Podcasts from the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford. For a full overview, click here to visit the DPIR podcasts page.

As we witness a rise in radical right politics in Europe and beyond, our host ⁠Cassandra van Douveren⁠ speaks to ⁠Dr. Vicente Valentim⁠, a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. Vicente’s work focusses on the role of social norms in normalising the expression of views and behaviours associated with authoritarianism. Join us as we discuss his upcoming book, ⁠The Normalisation of the Radical Right: A Norms Theory of Political Supply and Demand⁠ (forthcoming: September 2024), pathways to restore democratic norms and Vicente’s hopes for the future. Politics, Re-Imagined is a series by the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford focused on exploring tangible and sustainable solutions to the …

How can media organisations reach those who feel the news is not for them? And is our current age of fake news fundamentally different from the past? Tune in as our host ⁠Cassandra van Douveren⁠ speaks to ⁠Dr. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen⁠, the Director of the ⁠Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism⁠ and a Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford to discuss these questions. Rasmus’ work focusses on the changing role of the news and media in our societies. His recent book, ⁠Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism (2023)⁠, written with Benjamin Toff and Ruth Palmer, explores why particular audiences are reluctant to follow the news and how this can be addressed. He has also written …

What does security mean to different people, in different places, under different circumstances? And what do academics view as the most pressing security issues for the future? In this bonus episode, ⁠Eden Raviv⁠ speaks to ⁠Dr. Edward Howell⁠, Lecturer in Politics at Christ Church at the University of Oxford, to try to understand the concept. Dr. Howell’s research focuses on the politics and international relations of North Korea, the Korean Peninsula and East Asia. Join them as they discuss his latest book, North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order: When Bad Behaviour Pays (2023) and talk about North Korea, nuclear proliferation and bridging the divide between academia and policy. Listen on:      
An illustration depicting a woman leafing through a giant book

OxPol Blogcast showcases research, analysis, insights, and experiences from the members of the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), and specialist guests from the Oxford academic community and beyond. Why were the contributions of some thinkers in the field of International Relations erased from history, while others became prominent enough to reach the reading lists of today? Many of those thinkers, whose perspectives never got to see the light of day, happen to be women. On this episode of the OxPol Blogcast, host Anastasia Bektimirova is joined by Dr. Patricia Owens, a Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, who is recovering the thinkers lost in the 20th century by writing a gendered history …
An illustration depicting a man and a woman with a gap between them, representing inequality.

OxPol Blogcast showcases research, analysis, insights, and experiences from the members of the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), and specialist guests from the Oxford academic community and beyond. Are women taken less seriously than men in politics? What causes the authority gap, and how is it manifested? On this episode of the OxPol Blogcast, host Anastasia Bektimirova welcomes Mary Ann Sieghart, the author of the best-selling book The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It. Having spent three decades covering British politics as a journalist, Mary Ann draws on her observations and interviews with fifty of the world’s most powerful, successful and authoritative women to discuss the experiences and causes of the …
Miniature figure of a female politician on the USA flag

OxPol Blogcast showcases research, analysis, insights, and experiences from the members of the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), and specialist guests from the Oxford academic community and beyond. Are masculine behaviour and appearance among the prerequisites for electoral success, in line with popular belief? On this episode, OxPol Blogcast host Anastasia Bektimirova is joined by Dr. Rachel Bernhard, an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), to put the view of the political arena as a place favouring conventionally masculine traits to a test. Focusing on the United States, Rachel explains what is understood as masculinity and femininity in political leadership, and guides us through the observed variation in voters’ response to those cues. We also discuss …