A series of lectures on international politics topics on youtube from the past few years.
For the latest material, check out my podcast on history and international conflicts.
October 28, 2013: Afghanistan Perils and Possibilities
On October 28, 2013, Justin Podur gave a lecture for the Toronto Public Library's "Thought Exchange" series titled "Afghanistan: Perils and Possibilities". The lecture was based on his trip to Kabul in March 2013 and his chapter in the 2013 University of Toronto Press book, "Empire's Ally: Canada and the War in Afghanistan". Before the lecture, Podur screened his short documentary, "Waiting for 2014 in Afghanistan", which he refers to at the beginning of the lecture.
July 25, 2013: The future of India's conflict zones: a lecture
The world's largest democracy currently has several zones under some kind of low-intensity, protracted conflict. What is behind these seemingly intractable problems? Who is benefiting from them, how might they be solved, and how might friends of India help? Justin Podur spent January-April 2013 based in Delhi, from where he visited Kabul, Srinagar, and Chhattisgarh, studying the conflicts of the region. On July 25, 2013, at Hart House, at the University of Toronto, Podur presented some background notes and observations on the indigenous (adivasi) struggle in Central India and the Kashmir conflict.
November 13, 2012: Haiti's New Dictatorship Montreal Book Launch
Justin Podur, author of Haiti's New Dictatorship (Pluto Press 2012, BTL Books and Palgrave-Macmillan co-publishers) discusses Haiti and the book at Concordia University in Montreal on November 13, 2012
September 28-30, 2012: Nature, Capital, and Commodification: Ecology and the Capital as Power Framework
At the 2012 forum on Capital as Power: Environmental and ecological economics offer the critique that mainstream economics fails to understand that economic activity takes place in a natural envelope and within ecological constraints -- human societies are based on the appropriation of biomass and energy from nature. Approaches to addressing this gap have included the valuation of natural capital or ecosystem services, the generation of carbon and other commodity markets, and programs like the World Bank's debt exchange. How do these approaches look when a political economy framework is applied? What happens to assessments of the value of natural capital when capital is understood as a mode of power? This paper explores some of these questions.
