Alena Ledeneva, "Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns" (UCL Press, 2026)

Alena Ledeneva, "Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns" (UCL Press, 2026)

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia’s Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781806550357] (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena’s new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: * Russian Pendulum: here [https://uclpress.co.uk/book/russian-pendulum/] * The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here [https://orcd.co/thesystemmademedoit] * And a brilliant review of the music: here [https://chimeo.com/article/Classical-Music-Benjamin-Woodgates-The-System-Made-Me-Do-It] Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002vlhg?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile] Enjoy the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Alena Ledeneva, "Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns" (UCL Press, 2026)

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia’s Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781806550357] (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena’s new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: * Russian Pendulum: here [https://uclpress.co.uk/book/russian-pendulum/] * The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here [https://orcd.co/thesystemmademedoit] * And a brilliant review of the music: here [https://chimeo.com/article/Classical-Music-Benjamin-Woodgates-The-System-Made-Me-Do-It] Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002vlhg?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile] Enjoy the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Ashok Malhotra, "Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969" (UCL Press, 2026)

Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969 [https://bookshop.org/p/books/imperial-science-the-organic-movement-and-the-path-to-shangri-la-1900-1969/5c03a3e17aceefd4?ean=9781806550555&next=t] (UCL Press, 2026) is a global history project that examines the diffusion of scientific and environmental discourses from India to Britain and the US. Ashok Malhotra examines how imperial agendas and colonial stereotyping shaped dietary and agricultural research carried out in the 1920s in British India, from soil protection initiatives to studies of diet and healthy living. It also discusses how a selective interpretation of this research, which focused on the supposed vigor of one community, the Hunzas, influenced the organic and lifestyles movements that later emerged in Britain and the US from the 1940s to the 1960s. Ashok Malhotra is a senior lecturer in British imperial history at Queen's University Belfast. Crawford Gribben [https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/crawford-gribben(9c12859e-6933-4880-b397-d8e6382b0052).html] is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Helen Graham, "Deconstituting Museums: Participation’s Affective Work" (UCL Press, 2024)

What is the future of museums? In Deconstituting Museums: Participation’s Affective Work [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781800089129] Helen Graham, [https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/staff/285/dr-helen-graham] an Associate Professor in School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies [https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art] at the University of Leeds, considers the current state of the sector and stresses the need for significant change. Drawing on both professional reflections and academic analysis, the book introduces the concept of the museum constitution as a key site for struggle within the institution. It shows the challenge of making participation meaningful, and the scale of transformation needed to reframe museums’ central ideas and activities. Essential reading for both academics and museum professionals, as well as audiences, the book is available open access here [https://uclpress.co.uk/book/deconstituting-museums/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Anna Shadrina, "The Babushka Phenomenon: Older Women and the Political Sociology of Ageing in Russia" (UCL Press, 2025)

The Babushka Phenomenon: Older Women and the Political Sociology of Ageing in Russia [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781800089082] (UCL Press, 2025) by Dr. Anna Shadrina examines the social production of ageing in post-Soviet Russia, highlighting the role of grandmothers as primary caregivers due to men’s traditional estrangement from family life. This expectation places grandmothers, or babushkas, in a position where they prioritise childcare and housework over their careers, making them unpaid family carers reliant on the state and their children. Dr. Shadrina situates older Russian women’s experiences within the post-Soviet redefinition of the nation, analysing their portrayal in popular media and biographical narratives of women aged 60 and over in Russia and the UK. It addresses class and racial disparities, noting how some women outsource family duties to less qualified women, and emphasises age as a significant but overlooked axis of social inequality. From a feminist perspective, the book explores citizenship as both a status and a practice of inclusion and exclusion. By focusing on older women’s rights to participate in private and public spheres, it discusses the new social inequalities that emerged after the USSR’s collapse. Despite prioritising others’ interests, older Russian women actively engage in economic citizenship, though their struggles for recognition are often excluded from formal economy and politics. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-peace-in-angola-and-mozambique-9781350407930/] focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher [https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/special-series/new-books-with-miranda-melcher], wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]