Episode 10: The Panama Papers, Pt. 1 - The Politics of Whistleblowing

This is Episode 10 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. In this episode, we look at the Panama Papers. In the first of a two-parter, we examine on the politics of whistleblowing. We set the Panama Papers story in the context of previous whistleblowing stories such as Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, and discuss what the phenomenon of whistleblowing has to say about neoliberalism and democracy, and about the relationship between the nation-state and its citizens. The texts we refer to are: "The Birth of Biopolitics" by Michel Foucault (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Birth-Biopolitics-Lectures-1978-1979/dp/140398655X) "A Key Similarity Between Snowden Leak and Panama Papers: Scandal Is What’s Been Legalized" by Glenn Greenwald (https://theintercept.com/2016/04/04/a-key-similarity-between-snowden-leak-and-panamapapers-scandal-is-whats-been-legalized/) The John Oliver interview with Edward Snowden can be seen here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M) Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agra…he_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Anindya Raychaudhuri Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast/?fref=ts) or Tweet us @drhfitz and @DrAnindyaR