Crisis of legitimacy, you say?

Hey friends, can you feel the legitimacy crisis burning? With critical elections in the UK and France coming up (and a cognitively challenged US election campaign hovering in the background), there's lots to be abreast of. So we're very excited to bring you our July programme.

• The Bunga boys unpick the UK general election that is sure to throw up a Labour government – but will there be a Tory extinction event? How will the two-party hegemony be scrambled?

• Macron's gamble may blow back in his face – or is was his intention in the first place to domesticate the far right?

• Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko tells us about his country's war, and its oligarch-led de-modernisation

• A long-postponed episode will finally be out: it's Franco-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz on the emotions of populism, and Israel's crisis

• We read the late Dmitri Furman's analysis of the structure of post-Soviet Russia in the Reading Club

• Regular contributor Catherine Liu explains how she survived Culture War 1.0 – and how the campus wars set the scene for the contemporary iteration.

• And we respond to your questions and criticisms in Aufhebonus Bonus.

Remember, to get all episodes in full, you'll need to subscribe.

ICYMI

• Indian writer and activist Achin Vanaik told Alex how Modi did less well than expected, but why there is still no real challenge to Hindu nationalist ideology. Listen

• In this month's Damage episode, Fred Stafford broke down for us who owns power infrastructure. Listen

• Alex and Leigh discussed Korea's gender wars and lack of babies with the help of Hyeyoung Woo, and then the boys put these matters in a global context. Listen

• Gregor Baszak told Philip about how NOBS-style derangement is playing out in Germany, politically and socially. Listen

• We continued our deep dive on Mexico, its domestic tensions and international relations, with the help of Juan David Rojas. Listen

• And we dealt with your questions and criticisms on Israel/Palestine, film, and more in Aufhebonus Bonus. Listen

• Oh and we re-released our acclaimed obit of Silvio Berlusconi on the one-year anniversary of his death. Listen

Bunga Elsewhere

• In Café americain, George wrote about class struggle and EP Thompson, and on why we love football, despite everything.

• Alex was interviewed in leading Brazilian design magazine Casa e Jardim about Brazilianization and its cultural manifestations (in Portuguese).

• And in Damage, George's article (with Matthew Thompson and Jonny Gordon Farleigh) on the rise of para-institutions was published online.