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Oxford Political Review | Interviews

Oxford Political Review | Interviews

By Oxford Political Review

Join the OPR team as they interview influential political, cultural, economic and social thinkers and theorists.

(Brian Wong, Fonie Mitsopoulou, Ming Kit Wong, and Simon Hunt)
Currently playing episode

Charles Taylor | Contemporary democracy, his intellectual development, and hermeneutics

Oxford Political Review | Interviews Jan 30, 2023

00:00
21:13
Stephen Roach | Is tech moving from China to India?

Stephen Roach | Is tech moving from China to India?

Stephen Roach is senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and former chief economist at Morgan Stanley. He speaks to the OPR's Simon Hunt and Jason Chau about US-China relations, UK-China relations and the strength of China's post-Covid economic recovery.



May 24, 202351:42
John Dunn | Utopianism as self-denunciation, his career and influences, and Locke

John Dunn | Utopianism as self-denunciation, his career and influences, and Locke

OPR's Ming Kit Wong speaks to John Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the University of Cambridge.


An eminent intellectual historian and political theorist, Professor Dunn is known for his work on the thought of John Locke, the theory of modern revolutions, and the history of democracy.


19 March, 2023

Mar 27, 202352:23
Avi Shlaim | Between three worlds: an Arab-Jew living in the UK

Avi Shlaim | Between three worlds: an Arab-Jew living in the UK

OPR's Managing Editor, Fonie Mitsopoulou, interviews Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. Professor Shlaim is well-known for his work on the Arab-Israeli conflict, exemplified by his influential book, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World.  

The OPR speaks to Professor Shlaim about his upcoming memoir, Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew, due to be published in June of 2023.   


21 February, 2023.

Mar 06, 202346:45
Charles Taylor | Contemporary democracy, his intellectual development, and hermeneutics

Charles Taylor | Contemporary democracy, his intellectual development, and hermeneutics

OPR Senior Editor Ming Kit Wong interviews Charles Taylor, the Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. He is the author of A Secular Age (2007), The Ethics of Authenticity (1991), Sources of the Self (1989), and Hegel (1975), to list a few examples, and he has received numerous prestigious honours for his work such as the Kyoto Prize, the Templeton Prize and the Berggruen Prize.


14th of May, 2022.

Jan 30, 202321:13
Mantas Adomėnas | The war in Ukraine, perceiving and understanding Russia, and foreign policy of small states

Mantas Adomėnas | The war in Ukraine, perceiving and understanding Russia, and foreign policy of small states

Dr Mantas Adomėnas is the Lithuanian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, an academic, and a former Member of Parliament. On the 181st day of Russia’s war in Ukraine, he speaks to OPR’s Justas Petrauskas about the prospects of the conflict, the response of the EU’s and the West, as well as past strategic mistakes, sanctions, and wider implications for global foreign policy developments.  


23rd of August, 2022.

Dec 26, 202248:42
Rashid Khalidi | settler colonialism, "Judaizing" Palestinian areas, competing narratives

Rashid Khalidi | settler colonialism, "Judaizing" Palestinian areas, competing narratives

OPR's Zoe Lambert interviews Professor Rashid Khalidi; Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University and co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, to discuss his most recent book "The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017".  


14th November 2022.


Dec 24, 202201:00:01
Quentin Skinner | History of Political Thought, the genre of autobiography, and historical contextualism

Quentin Skinner | History of Political Thought, the genre of autobiography, and historical contextualism

OPR's Ming Kit Wong speaks to Professor Quentin Skinner, the former Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, and current Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities and Co-director of The Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary University of London.

In this wide-ranging interview, Skinner discusses the history of the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought series, his method of historical contextualism and its connection to political realism, the relationship between intellectual history and the present, and the genre of autobiography. 

This episode was recorded on the 18th of August, 2022.

Aug 27, 202247:53
Raewyn Connell | emphasised femininity, sexism towards ex-PM Julia Gillard, working with the UN

Raewyn Connell | emphasised femininity, sexism towards ex-PM Julia Gillard, working with the UN

Raewyn Connell is a prominent sociologist and gender theorist, best known for her work on hegemonic masculinity and southern theory. She is currently the Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney.   

OPR's Fonie Mitsopoulou and Professor Raewyn Connell discussed topics including sociology, masculinity in politics, universities, and the capacity of international organisations to produce meaningful social change.   

This interview was recorded on the 6th of August, 2021. 

Aug 13, 202252:55
ASEAN Series: Nazir Razak

ASEAN Series: Nazir Razak

OPR's Brian Wong interviews Nazir Razak, one of Malaysia's most influential bankers and financiers, to discuss Malaysia's recent political crisis and ethnic and sectarian fractionalisation in Malaysia.

Jul 10, 202254:08
Tariq Ali | Afghanistan, women in the Middle East, and the Western imperialist modus operandi

Tariq Ali | Afghanistan, women in the Middle East, and the Western imperialist modus operandi

OPR's Fonie Mitsopoulou speaks with Tariq Ali, a prolific writer and prominent activist, about his new book, The Forty Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold.

Jul 07, 202201:01:58
Raymond Geuss | Philosophy, the Frankfurt School, and the stolen papers in Belgrade

Raymond Geuss | Philosophy, the Frankfurt School, and the stolen papers in Belgrade

In April 2022, OPR's Ming Kit Wong interviewed Raymond Geuss; Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, with broad interests in the history of European philosophy and contemporary political philosophy. They discussed his forthcoming book, Not Thinking Like a Liberal. 

Jul 07, 202255:34
From the archives: Kim Campbell

From the archives: Kim Campbell

For our new podcast-exclusive series, "from the archives", we unearthed some past, yet still very relevant, OPR interviews. In 2019, OPR's Brian Wong interviewed Kim Campbell, the first and only-so-far female Prime Minister in Canadian history. They discuss her experience as a woman in politics, Brian Mulroney's legacy, and the future for liberals in Canada.

Jul 07, 202201:01:17
From the archives: Daron Acemoglu

From the archives: Daron Acemoglu

For our new podcast-exclusive series, "from the archives", we unearthed some past, yet still very relevant, OPR interviews. In 2019, OPR's Brian Wong interviewed Professor Daron Acemoglu about his best selling books: Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor. 

Jul 07, 202237:05