Politics Theory Other

To listen to this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 patron of the show at patreon.com/poltheoryother

The term Global South has become ubiquitous in commentary on international affairs, but by the early 2000s middle and lower income countries were more frequently described as belonging to the developing world or - in the case of those states deemed favourable destinations for international capital - emerging markets. Those terms have since increasingly fallen out of favour and been replaced by 'Global South' - a term whose roots go back to the 1960s.

To talk about why that occurred - and its historical significance in the context of the decline of US hegemony, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the US war on Iran - Ravinder Kaur returns to PTO to talk about the concept of the Global South and her recent essay on the topic.

Notes:

Global South Redux: The Making of a Geopolitical Concept

https://brill.com/view/journals/gg/32/2/article-p207_4.xml

PTO interview: Capitalist dreams and nationalist designs w/ Ravinder Kaur

https://soundcloud.com/poltheoryother/108-capitalist-dreams-and-nationalist-designs-w-ravinder-kaur

In the midst of an ever increasing drumbeat of commentary predicting a major European war, and demands that military spending be increased to meet the threat posed by Russia, Khem Rogaly joins PTO to talk about the UK defence budget.

We talked about how the military spending of the United States, the UK and their Nato allies compares with the spending of their adversaries, and why Britain and France are outliers in their force projection capabilities in Europe. We also talked about why the UK ministry of defence has such a poor track record with defence procurement, and we discussed Britain's hugely expensive Trident nuclear weapons system. Finally, Khem outlined some first steps for what a reforming government could do to shift UK policy towards creating a military that was genuinely focussed on defence.

Notes:

Posturing to the World: The Costs of Britain’s Global Military and Expansive Strategy:

https://transitionsecurity.org/posturing-to-the-world/

Teemu Ruskola joins PTO to talk about his new book, 'The Unmaking of the Chinese Working Class: How Communism Built a Capitalist Superpower'.

We talked about how China's remarkable economic rise was facilitated by the state's socialist inheritance and about the central role played by Chinese migrant workers. We went on to discuss the creation of a conventional capitalist labour market in China, as the so-called iron rice bowl of the State Owned Enterprises and the cradle-to-grave welfare system for urban workers was broken up. We went on to talk about the so-called New Enclosure Movement in the Chinese countryside that is finally expropriating the rural population of their control over land. Finally, we touched on the truly global implications of the unmaking and remaking of the Chinese working class.

To listen to this episode of PTO Extra become a PTO sustainer at patreon.com/poltheoryother

Between 2015 and 2022, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states waged a devastating military campaign in Yemen, which - David Wearing argues in today's episode - was so severe that it resembles Israel's genocidal actions in Gaza.

A key role in the Yemen conflict was played by British-built planes that were used to indiscriminately bomb the country, and contributed to what was described by the United Nations at the time as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

In a new report for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and the Transition Security Project, David and his co-authors argue the case for the British government and UK arms companies to pay reparations to the people of Yemen.

In the episode we talked about the report and Britain's role in the Yemen conflict, including in the current phase as hostilities between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia escalate once more. And finally, we touched on the UAE and the Manchester City scandal and what it tells us about the phenomenon of the gulf monarchies' involvement in sportswashing.

Notes:

Britain’s Role in Yemen’s Brutal War Must End – And Reparations Should Follow:

https://zeteo.uk/p/britains-role-in-yemens-brutal-war

Reparations for Yemen: A proposal for a windfall tax on British arms companies that enabled Saudi war crimes

https://caat.org.uk/app/uploads/2026/09/CAATTSP-Yemen-Reperations-WEB.pdf

Séamus Malekafzali returns to PTO to talk about the possibility of further escalation in the US war on Iran and about the prospects for a diplomatic settlement. We chatted about the position of the Gulf states, and recent comments from officials in Qatar and the UAE that called for a reset of relations with Iran. We went on to talk about the price of oil and the global and regional economic impact of the conflict, and about the state of US forces in the region, following US acknowledgement of severe damage to the US naval base in Bahrain. Finally, we talked about the recent offensive by Ansar Allah in Yemen which has given the group control of Yemen's Red Sea coast.

In the popular imagination WWII is still often seen in both the United States and Britain as a moment of great national consensus, where political differences and class struggle were set aside in the cause of defeating European Fascism and Japanese imperialism.

But in his new book, 'Troop Movements', Tejasvi Nagaraja shows how the reality is much more complex, with military mobilisation and the wartime transformation of the US economy producing both new opportunities, and new dangers for Black Americans and all those engaged in anti-fascist and anti-racist struggle.

In the interview we talked about war-time wildcat strikes that aimed at creating better conditions for workers and that contested racism in the workplace.

We went on to discuss the consequences of the export of Jim Crow - with the deployment of racially segregated American units overseas and how that process affected local people and the management of subject populations in the British Empire. And finally, we talked about the post-war upsurge of strikes and protest within the US military - as soldiers deployed overseas demanded to return home, and as they sought to oppose nascent US imperialism and the reimposition of European colonialism in territories that had fallen under the control of Imperial Japan.

It's become commonplace to describe our current epoch in terms of "uncertain times", whether when talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical ruptures, or the rapid rise of insurgent political forces. But Natasha Lennard argues that talk of uncertainty and doubt often masks the violent certainties that structure our world - from the seeming inviolability and permanence of property and border regimes, to entrenched conceptions of gendered experience.

In today's episode we talked about how Natasha came to focus on this question, and the political implications of making a distinction between knowledge and certainty.

Notes:

On Un/Certainty:The Uses of Doubt in Dangerous Times

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3217-on-un-certainty?srsltid=AfmBOopaoxZxzJRVsNnOCKTkvlvzWGzrj5cm69etz4IrZS7MjV9x1cET

Richard returns to talk about this year's wildfires. We talked about the scale and extent of the wildfires, how they compare to recent years, and the threat of the so-called weather whiplash effect, with heatwaves and wildfires being followed by severe flooding. We also talked about how fire is impacting biodiversity, how better land use management could reduce the threat posed by wildfires, and why Richard thinks we should be cautious about applying an apocalyptic framing to the phenomenon.

Notes:

Welcome to the Pyrocene:

https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/climate-international-politics/2026/08/welcome-to-the-pyrocene

Europe’s summer of wildfires is just a taste of what’s to come:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/europes-summer-of-wildfires-is-just-a-taste-of-whats-to-come/