A World to Win with Grace Blakeley

This week, Grace speaks with Ashok Kumar, senior lecturer of political economy at Birkbeck and author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. They discuss how global value chains have been reshaped under monopsony capitalism, how these changes have affected the power of workers all over the world, and how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact these trends. You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.

Grace speaks to Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College and author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador. They discuss the findings of the IPCC’s new report, whether it’s possible to imagine a green transition within capitalist social relations, and how the left can chart a path to decarbonisation that doesn’t compromise the earth’s other natural systems or communities. You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.

This week, Grace speaks to Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us, about the radical history of English trespassers, how the enclosure of common land formed the foundations of English capitalism, and how we can fight to enforce our rights to the commons and our right to roam against the Conservatives’ assault on our basic freedoms. Support us on Patreon to hear an extended version of the podcast: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Adrienne Buller and Ben Braun. Adrienne is a senior research fellow at Common Wealth and Ben is a political scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. Together, they recently wrote a paper for the think tank Common Wealth entitled 'Under new management: Share ownership and the rise of UK asset manager capitalism'. They discuss the rise of the big three asset managers, who really makes the big decisions in today’s corporations, and whether workers can ever hope to use their power as shareholders to change capitalism. Read the paper here: https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/under-new-management-share-ownership-and-the-growth-of-uk-asset-manager-capitalism And support us on Patreon to hear the extended version of the podcast: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour Party, current Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and author of a new book titled Go Big: How to Fix Our World, which they discuss on the show. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Linsey McGoey, professor of sociology at the University of Essex and author of The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World and No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy. They discuss how politicians make use of ignorance and uncertainty, the difference between ignorance and deliberate misinformation, and why if "knowledge is power," then ignorance is too. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Peter Mitchell, author of Imperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered Themselves, which looks at how the memory of empire continues to inflect British culture and politics. We discuss how imperial nostalgia manifests itself in our politics today, the role of the Labour Party in supporting these trends, and how the left should respond to emotive calls for a return to a better age. Peter's book: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526146205/ For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Alexander Zevin, assistant professor of history at City University of New York, an editor at New Left Review, and author of Liberalism at Large: The World According to the Economist. We tackle a host of interesting questions this week, including: What is liberalism? Is it in crisis? And where next for the liberal rules-based world order? Find the book Liberalism at Large here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3090-liberalism-at-large For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Amelia Horgan, philosophy PhD candidate researching the politics of work and author of Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism. We discuss the changing nature of work in the UK and around the world, how these trends have been impacted by the pandemic, and whether it’s possible to imagine "good work" under capitalism. (Note there was an occasional snag in our guest's sound because of some internet trouble.) For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks with Jason W. Moore, environmental historian and professor of sociology at Binghamton University, about capitalism and climate breakdown. They discuss his brilliant books, Capitalism in the Web of Life and Capitalocene or Anthropocene?, and ask what Marx can teach us about the multiple, overlapping ecological crises our planet is currently facing. Find Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oikeios For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod