Politically In/Sane

Although the European far right has traditionally been associated with conservative gender views, seemingly opposed to feminism, it has increasingly adopted feminist or pro-women’s rights stances. Women politicians have also increasingly been at the forefront of far right parties, notably figures like Giorgia Meloni, Marine le Pen, and Alice Weidel. Recent work in sociology and political science documents the rise of this phenomenon, termed “femonationalism.” So what exactly is this femonationalism? And in what ways does the far right appropriate feminism to further its agenda? Joining us today for this discussion about gender and the far right is Charlene Calderaro, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. Charlene’s work focuses on state feminisms and femonationalism, studying how feminist claims are redirected toward exclusionary ends. Her PhD dissertation is a comparative study of feminist efforts to criminalise street harassment in France and Britain.

Hosted by Vanessa Chan

Explore how micro and nano-targeting are reshaping political campaigns. Dr. Miriam Sorace reveals how these hyper-personalized strategies can influence voter decisions, mobilize supporters, and potentially backfire. Discover the ethical dilemmas and risks of disinformation and polarization. Essential listening for anyone interested in the future of political communication and democracy.

Mentioned paper: "Dissuasion and polarization vs. persuasion in nano-targeting: experimental evidence from climate policy messaging" - https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/vfyph_v1

Co-authors: Miriam Sorace,Thomas S. Robinson,Simon Hix,Joris Frese

In this episode of Politically Insane, host V. Prakash sits down with Pavithra Suryanarayan, Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics, to unpack one of the most consequential and misunderstood forces in Indian politics: caste. But this isn't a conversation about caste simply as identity or ethnicity. Suryanarayan argues that to truly understand how caste shapes political behavior, you have to understand it as rank -a form of inherited social standing that functions more like aristocracy or racial hierarchy than like religion or tribe.Drawing on her research across India and the post-Civil War American South Suryanarayan explains why threatened elites - from upper-caste groups in India to white coalitions in the Reconstruction-era South - consistently respond to social integration not by competing harder, but by weakening the very state institutions that might level the playing field. She also offers a striking new lens on the BJP's electoral dominance: a welfare strategy built deliberately around direct transfers that deliver material benefits to the poor without ever blurring the caste boundaries that its upper-caste base is most anxious to preserve.

In this insightful interview, Dr. Van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology in Society at the University of Cambridge and author of #Foolproof, explores the psychology of misinformation, inoculation techniques, and the role of policy and education in combating disinformation.

Discover how psychological strategies and regulatory measures can help build societal resilience against misinformation threats.

Key topics

• Inoculation theory and pre-bunking techniques
• The role of education and policy in combating misinformation
• AI threats and inoculation against AI-generated falsehoods

The conversation delves into the importance of polling in elections, the misuse of polls for political narratives, the public's understanding of polls and misinformation, the impact of technology on polling, the challenges of conveying uncertainty in polling, and the complexity of polling accuracy and interpretation.

Takeaways

• Polls and their interpretation can be instrumentalized to spread misinformation or disinformation.

• The public's understanding of polls and their significance is relatively low, and conveying uncertainty is challenging.

Why do political elites so often misread the public -- and why does it matter for democracy? In this episode of Politically In/Sane, Sarina Sharma-Welsh speaks with Dr. Miguel Pereira (LSE) about how politicians learn what voters want, why elite blind spots persist, and how social background, unequal political voice, and social media distort representation. The conversation explores distrust in institutions, polarization, and whether democratic accountability still works—and what it would take to rebuild it.

The episode explores political entrepreneurs like Nigel Farage, their strategies (issue entrepreneurship and anti-establishment rhetoric), and how they're disrupting traditional party systems across Europe and beyond. A conversation with Prof. Sara Hobolt.

Prof. Sara Hobolt: https://bsky.app/profile/sarahobolt.bsky.social

What really happens when politicians and public servants don’t see eye to eye? In this episode, Dr. Elisa Wirsching (LSE) unpacks the hidden power struggles inside local government and the NYPD. From strategic slowdowns to blurred lines of accountability, we explore how everyday decisions—and even elections—can be shaped by the quiet clash of bureaucrats and politicians.

From New York’s mayoral race to the Dutch snap elections, we ask whether modern campaigns still persuade voters - or simply rally those already on their side. Political scientist Dr. Florian Foos joins Marc to unpack the campaign strategies and outcomes, the ongoing ideological reshuffle, and how the relationship between political elites and citizens is evolving. Together, they explore whether persuasion still happens, how it might happen, and what these changes mean for the future of democratic politics.