Host Rafael Behr is joined by political scientist Prof. Michael Bang Petersen, whose research challenges the common belief that those who share misinformation are simply uninformed or gullible.

Instead, Petersen suggest that many of these individuals are politically savvy and highly motivated, not by truth, but by the usefulness of information in advancing their political goals.

The conversation also explores the concept of the "need for chaos": a psychological drive found in a significant minority who actively seek to destabilise political systems, not just support one side over another.

Petersen also talks how status anxiety, feeling stuck or left behind in a rigid social hierarchy, fuels this destructive impulse.

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

A conversation between Rafael Behr and writer and broadcaster David Aaronovitch, about ripples from the pandemic that still shape politics, with a digression on the ways that Britain is not America and whether that makes 'Maga-populism' less contagious.

Links

David Aaronovitch's substack - https://davidaaronovitch.substack.com

BBC's Briefing Room presented by David Aaronovitch - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002bj77

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

An anniversary episode in which host Rafael Behr and producer Philip Berman look back over a tumultuous time and ponder what they have learned from putting politics on the couch.

Links to Politics on the Couch episodes discussed in this podcast

Anti-vaxxers – fear, anxiety and the psychology of misinformation

The authoritarian personality - why some voters feel drawn to populism and how to lure them away 

The Madness of King Don - a journey to the dark side of charisma, with Drew Westen

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

To coincide with the launch of her new book (The Ideological Brain - A Radical Science of Susceptible Minds) Rafael Behr talks to Dr Leor Zmigrod, a political psychologist and neuroscientist, about the ingredients of dogmatic thinking, why some of us are more prone than others, and how we can protect ourselves.

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

Rafael Behr talks to Paula Surridge Professor of Political Sociology about the fragmentation of support for the two big parties since Brexit, what's causing it and what it means for parties trying to maintain their voter coalitions.

Questions also covered:

1. What drives support for Reform UK, and how vulnerable is their voter base?
2. Are the Liberal Democrats benefiting from tactical voting, and can they sustain their recent gains?
3. Why the Conservative Party faces so many difficulties in defining its identity?
4. How are changing media consumption habits and voter expectations reshaping political engagement?

The discussion also touches on the impact of non-voters and the potential for electoral reform to become a more prominent issue.

This is a Rafael Behr and Philip Berman production.

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

Host Rafael Behr talks to author, policy expert and podcaster Sam Freedman about his new book Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It

Sam Freedman is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and an Ark Schools adviser.

He writes about policy and politics for numerous outlets, including the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Guardian and New Statesman.

With his father, he runs ‘Comment is Freed’, Britain’s most popular politics Substack.

He has spent his career working in different policy-focused roles around Westminster, including as an adviser to the then opposition leader, David Cameron, and as a senior policy adviser at the Department for Education for three years, working with (friends of the podcast) Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.

Feedspot has chosen Politics on the Couch as one of the Top 25 UK Psychology and Political Science Podcasts on the web.

https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcasts

https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

In a week of protests, counter-protests and riots in the UK, 5000 miles away in Bangladesh student-led uprising led to 300 people being killed, the toppling of a corrupt PM and violent regime, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner being installed as head a new interim government. 

In this edition, we're talking about the violent and momentous events in Bangladesh with award-winning British-born investigative journalist David Bergman, who has been following and reporting on the country for almost 30 years. 

He's written widely about Bangladesh for The Daily Telegraph, Al Jazeera, the New York Times, and The Times. 

Between 2004 and 2017, he lived in Bangladesh, writing for several Bangladeshi newspapers, including New Age, The Daily Star and bdnews24.com.

He was forced to leave in 2017 due to his critical writing about government corruption and human rights violations.

Since then, he’s lived in London and helped found Netra News, a media platform based in Sweden that published investigative news and analysis on Bangladesh

He’s also won a Royal Television Society award for a documentary he worked on about the atrocities that took place during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. 

In the episode, David explains what happened there, what sparked it off, what’s next for the country, what we know about the next potential leader and the fascinating links between a new Labour Minister and the now deposed Bangladeshi PM and her party.

Links mentioned in the podcast

https://x.com/TheDavidBergman

https://x.com/muktadirnewage

https://x.com/nomhossain

https://x.com/taqbirhuda

https://www.facebook.com/shafiqul.alam.71216

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

In this summer bonus episode, Raf and (producer) Phil discuss the changing mood around British politics since Labour's election victory, the restoration of seriousness after years of triviality, why some people can't adapt, why others want to believe that Keir Starmer can deliver the change he has promised and whether they are right.

Links to stuff mentioned in the podcast

More in Common report

Tony Judt's essay

Reform came 2nd in 89 of the seats that Labour won.

Lowest voter turnout for a General Election since universal suffrage began

This is a Raf Behr and Larchmont Productions podcast.

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

In this edition host Rafael Behr talks to Nichola Raihani, Professor of Evolution and Behaviour in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland.

She's also the author of, 'The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World'

Professor Raihani has unique insight into a problem that has appeared in various forms on this podcast over the years.

It's a question of collective action, solidarity, and cooperation. What motivates people to form units of political organisation or cooperation?

Tribes, parties, whole nations—what holds them together and what drives them apart? Why do some societies tend to be democratic and some go despotic? Is it an accident of history? Climate? Culture? Religion? Evolution. This is the fabric of politics, the very stuff societies are made of at the most fundamental level, and Professor Rehani shines an evolutionary light on it all.

This podcast is produced by Philip Berman of Larchmont Productions

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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

In the wake of October 7th and Trump's bid to become US President again, Rafael Behr sits down with fellow Guardian columnist and friend - Jonathan Freedland - to discuss the current state of geopolitics, liberal politics, Israel and Jewish identity.

Events featuring Rafael Behr

Shoreham, West Sussex, Wed 24 April

An evening with Guardian columnist Rafael Behr and television producer Rob Burley in conversation with Ayesha Hazarika MBE, political commentator and broadcaster, and former special adviser to Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband.

More details

Central London, Thursday 25th April

What Everyone Knows About Britain* Except The British: Michael Peel in conversation with Rafael Behr

More details

J Freeland links

Award-winning edition of Unholy podcast

The latest edition of the Guardian's weekly US politics podcast

Jonathan Freeland and Israeli author Amos Oz

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman

This is a Behr and Berman podcast production

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