Introducing Roots and Branches

Political theorist Melissa Lane talks about constitutionalism in Plato’s philosophy and how his differentiation between ‘ruling’ and ‘holding office’ can help governments rule for the good of the people.  Melissa is Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University. She has published extensively on ancient Greek political thought and its modern significance. 📚 REFERENCESMelissa Lane, Eco-Republic: Ancient Ethics for a Green Age (Peter Lang, 2011)Melissa Lane, Of Rule and Office: Plato’s Ideas of the Political (Princeton University Press, 2023)Melissa Lane:https://melissalane.princeton.edu/Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (Routledge, 1945)Josiah Ober:https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/people/josiah-oberSarah Broadie, Plato's Sun-Like Good: Dialectic in the Republic (Cambridge University Press, 2021)John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Bluesky ↗ @rbpodcast• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au📸 PHOTOSameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Political philosopher and peace activist Ramin Jahanbegloo discusses Persian mysticism, liberalism and tyranny and how a comparison between the Ancient Greeks and Persians might help understand the struggle for political and cultural freedom in Iran today. 📚 REFERENCESJahanbegloo, Ramin, The Idea of Persia: A Philosophical Enquiry (Gingko Library, 2025)Ramin JahanbeglooMohammad Ali Foroughi (1877-1942)Reza Shah (1878-1944)Montesquieu, C., Lettres persanes (1721)🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Bluesky ↗ @rbpodcast• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Political economist Andrea Capussela discusses how a republican conception of freedom and Schumpeter’s idea of ‘creative destruction’ can converge to foster economic reform and innovation. After working in Mergers & Acquisitions, Andrea became Head of the Economics Unit of Kosovo’s International Civilian Office in 2008 and later adviser to Moldova’s Minister of Economy. He has spent the last two years as visiting scholar at the London School of Economics working on his new book The Republic of Innovation. 📚 REFERENCESAndrea Lorenzo Capussela, The Republic of Innovation: A New Political Economy of Freedom (Polity, 2025).🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Bluesky ↗ @rbpodcast• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Along the case of Kenya’s “Migrated Archives” Dr Riley Linebaugh illustrates how questions of archival custody shape justice, memory, and public life, how they relate to W. E. B. Du Bois’ “colour line” and why archival accessibility is a vital asset for democracy.📚 REFERENCESRiley Linebaugh. Curating the Colonial Past: The ‘Migrated Archives' and the Struggle for Kenya's History (Cambridge University Press, 2025).Riley Linebaugh & James Lowry (2021). “The archival colour line: race, records and post-colonial custody”, in Archives and Records, 42(3), 284–303.Dr Riley Linebaugh: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/hi-globalgeschichte/team/dr-riley-linebaugh🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Bluesky ↗ @rbpodcast• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Public intellectual Quentin Skinner discusses his view on liberty, how freedom relates to democracy, and whether there are limits to liberty in representative government. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Cambridge School of the History of Political Thought.📚 REFERENCESQuentin Skinner, Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal (Cambridge University Press, 2025)Quentin Skinner: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/history/people/emeritus-academic-staff/profiles/skinnerquentin.htmlIsaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty”, in Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford, 1969).Annelien de Dijn, Freedom: An Unruly History (Harvard University Press, 2022)Andrea Lorenzo Capussela, The Republic of Innovation: A New Political Economy of Freedom (forthcoming with Polity, 2025)Era Dabla-Norris and Davide Furceri, “Debt is Higher and Rising Faster in 80 Percent of Global Economy”, IMF Blog (29.05.2025), https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2025/05/29/debt-is-higher-and-rising-faster-in-80-percent-of-global-economy (Accessed 06.08.2025)🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches  • Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Patricia Owens (University of Oxford) explores how the gender binary shaped the production and reception of international thought, what recovering overlooked voices means for present-day international relations and how centring historically marginalised perspectives alters theory and practice in the field. 📚 REFERENCESOwens, Patricia. 2025. Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Prof Patricia Owens:https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/person/patricia-owensWomen and the History of International Thought:https://whit.web.ox.ac.uk/about🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Apeike Umolu (University of Cambridge) talks about panafricanism, patriotism and time and what these ideas have to do with the call for reparations and the policies of the African Union today. 📚 REFERENCESTáíwò, Olúfẹ́mi. 2022. Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously. London: Hurst Publishers.Apeike Umolu: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/people/apeike-umolu🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Intellectual Historian Richard Whatmore (University of St Andrews) explains why the Enlightenment, 18th century republicanism and the history of free states matter for today’s global politics.📚 REFERENCESWhatmore, Richard. 2023. The End of Enlightenment: Empire, Commerce, Crisis. London: Allen Lane.Whatmore, Richard. When Liberty Dies: Fanaticism, Free States and the Future. Forthcoming with Allen Lane.Prof Richard Whatmore:https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/persons/richard-whatmore🔗 LINKS• Website ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches• Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern 🎶 MUSIC'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Welcome to Roots and Branches, the ideas podcast from the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews. Host Selma Sondern explains what Intellectual History is, why it matters, and what to expect when we launch on 1 July 2025 with Prof Richard Whatmore.🔗 LINKS• Show page ↗ http://www.intellectualhistory.net/roots-and-branches • Follow on Instagram ↗ @roots_and_branches_podcast• Follow on X ↗ @rbpod_ih• Selma Sondern ↗ www.linkedin.com/in/selma-sondern • Institute of Intellectual History ↗ https://www.intellectualhistory.net• Music: 'A New Year' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au