Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

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

Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- July 28th, 2013

First, is the US House Speaker Newt Gingirch responsible for damaging the culture and productivity of the US Senate? An interview with Sean Theriault, author of,
The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Sean Theriault is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of, The Power of the People: Congressional Competition, Public Attention, and Voter Retribution , Party Polarization in Congress, and his latest, The Gingrich Senators:The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, the so-called “memory entrepreneurs” try to change how we remember the past to shape the future. Are they losing the Cold War memory fight? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Ellen Schrecker, Prof. of History, Yeshiva Univ.. Author of No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities
  • Jon Wiener, Prof. of History, UC Irvine; Author of How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America
  • Doug Becker, International Relations, USC.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- July 21st, 2013

The money-media election complex keeps destroying the democratic process. How did we get here? And where are we headed? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Robert W. McChesney is professor of communication at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois. His books include, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy,  Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media-Election Complex is Destroying America, and The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle, how did the Congress become antagonistic in the past three decades? What are the consequences? What can be done to repair the system? [dur. 29 mins. ]

 

  • Sean Theriault is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of, The Power of the People: Congressional Competition, Public Attention, and Voter Retribution , Party Polarization in Congress, and his latest, The Gingrich Senators:The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress.
  • David C. W. Parker is an associate professor of political science at Montana State University. He is the author of The Power of Money in Congressional Campaigns, 1880-2006 , Doing Archival Research: A Practical Guide for Political Scientists, and a contributing author for the book, The Consequences of Divided Government. He is the co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization.
  • Keith T. Poole is Philip H. Alston, Jr. Distinguished Chair in the department of Political Science at the University of Georgia and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California San Diego. He is the author or coauthor of over 50 articles as well as the co-author of  Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches,  Ideology and Congress, and Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- July 14th, 2013

First, how much does biology effect the propensity for violence? We are joined by Adrian Raine, author of, Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime. [ dur: 28 mins. ] [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Adrian Raine is Professor of Criminology and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of, Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime;

Then, as the California prisoners are on hunger strike, we explore the effects of solitary confinement and the impact of harsh prison conditions on guards and prisoners. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Hope Metcalf is Associate Research Scholar in Law, and Director of the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program. She teaches a clinic on prisoners’ rights in the United States. She is the co-author of Administrative Segregation, Degrees of Isolation, and Incarceration: A National Overview of State and Federal Correctional Policie, and Gideon at Guantanamo: Democratic and Despotic Detention
  • Philip Zimbardo is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University and current *core faculty at Palo Alto University. He is the creator of the The Stanford Prison Experiment. He is the author of numerous publications including The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, Psychology and Life, and The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence.
  • Dr. Stuart Glassian is a psychiatrist who has formerly taught at Harvard Medical School. His is the author of, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, and Effects of Sensory Deprivation in Psychiatric Seclusion and Solitary Confinement.
    He has served as an expert on class-actions lawsuits regrading solitary confinement.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- July 7th, 2013

First, we revisit the American Revolution through the story of the loyalists – those loyal to Great Britain. [ dur: 18 mins. ]

  • Maya Jasanoff, Professor of History , Harvard University. Author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists and the Revolutionary War.

Then, we talk about America at a political, cultural and economic crossroads with [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Bill Greider  author of, Come Home America: The Rise and Fall and the Redeeming Promise of Our Country.

Finally, we interview Heather Rogers, author of Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. [ dur: 13 mins. ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- June 30th, 2013

What are the collective impacts of the last Supreme Court term on our lives and our rights? [ dur: 18mins ]

  • Erwin Chemerinsky is the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. He is the author of books, including, Constitutional Law, and The Conservative Assault on the Constitution.

Then, the life, legacy and leadership of Nelson Mandela in the words of one of his closest colleagues. [ dur: 10 mins ]

  • Albie Sachs, former South African Constitutional Court judge; Author of many books, including The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter and The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law

Finally, in the wake of President Obama’s new climate plan, three of the world’s top scientists assess how to heal this planet. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Mark Z. Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford. He is the author of Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions and  Atmospheric Pollution: History, Science, and Regulation
  • Michael E. Mann is a Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, and the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. Dr. Mann is author of more than 150 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and two books including, Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming, and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. He is also a lead author for the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on climate change for which he, his coauthors, and VP Al Gore won the Nobel prize.
  • Peter Ward is Professor of Biology at the University of Washington. He is the author of Our Flooded Earth, Under a Green Sky: global warming, the mass extinctions of the past and what they can tell us about our future mass extinctions, and, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- June 23rd, 2013

First, Britain apologized to Mau Mau freedom fighters and will pay reparations. What does it mean for Kenyans and the international community?

  • Wanjiru Njendu , writer, director and producer of films. [ dur: 10 mins. ]
  • John Torpey is Professor of Sociology at the City University New York, Graduate Center . He is the author and editor of several books including, “Making Whole What has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics,” “Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe: Transatlantic Relations after the Iraq War,” and “Politics and the Past: On Repairing Historical Injustices.” [ dur: 15 mins. ]

Then, on the Scholars Circle, we look at the global refugee crisis. What is driving it? And what are the solutions? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Elizabeth Ferris is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement in Washington, D.C., where her work encompasses a wide range of issues related to internal displacement, humanitarian action, natural disasters and climate change. She is the author of, The Politics of Protection:The Limits of Humanitarian Action.
  • Karen Musalo is clinical professor of law  at UC Hastings College of Law. and is founding  Director of the Center of Gender and Refugee Studies. She was the lead attorney of the landmark case, Matter of Kasinga. She is the co-author of  Do They Hear When You Cry, and REFUGEE LAW AND POLICY: A COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL APPROACH, amongst other numerous publications.
  • Dr. Gilbert M. Burnham is the co-director of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at Johns Hopkins. He has extensive experience in emergency preparedness and response, particularly in humanitarian needs assessment, program planning, and evaluation that address the needs of vulnerable populations, and the development and implementation of training programs. He has published widely on these topics.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- June 16th, 2013

In this hour, we continue exploring the bank of the banks and the role it plays in international economies. [ dur: 10 mins. ]

  • Adam LeBor, Author: Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World

Then, is the national surveillance state a permanent feature of the US? [ dur: 20 mins. ]

  • Prof. Sanford Levinson. Prof. of Government and Law, University of Texas. Author: Constitutional Stupidities, Constitutional Tragedies

Finally, what do the uprisings in Turkey mean for the country itself, Middle East and the West? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Dr. Marcie J. Patton is a Professor of Politics at Fairfield University. Her publications include, “Turkey,” “AKP Reform Fatigue in Turkey: What’s happened to the EU process?” and “The Economic Policies of the AKP Government: Rabbits from a Hat?”
  • Mark LeVine is a Professor of History at the University of California,Irvine. His books include, “Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil,” “Heavy Metal Islam: Religion, Popular Culture and Resistance in the Middle East,” and co-authored “Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies”
  • Asli Ü. Bâli is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. She is the author of numerous publications including, “The Perils of Judicial Independence: Constitutional Transition and the Turkish Example” “From Subjects to Citizens? The Shifting Paradigm of Electoral Authoritarianism in the Middle East” and co-authored, “American Overreach: Strategic Interests and Millennial Ambitions in the Middle East.”

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- June 9th, 2013

First, we look at a little known international bank that influences the world’s economy.

  • Adam LeBor, Author: Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle, amid the turmoil in Syria, we analyze the psychology that drives human atrocities and the means of preventing them.

  • Ervin Staub, is professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Author of The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others.
  • David Livingstone Smith, is professor of Philosophy at University of New England. Author of Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others
  • John Kaag, is professor of Philosophy University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Author of Neoconservative Images of the United Nations: American Domestic Politics and International Cooperation

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Insighters Radio- June 2nd, 2013

First, there are some dozen situations around the world that could be considered pre-genocidal. What have we learned from past genocides? We speak with Romeo Dallaire, commander of peacekeeping forces in Rwanda who tried to stop the massacre of Tutsis. He is the author of, Shake Hands With the Devil and They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children. [ dur: 45 mins. ]

Then, we look at increasing evidence that the cancer epidemic is linked to chemicals in the environment. With Sandra Steingraber, author of the book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.  [ dur: 13 mins. ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- May 26th, 2013

In this hour, the war comes home. The struggles of homecoming veterans and how that affects us all. First, we speak with journalist Aaron Glantz, author of, Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans. [ dur: 20 mins. ]

  • Aaron Glantz, author, journalist; Author: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans.

Then, we look at the unique challenges of women soldiers and veterans.  Film:  “Women at War :  Forgotten Veterans of Desert Storm”. [ dur: 10 mins. ]

  • Dennis Davis, filmmaker;
  • Christie Davis, filmmaker;

Finally, on the anniversary of the Charles Taylor conviction and sentencing, we revisit the good and the bad of the international criminal court. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Prof. David Kaye, UCLA Law School;
  • Prof. Hannah Garry, USC Gould Law School;
  • Prof. Mark Drumbl, WA & Lee Univ. School of Law. Author: Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law

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