This episode discusses a significant political event that remained largely outside the media spotlight: the White House visit of Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda insurgent and leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who ended Syria’s brutal 13-year civil war. How did a man once listed as a US terrorist end up shaking hands with the American President?

Joining the show is Dr. William Plowright, an Assistant Professor of International Security in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University, to explore the motivations behind the Trump administration's pragmatic decision. We take a close look at Al-Sharaa’s radical transformation "from jihad to politics," examining whether his moderate image is reliable or merely a political performance, and discuss the internal challenges Al-Sharaa faces in governing the country.

Discover the immense regional challenges, from dealing with Israel over the Golan Heights to preventing instability that could breed a new wave of extreme jihadism across the Middle East and Europe. Tune in to understand the immense stakes involved in Syria's future.

Link to Dr. Plowrights article in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/how-former-jihadist-ahmed-al-sharaa-ended-up-being-welcomed-to-the-white-house-269631

To learn more about our guest and their research visit their website at https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/william-plowright/

In November 2025, the Trump government designated Nigeria a 'Country of Particular Concern' (CPC) under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, threatening to end aid or even launch a military attack. Is this merely a policy decision, or part of a deeper geopolitical dynamic? This week, we explore the complex intersection of US foreign policy, religious freedom, and international order with the author of the Duck of Minerva article entitled "Bullies, Follies, and the Decadent Orders", Dr. Kodili Chukwuma. He argues that these actions illustrate "bullying as a discourse and practice of international ordering". Tune in to understand the powerful, paradoxical, and often destabilizing effects of naming, shaming, and ordering the world.

Link to the discussed Duck of Minerva article: https://www.duckofminerva.com/2025/11/bullies-follies-and-decadent-orders-constructing-nigeria-as-a-country-of-particular-concern.html [Last accessed 28/11/2025].

To learn more about the research of our guest, visit their website at https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/kodili-chukwuma/

Music: The Good News by SHANTI from https://tunetank.com/track/263-the-good-news/

The upcoming UK Budget statement is more than an accounting or economic exercise—it’s politics in action. Chancellor Reeves faces a defining challenge of modern governance: how to finance public demands and defence commitments while adhering to strict fiscal rules and Labour’s promise not to raise Income Tax, VAT, or National Insurance rates for working people. This episode explores the politics of taxation, arguing that tax choices are fundamentally political and at the heart of a state's capacity. Drawing on comparative analysis with countries like Sweden and the United States, Prof. Patrick M Kuhn looks at how the institutional structure and commitment devices structuring UK fiscal politics affects tax choices, including the abrupt Income Tax U-turn in the run-up to the budget statement. Discover how self-imposed constraints and the political necessity of keeping highly visible manifesto pledges force governments to pivot toward less visible revenue streams, like the highly effective but regressive “fiscal drag”. While politically pragmatic, this approach leads to an increasingly complicated, less efficient, and less progressive tax structure. Tune in to uncover why UK policy choices are politically predictable but economically perilous, locking the government into incoherent tax adjustments to avoid political self-immolation.

To learn more about Patrick and his research, visit his website at https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/p-m-kuhn/

Literature:

House of Commons Library 2025. Tax Statistics: An Overview. Online at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8513/ [Last accessed on 21/11/2025].

Kiser, Edgar and Steven M Karceski 2017. The Political Economy of Taxation. Annual Review of Political Science 20, 75-92.

Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1991 (1918). The Crisis of the Tax State. In Joseph A. Schumpeter: The Economics and Sociology of Capitalism, edited by Richard Swedberg, pp. 99–140. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Steinmo, Sven H. 1996. Taxation and Democracy: Swedish, British and American Approaches to Financing the Modern State. New Haven; Yale University Press.

Swank, Duane and Sven Steinmo 2002. The New Political Economy of Taxation in Advanced Capitalist Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 46(3), 642-655.

Music: The Good News by SHANTI from https://tunetank.com/track/263-the-good-news/