Jamie Doucette

'Blue Labour' and the Thiel Effect: How MAGA Is Making In-Roads Into British Politics The ideology of the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement, which has transformed politics in the United States, is having an impact in the UK. But how is this influence being transmitted?

Some connections here I was not aware of.

Some still embrace that fever dream, others have moved on to AI (a newer but connected one). Meanwhile, the question of what a equitable and innovative development strategy for cities like Busan could be remains open.

This raised questions about how such a libertarian vision of development through blockchain/crypto could be localized in a second tier city like Busan, and whether or not it was wise to do so?

It reminded me of how Busan had signed MOU's with Binance, FTX, and Huobi in the course of its dream to be known as Blockchain City, only to see each company fold, exit Korea, or come under SEC investigation.

Opinion | How a Fringe Movement of Gun Nuts, Backwoodsmen and Free Marketers Paved the Way for Autocracy

Enjoyed this guest essay in today's NYTimes, combing in the wake of Trump's pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

May God Protect Korea from the Deluge: An Analysis of Protestant Support for Yoon Seok-yeol’s Martial Law (2024) On 3 December 2024, president Yoon Seok-yeol declared martial law, plunging South Korea into an unprecedented political crisis. While officially justified as a response to alleged communist infiltrati...

To read:

This looks really interesting

YouTube video by Johnathan Bi Introduction to Mimetic Theory | René Girard

For instance... newer episodes include features with Palantir's co-founder calling for aristocracy, etc... Aesthetics very neo-Gilded age.

enthusiasts, crypto communes, burning man, start up societies... To keep it focused we quickly moved on to the ideas that shape Asian blockchain zones and Korea's Busan zone. But there was also a lot about Korean crypto spaces that didn't make it into the paper.

In a way, I was tempted to turn that section into its own paper, but there were just too many possible tangents to explore: e.g. autodidact Crypto-investors with online courses on Girardian theology being interviewed by 'red meat-only' gym influencers (there's a mouthful), network state...

I'm sure some enjoyed the @theguardian.com take on Peter Thiel's weird Girardian lectures. There's a pinch on 'bitcoin evangelists' love of Girard's 'mimetic desire' in our Antipode article. While the case is concerned with Busan, I spend a while on broader cyber-libertarian/NRx imaginaries.

INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATES OF EXCEPTION The Institute for the Study of States of Exception (ISSE) fosters critical research and discussion on the link between emergency powers and democratic erosion.

Found a recent article of mine linked on this new think tank. Anyone know anything about their origins? From their bios, they seem to be composed of former DC insiders, lawyers, and officials, but influenced by academic work in the tradition of Benjamin, Arendt, Agamben.

Korea's Compressed Modernity and Its Risks Promoting understanding & cooperation between the U.S. & Korea, The Korea Society offers programs, events, & resources on Korean culture, policy & education

Some here might be interested in the following talk by Professor Chang Kyung-Sup’s for The Korea Society on his book The Risk of Compressed Modernity, Oct 8th, 2025 (21:00 pm in Korea / 8:00 am in US EST)

[News analysis] Goodbye to Korea’s prosecution service, a scandal-ridden tool of political retaliation In September 2026, two new agencies will be created to take the place of the current prosecution service, separating powers of indictment and investigation in an effort to prevent abuse of power for r...

IMO the Yellow Envelope law, restructuring of the prosecution service, and removal of budget drafting power from the finance ministry are three of the most interesting departures of the Lee administration from business as usual. It will be important to see how all three play out.

‘America Is Not a Safe Place to Work’: Koreans Describe Georgia Raid

Good piece by NYT’s long serving lead Korea reporter Choe Sang-Hun on the Korean workers detained by Trumps ice raid.

Congrats!

‘Men don’t know why they became unhappy’: the toxic gender war dividing South Korea Toxic masculinity is a global phenomenon, but nowhere is it more virulent than in this hypermodern, connected society. What can other countries learn from this ‘ground zero’ of misogyny?

Excellent long read by @koryodynasty.bsky.social in the Guardian. Definitely worth your time this weekend.

There's a map in our article linked above of some of the newer, never quite actualized, #cryptocurrency and #blockchain zones not mentioned here....

Safe Space: A Guide to Special Economic Zones for Crypto, From China to Switzerland Russia may join a list of countries with an offshore crypto zone with a plan to build its own on an island.

I imagine there are similar stories in many of the other SEZs that crypto players have made into 'safe spaces' to try out deregulation. Since Trump 2.0 I have the feeling that the zone imaginary is less potent. Or, rather, it is national territory that they seek to enact zone-like policies within.

Thus, what is the 'model' being packaged here? Is it a story of ambition, failure, or simply minor tech experimentation in a local economy struggling to attract financial industries and investment away from Seoul (where much of the VC investment and speculative investment takes place).

When really all there is here are some small pilot projects and an attempt to sell tokenized commodities, in contrast to Busan's original speculative fever dream of becoming a hub for cryptocurrencies: as witnessed by its failed MOU's with FTX (weeks b4 Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest), Binance, Huobi.

Busan expands global blockchain city initiative with Cambodia - The Korea Times Busan Digital Asset Nexus (Bdan), Korea’s only exchange dedicated to real-world assets (RWA), signed a memorandum of understanding with the Securit...

Looks like Busan's 'blockchain city' ambitions have now become a 'model' to be shared. At the same time the timeline of when those ambitions materialize (and, indeed, a vision of what exactly they will be) continues to be extended into the future. But how does one share 'ambitions'?

To add one small tangent. I had long been wanting to use this Cold War/developmentalist propaganda poster in a publication and was glad to finally get the opportunity here.

We situate this concept and these struggles in relation to recent, and quite heated, methodological and conceptual debates about the nature of contemporary urbanization. Enjoy! It's Open Access FYI 3/4

... discussion of anti-communism, construction statistics, and intersection between apartment building and Korea's development cooperation. The article really gets into the politics of development on Seoul's greenbelt through a reading of the 'construction state' and the struggles against it. 2/4

It was a pleasure to sit in the passenger seat with Laam Hae's driving on the long journey that became this article. It's focused on her extensive work on the topic here, but I had some modest input with the theoretical framing.... 1/4

The woman profiting from spreading anti-China, election fraud conspiracy theories A number of organizations that have fanned conspiracies about Chinese election meddling in Korea can be tied to a woman who lives in Hawaii

“There is a consistent effort to create the appearance of grassroots support,” Clifton noted, “spinning up groups to make it look like there's grassroots support for hard-line policies,” although these groups are actually funded by a few wealthy people.

Lots of details in this story of poor treatment and conditions. What a great way to attract investment.

분노로 쓴 美구금일지…B1비자 근로자에 "노스코리아" 조롱도 | 연합뉴스 (서울=연합뉴스) 박영서 이동환 김준태 기자 = 미국 조지아주 배터리 공장 건설 현장에서 일하다 7일간 구금된 근로자들에게 '인권'은 실종된 단...

A US detention diary written with anger... B1 visa workers mocked as "North Korea" | Yonhap News www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR2025...