Pillar Talk: Recent Episodes
Tom Watson, Will Splatt, and Oliver Friendship, with thanks to the UQPPES
Pillar Talk is a podcast about politics, philosophy, and economics - the three pillars of the humanities! Supported by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society (UQPPES), we dive into ideas from across the three disciplines through interviews with academics and interesting thinkers, commentary on current affairs, and discussions with student writers from our sister publication, Statecraft Magazine. In everything we do, we aim to take complex ideas about the world around us and make them accessible for the everyday listener.
What is the biggest threat to Australia’s security right now?
How can we balance civil liberties with national security?
What’s the relationship between liberalism and conservatism?
And is it even worth studying PPE?
In today’s episode, Will and Ollie chat with the Honourable George Brandis KC, former Senator for QLD, Attorney-General for Australia, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and newly-appointed Professor of National Security, Policy, and Law at ANU.
This discussion took place as a follow-up after our Statecraft Winter Lecture, at which George shared some reflections on his time in politics and diplomacy. You can listen to an audio recording of George’s lecture in episode 4.
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Read More in Statecraft
Ben Colter – ‘Defending Australia Amidst an Ailing Alliance in the Asia-Pacific’
Isaac Haynes – ‘The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: A Crisis of Context’
For extended articles and exclusive content, buy Statecraft Issue 5: ‘Realignment’ now.
References
See George’s academic profile for more information.
George’s honours thesis - ‘An interpretation of the ideology of the Liberal Party of Australia’
Isaiah Berlin – ‘Four Essays on Liberty’ (Recommended by George)
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Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society. It is produced by Will Splatt and co-produced and edited by Tom Watson, with music created by Isaac Haynes. Your hosts for this episode are Will Splatt and Oliver Friendship.
If this episode has you keen for more content from the UQ PPE Society, you might want to check out our other publications: Statecraft Magazine, and The Statecraft Review.
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KPMG is a platinum sponsor of the UQ PPE Society. They provide a range of professional services for businesses, non-profits, and government, including consulting on the design and implementation of key government policies. As mentioned during the ad break, they offer two programs that might interest you: a 12-month graduate employment program, and a 4-8 week vacation internship program for students in their penultimate year of study. For more information about these opportunities, click here, or reach out to the UQ PPE Society using vocations@uqppes.com.au to talk about meeting with one of our contacts at KPMG
Last month, the UQ PPE Society hosted the Statecraft Keynote Lecture, featuring the Honourable George Brandis KC, former Senator for QLD, Attorney-General for Australia, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
This episode is a recording of that lecture, entitled "Reflections on Politics and Diplomacy". The lecture ends at around the 45 minute mark, after which we’ve included half an hour of the best questions from our audience Q & A.
Listen now to get George Brandis' takes on the future of the Liberal party, the Tory leadership contest, Scott Morrison's 'secret ministries' scandal, and the general irrationality of politics.
UQPPES is thankful to economic consultancy firm Adept Economics for generously supporting this event.
Adept Economics offers a broad range of economic consultancy and business advisory services. These services include economic impact analysis, regulatory and policy analysis, economic contribution and valuation analysis, social ROI and cost-benefit analysis, as well as data analysis and economic modelling. For more information visit: https://adepteconomics.com.au/
What is the principle of subsidiarity?
How does it challenge conventional approaches to governance?
And how can it help us tackle some of the world's most wicked problems?
In this episode, Tom and Will chat with Dr Brendan Markey-Towler about the principle of subsidiarity and polycentric governance.
Dr Brendan Markey-Towler is a credit analyst with a background as an academic economist. His areas of interest include behavioural, institutional, and evolutionary economics, as well as the economics of technology, topics which he has explored in his books An Architecture of the Mind (2018) and Economics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (2020). You can read more about Dr Markey-Towler here.
Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society. It is produced by Will Splatt and co-produced and edited by Tom Watson, with music created by Isaac Haynes. Your hosts for this episode are Will Splatt and Tom Watson.
If this episode has you keen for more content from the UQ PPE Society, you might want to check out our other publications: Statecraft Magazine, and The Statecraft Review.
References
Read Dr Markey-Towler's substack here.
Elinor Ostrom - 'Beyond markets and states: polycentric governance of complex economic systems' (Recommended by Brendan).
Friedrich Hayek - 'The Use of Knowledge in Society' (A canonical expression of the Austrian view of markets as collectors & disseminators of knowledge, also recommended by Brendan).
Charles Tiebout - 'A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures' (Tiebout's seminal paper introducing the concept of competitive federalism. Here is an article which reviews the evidence underlying the 'race to the bottom' critique.)
Read more about The Federalist Papers here.
Read a brief summary of subsidiarity within Catholic social teaching here.
KPMG is a platinum sponsor of the UQ PPE Society. They provide a range of professional services for businesses, non-profits, and government, including consulting on the design and implementation of key government policies. As mentioned during the ad break, they offer two programs that might interest you: a 12-month graduate employment program, and a 4-8 week vacation internship program for students in their penultimate year of study. For more information about these opportunities, click here, or reach out to the UQ PPE Society using vocations@uqppes.com.au to talk about meeting with one of our contacts at KPMG.
What's causing inflation?
Is it 'always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon'?
What's the rationale behind central bank independence?
And what can policy-makers do to curb inflation?
In this episode, Will & Ollie chat with Dr Begoña Domínguez from the UQ School of Economics about all things inflation.
Dr Begoña Domínguez has a PhD in economics from the University of Barcelona, and today conducts research into fiscal and monetary policy, as well as teaching ECON3200 - Monetary Economics. She is also the Vice-President of the Australasian Macroeconomics Society
Read More in Statecraft
Michael Steinbeck - The Rhetoric of Responsibility: How the RBA is surfing the inflation wave
Isaac Haynes - The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: A Crisis of Context
References
See Begoña's UQ Researcher Profile for a list of her recent academic publications.
The latest inflation figures from the RBA.
The ABS' announcement of their new monthly inflation indicators.
Olivier Blanchard's argument in favour of increasing the inflation target.
Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens(Recommended by Begoña)
Garry Kasparov - Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped (Referred to by Begoña regarding the predictability of Russia's invasion of Ukraine)
KPMG is a platinum sponsor of the UQ PPE Society. They provide a range of professional services for businesses, non-profits, and government, including consulting on the design and implementation of key government policies. As mentioned during the ad break, they offer two programs that might interest you: a 12-month graduate employment program, and a 4-8 week vacation internship program for students in their penultimate year of study. For more information about these opportunities, click here, or reach out to the UQ PPE Society using vocations@uqppes.com.au to talk about meeting with one of our contacts at KPMG.
FTI consulting is also a platinum sponsor of the UQPPES. As well as sponsoring our upcoming Policy Challenge , to take place on the 25th of August, FTI consulting offer a graduate program that might interest you, one that is designed to meet your needs at every stage of your career and consists of on-the-job learning, soft skills training and technical training. For more information, click here , or come along to the FTI Consulting Policy Challenge.
Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society. It is produced by Will Splatt and co-produced and edited by Tom Watson, with music created by Isaac Haynes. Your hosts for this episode are Will Splatt and Oliver Friendship.
If this episode has you keen for more content from the UQ PPE Society, you might want to check out our other publications: Statecraft Magazine, and The Statecraft Review.
What does it mean to be a citizen?
What is the proper role of experts in a democracy?
How unique is the COVID-19 crisis?
And why do our institutions always seem to forget how to manage crises?
In the first proper episode of this season of Pillar Talk, your hosts Will & Ollie sit down with Dr Alastair Stark from UQ’s School of Political Science to address these questions and more, discussing deliberative democracy, crisis management, and institutional amnesia.
Dr Alastair Stark describes himself as a political scientist working in the field of public policy. He is an expert in crisis management, which he explores in his 2015 book Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector, and his 2018 book Public Inquiries, Policy Learning, and the Threat of Future Crises. He also has an ongoing research interest in the institutionalization of participatory modes of governance such as deliberative democracy. Find out more about Dr Stark here.
Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society. It is produced by Will Splatt and co-produced and edited by Tom Watson, with music created by Isaac Haynes. Your hosts for this episode are Will Splatt and Oliver Friendship.
If this episode has you keen for more content from the UQ PPE Society, you might want to check out our other publications: Statecraft Magazine, and The Statecraft Review.
KPMG is a platinum sponsor of the UQ PPE Society. They provide a range of professional services for businesses, non-profits, and government, including consulting on the design and implementation of key government policies. As mentioned during the ad break, they offer two programs that might interest you: a 12-month graduate employment program, and a 4-8 week vacation internship program for students in their penultimate year of study. For more information about these opportunities, click here, or reach out to the UQ PPE Society using vocations@uqppes.com.au to talk about meeting with one of our contacts at KPMG.
References:
See Dr Stark’s UQ Researcher Profile for a list of his scholarly publications.
David Easton – A Systems Analysis of Political Life (book recommended by Dr Stark)
Edmund Burke – Speech to the Electors of Bristol (referred to by Ollie regarding the role of experts)
Barry Schwartz – The Paradox of Choice (an accessible account of how ‘too many choices’ can lead to bad decision-making)
John Kay & Mervyn King – Radical Uncertainty (referred to by Will)
What's behind the name 'Pillar Talk'?
Why are we making a podcast at all?
How much could you win for reading all of Hobbes' Leviathan?
Is Ollie really a raging conservative, and Will a radical Marxist?
In this introductory episode, we answer all these questions and more, explaining why the UQ PPE Society is making a podcast, what you can expect from this new initiative, and what perspectives we bring to the podcast as hosts.
Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics Society. It is produced by Will Splatt and co-produced and edited by Tom Watson, with music created by Isaac Haynes. Your hosts for this episode are Will Splatt, Oliver Friendship, and Tom Watson.
If this episode has you keen for more content from the UQ PPE Society, you might want to check out our other publications: Statecraft Magazine, and The Statecraft Review.
References * Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition (Recommended by Will) * Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens (Recommended by Tom) + See also Connor Harvey's review of this title in Statecraft Magazine * Douglass C. North - Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Recommended by Ollie)