Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court decisions and American Law ; Insights on the Pink wave in Latin America – June 26, 2022

June 26, 2022 host

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 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).

What does the leftist turn in Latin American elections mean for the politics of the region? Is it a response to neoliberalism? Is it a response to the endemic corruption in the region? We explore the so-called “pink wave” in the region. [ dur: 33mins. ]

Benjamin Arditi is Professor of Politics at the National University of Mexico. He is the author of Politics on the Edges of Liberalism: Difference, Populism, Revolution, Agitation and “Arguments about the Left Turns in Latin America: A Post-Liberal Politics?“
Maxwell A. Cameron is Professor of Political Science in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and Political Science at the University of British Colombia. He is the co-editor of Latin America’s Left Turns: Politics, Policies and Trajectories of Change, and author of “The Return of Oligarchy? Threats to Representative Democracy in Latin America.”
Marcia Ribeiro Dias is adjunct professor and researcher at the School of Political Science of the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) and works as a permanent member of the PPG in Political Science. She is co-author of “The mutualism between liberal-conservatism and fascism: ideological dispute and political scenario of contemporary Brazil.“

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

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

June 18, 2022 host

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 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. His publications also include The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy.

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Casualties from Russian invasion of Ukraine and evaluating Russian influence in post Soviet space – June 12, 2022

June 11, 2022 host

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. ]

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 “How They Joined? Militants and Informers in the Armed Conflict in Ukraine“.
Tymofii Brik is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Economic History at Kyiv School of Economics. He is the author of Thirty Years of Religious Pluralism in Ukraine and co-author of Attitudes About Privatization and the Shadow of Communism: 25 Years of Anti-market Skepticism.

The impact of the February Russian invasion of Ukraine extends beyond just those two nations. Russia has dominated the post-Soviet space—the independent nations that were once a part of the Soviet Union. A Russian foreign policy has attempted to ensure that the nation is the indispensable partner of these nations. But the invasion has fractured this image and poses significant challenges to Russian influence over its former Soviet Union partners.

How has this invasion damaged the legitimacy of Russia’s interventions in other conflicts across the post Soviet space? What does this mean to these conflicts? And how has this war called into question Russia’s influence in this area? [ dur: 30mins. ]

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.
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 and “Time to Question Russia’s Imperial Innocence.”

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Scholars’ Circle – Trauma on Children from School Shootings – June 5, 2022

June 5, 2022 host

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: 58mins. ]

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Sri Lankans Protest as they experience Economic Crisis – May 29, 2022

May 28, 2022 host

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 turmoil and that day was one of the most violent of its history. Sri Lanka has less than $1 million in foreign reserves, dwindling medical supplies and almost no fuel. President Gotobaya Rajapaksa is attempting to hold onto power as the nation continues to deteriorate. And the protests continue.

We will explore the political and economic crisis that roils the island nation. What role do outside powers and lenders play at exacerbating Sri Lanka’s economic crisis? [ dur: 58 mins. ]

Bhavani Fonseka is a Senior Researcher and Attorney at Law with the Centre for Policy Alternatives think tank. She is the editor of Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Moving Beyond Promises and the author of The Long Wait For Justice: On the chronic failures of criminal justice in Sri Lanka.
Ambika Satkunanathan is human rights lawyer and Fellow at the Open Society Foundation. She is the author of Authoritarian (in)efficiency and the undermining of democracy in Sri Lanka, Justice in Transition-Victims, Forgiveness and Truth-Seeking in Post-War Sri Lanka and Securitisation and militarisation in Sri Lanka: A continuum.
Ahilan Kadirgamar is Senior Lecturer at the University of Jaffna. He is the author of Rebuilding the Post-War North, and co-author of The Political Economy of the Crisis in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka’s crisis: The disaster of economic dependency.

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Scholars’ Circle – Philippines Presidential Election – May 22, 2022

May 21, 2022 host

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 Marcos regime and how might they differ from the current policies of Rodrigo Duterte? We explore the historical significance of the return of Marcos to power in the nation. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jocelyn Martin is Assistant Professor of English at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. She is the author of “Martial Law as Philippine Trauma: Group Culture, the Sacred, and Impunity in Three Memoirs” and “From Dictator to Hero: Marcos, Heroes Cemeteries and Sites of Cultural Memory”.
Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem is Professor of Political Science at the University of Philippines Diliman. She is the author of Philippine Politics and the Marcos Technocrats: The emergence and evolution of a power elite and “The Politics of a Middle-Class-Led Movement in the Philippines”.
Nico Ravanilla is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California San Diego. He is the co-author of “Deadly Populism: How Local Political Outsiders Drive Duterte’s War on Drugs in the Philippines” (with Renard Sexton and Dotan Haim) and “The Philippine Elections: Has Politics Changed under Duterte?”.

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Scholars’ Circle – Women’s Reproductive Health post-Roe – May 15, 2022

May 15, 2022 host

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 years, compelled abortion advocates to develop alternative strategies for women. If Roe v. Wade is in fact overturned, what will women do to maintain sovereignty over their own bodies? What will a post-Roe world mean for women’s reproductive health?

Can reframing reproductive rights influence how people understand the issues related to abortion? Would the phrase “reproductive justice” offer a more accurate view than previous frames such as “reproductive rights” or “rights to privacy?”. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Rachel Rebouché is the Interim Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law and the James E. Beasley Professor of Law. She is the author of Abortion Rights as Human Rights, co-author of “Eugenic Abortions” and the Problematic Popularity of the Reason-Based Ban and The New Abortion Battleground.
Lina-Maria Murillo is Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. She is the author of Birth Control, Border Control: The Movement for Contraception in El Paso, Texas 1936–1940 and Fighting for Control: Power, Reproductive Care, and Race in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.
Robin Marty is the Communications Director for the West Alabama Women’s Center and a freelance reporter. She’s the author of Handbook for a Post-Roe America and co-author of The End of Roe v. Wade: Inside the Right’s Plan to Destroy Legal Abortion.

Community of Womens’ Health advocates:

Repro Legal Defense fund – https://reprolegaldefensefund.org
If/When/How – https://www.ifwhenhow.org/ , lawyers for reproductive justice

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Scholars’ Circle -German History of Gay rights during the period of Cold War; LGBTQ rights struggle in US – May 8, 2022

May 8, 2022 host

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 also the author of Heterogeneous Persecution: Lesbianism and the Nazi State.

Since the 2020 election, anti-transgender campaigns have been growing in the United States. What are these efforts? We look at the campaigns to curtail and reverse gay and transgender rights, in particular we explore campaigns such as Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act (dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” bill) and attempts to ban trans athletes in all levels of competition. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

Clifford Rosky is Professor of Law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. He is the author of Anti-Gay Curriculum Laws, Fear of the Queer Child, “Still Not Equal: A Report from the Red States,” and co-author of the opinion article After 50-year stalemate, it’s time to pass federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination law.

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Scholars’ Circle – Disinformation in our time – May 1, 2022

May 1, 2022 host

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 misinformation and disinformation is a historic challenge. Social media just speeds the process. Yet a significant concern is discerning who best to regulate what constitutes disinformation, in light of the political power of censorship.
We look at how disinformation has spread worldwide, shifting politics and challenging democracies. What are the most effective ways to counter disinformation? How might it be different for states, than for individuals? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Elzbieta Drazkiewic is Senior Research Fellow at the Slovak Academy of the Sciences. She is the author of “Taking vaccine regret and hesitancy seriously. The role of truth, conspiracy theories, gender relations and trust in the HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland” and co-author of “What Should Academics Do About Conspiracy Theories? Moving Beyond Debunking to Better Deal with Conspiratorial Movements, Misinformation and Post-Truth” (with Jaron Harambam).
Nora Benavidez is Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice & Civil Rights at Free Press. She also serves as Faculty Associate at Arizona State University’s Cronkite Institute. She is the author of “Now What? Fixing Facebook to Protect Us All” and “Facebook Ought to be Protecting Democracy Every Day.”
Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford and Head of the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group. He is the author of Digital Diplomacy and International Organizations: Autonomy, Legitimacy and Contestation (with R Zaiotti) and Countering Online Propaganda and Violent Extremism: The Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy (with J. Pamment).

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Scholars’ Circle – Importance of Preserving All Presidential Documents; Uzbekistan Denies Protection of Religious Freedom – April 24, 2022

April 24, 2022 host

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 papers from the White House poses a significant threat for the security of classified information. But perhaps most importantly, it serves as a major concern for future historians to write accurate and detailed histories of the presidency. We explore the Presidential Records Act and how the law is applied.

Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at 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. His publications also include The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy

We turn our attention to a country rarely in the news, Uzbekistan. What do we know about the country, particularly its religious freedoms? Uzbekistan is an Islamic country. But does it respect the rights of its Muslims? If so, why does the country imprison its people considered prisoners of conscience and religious prisoners? We discuss a new report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners. [ dur: 32mins. ]

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. 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. He is the author of Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court decisions and American Law ; Insights on the Pink wave in Latin America – June 26, 2022

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

Scholars’ Circle – Casualties from Russian invasion of Ukraine and evaluating Russian influence in post Soviet space – June 12, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Trauma on Children from School Shootings – June 5, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Sri Lankans Protest as they experience Economic Crisis – May 29, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Philippines Presidential Election – May 22, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Women’s Reproductive Health post-Roe – May 15, 2022

Scholars’ Circle -German History of Gay rights during the period of Cold War; LGBTQ rights struggle in US – May 8, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Importance of Preserving All Presidential Documents; Uzbekistan Denies Protection of Religious Freedom – April 24, 2022

By Maria Armoudian