Shows
Matters of Life and DeathThe idolatry of Christian Nationalism, with John HeathershawIt has been hard to miss the ways that right-wing political movements have become marked by Christian rhetoric and language in recent years. Clearly, something about the unstable and fractious era we live in has seen people yearning to turn Western nations back to an imagined Christian past. But is this a mirage, or even an idolatrous worship of the nation state? How should Christians engage in politics in democracies? Is it helpful to think about trying to make a country ‘more Christian’? And what might the gospel have to say beyond our shores to a world where the liberal inte...
2025-10-081h 05
New Books in Public PolicySeeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel SilveyEPISODE SUMMARY:
What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and Rachel Silvey, answers this question by reorienting conversations on China’s global infrastructure development to their “downstream” effects. Instead of analyzing the BRI through grand geopolitical narratives or a national strategic lens, the book draws on fieldwork across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show how local actors—mayors, contractors, migrant workers, and residents—shape and contest projects in practice. Contributing authors challeng...
2025-07-0954 min
New Books in Chinese StudiesSeeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel SilveyEPISODE SUMMARY:
What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and Rachel Silvey, answers this question by reorienting conversations on China’s global infrastructure development to their “downstream” effects. Instead of analyzing the BRI through grand geopolitical narratives or a national strategic lens, the book draws on fieldwork across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show how local actors—mayors, contractors, migrant workers, and residents—shape and contest projects in practice. Contributing authors challeng...
2025-07-0952 min
In Conversation: An OUP PodcastSeeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel SilveyEPISODE SUMMARY:
What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and Rachel Silvey, answers this question by reorienting conversations on China’s global infrastructure development to their “downstream” effects. Instead of analyzing the BRI through grand geopolitical narratives or a national strategic lens, the book draws on fieldwork across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show how local actors—mayors, contractors, migrant workers, and residents—shape and contest projects in practice. Contributing authors challeng...
2025-07-0954 min
New Books in World AffairsSeeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel SilveyEPISODE SUMMARY:
What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and Rachel Silvey, answers this question by reorienting conversations on China’s global infrastructure development to their “downstream” effects. Instead of analyzing the BRI through grand geopolitical narratives or a national strategic lens, the book draws on fieldwork across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show how local actors—mayors, contractors, migrant workers, and residents—shape and contest projects in practice. Contributing authors challeng...
2025-07-0954 min
The Second Cold War ObservatorySeeing China’s Belt and Road with Ed Schatz and Rachel SilveyEPISODE SUMMARY:
What becomes visible when you shift the lens away from Beijing to how China’s Belt and Road projects unfold on the ground? Seeing China’s Belt and Road, edited by Edward Schatz and Rachel Silvey, answers this question by reorienting conversations on China’s global infrastructure development to their “downstream” effects. Instead of analyzing the BRI through grand geopolitical narratives or a national strategic lens, the book draws on fieldwork across Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show how local actors—mayors, contractors, migrant workers, and residents—shape and contest projects in practice. Contributing authors challeng...
2025-07-0952 min
KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast125. John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec and Tom Mayne on Indulging KleptocracyFor this episode we are joined by John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec and Tom Mayne to discuss their new book Indulging Kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption. This conversation focuses on professional enablers that provide services to help kleptocrats to launder their reputations, move their money, and gain access to political influence. John Tena and Tom argue that professional enabling is a systemic problem that is facilitated by the concentration of financial and legal expertise in the private sector, and the willingness of professionals to turn a blind eye to the origins of their clients' wealth...
2025-01-2242 min
DEMOS'tan SeslerBarış mı Otoriter Çatışma Yönetimi mi?DEMOS’tan Sesler geri döndü! Güncel Barış'ın bu bölümünde Türkiye’nin harekeli barış gündemini konuşuyoruz. Devlet Bahçeli’nin Abdullah Öcalan’a yönelik çağrısı yeni bir çözüm sürecinin habercisi mi, yoksa AKP-MHP iktidarının çözümsüzlük politikasının son halkası mı? Araştırmacılarımızdan Dr. Güneş Daşlı’nın “Otoriter Çatışma Yönetimi Açısından 2015 Sonrası Değişen Dinamikleriyle Kürt Sorununu Anlamak” başlıklı politika raporu ışığında son haftanın gelişmelerini değerlendiriyoruz. Görüşlerinizi bizimle sosyal medya hesaplarımız...
2024-10-2523 min
2023-12-2608 min
Oxford Martin School: Public Lectures and SeminarsIllicit finance and the role of professional enablers in the United Kingdom: are things finally changing?MPs Andrew Mitchell and Margaret Hodge discuss illicit finance and their work on improving regulations. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions regime has shed light on the United Kingdom’s harbouring of illicit wealth from around the world.
It has also revealed the centrality of enablers in the legal and financial sectors in laundering oligarchs’ monies and reputations. As co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Responsible Tax, Andrew Mitchell and Margaret Hodge have been at the forefront of the UK’s fight against dirty money, illicit finance and money laundering.
In this event, Andrew Mitchell and Margaret Hodge wi...
2022-06-211h 29
The Fire These Times96/ The Arab Spring Diaspora Against Transnational Repression w/ Dana MossThis is a conversation with Dana Moss, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of the book "The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism against Authoritarian Regimes."
Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes
Website: TheFireThisTi.Me
Substack newsletter: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com/
Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes
Topics Discussed:
How Yemeni, Libyan and Syrian diasporas in the US and UK reacted to the Arab Spring
Risks of protesting in the diaspora
Government responses to diaspora pressures and activism
Personal insights from my own experience
Why diasporas are...
2022-01-211h 20
Making a KillingEp. 11: Kleptocrats and the Art of Reputation LaunderingCo-host Casey Michel interviews John Heathershaw, associate professor of international relations at the University of Exeter, about the widespread use of “reputation laundering” by kleptocrats. Just as dirty money must be laundered and cleaned, kleptocrats are working to launder their dirty reputations, often by giving large sums of money to U.S. and U.K. universities.
Read John's report: https://www.ned.org/reputation-laundering-in-the-university-sector-of-open-societies-working-paper/
2021-07-0824 min
Bribe, Swindle or StealUsing Universities to Launder ReputationsJohn Heathershaw of the University of Exeter discusses the working paper he co-authored for the National Endowment for Democracy: "Paying for a World Class Affiliation: Reputation Laundering in the University Sector of Open Societies." He shows how vulnerable universities are to abuse by kleptocrats seeking to shape the conversation, often quite subtly, about their governments and their legacies. Episode resources: Paying for a World Class Affiliation: Reputation Laundering in the University Sector of Open Societies, a working paper by Alexander Cooley, Tena Prelec, John Heathershaw and Tom Mayne for the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum f...
2021-06-1619 min
Guns and GodThe myth of Islamisation in Central Asia - with guest John HeathershawIn this episode, Helen and Matthew speak with Dr John Heathershaw, professor in the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at Exeter University. Is Central Asia really a crucible for Islamic terrorism? And how are such myths instrumentalised by others? In our conversation, we refer to two briefing papers. This one was written for Chatham House in 2014, and this one was published three years later by Open Democracy.
2021-03-2653 min
The Witness PodcastThe UK and Dirty Money with Dr. John Heathershaw and Prof. Tom MayneA conversation with John Heathershaw and Tom Mayne. We sat down with John and Tom, two academics from the University of Exeter to discuss why the UK is still open to dodgy money from corrupt regimes. We discussed the history of the global circulation of dirty money, the process of money laundering and the practices of global kleptocrats and their influence in politics. We then honed in on some examples from Central Asia and the UK, finishing with an analysis of what can be done to reign in the flow of dirty capital.
2021-03-1848 min
The Red Line33 - The Geopolitics of TajikistanNo country could possibly feel more like "the edge of the known world" than the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan. A nation where the president has been in power since '92 and has ruled the country with an iron fist, amassing a huge amount of wealth for himself using everything from Aluminum to Heroine; but things are beginning to change and Dushanbe could very soon be answering to new masters. Tajikistan is the latest battleground between Beijing and Moscow, the winner of which is yet to be decided. This weeks panel Peter Leonard (Eurasianet) John Heathershaw (Exeter University) Edward Lem...
2020-12-271h 28
Diversity in Research PodcastAcademic freedom and international research collaborations - do universities need a foreign policy?We are joined this week by Tena Prelac, Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford, who is a member of the Academic Freedom and Internationalisation Working Group. We discuss the rise in self-censorship amongst UK academics, academic freedom and what the role of international research funding, collaborations and partnerships play in this. The importance of academic freedom is explored with practical examples given by Tena to help universities navigate the issues involved. We conclude that although universities do not need to be James Bonds they do need to seriously investigate wh...
2020-12-0157 min