‘Pressing the issue’: podcast library

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Pressing the issue is a podcast library dedicated to exploring topics that come under the ‘social science umbrella’ – including politics, sociology, urban studies, ethnography, economics and more. The mission of Pressing the issue is to promote the accessibility and relevance of social science research for a range of audiences, from the researcher to the person in the street. The world is a complex place and we feel that research-based knowledge is the best way to understand our world, but we aim to do this is an engaging way.


Power in Modern Russia

In this podcast Andrew Monaghan explores the Russian leadership’s strategic agenda and illuminates the range of problems it faces in implementing it. At a time when many of the books about Russia are focused specifically on the war in Ukraine and the deterioration in relations between the Euro-Atlantic community and Russia, or are biographies of Vladimir Putin, Power in Modern Russia offers a new and unique lens through which to understand how Russia works and how Russian domestic and foreign politics are intimately linked.

To read more about Power in Modern Russia, visit Power in Modern Russia 


The Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess

The series editors, Andrew Biswell and Will Carr and MUP senior commissioning editor, Matthew Frost, discuss the forthcoming books in the Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess – The Pianoplayers and A Vision of Battlements.

To read more about The Irwell Edition, visit the series page by clicking here


 The Road: An ethnography of (im)mobility, space, and cross-border infrastructures in the Balkans

Listen to Dimitris Dalakoglou discuss his new book, The Road, and its wider significance.

To read more about The Road, visit The Road


Domestic Fortress: fear and the new home front

Editor Tom Dark talks to Rowland Atkinson and Sarah Blandy about their new book, Domestic Fortress: fear and the new home front and looks at why a growing culture of fear is driving homeowners to retreat into fortified dwellings, concealed bunker pads and gated developments.

To read more about Domestic Fortress, visit Domestic Fortress


Gas, Oil and the Irish State

Gas and oil are pivotal to the functioning of modern societies, yet the ownership, control, production and consumption of hydrocarbons often provoke intense disputes with serious ramifications. In this podcast Amanda Slevin examines the dynamics and conflicts of state hydrocarbon management, uncovering social, environmental, economic and political consequences of current policies.

To read more about Gas, Oil and the Irish State, visit: Gas, Oil and the Irish State


 Immersed in Marathon Swimming

In this podcast, Karen Throsby discusses her new book, Immersion: marathon swimming, embodiment and identity, and explains the reasons why she took part in Channel swimming and her love for swimming in general.

To read more about Immersion visit: Immersion


 Getting Russia Right 

In this podcast, Andrew Monaghan explores why Russia is so poorly understood by Western policy-makers, the media and observers – from foreign policy, national economy and even Mr Putin himself. Discussions also concentrate on the nature of power in Russia, its fraught relationship with the West, as well as what the future of Russia will look like. Fearing an irrational Russia cannot be considered a progressive solution and this podcast addresses why Russia needs to be understood if we are to move onto a sensible footing,

To read Andrew Monaghan’s book, The New Politics of Russia, follow this link: The New Politics of Russia


Squatting: a middle class pursuit? 

The squatters’ movement defines itself primarily as anti-hierarchical and anti-authoritarian, and yet is perpetually plagued by the contradiction between this public disavowal and the maintenance of hierarchy and authority within the movement. In this podcast, author Nazima Kadir  analyses how this contradiction is then reproduced in different micro-social interactions, examining the methods by which people negotiate minute details of their daily lives as squatter activists in the face of a fun house mirror of ideological expectations reflecting values from within the squatter community, that, in turn, often refract mainstream, middle-class norms.

To read Nazima Kadir’s The Autonomous Life? follow this link: The Autonomous Life? 


Loud and Proud

Listen to Hilary Pilkington talk about her book, Loud and Proud, and its focus on grassroots activists in the English Defence League (EDL). The author draws on interviews, informal conversations and extensive observation at EDL events to explore and explain the gap between the public image of the movement as a violent Islamophobic and racist organisation and individual activists’ understanding of it as ‘one big family’.

To read Hilary Pilkington’s Loud and Proud please follow the link: Loud and Proud


What went wrong Mr Miliband?

Was Miliband successful at turning the page on New Labour and at re-imagining social democracy for the post-global financial crisis era? In this podcast, Eunice Goes, discusses the ideas – old and new – that were debated and adopted by the Labour Party under Miliband and shows how they were transformed into policy proposals and adapted to contemporary circumstances. It seeks to demonstrate that the Labour Party under Miliband tried but failed to renew social democracy.

Read Eunice Goes’ The Labour Party Under Ed Miliband bu following the link: The Labour Party Under Ed Miliband


We Shall Not Be Moved

The city of Liverpool had frequently been prone to industrial unrest for most of its recent history, but it was the dawn of Thatcher and the sanctioning of neoliberal economic strategies which made Liverpool a nucleus of resistance against the encroaching tide of right-wing politics and sweeping de-industrialisation. Brian Marren, author of We Shall Not Be Moved, explores six case studies which will illustrate how elements of a highly politicised local working-class fought against the rapid rise in forced redundancies and industrial closures. Some of their responses included strikes, factory occupations, the organisation and politicisation of the unemployed, consent to radical left-wing municipal politics, as well as tacit endorsement a period of violent civil unrest.

Read Brian Marren’s We Shall Not Be Moved by following this link: We Shall Not Be Moved

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