Ananya

some fiction for the month.

after putting it off for ages, i finally picked up endling by maria reva and finished it in one sitting.

Was reading about the clientelistic state argument that's often made for the LDP, but public spending declines after 90s. Has anyone studied how the decline in public spending in recent years has affected the LDP's electoral base or its traditional clientelist networks?

Started reading Ethan Scheiner's Democracy Without Competition. His arg. is that the dominance despite public dissatisfaction etc. should be attributed to the country's deep rooted clientelism.

Political Drivers of China’s Changing Nuclear Policy: Implications for U.S.-China Nuclear Relations and International Security The message from Chinese officials has become increasingly clear: the United States and China should first stabilize their political relationship before taking on nuclear issues.

Very late to Tong Zhao's (very long) report on what's driving China's evolving nuclear policy and its implications (published last year). I've only finished a couple of pages so far.
carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Economic Sanctions from Havana to Baghdad Cambridge Core - Political Theory - Economic Sanctions from Havana to Baghdad

Was going through this OA volume on economic sanctions (ed. Joy Gordon, Cambridge Uni Press). liked the chapter on wheat imports in Iran under sanctions. Also includes some interesting chapters on the DPRK, Iraq, emerging issues, legitimacy etc. www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

Now reading @vhtroyansky.bsky.social's 'Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State'. Looks really interesting...what can one even say about the gorgeous cover! I'd read the book for that alone.

Hugo on Europe's nations dissolving into a "superior unity"-- a "United States of Europe."

If this interests you, I'm also reading Anand Toprani's PhD dissertation titled "Oil and Grand Strategy: Great Britain and Germany, 1918-1948 (2012):
repository.digital.georgetown.edu/handle/10822... And this on the significance of oil in strategy from 1914-1923: theses.gla.ac.uk/3160/1/2012g...

I came across this 26pg long paper that examines the evolution of British oil policy between 1912 and 1924. Quite concise. Good for an overview of the early shifts in approach, introduction to early years, and an interesting shift b/w the state and industry relations.
www.jstor.org/stable/26384...

I recently learned about the large and long-established Vietnamese diaspora in Germany. Found this comparative study of the different "contexts of reception" for Vietnamese arrivals-- in West and East Germany. www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

Draconian things are happening in India. Such a regressive idea. Nothing short of lunacy. Our young and "progressive" politicians, supposedly the vanguard of the future, are cheerleading this madness. And these are the people we are supposed to trust.

their influence is fairly limited outside strongholds like Kerala etc.

Ah, makes sense! Interestingly, this phenomenon of branding through party names seems largely absent among the older leftist parties in India. while the newer parties, often centrists rather than left-leaning, seem more conscious of adopting distinctive names. That said, it is worth noting that

Energy Evolution Business News Podcast · Updated Biweekly · Interviews, analysis and reporting from S&P Global Commodity Insights on energy and commodities' transition to a cleaner future. Hosts Taylor Kuykendall and ...

Came across an interesting podcast on the global energy landscape + trends. Currently listening to an episode about the transatlantic divide. They also provide full transcripts on their website, which is very useful. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Chelsea Ngoc Minh Nguyen, Vietnam and China 2022-2025 - positions politics Diplomatic developments The year of 2024-25 has been politically intensive, historic, and ironic to Vietnam domestically and internationally. On April 2nd this year, when the US President, Donald Trum...

I also liked this piece by Nguyen. A comprehensive and nuanced overview of the evolving landscape of Vietnamese politics in the context of Vietnam-China relations over the year(s). Great read. positionspolitics.org/chelsea-ngoc...

The roots of the Korean far-right w/ Kevin Gray Podcast Episode · Politics Theory Other · 20/10/2025 · 1h 3m

Interesting stuff from PTO. On last year's "coup" in south korea, with fascinating insights on the korean right's roots in japanese occupation, its distinct features, their current base and the global rightward drift. Do read gray's piece for new left review.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

It's worth revisiting what happened to Jet Airways. Do read it. Indian aviation is a cosy duopoly protected by weak oversight and inexplicable regulation. Limited competition, unchecked consolidation, and no regulation, all culminating in the mess we just witnessed.
m.thewire.in/article/busi...

I'm always amused by the fact that most of India's education investment flowed toward higher education, disproportionately benefiting urban elites. Both China and Japan did the opposite. And we didn't even bother with investing in teachers. Our student-to-teacher ratios were abysmal compared.

This is a concise demographic breakdown of China, highlighting key trends and interesting regional differences. www.china-briefing.com/news/china-d... Pekingology did an excellent podcast this week on the demographic shift & its implications: podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/pek…

I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to go, given the tuition fees and living costs, but it did feel good to get an offer from King's.

now reading. looks at how postwar america's age of mass consumption reshaped the idea of citizenship & how consumers emerged as a political catg from the new-deal era. any other works that explore similar dynamics of consumerism and citizenship outside the american context?

Currently reading.

Free Speech? Not In India | Madras Courier

For Madras Courier, I wrote about the India's Got Latent "controversy", the state-sanctioned witch hunt, SC's morality crusade, and the dire state of free speech in India. With the broadcasting bill creeping back things will only get worse.
madrascourier.com/opinion/free...

Hello. I finally joined Goodreads last month because of a friend of mine who kept on insisting, and I finally gave up. If you're still interested you can follow me: www.goodreads.com/user/show/18...

Pleased to see that my piece on Le Pen and how the far-right exclusionary ideology he championed had not only taken root but flourished in French politics, originally written for FirstPost, has also been featured on Europe Says!
www.europesays.com/1758591/?s=09

France: Jean-Marie Le Pen passes away, but Le Pen-ism lives on Senior Le Pen’s death closes one chapter, but the battle over his ideology and its grip on French politics is far from over

Le Pen may be dead, but his ideas are far from buried. On Le Pen, defensive nationalism, negative jingoism and how the far right exclusionary ideology he championed continues to run through the bloodstream of French politics. Some thoughts for FirstPost.
www.firstpost.com/opinion/fran...

Toward an Intellectual History of Genocide in Gaza | Esmat Elhalaby On the university as a tool of colonial domination, or a site of resistance.

Esmat Elhalaby’s piece on genocide was published in March. Months later, I still find myself returning to it. "In the face of genocide, we must imagine, in the stead of those Palestinians who have struggled for years, the opposite of genocide." thebaffler.com/latest/towar...

Bibi and other Israeli officials have "immunity" because Israel isn’t a party to the Rome Statute. Sure. But if that’s the logic, then by extension, Putin also has immunity, doesn’t he? But we all know that France ( and co.) would never say that.