The PVV, the former biggest coalition party in the Netherlands, writes in its election program that “our culture and Western way of life are threatened” by “the ongoing asylum tsunami.” This rhetoric is not an exception. Migration is one of the most polarizing topics of our time. Integration is much less discussed, although it is arguably not a migration but an integration or acceptance crisis we are experiencing. What is needed for integration to work? Is it only the immigrating person’s job to include themselves? Or what does the host society need to do?

Our guest, Dr. Tamar de Waal, is an associate professor and legal philosopher at the University of Amsterdam. She specializes in integration policy and democratic citizenship. We discuss what meaningful integration requires - not just from immigrants, but from host societies - and whether and how democracies should set conditions for newcomers seeking citizenship.

Interviewer: Elisabeth H. Knetsch

Across Europe and the United States, right-wing populist movements are inseparable from our political reality, and identity politics increasingly govern political discourse. While the rise of Western populism has received significant scholarly attention, few have examined its relationship with religion and how right-wing parties use it as a cultural identity marker to advance their agendas. 
Dr. Tobias Cremer discusses this very issue in his book ‘The Godless Crusade’, in which he explores the rise of religious themes in populism in increasingly secular Western societies and the role new social cleavages play in that.

Together with Daniel Mügge, we dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence.
What role does politics play? Could AI threaten democracy? Who’s really steering its development? Why might using ChatGPT be a slippery slope? And what are politicians in Brussels getting wrong about it?

From personal data to global power plays, in this episode of The Ivory Tower, we explore the risks, the hype, and the hope for a better future. Big questions, clear answers, and no tech jargon — just an honest talk about the future of AI & Politics.

About the guest:
Daniel Mügge is Professor of Political Arithmetic at the University of Amsterdam, where he leads research on how the EU governs AI through the RegulAite project. He co-founded the AI & Politics platform and is a key voice in shaping AI policy in Brussels. His work on AI sovereignty shows how tech is becoming a new arena of global power.

The discussion on migration and integration is more relevant than ever in the Netherlands. Ideas around integration are hotly debated in politics. To get another perspective on this, we asked Lea Klarenbeek to join us in a conversation on the way integration is seen in society and research. 

Lea Klarenbeek wrote her dissertation on Integration at the University of Amsterdam. Her research primarily focuses on the conceptualization of 'integration' in migration studies. In her dissertation, she argues that integration is often mistakenly viewed and measured as an individual achievement. To address this, Klarenbeek has developed a theoretical framework of relational integration, offering an epistemic and methodological alternative to traditional integration research in both its conceptualization and operationalization.

This was another episode of 'Ivory Tower', a podcast by Room for Discussion that asks simple questions about complex issues. 

Interviewer: Saskia Bergman

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In the past decades, our knowledge about climate change has grown considerably. Why are we still not doing enough? Erik Swyngedouw says that we, in one way or another, enjoy climate change. Sounds weird? Let´s see if, throughout this conversation, we can come to understand.

Erik Swyngedouw is professor of geography at the University of Manchester in the School of Environment, Education and Development and a member of the Manchester Urban Institute. He recently dedicates his time to political-economic themes.

He explores the climate crisis through a psychoanalytical lens, maintaining that we are unable to fully grasp the environmental destruction because the consequences of that realization would be too radical. We discuss postpoliticization, climate populism, and how he thinks we should approach climate change.

Interviewer: Geraldine Beil

In this episode of 'The Ivory Tower,' we speak to Dr. Olga Burlyuk, assistant professor of Europe's external relations at the University of Amsterdam.
We dive into one of Olga's recent publications on how the EU's internal rule of law crisis affects its legitimacy in the European neighborhood. We also discuss her widely-praised article on epistemic imperialism, and Olga tells us about how curiosity and intuition have shaped her academic career. 

Timestamps: 
(00:00:00) Introduction 
(00:03:09) 'External democracy promotion in times of internal rule-of-law crisis' 
(00:12:07) On the non-linearity of academia & why academics are more than their publications 
(00:16:45) Back to the paper: Why was there no change in the EU's legitimacy? 
(00:25:45) Power dynamics in knowledge production (and the general vs. the particular) 
(00:30:12) On epistemic imperialism 
(00:41:30) What is the red thread? 
(00:51:34) Narrative politics & the role of intuition 
(00:58:30) Self-doubt in academia 
(01:00:37) What are you working on next? 
(01:05:46) Book recommendations! 

Mentioned in this episode: 

Olga's articles: 

1. Burlyuk, O., Dandashly, A., & Noutcheva, G. (2024). External democracy promotion in times of internal rule-of-law crisis: the EU and its neighbourhood. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(3), 900-924. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2181381 
2. Hendl, T., Burlyuk, O., O'Sullivan, M., & Arystanbek, A. (2024). (En)Countering Epistemic Imperialism: A Critique of ‘Westsplaining’ and Coloniality in Dominant Debates on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Contemporary Security Policy, 45(2), 171-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2023.2288468 

Books: 

1. Recommended: "Parade" by Rachel Cusk
2. Not recommended: "The Farewell Waltz" & "Identity" by Milan Kundera 
3. Mentioned in the episode: "History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity" by Roman Krznaric 

Find out more about Olga's work here 
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For our first episode of 'The Ivory Tower', we will be speaking to Dr. Frederic Hopp. Frederic is Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam's School of Communication Research. His research interests span morality in media and communication, and how moralized messages are cognitively processed and inform human behavior.

During this episode we discuss an article that was recently published in the journal Nature Human Behavior. We break down its method and theoretical foundation, explore avenues for future research, and Frederic tells us a bit about his formation as an academic. 

The link to the paper: 'Moral foundations elicit shared and dissociable cortical activation modulated by political ideology'. 
More about Frederic: https://fhopp.github.io 

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