{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/31c3c0d0-7c4e-4683-afb7-abf7187f6f30?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Free with Lea Ypi","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3cd8e.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>David talks with Lea Ypi about her astonishing new memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, which tells the story of her childhood in Stalinist Albania and what came after.&nbsp;It’s a tale of family secrets, political oppression and the promise of liberation - and a profound meditation on what it really means to be free.&nbsp;From Marxism to liberalism and back again, this is a&nbsp;conversation that brings political ideas to life.&nbsp;Lea Ypi is Professor of&nbsp;Political Theory at the LSE and <a href=\" https://bit.ly/3jjOf74\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Free </a>has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Albania was a socialist country that went through various alliances.</p><ul><li>By the time that Lea was born, it was largely isolated.</li><li>The dominant narrative was that Albania was a country surrounded by empires, which stood on the moral high-ground.</li><li>In other words, it was socialist and anti-imperialist but also fiercely nationalist.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For Albania, the key year was not 1989 but 1990.</p><ul><li>Initially, dissidents were described as ‘hooligans.’</li><li>In December 1990, protesters requested political pluralism.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>How do we conceptualize freedom?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>People in Western countries often relate to non-liberal societies by conceptualizing themselves as liberators.</li><li>What does freedom mean in a limit-case like Albania?&nbsp;</li><li>There is a risk of paternalism in the dominant liberal conceptions of freedom. There are always margins of dissidence.</li><li>What does it feel like to suddenly gain freedom in the liberal sense? How does this affect relations between generations?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For Lea, freedom is about being the author of your own fate, even when it seems overdetermined.</p><ul><li>Studying political ideas can make one a nihilist, or you can choose to believe that there is something about humans that is inherently moral.</li><li>In other words, freedom is moral agency.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320869/free/9780241481851.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lea’s new book, <em>Free</em></a></li><li><a href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejop.12500\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lea on political legitimacy in Marxist perspective</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/subjectobject-2-the-power-behind-the-throne-tickets-171074156407\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Book tickets for our upcoming event with Hilary Mantel</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/09/spies-lies-and-doublethink-lea-ypi-on-growing-up-in-europes-last-communist-state\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lea in the Guardian on growing up in Europe’s last communist state</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/b5455f0f-33a9-480e-9027-6884cc25faa4\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on Albania after the fall of communism from the FT</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/enver-hoxha-iron-fist-of-albania-blendi-fevziu-review\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on Enver Hoxha</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2019.1620825\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on the Albanian-Soviet split</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2020/233-states-of-emergency\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Lea talks to David and Helen about states of emergency</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2018/120-francis-fukuyama\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">TP History of Ideas on Fukuyama and the ‘End of History’</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}