The Scholars' Circle Interviews: Recent Episodes
The Scholars' Circle Interviews
The Greater Horn of Africa, in Northeastern Africa, faces severe food insecurity. In Sudan 19 million-plus people are facing acute hunger, including 825,000 children under five who are expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition in 2026. In addition, 12-14 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. What are the root causes and immediate effects of this famine? How can the world help address food insecurity in the region? [ dur: 27mins. ]
- Merry Fitzpatrick is Research Assistant Professor at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. She has more than 20 years of field experience in humanitarian response. She has worked with multiple humanitarian agencies, including the International Rescue Committee, GOAL Ireland, Food for the Hungry and World Concern. She is co-author of “Five levels of famine prevention: towards a framework for the twenty‐first century and beyond” and her latest, published in the Conversation, is “Conflict, climate, and disease form convergent crises in the Greater Horn of Africa”.
The United Kingdom has a new Prime Minister. He is the 7th Prime Minister in the last decade, a remarkable instability for the nation. Who is Andy Burnham? Why did he replace Kier Starmer? Why has the UK had such instability? Does Brexit play a role? Lastly, we explore Burnham’s leadership and its potential impacts on the future of the UK. [ dur: 31mins. ]
- Patrick Diamond is Professor in Pubic Policy in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. He is Chair of the think-tank Policy Network. He is the co-author of Warring Factions: Labour’s Civil Wars: How infighting has kept the Left from power (and what can be done about it) and author of The British Labour Party in Opposition and in Power 1979-2019: Forward March Halted?
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Sudd Dongre and Anna Lapin.
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Governance / Law, War, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Famine
Climate change will lead to climate migration. There has been a renewed interest in adaptation strategies. Mitigation efforts seek to limit the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment to slow climate change. But adaptation recognizes that the climate has changed and we as a society and as a planet must adapt to these rising temperatures and the changing ecosystem. We will explore some of the challenges for adaptation.
We Interview Jesse M.Keenan author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America. He surveys places which are vulnerable to climate change effects and what are the state and regional implication of migration North in America. [ dur: 26mins. ]
- Jesse M. Keenan is Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. His research advances the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable real estate and infrastructure finance and development. He is the author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America.
How is climate change affecting place, where we live, who can move off the coasts, and who is immobile despite living in climate-threatened zones? And what does it mean for the well-being, the economy, politics and for the regions themselves? [ dur: 32mins. ]
- Jesse M. Keenan is Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. His research advances the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable real estate and infrastructure finance and development. He is the author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America.
- Matt Hauer is Charles B. Nam Associate Professor, Department of Sociology – Center for Demography and Population Health at Florida State University. He is the co-author of Sea-level rise and human migration.
This program was originally recorded in Nov. 2025.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Sudd Dongre and Anna Lapin.
Environment, Financial, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Governance / Law, United States, Urbanism
The 2026 World Cup has finished and the final two teams, Spain and Argentina, have stirred up old notions of what we call soft power. Sports play a large role in how countries display their soft power, but it can often be confused for cooperation. Indeed all power is contested and soft power is no exception, and the contest is clear when two national teams meet in a sports contest.
Examples of soft power interactions in sports include the US beating the USSR in hockey in the 1980 Winter Games or the Soviets defeating the US in basketball at the 1972 Olympics during the height of the Cold War. No sport, however, garners more international interest than soccer (or what the rest of the world calls football). Our guests have written a new book that defines the Cold War rivalry through the lens of ten historic soccer matches. The book is called Cold War Football: A history in Ten matches. [ dur: 33mins. ]
- Tony Shaw is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Hertfordshire. He is the co-author of The American and Soviet Struggle for Hearts and Minds and Hollywood and Israel: a History.
- Alan McDougall is Professor of History at the University of Guelph. He is the author of Contested Fields; A Global History of Modern Football and Dreams and Songs to Sing: A People’s History of Liverpool FC from Shankly to Klopp.
We revisit the September 11th, 1973 coup in Chile that toppled democratically elected Salvador Allende and installed the dictator Augustin Pinochet. We’ll hear what happened, explore the latest revelations and how Chileans are dealing with their past now. [ dur: 25mins. ]
For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ
This interview was recorded September, 2014.
- John Dingus is Professor of Journalism at Columbia University. He is the author of The Condor Years: How Pinochet And His Allies Brought Terrorism To Three Continents and Our Man in Panama: How General Noriega Used the United States- And Made Millions in Drugs and Arms
- Peter Kornbluh directs the Cuba Documentation Project and the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archives. He is the author of The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana and The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Sudd Dongre, and Anna Lapin.
Politics and Activism, Diplomacy, Social Sciences, Organized Sports
At games played for the World Cup in Mexico, protesters have lined the stadium on behalf of Mexico’s disappeared. It is estimated that 135,000 people have disappeared in Mexico and there has been no accounting of them.
Desapardcidos protests by families of the missing during World Cup in Mexico City. Photo by D. Mora.Their families and loved ones want to know where they are or what happened. So we will explore this issue. Why has the number of disappeared surged in recent years in Mexico? Who are the disappeared? And what has the protest at games meant for a global public whose attention is on the country and are just learning of these disappeared. [ dur: 31mins. ]
- David Mora is Senior Analyst for Mexico with the International Crisis Group. He researches organised crime, violence, corruption and conflict. He has worked for VICE News, NBC News, ProPublica and The Atlantic. He has won prestigious awards for his coverage of migration, criminal violence and corruption in Mexico. He is the author of Mexico Struggles for Security under White House Duress and Killing of Mexican Cartel Boss Brings Diplomatic Victory and Domestic Mayhem
Beyond asylum seekers heading north, the problems of US/Mexico Border are also about the flow of guns and drugs. How can we understand the totality of problems related to the US southern border? What are the solutions? [ dur: 27mins. ]
We speak with Ieva Jusionyte, author of a new book Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border. [ dur: 26mins. ].
Note: This is an excerpt from the interview made in May, 2024. You can hear the full interview here.
- Ieva Jusionyte is a legal and medical anthropologist and associate professor at Brown University. She is also the author of award-winning ethnography Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. She has been studying borders, violence, and security in Latin America and the United States for over fifteen years.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Human Rights, Gun Lobby, Militarism, Mexico, Borders
It didn’t always cost this much and deliver this little. Something broke in the early 1980s—and in AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neoliberal Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 11, 2026 . You can use Promo-Code of HTWN at checkout to get 30% discount ), John E. McDonough explains exactly what it was.
The failings of the American healthcare system didn’t happen by accident. They happened because its already sprawling, fragmented structure—Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance, the VA, and more—left it uniquely exposed to a de-regulatory wave that moved fast and largely out of public view. A bedrock faith in free markets was let into the hen house, and the results are stark: the U.S. now spends more and delivers worse outcomes than any other wealthy nation on earth.
John McDonough watched neo-liberal economic agenda reshape American political thinking—often without recognizing the seismic nature of the shift in the moment. Its narrow focus on economic and business interests altered government’s role, drove consolidation across industries, deregulated the healthcare sector, and shifted corporate priorities away from consumer benefit and toward shareholder returns. [ dur: 36 mins. ]
- John McDonough is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a former Massachusetts state legislator who served thirteen years in the 1980s and 1990s as neo-liberalism was overtaking American political life. He has also co-authored Overcoming the Digital Divide in Health Care AI.
Then, many observers argue, that the economic forces are corrupting medical care and eroding the trust between patients and their doctors. The problems in health care delivery have wide implications related to how health care should function particularly when there are limited resources. We examine the ethics of medicine and healthcare, and the modern day issues that complicate them. [ dur: 22 mins. ]
Note: this segment is an excerpt from interview recorded on January 16, 2015. The complete version can be found here.
- Thomas Pogge is the Director of the Global Justice Program and Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University. His books include World Poverty and Human Rights and Freedom from Poverty: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?.
- Martin Wilkinson is Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. His books include Freedom, Efficiency and Equality and Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs.
- Richard Cookson is Professor at the Centre for Health Economics, and Co-Director of the Equity in Health Policy (Equipol) research group at the University of York. His books include The Humble Economist: Tony Culyer on Health, Health Care and Social Decision Making and Jonathan Bradshaw on Social Policy: Selected Writings 1972-2011.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Health, Politics and Activism, Healthcare Industry, Medicine, neo-liberal economics
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, Section 1 reads as follows: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” So all persons born in the US are citizens. We call this Birthright Citizenship. In Trump v Barbara, the US Supreme Court agreed. But only 5 of the 9 justices agreed. So what was the decision of the Court in this case, and what is the status of citizenship in the US? And how does it relate to the two asylum cases the Supreme Court decided, on temporary protective status or TPS and on where a person can claim asylum. On today’s show, we discuss the US and immigration and asylum. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Naomi Paik is Associate Professor of Global Asian Studies and Criminology, Law and Justice at University of Illinois, Chicago. She is the author of Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary: Understanding U.S. Immigration for the 21st Century and Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II, winner, Best Book in History.
- Gabriel “Jack” Chin is Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Legal Education at UC Davies School of Law. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited his work in two cases: Chaidez v. United States and Padilla v. Kentucky. And Justice Sotomyer has cited his law article in Utah v. Strieff. He is the co-author of Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation and author of A Nation of White Immigrants: State and Federal Racial Preferences for White Noncitizens.
- Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and his latest book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy.
- Anna Law holds the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She is the author of The Immigration Battle in American Courts and Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, Refugees, asylum seekers, birthright, Jurisdiction
If its June, its time for Supreme Court decisions. On today’s show we will explore recent rulings on two large topics. The first is the extent of the second amendment. That’s the gun rights Amendment and the right to bear arms. Then we will turn to the broad question, is the Constitution colorblind? What role does and should race play in Supreme Court decisions? [ dur: 58mins ]
- Robert J. Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Political Science Department at SUNY Cortland, New York. He is the author of Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules And Rights, The Politics of Gun Control, and The Gun Dilemma.
- Eric J. Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law and the Executive Director of Emmet J. Bondurant Center for Constitutional Law, Practice and Democracy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court Is Not a Court and Its Justices Are Not Judges.
- Carlton Larson is Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California at Davis. He is the author of The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial in America and One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, Gun Lobby, Gun Violence
The world is obsessed with the World Cup. Soccer, or what most of the world calls football, is the most popular sport across the globe. And no event captures more attention than the World Cup. And the host of the World Cup has the global attention on them throughout the tournament. This year’s tournament is the first to be hosted by three different countries, the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is a remarkable opportunity to build a nation’s image and reputation and build goodwill. But has this year’s World Cup and the controversies around it enhanced the images of these three nations? In particular, the tournament is taking place during a war where the country the US attacked, Iran, is playing in the US. Visa issues to enter the United States have dominated the news. And the high price of tickets for events have resulted in empty seats in stadiums. On today’s show, we will explore what is being called the “most political World Cup in history” and its impact on the hosts of the event. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Nick Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy, Global Communication Policy Fellow, Center for Communication Leadership and Policy at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World.
- Simon Rofe is the world’s first Professor of Sports Diplomacy at Cernegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University. He is a leading expert in Sports Diplomacy. He is the author of Sport and Diplomacy: Games Within Games.
- Daniel T. Durbin is a professor of communication and director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the USC Annenberg School of Communications. He is the author of “The Rules of Sport and the Rule of Rhetoric: Sport as Performative Public Discourse”.
- Lindsay Krasnoff Clinical Assistant Professor Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University. She is the author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA and The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010
A note: we are recording this on Friday, June 19.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Organized Sports
The War between Israel and the US on one side and Iran and Lebanon on the other is in its fourth month. Despite claims from the White House that a deal is imminent, the war and the destruction have continued. Indeed the concept of a cease fire is undermined with every attack. The global economy is struggling with the increased energy costs due to the closing of the Straits of Hormuz. And people continue to die. So on today’s show we update the news on the war, explore any potential pathways to end the war and examine the impact of the war particularly on both Iran and Lebanon. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Yeghia Tashjian is the Regional and International Affairs Cluster Coordinator of Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs (IFI) and a part time Instructor at American University of Beirut. He is the author “The International North-South Transport Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative in the South Caucasus,” published in the edited volume of Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia (2025).
- Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus at City University of New York. He is the author of A History of Modern Iran and Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran and Syria.
- Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of numerous publications including Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism, Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution co-authored with Jacob Mundy.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, War / Weapons, Middle East, Iran, Israel, Lebanon , US
Africa once again has an Ebola outbreak. At this point, it is centered in the so-called Greak Lakes region, with the largest number of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda has also seen several cases. Sadly this is not new news. But it takes place in the context of a weakened World Health Organization, with the US withdrawal, and a stark memory of the Covid outbreaks. It also is exacerbated by the shuttering of USAID and severe cuts in health funding from the Trump Administration. The United States is insisting that any American that tests positive for the virus would be treated outside of the country, provoking protests in East Africa such as in Kenya. So is the Ebola outbreak a potential pandemic? What has been the most effective means to treat these kinds of outbreaks. And how does it influence the current intense discourses about health care delivery and wellness in the United States. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Heather Wipfli is Professor and Clark Leadership Chair in Global Health at the University of Maryland. She is the co-author of Investigating global mental health: Contributions from political science and Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty. And she has extensive experience in Uganda.
- Lawrence Gostin is Faculty Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and is the Founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown Law. He is the co-editor of Global Health Security: A Blueprint for the Future and Global Health Law & Policy: Ensuring Justice for a Healthier World (2023). And he is working with the WHO and the Intergovernmental Negotiation Body (INB) to draft a Pandemic Treaty. His opinion posted in Washington Post titled – “Don’t tell Trump, but the U.S. is still a WHO member” and in The Hill where he co-authored “America’s wrong and unlawful response to Ebola must pivot“.
- Amesha Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is the author of Recognition and Management of Infectious Bio-threats and Emerging Pathogens and AI and the Future of Medical Countermeasures to Protect Against Biological Threats. He has served on US government panels tasked with developing guidelines for the treatment of plague, botulism, and anthrax in mass casualty settings, the system of care for infectious disease
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Health, Infectious Diseases, Public Health and Safety, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Donald Trump has asserted himself with the power of the US into multiple ceasefires and conflict negotiations. How does this comport with US policy historically? What might be his motivation? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Amy Skonieczny Professor at San Francisco State University in the International Relations Department. She is the author of a book chapter titled The Trump Shock: Populism and Changing Narratives of US Foreign Policy and author of Globalization and The Occupy Movement: Media Framing of Economic Protest
- Mary Jane Parmentier is a clinical professor in the School for the Future of Innovation and Society, and the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. Her publication appears in Teaching Global Development edition. Author of article Cross-National Active Learning in Global Development Studies: De-Colonizing the Curriculum .
- Lui Hebron, formerly of California State University. He is the editor of Asian Security in the Age of Globalization.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism , Peace / Nonviolence, War / Weapons
Robert Redford’s passing reminds us that perhaps his greatest legacy is his support for independent film. So on today’s show, what is the impact of independent film on the industry? How has independent film changed in recent years. How has the major shift toward streaming affected our access to independent films? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Cynthia Baron is a Professor of Arts in Department of Theater & Film at Bowling Green State University. She is the author of Modern Acting: The Lost Chapter of American Film and Theatre and Acting Indie – Industry, Aesthetics, and Performance.
- Sherry B. Ortner is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at UCLA. She is the author of Not Hollywood: Independent Film at the Twilight of the American Dream and Screening Social Justice – Brave New Films and Documentary Activism.
- Dan Mirvish ( website ) is a director, screenwriter, producer and author. His films include 18 1/2 and Bernard and Huey. He is the author of The Cheerful Subversive’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking. He is also co-founder of Slamdance film festival showcasing independent films.
Suggestions of films made by independent film makers which broke new grounds in film making:
- Dan Mirvish : Bong Joon Ho’s ( link ) first film: Barking Dogs Never Bite , Chris Nolan’s ( link ) first film: Following the film that beat Chris’ film Following at Slamdance, Chi Girl by Heidi Van Lier another one I mentioned was Low, directed by Lise Raven, produced by Frank Hudec ( link ), Omaha (the movie) by Dan Mirvish.
- Sherry B. Ortner : Anything by Kirby Dick ( link ) and Charles Ferguson ( link ) – Inside Job . Documentaries from Brave New Films.
- Cynthia Baron : Films by Debra Granik film Winter’s Bone, films by Gus Van Sant ( link ), Films in the archive of LA rebellion ( link ) among them Charles Burnett ( link ), Juli Dash ( link ), Monona Wali ( link ) and Haile Gerima ( link ).
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Political violence is on the rise, we get insight into why it happens and ways to mitigate it’s occurrence. With scholars of politics, social inquiry and criminal justice. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Roger Petersen is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at MIT. He is the author of Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe, Death, Domination, and State-Building: The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, and Emotions and backlash in US society and politics.
- David L. Altheide is a Regents Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. He is the author of Terrorism and the Politics of Fear, The Media Syndrome and Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump.
- Brian Levin is Director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism and Professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, San Bernardino. He is co-author of the book The Limits of Dissent and co-author of the publications Report to the nation: hate crimes rise in US cities and counties in time of division and foreign interference, Posing the Why Question: Understanding the perpetration of racially motivated violence and harassment, and Fact Sheet: Anti-Asian Prejudice 2020 (March 2, 2021).
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
How does the US Supreme Court decision to allow ICE to target immigrants based on language, accent, race, and employment affect the sweeps of undocumented immigrants in the US. And what are the social and economic impacts of Trump’s deportation policy? [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and his latest book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy.
- Tony Payan, Ph.D., is the Claudio X. Gonzalez Fellow in U.S.-Mexico Studies, the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and the executive director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. his publications include, Social and Economic Effects of Expanded Deportation Measures and TN Visa’s Role in the US Labor Market and Its Uncertain Future
Museums are changing their approach to exhibiting Native American artifacts. What is the new model and what is the impact? [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Alaka Wali is the Curator of North American Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. She is co-editor of The Future is Indigenous: Stories from the Native North American Hall at the Field Museum.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
As part of an ongoing attack on free expression, Donald Trump is trying to criminalize flag burning. Is this proposed ban constitutional? [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Dennis Baron is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a frequent commentator on language issues in the national media and has written a number of popular books, including What’s Your Pronoun? (2020).
Then, why is child care in America so expensive? This vital service that is so crucial for child and community development is among American families’ largest expenses. And why is child care so underfunded by the government? We speak with Elliot Haspel, author of Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Elliot Haspel is a nationally recognized child care policy expert, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita. He’s the author of Crawling Behind America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, but today we’re going to talk about his new book. The new book is entitled, Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. Elliott Hospital is currently pursuing his PhD in early childhood policy at the University of Colorado, Denver.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
The Trump Administration is using the Alien Enemies Act to seize Venezuelans and ship them to a notorious prison El Salvador without due process. What can be done to protect and uphold the rule of law and human rights in the face of the Trump Administration’s rejection of them? What are some means of legal and political resistance when human rights are being violated? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jennifer Selin is Associate Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She’s written numerous articles, and in particular, Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador sparks light Legal questions likely to reach the Supreme Court.
- Victor Narro is Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies. He teaches immigration law and is author of The Activist Spirit – Toward a Radical Solidarity and No One Size Fits All: Worker Organization, Policy, and Movement in a New Economic Age (Cornell University Press, 2018) and others.
- Andrea Pitzer is an author and podcaster. She’s written One Long Night, a global history of concentration camps. This traces the idea of mass civilian detention without trial from its beginnings through Auschwitz and beyond, including up to today. She’s also the host of the podcast, Next Comes What.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Recorded April, 2025.
Will the so called peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan legitimize ethnic cleansing? Will it bring peace to the two nations? Or is it a recipe for future conflict?
Military aggression and violations of of the notion of sovereignty have marked the conflicts in the South Caucuses region over the last three decades. Will the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue this trend or will it avert claims to sovereignty?
This agreement between Armenia & Azerbaijan brings the US directly into the South Caucuses. Will American answer the call if there is further military violence? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond and her latest book The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia .
- Narek Sukiasyan is Lecturer at the American University of Armenia. He specializes in foreign and security policy of Armenia and Armenia-Russia affairs. His publications include The Manifestations of Sunni Radicalism in Azerbaijan and Territorial Autonomy and Secession as Strategies of Conflict Management: Case of Nagorno Karabakh.
- Steve Swerdlow, Esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch in both the Central Asian region and in the Caucuses. He is the author of Commentary: Who’s Coming To Prague Castle For Dinner?.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
After nearly two years of a war on Gaza, some countries in the West have indicated that they intend to recognize Palestine as its own state. What would such recognition mean for the conflict and how can the war end? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Carlton University. She is the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and co-editor (with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper) of Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates.
- Omar Dajani is Carol Olsen Professor of International Law at the University of the Pacific. He is the editor of FEDERALISM AND DECENTRALIZATION IN THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAST and Rethinking Oslo: How Europe can promote peace in Israel-Palestine. Omar Dajanhi was part of the Palestinian negotiation team at Camp David II in 2000 and has worked with the UN in peacebuilding initiatives, with a particular emphasis on building legal and judicial reforms in Palestinian governance.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
First, will Donald Trump’s and the republican party’s efforts to redraw electoral maps give them a permanent majority? [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy.
Then, during the so called “dirty war,” Argentina’s military dictatorship kidnapped and disappeared its own citizens. But a dedicated group of activists, mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, dedicated their lives to finding those who were stolen from their families. Who were the Abuelas of the Playa de Mayo? And what happened in their quest to reunite the disappeared with their families? We speak with the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children. [ dur: 34mins. ]
- Haley Cohen Gilliland is a journalist and the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. She is the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Congress has now clawed back the funding it had allocated for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. What does this mean for the future of publicly funded broadcasting in the USA? How will it affect news, public affairs and other vital information delivery?
We will explore the role of public broadcasting in a democracy. What role does money play at ensuring an independent media? What is the status of public funding and even government owned media throughout the democratic world? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Victor Pickard is the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy and also the co-director of the Media Inequality and Change Center At the University of Pennsylvania. He’s the author of Democracy Without Journalism, Confronting the Misinformation Society. And America’s battle for media democracy, the triumph of corporate libertarianism, and the future Of media reform.
- Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin is Associate Professor with the School of Public Service’s Global Studies program and the Frank and Bethany Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs for the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. She has written, Decoding the Digital Church, Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump and last month published PBS and NPR are generally unbiased, independent of government propaganda And provide key benefits to U.S. Democracy.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Arts and Humanities, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Communication, Radio Arts
Israel used devices loaded onto personal communications devices like pagers to launch attacks against the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The bombs detonated throughout Lebanon, and killed several Hezbollah members while wounding countless others. What was Israel’s motivation in using such an unorthodox approach to attack its adversaries? Is it acceptable to use these devices under international humanitarian and human rights law? And what does this attack indicate for the future of conflict between Israel and Lebanon, in particular with Hezbollah. [ dur:27mins. ]
- Brandon Valeriano is Assistant Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University. He is the co-author of Cyber Strategy: The Evolving Character of Cyber Power and Coercion and Cyber War versus Cyber Realities: Cyber Conflict in the International System.
In recent weeks Israel has targeted attacks on several leaders of HAMAS, in a variety of states. These targeted assassinations are part of its war against the organization. In 2020, the US assassinated Qassem Souleimani, a leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and also a protected member of the state. While defenders of the attacks cite these as part of an ongoing Global War on Terror, critics cite these assassinations as violations of international law. We will explore when states assassinate the leaders of other states or organizations representing states and populations. [ dur: 31mins. ]
- John B. Quigly is a Professor of Law Emeritus at Ohio State University. He is the author of Palestine Is a State: A Horse with Black and White Stripes Is a Zebra and The International Diplomacy of Israel’s Founders: Deception at the United Nations In the Quest for Palestine.
- Mary Ellen O’Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Professor of International Peace Studies—Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of The Art of Law in the International Community, co-author of Self-Defence Against Non-State Actors and author of Assassination is always unlawful – Regardless of who is Killed and on whose Orders (in the Conversation)..
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Cyber operations and cyber threats have become a greater fear in world politics and everyday life. But just how much of a threat are they? And how have they changed the way nations interact and conduct diplomacy? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 26mins. ]
- Brandon Valeriano is Assistant Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.
He is the co-author of Cyber Strategy: The Evolving Character of Cyber Power and Coercion and Cyber War versus Cyber Realities: Cyber Conflict in the International System.
Then, greenwashing culture. How journalism, the entertainment industry and museums impact our environment. Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Toby Miller is Distinguished Professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Riverside and Director of the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. He is the author and editor of over 40 books. His numerous publications include, Greenwashing Culture, Greenwashing Sports, The Routledge Companion to Global Cultural Policy (co-editor), and The Sage Companion to Television Studies (co-editor).
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
School shootings have sadly become a part of American life over the last two decades. From the 2000–01 to 2021–22 school years, there were 1,375 school shootings at public and private elementary and secondary schools, resulting in 515 deaths and 1,161 injuries. What are the causes of all of this violence? What are the best ways to address this epidemic of violence, and stop these shootings? How effective can citing parents as liable and even bring charges against them when children shoot other children. [ dur: 34mins. ]
- Ron Avi Astor holds the Marjorie Crump Chair Professorship in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a joint appointment in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He is the co-author of Bullying, School Violence and Climate in Evolving Context and An eighteen‑year longitudinal examination of school victimization and weapon use in California secondary schools.
Mass shootings in the Unites States are unprecedented in advanced industrial democracies. We explore the psychological impact of these shootings on the survivors and witnesses, with a particular attention to the children who experience this trauma. What are effective actions to confront the traumas experienced by the children who survive school shootings? Overwhelming the response of mass shootings is to “do something.” But what should we as a society and as an electorate do in response to these mass shootings? [ dur: 24mins. ].
This is an excerpt from our June, 2022 interview, listen to the complete interview visit the post here.
- Karla Vermeulen is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health and an Associate Professor of Psychology at SUNY New Paltz.She is the author of Generation Disaster: Coming of Age Post-9/11 and co-editor of Disaster Mental Health Case Studies: Lessons Learned from Counseling in Chaos.
- Robin Gurwitch is a Professor in the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is Senior Advisor for the Terrorism and Disaster Program of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. She is the co-author of Children in Disasters and Trauma-Directed Interaction (TDI): An Adaptation to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Families with a History of Trauma. Resource – National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Talking to children about shooting.
- Heather Littleton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado, at Colorado Springs, and Research Director at the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience. She is the co-author of “PTSD near and far: Symptom networks from two to 12 months after the Virginia Tech campus shootings.” And “Can people benefit from acute stress? Social support, psychological improvement, and resilience after the Virginia Tech campus shootings” as well as numerous publications on sexual violence and the trauma of the LGBTQI+ community.
More resources are available at:https://www.newpaltz.edu/idmh/https://www.nctsn.org/resources/talking-children-about-shooting
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
States have legal requirements to receive refugees and can return them after a conflict ends. But does this mean there is a right of return? What are the conditions of the right of return? Is it conditional on the provision of security for the state to which they are returning? [ dur: 40mins. ]
- Susan Akram is Clinical Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. She directs Boston University Laws International Human Rights Clinic. Her published works include International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: a Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace, “A Comparative Perspective on Safe Third and First Country of Asylum Policies in the United Kingdom and North America: Legal Norms, Principles and Lessons Learned” and Palestinian Refugees.
How do birds, bees, whales and turtles use the earths magnetic field to guide their behavior? [ dur: 18mins. ]
- Andres Vidal Gadea is Professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University. He is the co-author of Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans and Factors that influence magnetic orientation in C. elegans. JCPA.
For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Kamala Harris declared that the Palestinians must live in dignity, security and have self determination. But what is the right of self determination? How has it been practiced legally and practically throughout history? And does self determination mean independence? [dur: 30mins.]
- Hurst Hannum is Professor of International Law Emeritus, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is the author of, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights, and co-author of, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice and Negotiating Self-Determination.
While the US Civil War ended slavery, it didn’t end the political issues that caused the war. What exactly happened in the immediate aftermath of the war?
The political divide in the US from the Civil War persists today. We discuss the history of the period and its impact on contemporary politics with the author of the new book by Jeremi Suri, Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy . [ dur: 28 mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood, the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office , Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy and the his new book, Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
What led to the overthrow of Bangladesh’s leader Sheikh Hasina? Were they political, economic, or social reasons? Or the promises of what advocates are calling a “second wave of independence”?
What does the new Bangladeshi government need to build upon this political moment? What can the government do to successfully democratize and economically develop the nation? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Ali Riaz is Distinguished Professor at the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University. He is the author of Pathways of Autocratization – The tumultuous journey of Bangladesh politics.
- Mathilde Maitrot Senior Lecturer, Department of Social & Policy Sciences Centre for Development Studies at the University of Bath. She is the co-author of an article Discipline, development and duress: the art of winning an election in Bangladesh.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
With the upcoming election Democrats have proposal to reform Supreme Court with term limits, ethics oversight and many more. Our panel look at how and why people are concerned over the influence peddling related to recent decisions. Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 35mins. ]
- Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include, most recently, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, and The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State (with Howard Gillman).
- Andrew Koppelman is John Paul Stevens Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Increasingly Dangerous Variants of the “Most-Favored-Nation” Theory of Religious Liberty and The Supreme Court and the new religious aristocracy in the Hill.
Why do states choose to use third parties to intervene in other nation’s civil wars and political conflicts? On today’s show we interview Andrew Mumford on the legality, efficacy, and implications of the waging of proxy warfare. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 21 mins. ].
This interview was recorded in February 2020.
- Andrew Mumford is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at The University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author about Proxy Warfare Counterinsurgency Wars and the Anglo-American Alliance.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
We explore the choice of Kamala Harris as the Democratic party’s candidate despite not running in primaries, the choice of President Biden to withdraw from the race, whether he should step down and what the decision means for age and service in the US, and some of the policy implications such as Supreme Court reform and foreign policy. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
- Peter F. Trumbore is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Oakland University. He is the author of Brexit, the Border, and Political Conflict Narratives in Northern Ireland, with Andrew Owsiak. and Running on Foreign Policy? Examining the Role of Foreign Policy Issues in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 Congressional Campaigns.
- Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of many publications including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and, with Cynthia Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Farming around the world, and in particular in the US, has increasingly become centralized as large factory farming. What are the environmental, social, and philosophical implications of this mode of agricultural production? [ dur: 58mins. ]
Factory farming carry significant challenges on environmental protection, on pricing and the centralization of wealth, and on social issues such as animal welfare and animal rights. We discuss agricultural policies and the environmental impacts including carbon emission, climate change and pollution.
- John Ikerd is author, speaker and leader in sustainability. He is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri. He is the author of the books Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense, Small Farms are Real Farms: Sustaining People Through Agriculture, Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture, and The Essentials of Economic Sustainability. Other publications – Factory Farms–Things Everyone Should Know and Economic Realities of CAFOs.
- Kendra Coulter is Professor of Management and Organizational Studies at Huron University College and Fellow at Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She is the co-author of “Animal Protection: Organizational Constraints and Collaborative Opportunities,” author of Looking Forward to a Future Without Factory Farming, and Defending Animals: Inside the Front Lines of Animal Protection (forthcoming MIT Press, 2023)
- Gary L. Francione is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers University and Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lincoln (UK). He is the author of Why Veganism Matters: The Moral Value of Animals, The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation? and Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation.
This show was recorded Aug, 2022.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.
We interview the author of a new book CALIFORNIA, A SLAVE STATE (Yale University Press; June 27, 2023). Professor Jean Pfaelzer shows that, since the very first colonizers crossed the border, the Golden State was and still is powered by slavery – a piece of American history that many still try to bury. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans, (Random House; University of California Press) as well Parlor Radical: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Origins of American Social Realism and The Utopian Novel in America. She lives in Washington, DC.
This interview was recorded July 2023.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Autocratic regimes often use people throughout the population to serve as informants. Why do people choose to become an informant and collaborate with autocracies? And what constitutes justice against these informants once the state democratizes? We discuss a new book on the topic Informers Up Close with its authors Mark Drumbl and Barbora Hola. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Mark Drumbl is Professor at Washington and Lee University, School of Law, and Director of the University’s Transnational Law Institute. He is the author of Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law , Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy and he is the co-editor of Sights, Sounds and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecution with Caroline Fournet.
- Barbora Hola, Senior Researcher, NSCR & Professor Department of Criminal Law & Criminology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is a Senior Researcher at the NSCR. She has an interdisciplinary focus and studies transitional justice after atrocities, in particular (international) criminal trials, sentencing of international crimes, rehabilitation of war criminals and life after trial at international criminal tribunals. She is co-editor of Punishment in International Society: Norms, Justice, and Punitive Practices.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Private Military Corporations have become a growing element of the warfighting landscape. States have historically had a monopoly on the use of military force. But private corporations challenge this monopoly. How much do they increase the lethality and likelihood of war? How much can private corporations be regulated? And what are the challenges to regulation? We explore the political, military, legal, and socioeconomic implications of private military corporations. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Ori Swed is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Texas Tech University. He is the editor of The Sociology of Privatized Security with Thomas Crosby. He is the author of “The Afghanistan War’s Legacy: The Reimagining of the Outsourcing of War and Security” and “No Accounting for Bad Contracting: Private Military and Security Contracts and Ineffective Regulation in Conflict Areas“
- Sorcha MacLeod is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen and member of the United Nations Working Group on the use of Mercenaries. She is the author of Certifying Private Security Companies: Effectively Ensuring the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights?, Defining private security accountability and Regulating human rights in the context of outsourcing military logistics and armed security.
- Christopher Kinsey is Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. He is the author of International Law and the Control of Mercenaries and Private Military Companies, Turning war into business: Private security companies and commercial opportunism and the book Corporate Soldiers and International Security: The Rise of Private Military Companies
- Anna Leander is Professor and Chair of the International Relations and Political Science Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is the author of The Power to Construct International Security: On the Significance of Private Military Companies and Militarization matters: rhetorical resonances and market militarism. She is co-editor of Handbook of Private Military-Security Companies with Rita Abrahamsen.
This interview was recorded in July 2023.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
The criminal indictments of former President Trump have created a political crisis in their unprecedented nature. Historically, U.S. presidents have not faced criminal charges, even in cases where there is a high likelihood of guilt, in large part due to respect for the office. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon embodies this norm.
What can the U.S. learn from other countries that have prosecuted former presidents? And what can we learn from American history about the prosecutions of political figures? Is the prosecution of former heads of state simply the weaponization of justice mechanisms? And how common is this political charge? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
- Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of the books The Endurance of National Constitutions, Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes,and co-author of the paper The Comparative Constitutional Law of Presidential Impeachment.
- Ezequiel González Ocantos is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations, and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College, at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America, The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America: Power, Norms and Capability Building, and co-author of Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America(w/ Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao & Viviana Baraybar).
This interview was recorded August, 2023.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
The rise of the religious right or Christian Nationalism aided in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and has been a significant voting bloc ever since. How much is this movement driving American politics? How organized are the groups that comprise the movement? And what exactly is its political agenda? [ dur: 35mins. ]
- Katherine Stewart is the author of a new book, THE POWER WORSHIPPERS: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. She is an investigative reporter and author who has covered religious liberty, politics, policy, and education for over a decade. She is also the author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.
Churches and congregations are facing decreased attendance and low enthusiasm from younger populations. How has civic engagement built their numbers? Doug Becker explores with the author of a new book – Faith and Community: How Engagement Strengthens Members, Places of Worship, and Society.on the topic. [dur: 23mins. ]
- Rebecca A. Glazier is Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the Director of the Little Rock Congregations Study and author of Faith and Community: How Engagement Strengthens Members, Places of Worship, and Society.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
We discuss with John Vile his book Encyclopedia of Presidential Vetoes from Washington through to Biden – History, Subjects, and Procedures. [ dur: 29mins. ]
- John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action, Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2015, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
What are its legal, social, and political limitations of free speech? How does the advent of social media and concerns over misinformation have an impact on the exercise of free speech? And how do the new developments of free speech and its limits have an impact on the First Amendment protections? We discuss a new book You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech with its author Dennis Baron. [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Dennis Baron is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a frequent commentator on language issues in the national media and has written a number of popular books, including What’s Your Pronoun? (2020).
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
While much of the world is in a democratic backslide, some nations’ democracies are thriving. What do the elections in Mexico, South Africa, and India portend? We will examine the election of these three leading Global South nations, the impact of dominant parties losing some support, and the general state of democracy in each nation. How might the policies change? What was the impact of leadership personalities in the democratic developments in Mexico, South Africa and India? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Emily Edmonds-Poli is Professor of Political Science and International Relations, and Director of the Chapman Family Foundation International Program at the University of San Diego. She is the author of Contemporary Mexican Politics.
- Ritu Mathur is Professor of International Relations at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
- Carin Runciman is Senior Lecturer in the School Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. She is co-author of Decolonising and re-theorising the meaning of democracy: A South African perspective.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
For the first time since the nations founding a former President was convicted of a felony. What does the criminal conviction mean for Trumps ability to run for President and to govern if he wins? And why does the US have such a challenge in prosecuting former Presidents, when it has a history of prosecuting other former office holders? What does the term lawfare mean? And does this conviction make the US democracy more fragile or stronger? [ dur: 58mins. ]
Alan Z. Rozenshtein is Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School. He is the Senior Editor for Lawfare and is author of The First Amendment Is No Defense for Trump’s Alleged Crimes and The Virtuous Executive. He is a senior editor at Lawfare, his articles can be found here.
Peter M. Shane, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Professor of Law, New York University. He is the author of Democracy’s Chief Executive: Interpreting the Constitution and Defining the Future of the Presidency and host of Democracy’s Chief Executive: The Podcast.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
What challenges and crises are the sudden death of Iran’s president and his succession revealing? What’s happening inside the country? What’s happening with Iran internationally?
We speak with four Iranian scholars on Iran’s political system, internal politics, social and political repression and alienation between state and society. How much of Iran’s foreign policy is driven by domestic issues and how much of it is a reaction to external actors, most notably the United States? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Saeid Golkar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is the author of Captive Society: The Basij Mobilization and Social Control in Post-Revolutionary Iran” (Columbia University Press, 2015).
- Siavush Randjbar-Daemi is a Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History, Univ. of St. Andrews in UK. He is the author of a book report The quest for authority in Iran: a history of the presidency from revolution to Rouhani and many articles including Building the Islamic state: The draft constitution of 1979 reconsidered.
- Nayereh Tohidi is Professor Emerita in the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is the author of Women’s Rights and Feminist Movements in Iran.
- Ervand Abrahamian is Distinguished Professor at Baruch College at City University of New York. He is the author of A History of Modern Iran and Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran and Syria.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
With massive protests on university campuses over the war in Gaza, universities have chosen to aggressively and violently break up the protests putting student protesters at risk. How does non-violent protest turn to violence at the hands of the police? How have national politics driven the responses to student protests? As university space has become more contested, particularly by political forces on the right, what do violent responses to protests mean for university values of free speech?
We speak with three university professors and one student about their experiences at their respective campuses. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
- Mark LeVine is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History in the Department of History at UC Irvine. He is the author of Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil and Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Soul of Islam. He is also the co-editor of One Land, Two States: Israel and Palestine as Parallel States and Religion and Social Practices and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies.
- David S. Meyer is Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, and Design. He is the author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America and co-editor of The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement.
- Jack Leff is Post Doc and instructor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His PhD dissertation is An Alchemy of Smoke and Flame: The Politics of Tear Gas Use Against Social Movements in the United States. He is an active political organizer interested in prison abolition.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
With its 1.4 billion population and a billion registered voters, India stands as the world’s largest democracy and 5th largest economy. India is holding national elections, which will decide its leaders for the next five years. What are the role of its institutions in supporting democracy and how are their elections conducted? What is the state of India’s democracy and what are its big challenges? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Ritu Mathur is Professor of International Relations at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
- Sandipto Dasgupta is Assistant Professor of Politics at New School of Social Research. He is the author of Legalizing the Revolution – India and the Constitution of the Postcolony
- Amit Ahuja is Assciate Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements and Internal Security in India – Violence, Order, and the State
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Since 2020, Azerbaijan has attacked the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, and in September 2023 ethnically cleansed them from their historic homeland.
Armenia has taken legal action against Azerbaijan claiming numerous violations of international law. What legal actions have been taken at both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. What are the causes of action and what might the consequences and impacts of these legal actions be?
Armenia is under intense pressure to negotiate a permanent peace with Azerbaijan. How could this normalize and legitimize Azerbaijan’s aggression? And what does it signal to aggressors internationally about the likelihood of punishment for this aggression? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Tamara Voskanian is a cofounder of the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ), a nonprofit organization that documents atrocities and uses the evidence to bring perpetrators to justice. Last month Tamara represented CFTJ at the UN Committee Against Torture.
- Talin Hitik is an international human rights advocate focused on seeking accountability for war crimes and human rights violations. She also has worked as a legal officer at the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the Permanent Court of Arbitration and has served at the Ministry of Justice of Armenia, managing the European Court of Human Rights litigation department. She was a professor of international human rights and humanitarian law at American University of Armenia and Yerevan State University and most recently, was an Academic Affiliate at the University of Michigan Law School.
- Steve Swerdlow, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch in both the Central Asian region and in the Caucuses.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Beyond asylum seekers heading north, the problems of US/Mexico Border are also about the flow of guns and drugs. How can we understand the totality of problems related to the US southern border? What are the solutions?
We speak with Ieva Jusionyte the author of a new book Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Ieva Jusionyte is a legal and medical anthropologist and associate professor at Brown University. She is also the author of award-winning ethnography Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. She has been studying borders, violence, and security in Latin America and the United States for over fifteen years.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
With wars still raging in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, we return to an earlier interview on the origins of war. When and how did war begin?
While some have argued it evolved in early human behavior within forging bands societies, our guests say, that’s not true. Forger bands did not wage war. [ dur: 30 mins. ]
- Douglas P. Fry is Professor and Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Beyond War, The Human Potential for Peace, and Nurturing Our Humanity, co-authored with Riane Eisler.
- Robert L. Kelley is Professor of Anthropology at University of Wyoming. He is the author of The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers, The Foraging Spectrum, and The Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell us About Our Future.
We continue this conversation by exploring how war and violent conflict might be resolved. [ dur: 28 mins. ]
- Douglas P. Fry is Professor and Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Beyond War, The Human Potential for Peace, and Nurturing Our Humanity, co-authored with Riane Eisler.
- Mari Fitzduff, Professor of International program of coexistence and conflict, Brandeis University; Author of The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts: From War to Peace
- Douglas Noll, lawyer, mediator peacemaking. Author of Peacemaking: Practicing at the Intersection of Law and Human Conflict
Websites mentioned : University of North Calorina Greensboro studies of Peaceful Societies and an example of building a Peaceful society organization.
This recording was produced Nov. 2013.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
April is Genocide Awareness month. Two of the worst genocides in history, the Hutu killing of Tutsis in Rwanda and the Ottoman genocide against Armenians, began in April. We explore genocide with two specific questions: Who internationally makes a determination that violence and atrocities are in fact genocide? And what if anything changes when there is a finding that atrocities are genocide?
We explore whether a legal approach is the best way to determine whether political violence and atrocities are genocide or is a political or social approach more effective. And does discourse on genocide crowd out discussions of other crimes, such as war crimes? We draw insights from history and contemporary issues. [ dur: 42mins. ]
- Keith David Watenpaugh is Professor and Director of Human Rights Studies at the University of California at Davis. He is the author of Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class and the award-winning Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism. He is a recipient of Human Rights Educator USA award for implementing Article 26 Backpack for Refugees.
- Mark Drumbl is Professor at Washington and Lee University, School of Law, and Director of the University’s Transnational Law Institute. He is the author of Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law , Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy and he is the co-editor of Sights, Sounds and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecution with Caroline Fournet.
When does democracy have a dark side? Our guest says that majorities can and do oppress minorities in the name of majoritarian democracy. [ dur: 16mins. ]
- Michael Mann is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at UCLA. He is the author of the four volume The Sources of Social Power, Fascists and The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
The expansion of the vote to women throughout the 20th Century has had an impact on the discourses and politics of war and peace. What is the relationship between women voting, electing women leaders, and women-lead groups in civil society on the issue of war and peace?
Does the expansion of the vote to women lead to the election of women as leaders? And are these leaders more committed to peace than their male counterparts? We explore a new book, The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War..[ dur: 58mins. ]
- Joslyn Barnhart is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is also senior research scientist at Deep Mine in London. She is the author of The consequences of humiliation, anger, and status, threats in international politics
- Robert F. Trager is a Professor in the political science department at the University of California, Los Angeles. He’s the author of a forthcoming book Diplomacy Communication and the Origins of International Order
Together they have authored The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
We look at how to sustainably mitigate urban flooding in the mist of climate crisis.
Altering how we think of hardscape in urban design to manage water drainage. [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Gary Brierley is Professor of Environment at University of Auckland, NZ. He is the author of River restoration as a sociocultural process: A case study from the Waimatā Catchment, Aotearoa New Zealand and Truths of the Riverscape: Moving beyond command-and-control to geomorphologically informed nature-based river management
- Timothy Welch is a senior lecturer on Architecture and Planning at University of Auckland, NZ.
Then we look at Land Back movement to repossess land by local farmers taken by corporations and state. Book author David E. Gilbert interview of his book Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land – A Social Movement Ethnography. Specifically, looking at Land Back effort in Casiavera village on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This is one of many Land Back movements in the world. [ dur:28mins. ]
You can find other land back movements at La Via Campesina website, which supports Food Sovereignty among Pheasant Farmers.
- David Gilbert is postdoctoral research fellow in the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelonais. He is an environmental anthropologist with a special interest in social movements, ecological change, and post-development theory.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Title IX, the landmark legislation on women’s equality in higher education, was passed to equalize funding between men’s and women’s athletics. What has it achieved? Where does it fall short?
When some schools failed to implement Title IX for athletics, activists sued. We look at the landmark cases and what they have achieved. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Lisa S. Kaplowitz is Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Finance and Economics department at Rutgers Business School. She is co-founder and Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business. She is the author of the opinion article Title IX increased opportunities for women athletes, but there’s still work to do and Thought Leadership: How men can advance gender equity at work.
- Bonnie J. Morris, Lecturer, Department of History at University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Feminist Revolution, the award winning Women’s History for Beginners and What’s the Score? 25 years of Teaching Women’s Sports History.
- Nancy Hogshead-Makar is faculty at Rutgers-New Brunswick Global Business and Sports MS Program. She is the co-author of Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change, with Andrew Zimbalist, and author of Pregnant and Parenting Student-Athletes: Resources and Model Policies. She is CEO and Founder of Champion Women, and won three Gold medals and one Silver medal at the 1984 Olympics.
Link to report on Title IX compliance by Champion Women Advocacy: https://titleixschools.com/
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Donald Trump’s political rhetoric is becoming more apocalyptic, more dehumanizing, and more violent. What does this mean for the future of American politics and its institutions? Will Trump-ism die with Donald Trump or will it survive after he passes on? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- David Livingstone Smith is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England. He is the author of Less Than Human: Why we Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others, The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War and Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization.
- Roger Petersen is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at MIT. He is the author of Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe, Death, Domination, and State-Building: The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, and Emotions and backlash in US society and politics.
- David L. Altheide is a Regents Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. He is the author of Terrorism and the Politics of Fear, The Media Syndrome and Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
What is reputational security for states? And what exactly do officials do to protect states’ reputations? How has social media and other communication technologies affected states and efforts to protect their reputations? This discussion is centered around Nickolas J. Cull’s book Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Nicholas J. Cull is Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at USC. He is the author of The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American public diplomacy 1989-2001, Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age, and his latest Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World.
- R.S. (Rhonda) Zaharna is a full professor in the School of Communication at American University. She is the author of Battles to Bridges: U.S. Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy after 9/11 and Boundary Spanners of Humanity: Three Logics of Communication and Public Diplomacy
- Ilan Manor is digital diplomacy scholar and lecturer and Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University of Negev. He is the author of The Digitalization of Public Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
The US Supreme Court overturned Colorado’s State Supreme Court decision to remove Donald Trump from its ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on insurrectionists holding office. What might this signal about the court and its role in the 2024 election and in electoral politics more generally?
Polls suggest that voters want to know if Donald Trump is a criminal before voting in November. But the Supreme Court’s decisions make it less likely that this occurs before the election. What does this mean for the future of the US and for democracy and the constitution? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action, Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2015, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
- Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of many publications including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and, with Cynthia Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.
- Andrew Koppelman is John Paul Stevens Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Increasingly Dangerous Variants of the “Most-Favored-Nation” Theory of Religious Liberty and The Supreme Court and the new religious aristocracy in the Hill.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
What does the death of Russia’s high profile dissident, Alexi Navalny, mean for the future of the country? Who was Alexi Navalny and what exactly did he stand for? Navalny was not the only political dissident in Russia. Who else is resisting the government and what are their causes?
And what does Alexei Navalny’s death portend for Russian leader, Vladimir Putin? Does it suggest he’s a strongman or that he is, instead, weaker than he appears? [ dur:58mins ]
- Steve Swerdlow, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners and Uzbekistan’s Ethnic Minorities: Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch.
- Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
With the massive population growths, cities are facing enormous challenges especially with housing, building climate resilience, transportation networks, and addressing the needs of working people. How are cities facing these challenges? We discuss the 21st Century city. [ dur: 32mins. ]
- Stephen M. Wheeler (Steve) is Professor in the Landscape Architecture Program of the Department of Human Ecology at U.C. Davis. He is the co-author of Re-imagining Sustainable Cities: Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Ecological Communities (with Christina D. Rosan) and author of Climate Change and Social Ecology: A New Perspective on the Climate Challenge.
- Carmen Sirianni is Morris Hillquit Professor of Labor and Social Thought and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Public Policy at Brandeis University. He is the author of Sustainable Cities in American Democracy, Civic Engagement in American Climate Policy: Collaborative Models and an upcoming publication on Civic Democracy and Climate Action: Engagement and Policy for a Resilient America.
Across the US, many cities are grappling with an enormous housing crisis, as homelessness reaches unprecedented levels. What are the causes and what can be done to be sure people have adequate housing? [ dur: 26mins. ]
- Luis Quintero is Assistant Professor at John Hopkins Carey Business School. He co-directs the Latin American and the Caribbean Economics Association (LACEA) urban economics network. He is the co-author of Measuring the Value of Rent Stabilization and Understanding its Implications for Racial Inequality: Evidence from New York City and Cities and Productivity: Evidence from 16 Latin American and Caribbean Countries.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
Colorado disqualified former president Donald Trump from running on its ballot for President, arguing he violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on insurrectionists from holding public office. What do history and law say about this amendment and its purpose? What would so-called originalism mean as applied to the case? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action, Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2015, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
- Frank Bowman III is Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law. He is an expert on the impeachment of the president and other federal officers. Bowman is the author of High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump. His writes the blog “Impeachable Offenses”.
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.
We explore a new book on the peaceful uses of nuclear power: The Wretched Atom by Jacob Hamblin.[ dur: 29mins. ]
- Jacob Hamblin is Professor of History at Oregon State University. His books include Poison in the Well: Radioactive Waste in the Oceans at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, Oceanographers and the Cold War, Arming Mother Nature: The Birth of Catastrophic Environmentalism and his latest The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology.
Then, why arms control discourses are centered around western notions of modernity and civilization. What does it mean to decolonize the language around arms control? [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Ritu Mathur is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.
Africa has experienced numerous coups in the last 2 years. Most recently, Niger and Gabon have both seen civilian governments toppled by militaries in the last month. What does this mean for the future of African governance? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Brett Logan Carter is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of “Can Western Donors Constrain Repressive Governments? Evidence from Debt Relief Negotiations in Africa” the forthcoming “How the New Cold War Will Shape Africa’s Future,” and “Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief co-authored with Erin Baggott Carter.
The life of former Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Irving Robert Kaufman is the subject of a recent book. He condemned Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death. His life and times offer insight into how judges can sometimes act in unexpected ways in the pursuit of justice. Hosted by Tim Fadgen of University of Auckland, NZ. [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Martin J. Siegel practices law in Houston, Texas. He teaches American Legal History at the University of Houston Law Center, where he also directs the Appellate Civil Rights Clinic. He is the author of Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.
The criminal indictments of former President Trump have created a political crisis in their unprecedented nature. Historically, U.S. presidents have not faced criminal charges even in cases where there is a high likelihood of guilt, in large part due to respect for the office. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon embodies this norm.
What can the U.S. learn from other countries that have prosecuted former presidents? And what can we learn from American history about the prosecutions of political figures? Is the prosecution of former heads of state simply the weaponization of justice mechanisms? And how common is this political charge? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
- Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of the books The Endurance of National Constitutions, Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes,and co-author of the paper The Comparative Constitutional Law of Presidential Impeachment.
- Ezequiel González Ocantos is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations, and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College, at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America, The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America: Power, Norms and Capability Building, and co-author of Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America(w/ Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao & Viviana Baraybar).
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.
The economic conflict between Russia and the West started before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. How has the war in Ukraine affected it? How have the intense sanctions against Russia altered this economic war? Will the West remain unified in confronting Russia in this economic war? In this episode, we will look at China, … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West (Book) – August 20, 2023 →
Farming around the world, and in particular in the US, has increasingly become centralized as large factory farming. What are the environmental, social, and philosophical implications of this mode of agricultural production? [ dur: 58mins. ] Factory farming carry significant challenges on environmental protection, on pricing and the centralization of wealth, and on social issues … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Factory Farming of Animals, an Unsustainable Method of Food Production – August 13, 2023 →
In this hour, do high profile cases like the Teamsters, UPS workers, unionization at Starbucks and Amazon signal a new labor awakening in American politics? Labor organizers are using a large range of issues, including women’s rights, LGBTQ representation and pride, and environmental activism to attract new members. Is this changing the conceptual divide between … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Labor organizers struggles of today – August 6, 2023 →
Science is under attack. Who and what are behind the attacks? While we face catastrophic climate change and other pending disasters, how can we restore the public’s understandings about scientific realities? We explore disinformation and ways to communicate with non-scientists to loosen the grip the disinformants have on so many people. [ dur: 58mins. ] … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Author interview, On Disinformation, How to Talk to a Science Denier and Science Communication in a Crisis – July 30, 2023 →
Private Military Corporations have become a growing element of the warfighting landscape. States have historically had a monopoly on the use of military force. But private corporations challenge this monopoly. How much do they increase the lethality and likelihood of war? How much can private corporations be regulated? And what are the challenges to regulation? … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Insights into Private Military Corporations, their function and deployment by State and international corporations – July 23, 2023 →
We interview the author of a new book CALIFORNIA, A SLAVE STATE (Yale University Press; June 27, 2023). Professor Jean Pfaelzer shows that, since the very first colonizers crossed the border, the Golden State was and still is powered by slavery – a piece of American history that many still try to bury. Jean Pfaelzer … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – History of California as a Slave State – July 16, 2023 →
The rights of persons with disabilities is a growing and important area of human rights. But what does it mean to ensure equal treatment under the law? What exactly is a disability, and who makes the judgment? And what do we mean by ableism? [ dur: 58mins. ] Lydia X. Z. Brown is Core Faculty … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Human rights of disabled persons in a society that favors able-bodied persons – July 9, 2023 →
In the wake of the US Supreme Court decision that weakened the EPA’s capacity to protect wetlands, we explore the role of wetlands in sustainability, biodiversity, and the economy. What might the decision mean for our environment, and economy? We examine Sackett vs. EPA, in a broader context what this means for the implementation of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Wetlands Protection, the Clean Water Act and the US Supreme Court – July 2, 2023 →
What does the recent Supreme Court case upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) mean for Indian adoption law? Is adoption of Indian Children based on child welfare or Tribal interests? We will explore why this is a false distinction. And why ICWA is essential for preserving the tribes and their identity, and perhaps most … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court decision on indigenous rights of children in an adoption case – June 25, 2023 →
Can international finance systems be harnessed to protect human rights? While historically financiers have funded some of the worse of human rights abuses, finances also enabled great human leaps. Our guest argues that it is time to alter the financial system for the good of humanity. [ dur: 29 mins. ] David Kinley is Professor … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Will international finance protect human rights? ; Responsibility of individuals, state and institutions – June 18, 2023 →
Turkey’s election returned President Erdogan to power, despite the crises in the country. How did he win and what does his re-election mean for Turkish democracy? What are the foreign policy implications for the re-election of Erdogan. What does it mean for regional politics and for Turkey as a regional power? Will Turkey become even … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Turkey’s 2023 election and regional effects – June 11, 2023 →
What did James Madison mean when he wrote the Second Amendment? What was his motivation? In a new book, our guest says it was to quell slave rebellions, not to protect individual liberties. We explore the “original intent” of this controversial amendment to the US Constitution. And look at the epic debate between James Madison of the Federalists and Patrick Henry of the Anti-federalists and how they framed the motivations behind the Second Amendment. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Carl T. Bogus is Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law. He is the author of the book we are discussing today Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Oxford University Press 2023). He is also the editor of The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms and the author of The Hard, Simple Truth about Gun Control and Gun Control and America’s Cities: Public Policy and Politics.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Famine and food insecurity threaten the lives of nearly a billion people worldwide. And the number of people living in food insecurity is increasing. Why is there food insecurity and what can be done? How much is food insecurity caused by environmental factors and how much is it caused by conflict? We will explore the conflict shock
that creates food insecurity particularly in East Africa , the Horn of Africa, and effective, efficient ways to address concerns of famine and food insecurity. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. He is the author of Understanding the Humanitarian World with Kirsten Gelsdorf, Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures with Nisar Majid and Humanitarian Challenges and Implications for Famine Early Warning Systems in Accountability for Mass Starvation.
- Bill Moseley is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography at Macalester College. He is the author of “Climate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable” and “The trouble with drought as an explanation for famine in the Horn and Sahel of Africa“.
- Bilal Butt is Associate Professor of Sustainability and Development at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Neoliberalism, Conservation and Dispossession in Kenya’s Arid Lands,” “Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa” and Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in Southern Kenya”.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
The death penalty in the United States has faced increased opposition based on ethical, political, and legal concerns. Several states have outlawed it, but the federal government has returned to its use with a feverish wave of state executions last year. We discuss the implications of the use of the death penalty in the US and examine additional forms of extreme sentencing, such as life without parole. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Frank R. Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence and Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty.
- Lee Kovarsky is Bryant Smith Chair in Law and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at The University of Texas in Austin School of Law. He is the author of The Trump Executions and the co-author of The Death Penalty: Concept and Insight.
- Jenny-Brooke Condon is a Professor of Law in the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. She directs the Equal Justice Clinic. She is the author of When Cruelty is the Point: Constitutional Restraints and Remedies for Family Separation and Denialism and the Death Penalty.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
From the entertainment realm to higher education, political activists have complained that we live in cancel culture. But what is cancel culture? And what is its impact in the classroom and for democracy. How much is cancel culture a reaction to dis-empowerment and a means of resistance? And what has been the backlash to its successes? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Sigal Ben-Porath is Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy. She is the author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus and the book we are discussing Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy.
- Eve Ng is Associate Professor at Ohio University, in the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She is the author of Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis and the forthcoming Mainstreaming Gays: Critical Convergences of Queer Media, Fan Cultures, and Commercial Television.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
In April, war broke out in Sudan. How much is the war driven by a power battle between two generals and how much is it embedded in the relationship between Khartoum and marginalized areas of the nation? We explore the recent events, the political and military context of the war, and the prospects for a resolution.[ dur: 31mins. ]
- Kon K. Madut is Part-time Professor of Political Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of Why did governance and institutional establishments fail in Sudan and South Sudan? and Ethnic Mobilization, Armaments, and South Sudan’s Quest for Sustainable Peace.
Then, scholars note that the world is waging fewer wars, but that the wars that are waged are more brutal and intractable.[ dur: 27mins. ]
This segment was recorded 2013, hosted by Maria Armoudian.
- George A. Lopez is the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is the editor of The Sanctions Enterprise: Assessing a Quarter-Century of UN Action for Peace, Security and Human Rights.
- Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at the University of Massettuces, Amherst. He is the author of The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others.
- Norrin M. Ripsman is Monroe J. Rathbone Professor in the International Relations Department at Lehigh University. He is the author of Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below: States, Societies, and Peace Between Regional Rivals and the co-editor of The Political Economy of Regional Peacemaking.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
New research on the Holocaust, on Jewish resistance and local collaboration in the killing offers insights into genocides, atrocities, and political violence. We discuss this research and other social science findings about the Holocaust in a new book Politics, Violence, Memory: The New Social Science of the Holocaust.
How does historical memory make researching the Holocaust a greater challenge? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jelena Subotic is Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University. She is the author of Hijacked Justice: Dealing with the Past in the Balkans and Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism.
- Jeffrey Kopstein is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust and the editor of Growing Apart? America and Europe in the 21st Century.
Together they are editors of Politics, Violence, Memory: The New Social Science of the Holocaust.
Excerpt from the publisher:
Politics, Violence, Memory highlights important new social scientific research on the Holocaust and initiates the integration of the Holocaust into mainstream social scientific research in a way that will be useful both for social scientists and historians. Until recently social scientists largely ignored the Holocaust despite the centrality of these tragic events to many of their own concepts and theories.
In Politics, Violence, Memory the editors bring together contributions to understanding the Holocaust from a variety of disciplines, including political science, sociology, demography, and public health. The chapters examine the sources and measurement of antisemitism; explanations for collaboration, rescue, and survival; competing accounts of neighbor-on-neighbor violence; and the legacies of the Holocaust in contemporary Europe. Politics, Violence, Memory brings new data to bear on these important concerns and shows how older data can be deployed in new ways to understand the “index case” of violence in the modern world.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to give Israel’s Parliament the ability to overturn high court decisions has been met with widespread protests. What are the stakes of these protests? What’s the democratic and political future for Israel? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science and University Chair of Teaching Innovation in the Department of Political Science at Carlton University. She is the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and co-editor (with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper) of Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates.
- Liron Levy, is assistant professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She is the author of King Bibi, the personification of democratic values in the 2019 2021 election cycle recently published in the book, the election in Israel 2019 to 2021.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Amid mass Protests that have rocked France, the country’s constitutional council have approved President Macron’s move to raise the retirement age to 64. What does all of this mean for French politics, and for the future of unions in French politics and the workplace? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Martin A. Schain is Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at New York University. He is the author of The Politics of Immigration in France, Britain and the United States: A Comparative Study, and co-author and editor of Comparative Federalism: The US and EU in Comparative Perspective and Shadows Over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Europe.
- Patrick Chamorel is Senior Resident Scholar and a lecturer at the Stanford Center in Washington. He is the author of France’s Vanishing Center and The French Presidential Election: Can Macron Stay Ahead of the Pack?
- Herrick Chapman is Professor Emeritus of History. He is the author of A Century of Organized Labor in France: A Union Movement for the Twenty-First Century? co-edited with Mark Kesselman and Martin Schain and France’s Long Reconstruction: In Search of the Modern Republic.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
After mass atrocities and crimes against humanity, how can societies reconcile? How is justice performed and how should we recognize these crimes? And what of the clash between international interests and local needs when dealing with the punishment and acknowledgment of atrocities? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Elazar Barkan is Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Director of Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He is founding Director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) in The Hague. He is the author of Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices and co-author of Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation.
- Mark Drumbl is Professor at Washington and Lee University, School of Law, and Director of the University’s Transnational Law Institute. He is the author of Reimagining Child Soldiers In International Law and Policy and Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law.
- Jeremy Sarkin is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law and member of CEDIS at Nova University Law School in Lisbon, Portugal. He is the author of The Global Impact and Legacy of Truth Commissions, Reparations for Colonial Genocides and co-editor of Africa’s Role and Contribution to International Criminal Justice.
This interview was recorded on April 18, 2021.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
After the murder of Mahsa Amini by morality police Iran has seen protests, demonstrations, and an ongoing resistance movement against its regime. What best explains the origins and persistence of this movement? What has influenced Iran’s resistant movement? We will explore the status of women and the history of women’s rights movement in Iran. [ dur: 58mins. ]
Also, Iran has a substantial number of diaspora around the world. They help frame the issues that are occurring inside its borders. What is the interaction between Iranians abroad and Iranians in Iran and the resistance movement going on right now in the nation?
- Persis Karim is the Neda Nobari Chair of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies and a professor in the Comparative and World Literature department at SF State. She is the author of Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora.
- Nayereh Tohidi is Professor Emerita in the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is the author of Women’s Rights and Feminist Movements in Iran.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
The expansion of the vote to women throughout the 20th Century has had an impact on the discourses and politics of war and peace. What is the relationship between women voting, electing women leaders, and women-lead groups in civil society on the issue of war and peace?
Does the expansion of the vote to women lead to the election of women as leaders? And are these leaders more committed to peace than their male counterparts? We explore a new book, The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War..[ dur: 58mins. ]
- Joslyn Barnhart is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is also senior research scientist at Deep Mine in London. She is the author of The consequences of humiliation, anger, and status, threats in international politics
- Robert F. Trager is a Professor in the political science department at the University of California, Los Angeles. He’s the author of a forthcoming book Diplomacy Communication and the Origins of International Order
Together they have authored The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Grand Strategy defines the broad goals of nations or even groups. American Grand Strategy is best understood historically, as an amalgam of influences and interests. Is American grand strategy a reaction to events and domestic interests, or is it derived more strategically based on the American place in the world? And what does the history of American grand strategy tell us about its current goals? We speak with three of the authors of Rethinking American Grand Strategy. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58 mins. ]
- Christopher McKnight Nichols is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University. He is the author of Promise and Peril: America at the Dawn of a Global Age. He is also co-author of the opinion articles “‘Grand strategy’ has a bad rep. To fix it, get beyond hard power and traditional statecraft”, in the Los Angeles Times, and “America’s traditions pose an obstacle to preventing future pandemics”, in the Washington Post.
- Beverly Gage is Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Professor of History & American Studies at Yale University. She is the author of The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror and a forthcoming biography on J. Edgar Hoover.
- Kate Epstein is Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University-Camden. She is the author of Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain.
All of our guests are contributors to the book we are discussing today Rethinking American Grand Strategy. Christopher McKnight Nichols is also co-editor of the book together with Elizabeth Borgwardt and Andrew Preston.
Recorded June 2021.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
The deteriorating humanitarian condition in the Armenian-majority breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Lachin corridor, the only road that connects the region to the outside world, has been blocked by a military campaign limiting food and other essential supplies and trapping 120,000 people.
We explore the legal, political and military implications of this campaign.How are international actors responding to this campaign? What role is Turkey, Russia, and the United States playing in the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Richard Giragosian is the Founding Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent “think tank” located in Yerevan, Armenia. He is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe’s Natolin Campus and Senior Expert at Yerevan State University’s Center for European Studies (CES). He is the author of the book chapter Small States and Large Costs of Regional Fracture: The Case of Armenia
- Steve Swerdlow, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. He is the author of Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners and Uzbekistan’s Ethnic Minorities: Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
The history of anti-slavery activism is a rich and important period in American history. But there are so many stories that still have yet to be written. Samuel Ward is one of those activists; an important figure in the African-American activist community working against slavery and racism, whose story is largely lost. Our guest R. J. M. Blackett is addressing this need to tell Ward’s story in a new book, Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- R. J. M. Blackett is Andrew Jackson Professor of History emeritus at Vanderbilt University. His previous books are The Captive’s Quest for Freedom: Fugitive Slaves, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and the Politics of Slavery and Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
David Lloyd speaks with the world-renowned Kenyan novelist, playwright and poet, critic and widely influential postcolonial theorist, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. They explore the problem of colonization of languages, his commitment to writing in his native language, and his incarceration and exile for political dissidence. And with the panel they discuss a new book of essays on his work, Ngũgĩ in the American Imperium. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Timothy J. Reiss is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at New York University and recently a visiting scholar at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. His many books include Against Autonomy: Global Dialectics of Cultural Exchange. He is the editor of Ngũgĩ in the American Imperium.
- Noenoe K. Silva is Kanaka Hawai’i from Kailua, O’ahu, and professor of Hawai’ian and Indogenous Politics in the Department of Politics and Cooperating faculty Kawaihuelani Center for Hawai’ian Language at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. She is the author of Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawai’ian Resistance to American Colonialism and The Power of the Steel-Tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawai’ian Intellectual History. She is a contributor to Ngũgĩ in the American Imperium.
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine. Among his many writings are Decolonising the Mind, Globalectics and his memoir Detained recently recast as Wrestling with the Devil. His most recent novel is Murogi wa Kagogo, published in English as Wizard of the Crow. His rendering of the Gikuyu epic, The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, appeared in 2019. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, David Lloyd, and Sudd Dongre.
A massive earthquakes has rocked Turkey and Syria and killed thousands of people. The disaster response to this earthquake has faced challenges, including governance of the relief efforts and legal requirements under international law. We explore the relief efforts in light of scholarship on best practices and legal obligations. Who is responsible for security in the disaster zone? How much are local actors prioritized versus those who have come to the region to provide relief? And what happens when the security capacity of the affected state is so devastated by the disaster itself? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Andrea de Guttry is Professor of International Law at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA) in Pisa, Italy. He is the author of Foreign fighters under international law and International Disaster Response Law.
- Branda Nowell is Professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at NC State University. She is the author of Public Management in an Era of the Unprecedented: Dominant Institutional Logics as a Barrier to Organizational Sensemaking and The Structure of Effective Governance of Disaster Response Networks: Insights >From the Field.
- Nukhet Sandal is Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University. She is the author of Religious populist parties, nationalism, and strategies of competition: the case of the AK Party in Turkey and Religious Leaders and Conflict Transformation. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies.
Earthquake Relief Organizations:
- ahbap (Turkey)
- Bridge to Turkiye (Turkey)
- Molham Team (Syria)
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
What role have black women played in the civil rights era and black empowerment in addressing issues of white supremacy? We explore the importance of black women intellectuals, the way in which they have framed the scholarship, the analysis, and policies. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 33mins. ] – Recorded March 2022.
- Ashley Farmer is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies & History at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era and co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition. She is also the Co-Editor and Curator of the Black Power Series with Ibram X. Kendi.
Can worker owned cooperatives transform workers lives and livelihoods? We speak with Jessica Gordon Nembhard author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 25 mins. ] – Recorded December 2016.
- Jessica Gordon Nembhard is Associate Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, City University of New York. Her latest book is Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Haiti faces a political, sociological, and economic set of crises. The country faces mass famine, with an estimated 4.7 million people facing acute hunger. With the assassination of its President, Haiti is also facing a political crisis. Officials governing the country are having a legitimacy crisis given the poor response to previous crises that have seen the Haitian people lose power, authority, even sovereignty over the nation. And international intervention has done little to help the nation, and in fact it has exacerbated the problems. How can the nation thrive in light of a history of exploitation and colonialism that has led to these crises? How can the Haitian people be empowered to seize control of their destiny? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Darlène Dubuisson is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of “Haiti: Black Utopia” and “We Know How to Work Together”: Konbit, Protest, and the Rejection of INGO Bureaucratic Dominance.
- Mark Schuller is Presidential Research Professor and Professor of Anthropology and Nonprofit and NGO Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti and Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs.
- Jean-Eddy Saint Paul is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Assassinations and invasions – how the US and France shaped Haiti’s long history of political turmoil and Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
We explore ongoing political, legal and normative questions about classified documents discovered in the homes of former President Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. What is the process of classifying documents? And does the government over-classify documents? [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood, the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy.
What are its legal, social, and political limitations of free speech? How does the advent of social media and concerns over misinformation have an impact on the exercise of free speech? And how do the new developments of free speech and its limits have an impact on the First Amendment protections? We discuss a new book You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech with its author Dennis Baron. [ dur: 29mins. ]
- Dennis Baron is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a frequent commentator on language issues in the national media and has written a number of popular books, including What’s Your Pronoun? (2020).
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
The island of Puerto Rico has a complex relationship with the federal government in the United States. Should it seek statehood or independence? Or is the status quo the best option for the nation. [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Amílcar Antonio Barreto is Professor and Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies Department, and Interim Director of International Affairs and Political Science at Northeastern University. He is the author of American Identity, Congress and the Puerto Rico Statehood Debate and The Politics of Language in Puerto Rico Revisited.
- Jorge Farinacci-Fernós is Associate Professor of Law at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Law School and Visiting Professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law. He is the author of The ‘New’ Insular Cases and the Territorial Clause: From Temporary Incorporation to Permanent Unincorporation and the forthcoming book Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Paradox: Colonial Subordination, Democratic Tension, and Promise of Progressive Transformation.
Then, Peru has faced ongoing protests and violence since the removal of its President at the hands of the Congress. What socioeconomic divisions in the nation have lead to this deepened political crisis? [ dur: 28mins. ]
- Victoria Chonn Ching is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. She is author of Conceptualizing China-Latin America Relations in the Twenty-First Century: The Boom, The Bust, and the Aftermath with Carol Wise and A Comparative View of Chinese Relations with Peru in China, Latin America, and the Global Economy, with Alvin Camba.
- Jorge Antonio Chavez Mazuelos is a lecturer at Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Peru, at the International Relations Department, and is coordinator of a research group focused on Chinese Politics. He is author of The Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation and Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping and The Evolution of Chinese Diplomacy: From Plain-Clothed Soldiers to Wolf Warriors.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
To commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. we discuss Dr King’s life, his work, his legacy and his memory. We then explore the impact of Dr King and his memory on contemporary issues, including the role of women on the movement and the security of people of color as embodied in the Black Lives Matter movement. What is the meaning of Dr King’s dream today? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh and Former Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University. He is the author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His website is www.davidgarrow.com.
- Keith Miller is Professor of English and Professor, Affiliate Faculty, at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. He is the author of Martin Luther King’s Biblical Epic: His Great, Final Speech and Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources. His website is: drkeithdmiller.com.
- Jared Clemons is Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University. He is the author of “Freedom Now!” to “Black Lives Matter”: Retrieving King and Randolph to Theorize Contemporary White Antiracism.
- Dewey M. Clayton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He is the author of The presidential campaign of Barack Obama: A critical analysis of a racially transcendent strategy, African Americans and the politics of congressional redistricting and Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Two Social Movements in the United States .
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
In 2020, the Supreme Court surprised many observers by holding up the rights of the Muscogee (Creek) nation. In McGirt v Oklahoma, the Court held that the Creek Nation retained its sovereign rights over a very large part of Eastern Oklahoma. The decision began with a poetic line: “At the end of the Trail of Tears is a promise.” The case raises further interest in issues of Indian law, which includes a very important case on the docket this year on the issue of the adoption of Indian children without the consent of the tribe. Robert Miller and Robbie Ethridge have written a new book on the McGirt case, on the history of the Muscogee nation’s relations with the United States, and the details of the case itself. And the title of the book references that first line of the decision. It is called A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma. Our guests are the authors of the book. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Robert J. Miller is Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is the author of Reservation “Capitalism”: Economic Development in Indian Country and Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny.
- Robbie Ethridge is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of From Chicaza to Chickasaw: The European Invasion and the Transformation of the Mississippian World, 1540–1715 and Creek Country: The Creek Indians and Their World, 1796–1816.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Algorithms reflect the biases of the society in which they exist and the programmers who create them. There has been a social and political reaction against their use. How do algorithms govern social and political interactions? What is the most proper use of algorithms? And what are the biases that persist in their use? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Tina Eliassi-Rad is a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University. She is also a core faculty member at Northeastern’s Network Science Institute and the Institute for Experiential AI. She is the author of Measuring Algorithmically Infused Societies and What Science Can Do for Democracy: A Complexity Science Approach.
- Damien Patrick Williams is an assistant professor in Philosophy and Data Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Why AI Research Needs Disabled and Marginalized Perspectives, Fitting the description: historical and sociotechnical elements of facial recognition and anti-black surveillance, and Constructing Situated and Social Knowledge: Ethical, Sociological, and Phenomenological Factors in Technological Design. Damien is member of the Project Advisory Committee for the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Disability Rights and Algorithmic Fairness, Bias, and Discrimination, and the Disability Inclusion Fund’s Tech & Disability Stream Advisory Committee.
- Henning Schulzrinne is Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Colombia University. He is the co-author of Mobility Protocols and Handover Optimization: Design, Evaluation and Application, Bridging communications and the physical world and Future internets escape the simulator. He was nominated as Internet Hall of Fame Innovator in 2013. He was Chief Technology Officer for the FCC under the Obama Administration.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Why did soldiers on the front line ( in Flanders on 1914 ) of one of the deadliest wars lay down their arms and play soccer with the very men they were supposed to shoot? We’ll revisit the Christmas truce of 1914 with Stanley Weintraub, author of, Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce. [ dur: 23 mins. ]
- Stanley Weintraub is a Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University. He is the author of more than 50 books including “Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce.“
Then, on the Scholars’ panel, we explore the Science of Compassion. What is it and how does it impact society? Can we learn to be compassionate? [ dur: 35mins. ]
- Iain Wilkinson is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. He is the author of Suffering: A Sociological Introduction and Anxiety in a Risk Society
- Dr. Paul Gilbert is the head of the Mental Health Research Unit as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby. His books include Compassion-Focused Therapy: Distinctive Features and The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life’s Challenges
- Dr James R. Doty is a Clinical Professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University and Founder and Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. He is the co-author of Surgical Disorders of the Sacrum
This program was first broadcast on Dec. 2017.
This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.
Over a half million Americans are currently homeless. What is causing this crisis? And what are the solutions? How do we get the resources to build the housing we need to address the homelessness crisis?
We discuss why services to address mental health and addiction are essential to resolving the homelessness crisis. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Deborah Padgett is a Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She is the co-author of Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Changing Systems and Transforming Lives, with Benjamin Henwood and Sam Tsemberis, and Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: Making the connections.
- Paul A. Toro is Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the co-author of Research on homelessness and mental health: What we’ve learned from the United States and nations in Europe and Homeless Youth in the United States:Recent Research Findings and Intervention Approaches.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
The world met once again on climate change, this time in Egypt. What did they agree to do, and what did they fail to do? We discuss the global environmental agenda, including biodiversity and the scourge of plastics. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Pamela Chasek is Professor of Political Science at Manhattan College. She is the co-founder and Executive Editor of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. She is the author of Transforming Multilateral Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Sustainable Development Goals, Global Environmental Politics, and The Global Environment in the 21st Century: Prospects for International Cooperation.
- Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of the forthcoming book Politics of Global Environment. She’s also the author of a recent article in the Conversation Throwing soup on a Van Gogh and other ways young climate activists are making their voices heard over Egypt’s climate summit protest suppression.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Donald Trump versus the “Deep State.” A new book examines this political struggle and the tension between the Presidency and the Administrative State. We explore the implications of this struggle with the authors of Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: Deep State and the Unitary Executive. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Stephen Skowronek is Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political Science and Professor in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. His publications include, The Policy State: An American Predicament and The Search for American Political Development.
- John A. Dearborn is a Assistant Professor of Political Science and Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Dean’s Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation.
- Desmond King is the Andrew W Mellon Professor of American Government and a Fellow of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. His publications include Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama’s America and Fed Power: How Finance Wins.
Together they are the author of Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive.
“This insightful new book explains how and why the Trump presidency became entangled in conflicts with administrators in both the executive branch and the U.S. Congress, while also showing how we might re-imagine presidential power, administrative independence, and our system of checks and balances.” —Oxford University Press
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
How does deep listening to nature promote biodiversity and a deeper relationship with the natural world?
We discuss the book THE SOUNDS OF LIFE: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the World of Animals and Plants. [ dur: 34mins. ]
- Karen Bakker is Professor of Geography and Associate at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. She is Visiting Professor at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is the author of Smart Earth: A meta-review and implications for environmental governance, The human right to water revisited (in The Right to Water), and THE SOUNDS OF LIFE: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the World of Animals and Plants.
References to clips of nature sound recordings included in the interview with Karen Bakker :
- Healthy Coral Reef
- Seals among calving glaciers and colliding icebergs
- Glacier Bay Humpback Whales
The American Thanksgiving story is one of cooperation and coexistence between white European settlers and the native peoples. But the real story is much darker.
How does this Thanksgiving narrative get the history wrong?
We discuss the history, the memory, and the meaning of Thanksgiving in the contemporary relationship between the United States and Indigenous people. [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Robert J. Miller is Professor of Law at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He is Interim Chief Justice at Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals. He is the author of American Indian Sovereignty versus the United States (in Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies) and the forthcoming A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma. He is an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.
Americans in polls consistently cite the nature of campaign financing as perhaps the greatest threat to democracy. And increasingly, candidates self-finance. In the LA Mayor’s race alone, billionaire developer Rick Caruso spent at least $100 million of his own fortune. What legal issues does this sort of financing raise? What does it mean for candidate … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Financing US Political Campaigns by Super Rich ; Civil War by Other Means, unresolved politics continues today – November 20, 2022 →
Since 2020 many states have passed legislation, making it more difficult to vote. Fears of voter suppression in the disenfranchisement of marginalized communities proliferated the 2022 midterms. But were these fears realized? [ dur: 42mins. ] Bertrall Ross is Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Karsh Center for Law and … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Voter Suppression acts on marginalized communities ; In the name of Majoritarian democracy – November 13, 2022 →
Brazil’s election of Lula da Silva over Bolsonaro has provided hope that the country will retain its democratic institutions. We discuss the elections and the likely policy changes. [ dur: 38mins. ] Erica Resende is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the Brazilian National War College in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Lula’s election win in Brazil ; Abelism invoked upon Pennsylvania Senate candidate – November 6, 2022 →
Some say that we have entered a new era in Supreme Court jurisprudence in the wake of the Court’s recent Dobbs decision, reversing nearly 50 years of law recognizing a woman’s right to choose, and that this has ushered in a far more confrontational and political court. But are both political and legal considerations baked … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Biography of Judge Frank M. Coffin ; History of 3rd party politics in US – October 30, 2022 →
Los Angeles is embroiled in a city governance crisis, due to leaked audio highlighting the racism of elected city council members. It has demonstrated that race is still a fundamental problem in the city. We explore race in Los Angeles. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 34mins. ] Claudia Sandoval is Assistant Professor at Loyola … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Comments from Latino LA city council members threaten years of Black-Latino Coalition ; Many ways Privatization is an attack on Civil Service roles in the Government – October 23, 2022 →
Money can distort politics. And the lack of transparency where this money comes from can further distort politics and invite corruption. Since much of the money in campaign finance is not subject to transparency laws, it has taken the name dark money. This specifically references spending by nonprofit organizations created for political spending. How much … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Dark Money in Politics keeps Voters in the Dark – October 16, 2022 →
Brazil is in the midst of Presidential elections. They reveal the partisanship of the nation, with the current right wing President Jair Bolsonaro trailing the former left wing President Lula after the first round. We will examine what the top issues are, what’s at stake, and whether Brazil could face political violence or even an … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Brazil Presidential Election – October 9, 2022 →
Regions have the resilience to manage conflicts and ensure they do not spread to other countries. Our guest Anna Ohanyan examines the factors that help build this resilience. She is the author of The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia. [ dur: 30mins. ] Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Conflict Resolution in Post Communist Eurasia and Power of ideas to shape Nation States – October 2, 2022 →
State legislatures have traditionally controlled districting, with a decentralization of process and decision-making as to how they are drawn. And in recent years, technology has enabled a more complex system of gerrymandering that can challenge the principles of democracy. Indeed it could produce outcomes where the party with fewer votes has control of the democratic … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Gerrymandering Districts based on Census Data and Inclusive Politics of Rank Choice Voting – September 25, 2022 →
We explore the civil war in Libya. Why did it break out and why does it persist? What are possible solutions? Host: Doug Becker. [ dur: 30mins. ] Haala Hweio is Adjunct Instructor of Political Science at Rosary College of Arts and Sciences at Dominican University. She is the author of Tribes in Libya: From … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Libyan civil war continues after Gaddafi’s Rule ; Methods for Peace Building – September 18, 2022 →
Protests across Central Asia have rocked the nations of the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The states’ violent suppression of these movements have killed hundreds and undermined human rights protections. We explore the roots of these conflicts and what these violent crackdown mean for human rights, democracy, transparency and peace in the region. … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Ethnic Conflict in Autocratic Uzbekistan and Tajikistan ; Creative Lawyers for Human Rights – September 11, 2022 →
In honor of Labor Day weekend, we explore the state of labor in the United States and we take stock in the impact of Union organization in America. We consider some of the high profile labor cases, such as Union organization at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, and Trader Joe’s. [ dur: 58mins. ] We also examine … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Impact of Union Organizations on Labor Rights in USA – September 4, 2022 →
In honor of Labor Day weekend, we explore the state of labor in the United States and we take stock in the impact of Union organization in America. We consider some of the high profile labor cases, such as Union organization at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, and Trader Joe’s. [ dur: 58mins. ] We also examine … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Impact of Union Organizations on Labor Rights in USA – September 4, 2022 →
The United States just passed the Inflation Reduction Act. Much of it addresses climate change. Does it meet the challenge the planet faces on the changing climate? What renewable energy technologies will the US need to utilize to meet its climate goals? [ dur: 28mins. ] Mark Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – US provides policy incentives for mitigation and adaptation to changing climate and it’s effects – August 28, 2022 →
Farming around the world, and in particular in the US, has increasingly become centralized as large factory farming. What are the environmental, social, and philosophical implications of this mode of agricultural production? [ dur: 58mins. ] Factory farming carry significant challenges on environmental protection, on pricing and the centralization of wealth, and on social issues … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Factory Farming of Animals, an Unsustainable Method of Food Production – August 21, 2022 →
First, we continue our conversation with preeminent psychology scholar Ervin Staub. Last week we discussed how to build peaceful societies, particularly when some groups have been traumatized by violence, war or genocide. Erwin Staub’s latest book is The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil. This is part two of our discussion. [ dur: 33mins. … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil – Part II; What is Race and Ethnicity – August 14, 2022 →
First, a look inside the arms trade and its effects on politics and society.[ dur: 33mins. ] Suzette Grillot is a Professor of International Studies at University of Oklahoma. She is the co-author of the book The International Arms Trade (with Rachel Stohl), Arms Control and the Environment (with Lakshman Guruswamy) and the co-editor of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Effect from Arms Trade on Politics and Society ; Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil – August 7, 2022 →
Thomas Jefferson once declared that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution was intended to build a wall of separation between the church and state. Have the recent Supreme Court rulings eroded this purpose? And what do these ruling mean for the role of religion and lawmaking in the larger … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Undoing of Separation between Church and State by SCOTUS – July 31, 2022 →
The US Supreme Court just challenged tribal sovereignty in its ruling in Oklahoma v Castro-Huerta, which empowers the state much greater power to prosecute for alleged crimes in tribal lands. The legal implications are vast. We will explore the case and the future of tribal sovereignty in light of the Court’s drastic reversal of case … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS on the path to take back tribal sovereignty set in law by the US Congress – July 24, 2022 →
The Supreme Court has weakened executive agencies and their ability to regulate and make policy. No agency has been more affected than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). What is next for environmental protection? [ dur: 58mins. ] Traditionally, the US Supreme Court has given executive branch agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency quite a … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Regulatory challenges for EPA after West Virginia v. EPA Decision of 2022 – July 17, 2022 →
Women have lost their constitutional right of bodily autonomy and the right to an abortion in the United States. We discuss the impact of the overturning of Roe v Wade with an emphasis on the future legal struggles, as well as, the social challenge of ensuring reproductive health and equality. How has the discourse around … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – We examine post Roe world of Women’s health care – July 10, 2022 →
The US Supreme Court, in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen, ruled that state laws must reflect a Second Amendment protection that allows for individuals to carry guns for personal protection outside of their homes. We examine the future of gun control legislation in light of the Court’s rejection of state power … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – States’ Rights to Legislate Gun Violence restricted by SCOTUS – July 3, 2022 →
What are the US Supreme Court’s decisions from this year’s docket? We will explore some of these decisions and what it means for the future of American law. [ dur: 25mins. ] Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court decisions and American Law ; Insights on the Pink wave in Latin America – June 26, 2022 →
January 6 insurrection has begun televised hearings of their findings. We examine the initial findings of this Committee and the role of former President Trump in the attempted coup. [ dur: 22mins. ] Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at University of Texas, Austin. He … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Historic context of January 6, 2021 insurrection event ; Tracking the rise of Christian Nationalism and their effect on American Politics – June 19, 2022 →
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, a vicious war of aggression and occupation has devastated the nation. Determined resistance to the invasion has denied Russia many of its intended targets, but Ukrainians have suffered tremendous losses. What are the human and other costs of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? [ due: 28mins. ] … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Casualties from Russian invasion of Ukraine and evaluating Russian influence in post Soviet space – June 12, 2022 →
Mass shootings in the Unites States are unprecedented in advanced industrial democracies. We explore the psychological impact of these shootings on the survivors and witnesses, with a particular attention to the children who experience this trauma. What are effective actions to confront the traumas experienced by the children who survive school shootings? Overwhelming the response … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Trauma on Children from School Shootings – June 5, 2022 →
On May 9 of this year, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign his position. This is despite the fact this his brother, Gotabaya, is the President of the nation. He is part of a quasi-dynastic Rajapaksa family, which has dominated Sri Lankan politics for 20 years. The nation is in economic … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Sri Lankans Protest as they experience Economic Crisis – May 29, 2022 →
On May 9, the Philippines held their Presidential elections. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won the election, bringing back the infamous family toppled in 1986 in a popular revolution. What does this say about the memory and the political climate of the nation? How will Marcos govern the country? What policies do we expect of this new … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Philippines Presidential Election – May 22, 2022 →
As the US Supreme Court indicates its likelihood of overturning the landmark decision enshrining women’s reproductive control on abortion, Roe v. Wade, women throughout the country are wrestling with strategies to ensure continued abilities to terminate unwanted pregnancies. This legal development has been anticipated. The drastic shift to the right of the Court has, for … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Women’s Reproductive Health post-Roe – May 15, 2022 →
What was the experience of gay people in East and West Germany during the Cold War? We speak with Samuel Clowes Huneke author of States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany [ dur: 32mins. ]. Samuel Clowes Huneke is Assistant Professor of History at George Mason University. He is … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle -German History of Gay rights during the period of Cold War; LGBTQ rights struggle in US – May 8, 2022 →
With the news that Elon Musk intends to purchase Twitter and with promises that the social media company will allow a wider range of content, including some that was previously banned as hate speech, disinformation, or conspiracy-centric, concerns over disinformation in political discourse have been heightened. But the challenge of democratic discourse in light of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Disinformation in our time – May 1, 2022 →
Former President Trump’s administration took the presidential documents to Mar-a-Lago instead of submitting them to the U.S. archive. Why does this matter? [ dur: 26mins. ] In recent months, investigators discovered that a significant number of records from the Trump White House were relocated to his personal residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. This removal of official … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Importance of Preserving All Presidential Documents; Uzbekistan Denies Protection of Religious Freedom – April 24, 2022 →
The French are electing a new President. On today’s show we explore French politics and society and the potential of a French election of a far right candidate as President. [ dur: 58mins. ] On April 10, 2022, French voters went to the polls for Presidential elections. Like so many countries, the first round of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Will France Elect a Far Right President?- April 17, 2022 →
After mass atrocities and crimes against humanity, how can societies reconcile? How is justice performed and how should we recognize these crimes? And what of the clash between international interests and local needs when dealing with the punishment and acknowledgment of atrocities? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ] Elazar Barkan is Professor of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Historical and Current Practices to Redress Crimes Against Humanity – April 10, 2022 →
President Biden has called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a war crime. What does that mean in term of legal remedies? When and how are war crimes adjudicated? Prosecuting those who commit crimes against humanity or war crimes is one part of justice, the other part is redressing the victims and survivors. What can be done … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – War Crimes and Justice for Victims and Survivors- April 3, 2022 →
In what ways is the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson historic? What impact will having a former criminal defense attorney on the Supreme Court have on future rulings or on dissents? [ dur: 58mins. ] Danielle Holley-Walker is the Dean and Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law. She is the author of … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination for the US Supreme Court – March 27, 2022 →
What role have black women played in the civil rights era and black empowerment in addressing issues of white supremacy? We explore the importance of black women intellectuals, the way in which they have framed the scholarship, the analysis, and policies. [ dur: 34mins. ] Ashley Farmer is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Black Women Intellectuals how they empowered the civil rights struggle – March 20, 2022 →
Just how effective are sanctions? How are they used and what exactly do they entail? Can sanctions be applied in a way that they would not cause harm to citizens? And what does sanctions research suggest about their impact on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Erica Moret is Senior Researcher at the Centre for … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – Sanctions, what we learned from it’s use and impact on Russia – March 13, 2022 →
We discuss the situation on the ground in Ukraine, human rights violations, such as war crimes, and what is needed to end the war. [ dur: 29mins. ] Sasha Romantsova is the Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. She joins us from Kiev, Ukraine. Steve Swerdlow is Associate Professor of the … Continue reading Scholars’ Circle – The Human Rights issues in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – March 6, 2022 →
Russia attacked Ukraine this week. What does this mean for the region and the world? What are the international reactions to this invasion? What should be the international response? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College, and a two-times Fulbright Scholar in the South Caucasus. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond, and her latest book “The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia“. Professor Ohanyan is also a nonresident senior scholar in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
- Serhiy Kudelia is Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University. He is the author of When Numbers Are Not Enough: The Strategic Use of Violence in Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution, “The Donbas Rift” and the op-ed “Breaking the Russia-Ukraine Stalemate“.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Military coups have increased over the last year and a half. What is driving this challenge to democracy? How concerned should we be? Regional organizations and powerful states have sometimes played important roles in averting takeovers by military coups. How successful have they been? How can they improve? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Fabrice Lehoucq is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of Breaking out of the Coup Trap: Political Competition and Military Coups in Latin America (with Aníbal Pérez-Liñán) and Political Institutions, Instability, and Democratic Performance in Latin America: A Research Agenda.
- Joseph Wright is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University and the co-Director of its Global and International Studies (GLIS) program. He is the co-author of How Dictatorships Work (with Barbara Geddes and Erica Frantz) and the forthcoming Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups d’etat (with John Chin and David Carter).
- Jonathan Powell is Associate Professor at the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida. He is the co-author of Of Strong Men and Straw Men: Appraising Post-Coup Political Developments, Investing in Stability: Economic Interdependence, the Capitalist Peace, and Coups d’état and, with Clayton Thyne, Global Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New Dataset.
- Clayton Thyne is Department Chair and a Professor in the Political Science department at the University of Kentucky. He is the co-author of Democratic Versus Authoritarian Coups: The Influence of External Actor on State’s Post Coup Political Trajectories and, with Jonathan Powell, Global Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New Dataset.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Over 600 million acres of land is collectively owned by the American people. What is the history of public lands and how is the contemporary discourses about public lands framed by this history? We interview the author of a new book on the history of public lands in the US. [ dur: 34mins. ]
- John Leshy is emeritus professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, San Francisco. He is the author of OUR COMMON GROUND: A History of America’s Public Lands.
Public lands are one of the collectively owned riches of Americans. How does this history influence our contemporary debates on public land use? How has President Joe Biden advanced the cause of public lands and how is this different from other presidents? [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Mark Squillace is Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado Law School. He is the co-author of Natural Resources Law and Policy, The Judicial Assault on the Clean Water Act, and Embracing a Civic Republican Tradition in Natural Resources Decision-Making.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Democracy is eroding in the United States? What are the causes and what should be done? Is the erosion of democracy because of political elites and specifically the reaction of the Republican Party to the 2020 election? Or does it run deeper? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Jacob S. Hacker is Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He is the co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality, American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper and the 2010 bestseller Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, all books co-authored with Paul Pierson.
- Sigal Ben-Porath is a professor in the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Political Science. She is the author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus, Varieties of Sovereignty and Citizenship, and Citizenship under Fire: Democratic Education in Times of Conflict .
- Martin Gilens is Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is the author of Affluence & Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America and co-author, with Benjamin I. Page, of Democracy in America?: What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do about It.
- Larry M. Bartels holds the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University. He is the Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. He is the co-author of Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (with Christopher Achen) and Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Conflict hot spots are popping up all around the world. We discuss two of them.
Is Russia acting out of aggression or self-defense in its threats against Ukraine? [ dur: 28mins. ]
- Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
The Houthis in Yemen launched drone strikes against the United Arab Emirates this week. Is this a new round of escalation in that ongoing and devastating war?
We will explore the new escalations in the civil war in Yemen. [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Hamoud Salhi is Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of International Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is commentator for Arabic media.
- Charles Schmitz is Professor of Geography at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an Affiliated Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He is the author of the publications Historical Dictionary of Yemen, “Huthi Visions of the State: A Huthi Republic with an Unofficial Imam,” in Hamidaddin, Abdullah (ed). The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition and Security in the Arab Gulf and “A Parasitic Political Economy,” in Amat Alsoswa and Noel Brehony (eds.), Building a New Yemen: Transition and International Community.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
The attacks on the legitimacy and independence of courts in the United States is increasing.
What are these attacks? Where are they coming from? And what might be the effect on justice in America? [ dur: 58mins. ]
This webinar was organized by UC Berkeley’s Civil Justice Research Initiative. It is part of the Berkeley Boosts program.
- Alicia Bannon is the Managing Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. She is the co-author of the report State Supreme Court Diversity, Legislative Assault on the State Courts – December 21 Update, and The Power of State Courts in Securing Abortion Access: ‘It’s Time to Give Them Center Stage’.
- James Brosnahan is Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He is Senior Trial Counsel at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. He is the author of Defending Clients, Not Movements and a contributor to the book Trial Evidence in the Federal Courts: Problems and Solutions.
- Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include, most recently, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, and The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State (with Howard Gillman).
- Denyse F. Clancy is a partner in the Oakland, CA law firm of Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood. She is a nationally recognized appellate and trial lawyer with prominent experience in asbestos and talc litigation and other toxic torts. She is the author of Fraud Claims Under Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933: Should Pleading with Particularity be Required? and The Deductibility of the Costs of Aircraft Maintenance.
We would like to thank the University of California, Berkeley’s Civil Justice Research Initiative and Berkeley Law Executive Education for making this recording available.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin.
First, our guest argues that strong leaders are not necessarily the best leaders, particularly for democracies. What does history tell us about the best kind of leader for society? This is part one of a two part interview. [ dur: 21 mins. ]
- Archie Brown is Professor Emeritus of Politics at Oxford University. His books include The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age, The Gorbachev Factor and The Rise and Fall of Communism.
Then, on the scholars’ circle panel, many observers argue, that the economic forces are corrupting medical care and eroding the trust between patients and their doctors. The problems in health care delivery have wide implications related to how health care should function particularly when there are limited resources. We examine the ethics of medicine and healthcare, and the modern day issues that complicate them. [ dur: 37 mins. ]
- Thomas Pogge is the Director of the Global Justice Program and Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University and King’s College. His books include World Poverty and Human Rights and Freedom from Poverty: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?.
- Martin Wilkinson is Professor of Political Studies and Deputy Head of Department of Politics & International Relns at the University of Auckland. His books include Freedom, Efficiency and Equality and Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs.
- Richard Cookson is a Reader and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. His books include The Humble Economist: Tony Culyer on Health, Health Care and Social Decision Making and Jonathan Bradshaw on Social Policy: Selected Writings 1972-2011.
This program was recorded on January 16, 2015.
This program is produced by Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin.
Kazakhstan has erupted in protests and government violence this week. We explore the potential that these protests leads to greater democratization in this authoritarian government, and detail its recent human rights abuses.[ dur: 34mins. ]
- Erica Marat is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Regional and Analytical Studies Department at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University. She is the author of The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries.
- Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
- Steve Swerdlow is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). He was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. He has conducted extensive field work internationally with a particular focus on Central Asia and the Caucuses.
Vaccine hesitancy slows the effective response to Covid 19 in the Global North. Lack of vaccine distribution slows the response in the Global South. And the new omicron variant rages on. We may be fatigued of the virus, but it’s not over. We discuss vaccine inequity and distribution. [ dur: 24mins. ]
- Adva Gadoth is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Center for Global and Immigrant Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is the co-author of Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among asymptomatic frontline health workers in Los Angeles County, California and Cross-sectional Assessment of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Health Care Workers in Los Angeles.
- Heather Wipfli is an Associate Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the author of Investigating global mental health: Contributions from political science and Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
First, how do birds, bees, whales and turtles all use the earth’s magnetic field to guide their behavior? [ dur: 17mins. ]
- Andres Vidal Gadea is Professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University. He is the co-author of Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans and Factors that influence magnetic orientation in C. elegans. JCPA.
For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ
Human history has been drastically changed by our relationship with animals. So much so that our next guest says it would be a different world if not for our intimate bonds with animals. How have they changed us and the world we live in? [ dur: 41 mins. ]
- Brian Fagan is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored more than two dozen books, including The Intimate Bond: How Animals Have Shaped Human History, Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization and co-authored with Nadia Durrani Climate Chaos: Lessons of Survival from our Ancestors. His website is: http://brianfagan.com/
This show was recorded on August 29, 2015
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
We spend the hour with Fritjof Capra discussing the book he co-authored with Pier Luigi Luisi, The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Fritjof Capra is scientist, educator, activist and author. Capra is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy. His publications include The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Web of Life, The Hidden Connections, The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, and Learning from Leonardo: Decoding the Notebooks of a Genius.
This interview was recorded on August 31, 2014.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
The US Supreme Court faces a legitimacy crisis. The US faces a democracy deficit because of the power of the Court. How should the US address both concerns? Several proposals for reform of the Court have advocated change. Would these help to rebuild the Court’s image and legitimacy? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Christopher W Schmidt is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States at Chicago-Kent School of Law. He is the author of The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era and Civil Rights in America: A History .
- Richard Pacelle Jr. is Professor and Department Head in Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the co-author of Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court and the author of The Supreme Court in a Separation of Powers System: The Nation’s Balance Wheel.
- Eric J. Segall is Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law. He is the author of the books Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is not a Court and its Justices are not Judges.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
Inflation is real. But the reporting on it has been remarkably uninformed. We talk about the real issues the US economy faces, what is driving the inflation rate, and what are the long term implications of it. [ dur: 30mins. ]
- Dean Baker is Senior Economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Research Policy. He is the author of The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive and co-author of Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People.
Arms control discourses are centered around western notions of modernity and civilization. What does it mean to decolonize the language around arms control? How is it accomplished? [ dur: 28mins. ]
- Ritu Mathur is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.
The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the supply chain, with its emphasis on lowering cost without regard to resilience of disruptions. Can government and industry cooperate to build resilience without adding prohibitive cost to production? How responsible is the government to managing the supply chain? What are the larger issues of global supply and production models? [ dur: 58mins. ]
- Christopher S. Tang is Distinguished Professor, Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean of Global Initiatives at UCLA. He is the co-author of Supply Chain Risk Management and the co-editor of Operations Management Models with Consumer-Driven Demand.
- Eleftherios Iakovou is the Harvey Hubbell Professor of Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University and the Director of Manufacturing and Logistics Innovation Initiatives at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. He is the co-author of Sustainable supply chain management in the digitalisation era: The impact of Automated Guided Vehicles and, with Chelsea White, the co-author of How to build a more secure, resilient, next-gen U.S. supply chain.
- Chelsea C. White III is the Schneider National Chair in transportation and logistics and is a professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is the co-author of Mobile Access Hub Deployment for Urban Parcel Logistics and How to build a more secure, resilient, next-gen U.S. supply chain with Eleftherios Iakovou.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.