&lt;p&gt;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.&amp;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.&amp;nbsp;From Marxism to liberalism and back again, this is a&amp;nbsp;conversation that brings political ideas to life.&amp;nbsp;Lea Ypi is Professor of&amp;nbsp;Political Theory at the LSE and &lt;a href=" https://bit.ly/3jjOf74" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Free &lt;/a&gt;has been shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talking Points:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albania was a socialist country that went through various alliances.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;By the time that Lea was born, it was largely isolated.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The dominant narrative was that Albania was a country surrounded by empires, which stood on the moral high-ground.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;In other words, it was socialist and anti-imperialist but also fiercely nationalist.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For Albania, the key year was not 1989 but 1990.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Initially, dissidents were described as ‘hooligans.’&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;In December 1990, protesters requested political pluralism.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do we conceptualize freedom?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;People in Western countries often relate to non-liberal societies by conceptualizing themselves as liberators.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What does freedom mean in a limit-case like Albania?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;There is a risk of paternalism in the dominant liberal conceptions of freedom. There are always margins of dissidence.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What does it feel like to suddenly gain freedom in the liberal sense? How does this affect relations between generations?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For Lea, freedom is about being the author of your own fate, even when it seems overdetermined.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Studying political ideas can make one a nihilist, or you can choose to believe that there is something about humans that is inherently moral.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;In other words, freedom is moral agency.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mentioned in this Episode:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320869/free/9780241481851.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Lea’s new book, &lt;em&gt;Free&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejop.12500" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Lea on political legitimacy in Marxist perspective&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/subjectobject-2-the-power-behind-the-throne-tickets-171074156407" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Book tickets for our upcoming event with Hilary Mantel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Further Learning:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;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"&gt;Lea in the Guardian on growing up in Europe’s last communist state&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b5455f0f-33a9-480e-9027-6884cc25faa4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;More on Albania after the fall of communism from the FT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/enver-hoxha-iron-fist-of-albania-blendi-fevziu-review" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;More on Enver Hoxha&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2019.1620825" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;More on the Albanian-Soviet split&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2020/233-states-of-emergency" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Lea talks to David and Helen about states of emergency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2018/120-francis-fukuyama" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;TP History of Ideas on Fukuyama and the ‘End of History’&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &amp;#10;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '&gt;See &lt;a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for privacy and opt-out information.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Become a member at &lt;a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics"&gt;https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

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Free with Lea Ypi

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