Interview – LPE Project

The Authoritarian Commons: An Interview with Shitong Qiao

James Brandt — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:00:00 +0000

In China, civic life tends to unfold beneath the watchful eye of a state wary of independent organization. And yet, in cities like Shanghai and Beijing, one of the most vibrant arenas for democratic participation—complete with elections, protests, and the occasional legal showdown—has emerged not from traditional dissident circles, but from homeowners’ associations. In his new book...

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Between Slavery and Incarceration: an Interview with Christopher Muller

James Brandt — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Mass incarceration is one of the great injustices of our time. For decades, small numbers of committed activists have protested this practice. More recently, however, the issue has gained wider public traction, with even some mainstream politicians and conservative organizations suggesting that it is something we should not tolerate. Despite this, it remains a subject whose history is often poorly...

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The Bangladesh Student Movement that Transformed a Nation

Chloe Miller — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 11:00:00 +0000

In 2024, student-driven protests erupted globally. But perhaps the most significant occurred in Bangladesh, where mass protests ultimately led to the ousting of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. To help understand what transpired this summer and what the future might hold, the LPE Blog’s Chloe Miller spoke with Chaumtoli Huq about the history of political and economic discontent that fueled the...

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Why a Decade of Revolts Didn’t Bring the Revolution

Kate Yoon — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 11:00:00 +0000

In If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, Vincent Bevins chronicles the protests that erupted across the globe from 2010 to 2020. Fueled by viral images on social media and democratic, horizontalist ideals, millions of people marched on the streets to demand change. By the end of the decade, however, it became clear that the protesters – in Brazil, Hong Kong, Turkey...

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Why Flying is Miserable and Why It Doesn’t Have to Be

Matt Buck — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 11:00:00 +0000

“Flying is a miracle. . . . But flying is also miserable.” In the first page of his new book, Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It, Vanderbilt law professor Ganesh Sitaraman sums up the often maddening experience of flying today. Travelers experience opaque prices, excruciating seats, and general disrespect, while the industry abandons smaller and mid-sized cities, squeezes its workers...

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Building Anti-Carceral Unionism: A Q&A on Local 79’s “Real Re-Entry” Campaign

Brett Davidson — Tue, 23 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

This post continues our symposium on carceral labor with Inquest. ** ** ** Starting in the spring of 2021, the National Employment Law Project teamed up with New York’s Construction & General Building Laborers’ Local 79 in their campaign to challenge self-identified “body shops.” In the following interview, I discuss the campaign with Bernard Callegari, a formerly incarcerated Local 79 rank-and...

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Amy Kapczynski and Wendy Brown on Democracy

James Brandt — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 11:00:00 +0000

This post is part of SAQ week, celebrating a special issue of the Southern Atlantic Quarterly on Law and the Critique of Capitalism. In the following excerpt, which is drawn from a longer conversation about neoliberalism, racial capitalism, and much else, Amy Kapczynski and Wendy Brown discuss the value of democracy, the role of the courts, and strategies for democratizing our political economy.

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Fight Like Hell: An Interview with Kim Kelly

Ann Sarnak — Mon, 02 May 2022 11:00:00 +0000

In the following conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length, labor journalist Kim Kelly discusses her recently published book Fight Like Hell: The Untold Story of American Labor. Kim Kelly, thank you so much for being willing to chat with the LPE Blog about your new book Fight Like Hell. For many years, you have been writing cutting-edge journalism about the labor movement.

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A Conversation about LPE & Disability, Part 2

James Brandt — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 11:00:00 +0000

In early January, the LPE Blog invited Rabia Belt, Doron Dorfman, Jasmine Harris, Jamelia Morgan, and Karen Tani to discuss the connections between LPE and disability. In Part 2 of their conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length, they consider what LPE could gain from paying greater attention to disability, and where scholars interested in the nexus of disability and LPE should...

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A Conversation about LPE & Disability, Part 1

James Brandt — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 11:00:00 +0000

In early January, the LPE Blog invited Rabia Belt, Doron Dorfman, Jasmine Harris, Jamelia Morgan, and Karen Tani to discuss the connections between LPE and disability. In Part 1 of their conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length, they consider why disability has not been a more prominent theme in the LPE movement. Read part two here. If we look at the Law and Political Economy...

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