Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Information and recordings from Schloars’ Circle radio show is posted here.

Scholars’ Circle – Survey of historical and current Practices to Redress Crimes Against Humanity – April 18, 2021

April 17, 2021 host

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.

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Scholars’ Circle -Discerning facts from fiction on the internet; Forces and means of preventing Genocide – April 11, 2021

April 10, 2021 host

The great promise of the internet to provide interconnectedness and the spread of great ideas has brought great challenges in discerning facts from fiction. Our guest discusses ways we can identify misinformation and disinformation. [ dur: 26 mins. ]

Damaso Reyes is a freelance journalist and a researcher, speaker and trainer in the field of media and information literacy.

Then, April is a notorious month for genocide and mass human rights abuses. We will analyze the forces of genocide and the means of preventing genocide. [ dur: 32mins. ]

Ben Kiernan is Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University. He is the author of, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79.
Alex Hinton is Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights, and Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs at Rutgers University. He is the co-author of, Why Did They Kill?: Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide, and is the editor of Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation (The Cultures and Practice of Violence), and Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide.
Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of, Zero Degrees of Empathy, and he is the editor of Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience, and The Maladapted Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology.

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Scholars’ Circle – Managing Pandemic in Brazil and Mexico; Kenyan Entrepreneur adapting to aid during pandemic – April 4, 2021

April 3, 2021 host

The effects of the Covid Pandemic are particularly devastating across the Global South. Two of the largest nations in Latin America, Mexico and Brazil, have some similarities but key differences in their responses to the pandemic. We explore these two nations. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 39mins. ]

Pamela K. Starr is the Director of the U.S.-Mexico Network, a university fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and a Professor of the Practice in the School of International Relations and in Public Diplomacy. She is the co-editor of Markets and Democracy in Latin America: Conflict or Convergence?
Erica Resende is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the Brazilian War College in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the co-editor of Memory and Trauma in International Relations: Theories, Cases and Debates; and Crisis and Change in Post Cold-War Global Politics.

We explore the pandemic in Kenya and a company in Nairobi that has developed a creative model to aid vulnerable populations. [ dur: 19mins. ]

Sarah Lebu is one of the founders of KiziTu in Nairobi, a business that has found a positive way to contribute and survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://allafrica.com/stories/202103160815.html

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Scholars’ Circle – Yemini War and humanitarian crisis; Secret Heroes Who Shaped the World – March 28, 2021

March 27, 2021 host

The Yemeni War has created the world’s largest humanitarian disaster. Over 80% of the population is at risk, with particular vulnerabilities to children. And the Covid pandemic has worsened conditions. What are the causes of the war? Why is it not ending? And how can it be resolved? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 43mins. ]

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 Negotiating Yemeni Peace: Deep Divisions and Hard Realities, No Winners in Yemen and Historical Dictionary of Yemen.

Then, secret heroes. We know the role of presidents and other leaders in shaping history, however we hear little about the unsung heroes; many who have risked their lives to liberate and rescue others. Who might some of those secret heroes be? Hosted by Maria Armoudian.[ dur: 14mins. ]

Paul Martin is writer, editor and journalist., He is the author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World and Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues.

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Scholars’ Circle – Rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes and Leading the US Department of Justice – March 21, 2021

March 20, 2021 host

Anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise since the outbreak of Covid. What is at its root? [ dur: 29mins. ]

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).

To report a hate incident and for more information visit https://stopaapihate.org/

A new Attorney General will lead to new priorities. How should Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice confront hate crimes and terrorism? [ dur: 27mins. ]

Chuck Rosenberg is a senior counsel in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement Group. He served as the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (2015 to 2017) and as the Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to FBI Director Jim Comey (2013 to 2015). He is the host of the podcast on MSNBC called The Oath.

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Scholars’ Circle – Role of Attorney General at US Department of Justice and Necessary push towards elimination of Nuclear Weapons – March 14, 2021

March 13, 2021 host

Who does the Attorney General work for? What has led to the increasing control of the Department of Justice by the Presidency.[ dur: 29mins. ]

Cornell Clayton is the C. O Johnson Distinguished Professor of Government and Director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University. He is the author of The Politics of Justice: Attorney General and the Making of Government Legal Policy.

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is now in force. What does this mean for the future of nuclear armament? Can an international treaty lead to the removal of the nuclear threat to the planet? [ dur: 29mins. ]

Ira Helfand, MD is co-chair of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)’s Nuclear Abolition Committee. He is also a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)’s International Steering Committee. He has co-authored PSR’s report “Nuclear Famine: 2 billion at Risk?“

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Scholars’ Circle – Addressing Institutional Racism and Genocide – March 7, 2021

March 6, 2021 host

With the world facing multiple crises, we speak with three preeminent scholars from psychology, anthropology and philosophy about the crossroads before us and ways that we can navigate them for the betterment of humanity. [ dur: 58mins. ]

David Livingstone Smith is a professor of philosophy at the University of New England. He is the author of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War, Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others, and his latest On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist it.
Ervin Staub is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His numerous publications include Overcoming evil: Genocide, violent conflict and terrorism, The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence, and The roots of goodness: Inclusive caring, moral courage, altruism born of suffering, active bystandership and heroism.
Doug Fry is Professor & Chairperson in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. With Riane Eisler he has co-authored, Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Minds, Lives, and Future. He is also the author of ,Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace and the editor of War, Peace, and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views.

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Scholars’ Circle – Facts and Myths of Poverty in USA – February 28, 2021

February 27, 2021 host

What are our assumptions about poverty in America? How much of it is just mistaken? How do the assumptions we make influence the policies we adopt? We explore these assumptions and the realities. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Mark Robert Rank is currently the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of Living on the Edge: The Realities of Welfare in America, One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All, and Chasing the American Dream: Understanding the Dynamics that Shape Our Fortunes (with Thomas Hirschl). His forthcoming book is POORLY UNDERSTOOD: What Americans Get Wrong About Poverty (with Lawrence M. Eppard and Heather Bullock.).
Lawrence M. Eppard is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Shippensburg University. He is the author of Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality (with Mark Robert Rank and Heather Bullock) and the forthcoming POORLY UNDERSTOOD: What Americans Get Wrong About Poverty (with Mark Robert Rank and Heather Bullock.).
Peter Edelman is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law and is faculty director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. He is the author of Searching for America’s Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope, So Rich So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America and Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America.

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Scholars’ Circle – The Future of the Republican Party – February 21, 2021

February 20, 2021 host

The Republican Party is at a crossroads. Parties that lose presidential election frequently reconsider their trajectories and their political messaging. How much will the party be determined by the politics and policy of the last four years? How much will it try to reconceptualize and rebrand itself for the 2022 and 2024 elections? We discuss the future of the Republican Party. Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Geoffrey Kabaservice is the Director of Political Studies at the Niskanen Center. He is the author of The Guardians: Kingman Brewster, His Circle, and the Rise of the Liberal Establishment and Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party.
Paul Djupe is Associate Professor of Political Science at Denison University. His is the co-editor of The Evangelical Crackup? The Future of the Evangelical-Republican Coalition and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion.
Brian Conley is Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies in the Government Department of Suffolk University. He is the author of The Rise of the Republican Right from Goldwater to Reagan.
Marcus Witcher is an Assistant Professor in the History Department at Huntingdon College. He is the author of Getting Right with Reagan: The Struggle for True Conservatism, 1980-2016.

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Scholars’ Circle – Impeachement of Donald Trump and President Biden’s immigration policy – February 14, 2021

February 13, 2021 host

What is the future of impeachment as a constitutional tool after the Second Trump Impeachment Trial? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 33mins. ]

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”.
Eric M. Freedman is a Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. He is the author of Habeas Corpus: Rethinking the Great Writ of Liberty and Making Habeas Work: A Legal History.

How will Biden change American immigration policy? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 25mins. ]

Joanne Lin is National Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at Amnesty International, USA.
Hiroshi Motomura is a Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has authored many books including Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and Immigration Outside the Law.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Survey of historical and current Practices to Redress Crimes Against Humanity – April 18, 2021

Scholars’ Circle -Discerning facts from fiction on the internet; Forces and means of preventing Genocide – April 11, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Managing Pandemic in Brazil and Mexico; Kenyan Entrepreneur adapting to aid during pandemic – April 4, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Yemini War and humanitarian crisis; Secret Heroes Who Shaped the World – March 28, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes and Leading the US Department of Justice – March 21, 2021

To report a hate incident and for more information visit https://stopaapihate.org/

Scholars’ Circle – Role of Attorney General at US Department of Justice and Necessary push towards elimination of Nuclear Weapons – March 14, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Addressing Institutional Racism and Genocide – March 7, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Facts and Myths of Poverty in USA – February 28, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – The Future of the Republican Party – February 21, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Impeachement of Donald Trump and President Biden’s immigration policy – February 14, 2021

By Maria Armoudian