experience in Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea respectively; and how we should understand it in relation to the 2008 financial crisis.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Jomo Kwame Sundaram (ed.) Tigers in Trouble: Financial Governance, Liberalisation and Crises in Southeast Asia (Hong Kong University Press, 1998)

2) George W. Noble & John Ravenhill (eds.), The Asian Financial Crisis and the Architecture of Global Finance (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

3) Frank Veneroso & Robert Wade, The Asian Crisis: The High Debt Model Versus the Wall Street-Treasury-IMF Complex, New Left Review, I/228 (1998)

Works referenced in this episode:

Robert Wade on East Asia, including the Republic of Korea

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As prices keep on rising while wages stagnate, it becomes more and more expensive for ordinary people to afford the basic essentials. Does this inflationary pressure constitute a crisis in capitalism or should we understand it as a normal function of the system? What are the different ways that inflation can be managed and how does this effect who wins and loses? What effect will the shocks of climate change have on prices in the future?

Martijn Konings is Professor of Political Economy and Social Theory at the University of Sydney. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss the resurgence of inflation in the 2020s, the role of central banks and governments in responding to inflation, and how inflation interacts with crisis in capitalism.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Montgomerie, 'COVID Keynesianism: locating inequality in the Anglo-American crisis response', Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 16 (2023)

2) Weber & Wasner, 'Sellers’ inflation, profits and conflict: why can large firms hike prices in an emergency?', Review of Keynesian Economics, 11 (2023)

3) Lindberg & Maier, The Politics of Inflation and Economic Stagnation (Brookings Institution Press, 1985)

Works referenced in this episode:

Martijn Konings review of Stiglitz on freedom

Martijn Konings' book The Bailout State (2024)

Isabella Weber on strategic price controls

Hyman Minsky on the 1929 crash and Great Depression

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does the rise of populisms of both Left and Right varieties constitute a crisis in democracy? Is this a new phenomenon or has there always been a contradictory relationship between capitalism and democracy? How does the erosion of democratic norms relate to other crises in the political economy? Why does the Left seem so incapable of effectively confronting this multitude of challenges?

Michael Bray is Professor of Philosophy at Southwestern University. He joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to discuss democracy in the history of capitalism, populism as a mode of politics, and how to navigate the crisis of representative democracy in the coming decades.

Crisis Point is a limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

Recommended reading for this episode:

1) Bray, 'Rearticulating Contemporary Populism', Historical Materialism, 23 (2015)

2) Mouffe, For a Left Populism (2019)

Works referenced in this episode included:

Stuart Hall's The Great Moving Right Show

Hall on Poulantzas' authoritarian statism

Jairus Banaji on the incorporation of peasantries into capitalism

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we make sense of the multitude of so-called crises that dominate our current conjuncture? Is polycrisis a useful concept for getting to grips with the present condition of political economy? Are its proponents right to embrace uncertainty at the expense of theoretical explanation? Or can we hope to make sense of what's going on and chart a path forward?

Chris Saltmarsh is a postgraduate researcher at University of Sheffield. Dillon Wamsley is a postdoctoral researcher the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). They are producers and co-hosts of Crisis Point, a SPERI Presents... limited series introducing the political economy of capitalist crises, providing historical and theoretical rigour to discourses around crisis in the present.

In this final episode, they review the series by proposing a definition and theory of crisis. They draw distinction between crises of accumulation and legitimation, reflect on the nature of political economy in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, consider what the idiosyncrasies of climate change mean for the general theory, and finish by asking 'what is to be done'?

Works referenced in this episode:

Gamble, The Spectre at the Feast (Bloomsbury, 2009)

Adam Tooze on polycrisis (YouTube lecture)

Further Reading:

1) Tooze, 'Chartbook #130 Defining polycrisis - from crisis pictures to the crisis matrix' (2022)

2) Holgersen, Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World (Verso, 2024)

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.