Everyday Choices by Ellen Lust

Everyday Choices by Ellen Lust

By Ellen LustNewsScienceSocial SciencesGovernmentPolitics
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Everyday Choices by Ellen Lust episodes

  • Traditional Authorities: Insights from Ghana, Malawi, and Latin America
    In this episode, we have no less than three guests with us to discuss traditional authorities in Malawi, Ghana, and Latin America. We have Dr Boniface Dulani from the University of Malawi, Afrobarometer, IPOR Malawi. John-Paul Adjadeh, Registrar at the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs under the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in Ghana. And finally, we have Christoper Carter, an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development at the University of California, Berkeley. The episode offers a lively discussion on traditional authorities' impact on, for example, democracy, corruption, land management, and conflict resolution.

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

    1 hr 8 min
  • Kelsey Norman: Host State's Reception of Migrants and Refugees
    In this episode, host Ellen Lust talks to Kelsey Norman, who is a Fellow for the Middle East and Director of the Women's Rights, Human Rights & Refugees program at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Kelsey and Ellen discuss Kelsey's new book "Reluctant Reception," in which she asks, "How do host states respond to refugees?". In doing this, she moves beyond the traditional focus in refugee and migration literature of looking at the global North and focuses on countries normally seen as transit countries that migrants cross on their way to their country of destination. More specifically, Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. She terms their response "strategic indifference", meaning that the state projects indifference towards migrants, which allows it to expand little resources towards managing refugees. Kelsey argues that it is important to look at state responses since, contrary to popular belief, most refugees in these countries reside in urban settings and not in refugee camps - and are, therefore, under the authority of the transit country's state rather than international organisations. Ellen and Kelsey also discuss how different nationalities are perceived and valued and if that leads to different reception treatment by the transit country.

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

    39 min
  • Tymofii Brik: The Voices of Ukraine
    In this episode, Ellen Lust talks to Ukrainian scholar Tymofii Brik from the Kyiv School of Economics at Ukrainian Global University about local governance taking place in Ukraine today. They do so by first taking a step back to discuss governance before Russia's invasion. Namely, how Ukraine moved from centralization towards decentralization after 2014 - when local communities started to take power over their own lives and found a way to share resources locally due to decentralization reforms. Tyomfii also explains how the Ukrainian defence, which surprised the rest of the world, did not occur overnight as it might have seemed from the outside. It was a seven-year preparation on how the society should organize to protect and defend oneself and one's community. Finally, Tyomfii informs us about the work they do at the Kyiv School of Economics in order to address the challenge of loss of access to education and academic competence.

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

    51 min
  • How Bureaucrats and Civil Society (can) Facilitate Clientelism
    In the 36th episode of Governance Uncovered, Marcia Grimes and Agnes Cornell joins us to talk about clientelism. More specifically, their paper "Brokering bureaucrats: How bureaucrats and civil society facilitate clientelism where parties are weak", which focuses on bureaucrats and how their links to civil society can shape clientelism in Peru. Marcia and Agnes are both researchers at the Quality of Government Institute, a neighbouring research institute to GLD that addresses the theoretical and empirical problem of how political institutions of high quality can be created and maintained.

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

    44 min
  • The Triple Crisis in Lebanon with Mona Harb and Sami Atallah
    We apologize for the lowered sound quality in this episode. For those who wish, a transcript of this episode can be found here. This month, we are pleased to be joined by Mona Harb and Sami Atallah to talk us through what can be called the "triple crisis of Lebanon." Mona is a Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut. She is also the co-founder and research lead at the Beirut Urban Lab - a collaborative and interdisciplinary research space. The Lab produces scholarship on urbanization by documenting and analyzing ongoing transformation processes in Lebanon and its region's natural and built environments. Sami is the Founding Director of the newly started The Policy Initiative in Beirut. He is also the former director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. He led several policy studies on youth social identity and political engagement, electoral behaviour, political and social sectarianism, and the role of municipalities in dealing with the refugee crisis. Sami and Mona have, among other collaborations, co-edit the book Democracy, Decentralization, and Service Delivery in the Arab World. This episode will discuss the triple crises in Lebanon and what this means for people's everyday lives at the local level. By triple crisis, we mean the country's economic instabilities, the political situation, and the aftermath of the Beirut explosion in August 2020. How is this reflected in Lebanese societies? And what has this meant for public space? We hope that you find this episode interesting. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe if you do!

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

    52 min
  • Political Representation: What Does it Mean for Women?
    Guests: Lena Wängnerud and Valeriya Mechkova, both from the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. In the episode you are about to hear, host Ellen Lust talk with Lena and Valeriya about women's political representation. Both in terms of female members in political parties, parliaments and councils, and also in terms of the priority of political issues that apply more to women, such as health care and maternity leave. They do so by looking at historical and contextual factors, highlighting important variations in representation at local, regional, and national levels. Can women's representation be effective in autocracies? Is female inclusion in parliaments just a political strategy to appear modern? And what does it mean for the everyday life of citizens when their ruling parties are gender-equal? Tune in to thoughts on those questions and much more!

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

    46 min
  • Himanshu Jha: Right to Information Act in India
    In this episode, we talk to Himanshu Jha - a faculty in the Department of Political Science at South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany. Himanshu's most recent research explores the processes of institutional change, the Indian State, and bureaucracy. However, it was Himanshu's recently published book with the Oxford University Press that we spoke to him about. The book is called "Capturing Institutional Change: the Case of the Right to Information Act in India." It examines what Right to Information actually does, and the history leading up to it. Himanshu further talks about norms of secrecy and openness and the impact that this Act has had on India’s democracy.

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

    32 min
  • Mine Eder - Bogazici University's Struggle for Independence
    Episode 33: This episode discusses Bogazici University's struggle to maintain academic independence since Turkish President Erdogan decided to directly appoint the University's Rector. Joining us to talk about the events at the Istanbul-located university is Mine Eder. Mine is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bogazici University and a faculty member in the collectively governed movement that is resisting the Turkish government's encroachment. The episode discusses lends insights into events at the university and broader concerns around islands of democratic governance in authoritarian contexts and the future of Turkey.

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

    52 min
  • Jennifer Murtazashvili: Local Politics and Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan

    Episode 32: Joining us in this episode to talk about local politics and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili. Jen is the Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2020, Jen's book "Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan," received the Best Book Award in Social Sciences by the Central Eurasian Studies Society. Her second book, "Land, the State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan" (with Ilia Murtazashvili), was published in September 2021 with Cambridge University Press. In addition, Jennifer has also advised the United States Agency for International Development, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the World Bank, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF. Together with host Ellen Lust, Jen discusses how the Talibans have been received in Afghanistan after their takeover in August 2021. What has changed since the former Taliban rule? And how much do we really know?

    Additional Work:

    “Coercive Capacity, Land Reform and Political Order in Afghanistan," with Ilia Murtazashvili. Central Asian Survey 36, no. 2 (2017): 212–30.


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

    49 min
  • Liv Tønnessen: The Military Coup in Sudan
    In this month's Governance Uncovered, we talk to the political scientist Liv Tønnessen about the recent military coup in Sudan and the economic, cultural, and political history leading up to it. Liv is a senior researcher at CMI and Director of the Center on Law and Social Transformation. She has a track record from the Middle East and Northern Africa, with long-term stays in Sudan, Lebanon, and Syria. Liv has specialized in Sudanese politics for more than a decade and has conducted extensive fieldwork in the country. She has also been a lecturer at Ahfad University for Women and held numerous lectures for regional universities in the west, east, and south of Sudan, which has given her a wide network of contacts within Sudanese academia, politics, and civil society. In addition, her work has involved long-term collaboration with several research institutions and research partners in Sudan. In this episode, we'll discuss regional disparities and political instability in today's Sudan. Selected work: Imam, Ayesha. (2021). "Women & Peacebuilding in Africa" ( Tønnessen, Liv; Affi, Ladan; Tripp, Aili. Eds.). James Currey. Read.

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

    28 min

About Everyday Choices by Ellen Lust

From the publisher's feed

Everyday Choices: The Role of Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development


Abstract

Scholars and practitioners seek development solutions…