Edge Dwellers Caf‪é‬ Dr Benjamin Habib

Join Ben Habib in this episode of the Edge Dwellers Café Podcast as he sits down with environmental scientist and sustainability expert Dr Alison Mitchell to discuss the pressing question: ”What is sustainability asking of us?” We discuss Ali’s personal journey from environmental science to education for sustainability, exploring a wide range of topics including the role of sustainability professionals as knowledge brokers, eco-anxiety, citizen science, environmental reporting, risk management, energy system transitions, climate politics and more.

In this solo episode of the Edge Dwellers Café Podcast, Ben Habib maps out five broad potential scenarios for the future of the Kim regime in North Korea—(1) state failure and collapse; (2) managed systemic reform; (3) popular uprising and revolution; (4) coup d'état; and (5) externally-imposed regime change—critically evaluating the logic and probability of each scenario and consider the probability of each. This podcast is a teaser for a larger twelve-part video lecture series from Ben's undergraduate subject “Contemporary Politics of Northeast Asia: North Korea."
 
00:00:00  Introduction.
00:05:31  What happens now in North Korea?
00:06:59  Scenario mapping and the folly of prediction.
00:11:38  Scenario #1: State failure and collapse.
00:14:56  Levels of state decay in the DPRK.
00:17:27  Fragile North Korea 'muddled through'.
00:19:13  Scenario #2: Managed systemic reform.
00:21:34  Lessons for North Korea case from USSR, China and Vietnam.
00:25:37  Piecemeal adjustments to economic management.
00:28:21  Scenario #3: Popular uprising and revolution.
00:31:03  A North Korean spring: Comparing the DPRK with Arab Spring Egypt.
00:42:45  Scenario #4: Coup d'état.
00:43:28  The Kim regime's coup-proofing strategies.
00:46:05  Under what conditions might a coup occur?
00:48:48  Scenario #5: Externally-imposed regime change.
00:50:23  Unacceptable risks associated with attacking North Korea.
00:52:44  Why does the future of the Kim regime matter to regional states.
00:55:59  Lecture summary.
00:58:22  Conclusion.
 
Show Links
Ben Habib. “Subject Video Content: Contemporary Politics of North Korea.” Ben@Earth.
Andy Jackson. (2018) “Why Has There Been No People’s Power Rebellion in North Korea?” European Journal of Korean Studies. 18(1), pp. 1-34.
Gijs Verbossen, Senior lecturer at University of Amsterdam.
Victor Cha. “A North Korean Spring?” Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. YouTube. 15 June 2012.
“Pangapsumnida”. YouTube.
Victor Cha and Nicholas Anderson. (2012) “A North Korean Spring?” The
Washington Quarterly, 35(1), pp. 7-24.
Bruce Cumings. (2013) “Why Did So Many Influential Americans Think North Korea Would Collapse?” North Korean Review. 9(1), pp. 114–120.
Nicholas Eberstadt and other articles cited in lecture…
Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Lind. (2011) “The Collapse of North Korea: Military Missions and Requirements.” International Security, 36(2), pp. 84–119.
Daniel Byman and Jennifer Lind. (2010) “Pyongyang’s Survival Strategy: Tools of Authoritarian Control in North Korea. International Security. 35(1), pp. 44–74.
Mark Fitzpatrick. (2013) “North Korea: Is Regime Change the Answer?” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy. 55(3), pp. 7-20.
Francis Grice. (2017) “The Improbability of Popular Rebellion in Kim Jong-un’s North Korea and Policy Alternatives for the USA.” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. 4(3), pp. 263-293.
Kent Harrington and Bennett Ramberg. (2014) “The United States and South Korea: Who Does What if the North Fails?” The Washington Quarterly. 37(3), pp. 183–197.
Kim Kyung-Won. (2005) “Downfall Delayed: Endgames for the North Korean regime.” Harvard International Review. 27(3), pp. 56-59.
Marcus Noland. (1997) “Why North Korea will muddle through.” Foreign Affairs. 76(4), pp. 105-118.
Tara O. (2016) The Collapse of North Korea: Challenges, Planning and Geopolitics of Unification. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Paul B. Stares and Joel S. Wit. (2009) Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea. Washington DC: Council on Foreign Relations.
The Korea Society. “Three Futures: North Korea and the Korean Peninsula.” 6 December 2022.
Ben Habib. (2022). “North Korea’s flurry of missile tests raises alarm – but are we seeing anything new?” The Conversation. 7 November 2022.
Ben Habib. (2022). “North Korea careens from floods to drought, straining an already fragile system.

Ben Habib is joined in this episode by Dr Nazanin Zadeh-Cummings, Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University in Melbourne.  We discuss the humanitarian sector, humanitarian aid in North Korea, transitional justice for a post-Kim DPRK, and reflect humorously on the North Korean studies community.  We also muse on living in Melbourne vs Hong Kong and Seoul, mental health in academia, and owning one’s mental health demons.

In this episode of the Edge Dwellers Cafe, Ben Habib is joined for special panel discussion with Anastasia Kanjere, Emily Foley, and Pan Karanikolas from the La Trobe Casuals Network, a volunteer group of casualised workers at La Trobe University who are dedicated to improving working conditions for casualised and insecure workers. The conversation explores the impacts of widespread precarity of workers in the university sector, systemic wage theft from casual staff, the deliberate evisceration of universities during the pandemic, and building collective power and a solidarity of care in university workplaces.

In this episode of the Edge Dwellers Cafe Podcast, I’m joined in this spirit of Utopia-inspired critical bewilderment by Sarah Houseman to talk about her PhD research into non-hierarchical organisations. We discuss the many functional problems that arise in hierarchical organisations, from power relationships to functional organisational stupidity and leadership cults. We also explore non-hierarchy and decentralisation as alternative organisational structures, along with the challenges faced by organisations transitioning from hierarchical to horizontal structures.

In this episode, Ben Habib is joined by Toad Dell and Guy Ritani from PermaQueer. PermaQueer is a collaborative project to share ecological sustainability methods through the lens of Permaculture, focusing on accessibility to and building resilience for traditionally marginalised communities. PermaQueer brings a queering, decolonising and trauma-informed approach to community-building. In 2021, PermaQueer won the LUSH Spring Prize for Social and Environmental Regeneration.
 
00:00:00  Introduction
00:03:45  Acknowledgement of Country.
00:05:39  Finding permaculture through need rather than through reputation.
00:09:14  Permaculture as a design methodology vs permaculture as a movement.
00:11:16  Women are the backbone of the permaculture community-building.
00:15:38  Queering permaculture and the genesis of PermaQueer.
00:22:24  PermaQueer as a network of resource redistribution.
00:25:07  Having privilege and being a pioneer 'species' in social ecosystems.
00:27:54  Understanding 'queering' and the diversity of queer peoples' lived experiences.
00:36:10  The unique aesthetics of PermaQueer's social media presence.
00:40:17  Value the edge, but only in right relationship to it.
00:44:30  Edge cultures and vulnerable people are not a resource to be selectively mined by the mainstream.
00:47:27  Trauma-informed and decolonial practice in permaculture and beyond.
00:56:50  Problematising the construct of 'whiteness'.
00:59:55  Scarcity as reality vs scarcity as mindset.
01:04:37  Critical reflection on the permaculture prophesy of energy descent.
01:12:23  TEDx as a platform for PermaQueer online events.
01:19:17  Queering isn't scary...a call to action.
01:23:41  Conclusion.
 
Show links
LUSH Spring Prize for Social and Environmental Regeneration 2021. “Winner: PermaQueer”.
“PermaQueer: Intentional Projects Award”. Vimeo.
“PermaQueer: Isn’t they lovely”. Permaculture Visions.
“PermaQueer: Guy Ritani and Toad Dell”. Growing Media Podcast.
TEDx PermaQueer: Community Responses to Climate Change.
TEDx PermaQueer: Cultural Responses to Climate Change.
Ray, SJ. (2021). “Climate Anxiety Is an Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon”. Scientific American. 21 March 2021.
Paxton, M. (2020). “In Good Tilth Perspectives: Hannah Breckbill”. Oregon Tilth. 24 November 2020.
Mahana Culture: Awakening Cultural Dignity..
 
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This podcast is broadcast from Naarm/Melbourne on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Edge Dwellers Cafe pays respect to their elders past, present and emerging.