The Handover

David Runciman is Professor of Politics at Cambridge University and the former Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies. His previous books for Profile include Confronting Leviathan, Where Power Stops and How Democracy Ends. He writes regularly about politics for the London Review of Books and hosted the widely acclaimed weekly podcast Talking Politics.

Persuasive ... the ever-erudite host of the terrific Talking Politics podcast ... ranges far and wide, from hunter gatherers to Elon Musk, from the wisdom of juries to the (terrifying) implications of autonomous weapons systems
Runciman's erudition is formidable ... a wide-ranging history of the modern state and an exploration of how AI technology may change the world [from] one of our leading public intellectuals
Compelling ... David Runciman makes salutary arguments [about] the most urgent problem we face
Quirky, meditational, disturbing ... original thinking
Praise for David Runciman: 'A clear and forceful writer
Runciman's flair for turning a pithy and pungent phrase is one of the things to admire about his writing ... That and [his] cogency, subtlety and style
Refreshingly free of received and rehearsed wisdoms, Runciman doesn't tiptoe around sacred cows and invites us to take part in that most adult way of thinking: to examine contradictory ideas in tandem and ponder what the dissonance amounts to