In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were excited to welcome Professor David Parker, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at UW-Madison to talk about contemporary British Politics. He received his doctorate here in 2004, and this is his first year back after teaching political science at Montana State University for sixteen years, including five years as Department Head. We asked Prof. Parker about the Labour Party’s landslide victory in the elections this past summer, and how the Conservative Party is responding. We also discussed political polarization in Britain compared to that in the United States as well as how Brexit and devolution has impacted British politics. We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope you will too.

On this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were delighted to welcome Kai Prins who is a candidate studying Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture in the Department of Communication Arts and is minoring in Women’s and Gender Studies here at UW-Madison. Kai studies the influence of neoliberalism on the formation and performance of social identity across a range of case studies in digital and consumer culture, including the advertising and branding of social justice issues; the convergence of wellness, social media, and conspiracy; and the commoditization of drag performance. In this fun and engaging episode we asked Kai about their work on commodity activism, in particular a chapter of their dissertation they wrote called “Friends Don’t Let Friends Shave with Woke Razors”: Commodity Activism and Economic Speech in the Age of Conservative Backlash.” We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were delighted to have the opportunity to once again talk with Prof. Allion Prasch, from the UW-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. Prof. Allison’s teaching and research focus on politics, rhetoric and culture. Today, we wanted to ask Prof. Prasch about the very different rhetorical styles that former President Trump and Vice President Harris are playing with in the current very tight race presidential campaign. We enjoyed our conversation and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were grateful for the opportunity to talk to the new Chair of the Department of Political Science, Prof. Nadav Shelef. We asked Prof. Shelef about his responsibility as Chair, as well as some of his recent research on collective victimhood and conflict attitudes. We also asked him about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We enjoyed our conversation and hope you will too

In this episode, we welcome back Barry Burden, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Elections Research Center to talk the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were delighted to talk with Paul Aylesworth, Associate Director for the MS degree in Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business. Before coming to campus Paul served as the Real Estate Director for the Women’s Community Revitalization Project, a nonprofit Philadelphia-based community development corporation. In his fourteen years in Philadelphia, Paul’s work focused on the new construction and preservation of affordable housing utilizing Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity and many other sources of capital and operating subsidy. He was also instrumental in establishing and building the Community Justice Land Trust, which now holds over 100 permanently affordable homes. We know so many of our listeners are interested in the issue of affordable housing and it is a concern that impacts so many people of all ages here in Madison and around the country. We enjoyed talking to Paul and learned so much. We hope you will too!

On this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were happy to welcome back Nils Ringe, Professor of Political Science and the former Director of European Studies, to talk about the recent EU elections as well as the elections in Britain and France that took place earlier this summer. As always, we learned so much and enjoyed talking to Prof. Ringe. We hope you will too.

On this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were delighted to talk to Andrew McWard, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Denison University and an instructor here in our Political Science Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Prof. McWard specializes in international relations with an emphasis on international organizations. This summer, Prof. McWard is teaching our very popular The Politics of Human Rights course. Prof. McWard received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison last year and his BA in International Relations from Hendrix College in 2017. We asked Prof. McWard about his Politics of Human Rights course and about his interest in studying and teaching human rights more generally. We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and learned so much. We hope you will too.

In this special episode of 1050 Bascom, we share with you Prof. Cramer’s speech on hope in a polarized world. Prof. Cramer delivered these remarks at our 2024 Political Science Graduation Brunch. We so appreciated Prof. Cramer’s insights, and hope you will enjoy them as well.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were excited to interview Marko Kljajic. Marko is a PhD student studying comparative politics and international relations here at UW-Madison. His research and teaching interests focus on the political psychology of polarization and reconciliation in the aftermath of civil conflict. In particular, he is interested in the role that collective victimhood beliefs have on intergroup dynamics and political mobilization. Marko will be teaching a new seminar course this coming fall called, “Why We Fight: The Politics of Intergroup Conflict”. We asked Marko about his class as well as the role of polarization in conflict in the United States and around the world. We learned a lot, and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Ambassador Eikenberry is a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center, a faculty member of Schwarzman College in Beijing, China and a Senior Advisor to the United States Institute for Peace. He is a former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and a retired Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army. His postings have included the East/Central/South Asian regions, Europe, and the Middle East. We were honored to speak with the Ambassador and learned so much. We hope you will too.