Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

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

Insighters June 3rd, 2012

Seg. 1: Two Isreali women, one Jewish, one Palestinian, are working together to sage peace in the region. With Taghrit Shabita, human rights lawyer, peace activist; Dafna Bnai, activist, Machsom Watch. [ dur. 20 mins. ]

Seg.2: What role do media play in the success or failure of the peace process? A look at the media and peace process in Israel and Palestine; With Prof. Gadi Wolfsfeld, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem. [ dur. 20 mins. ]

Seg. 1: What exactly is terrorism? Where should it fall on the continuum of political violence? Prof. Dekmejian is the foremost expert of terrorism and genocide. With  Author and Prof. Richard Dekmejian, USC [ dur. 18 mins. ]

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle May 27th, 2012

Seg. 1: Does power breed hypocrisy? If so, why? And what are the political and social implications. With Prof. Adam Galinski, Northwestern University. [ dur. 9 mins. ]

Seg. 2: The media’s role in political change. Richardson discusses his book A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly life of Ramparts Magazine changed America. Scheer, founder of Truthdig, contributes his thoughts as a former journalist at Ramparts. With Peter Richardson, author, A Bomb in Every Issue; Bob Scheer, Ramparts, TruthDig [dur. 20 mins. ]

Seg. 3: Scholars’ Circle: Health care system is under increased pressure legally, politically, and professionally, and doctors are leaving their practice. What is the future of healthcare. With Maggie Kozol, author of  The Color of Atmosphere; Dr. Ted Mazer, author, Exec. Committee of CA Medical Assoc.; Will Marshall, Pres. Progressive Policy Inst.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – May 20th, 2012

Seg. 1: Mexico’s drug war is claiming thousands of lives and threatening to destabilize Mexico. With Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, Univ. of Texas @ Brownsville,  studies Mexican politics, Mexico-U.S. relations. Molly Molloy, New Mexico State Univ. is prof. and librarian for Border & Latin American issues. She is creator of The Frontera List. [ duration 28 mins. ]

Seg. 2: The Scholars’ Circle. How is the so-called war on drugs connected to lethal drug trade and how can societies more effectively and humanely solve drug problems. Our three panel members have co-authored a book titled, Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know.

  • Prof. Mark Kleiman, author – When Brute Force Fails , UCLA;
  • Prof. Jonathan P. Caulkins, Carnegie Mellon Univ.;
  • Prof. Angela Hawken, Pepperdine Univ.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – May 13th, 2012

Segment 1: We speak with Nancy Gibbs, author of The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity, on one of the world’s most exclusive and influential clubs; [ duration 30 mins. ]
Scholars’ Circle. In the face of looming public health and sustainability, we look at the intersection of science and politics.

  • Naomi Oreskes, Prof. of History & Science, UC San Diego;
  • Prof. David Gustan, Poli Sci, Co-director Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, AZ State Univ.;
  • Prof. Mark Brown, Gov’t & Poli Sci, CSU Sacramento.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – May 6th 2012

Segment 1: Can new media change power relations? We speak with Rory O’Connor author of, “Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media” [ Dur. 29 mins. ]
Segment 2: Scholar’s Circle. What does the conviction of former Liberian President Charles Taylor reveal about the international justice system? Does this system work? Are there other ways to ensure justice?

  • Mark Drumbl is director of the Transnational law Institute at WA and Lee Univ. School of Law. His numerous publications include the award winning, Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law.
  • Prof. Hannah Garry is director of Int’l Human Rights Clinic at USC’s Gould School of law. She specializes in int’l human rights law, int’l criminal law, int’l humanitarian law and international refugee law.
  • David Kaye is the Executive Director of the Int’l Human Rights Law Program and Director of Int’l Justice Clinic at UCLA School of Law.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 29th, 2012 @ LA Times Book Festival

All interviews were recorded live at the LA Times Book Festival on April 20th.

1. What is the collective cost to our wastefulness? And what are the economic and environmental harms of wastefulness? Edward Humes is author of, Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash.

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to restore the US economy were met by a set of dark forces that sought to destroy him and all of his policies. What were those forces and how might they still resonate today? Sally Denton is author of, The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis and the Rise of the American Right.

3. Army scientist Bruce Ivins mailed cultivated anthrax spores to U.S. Senators and media outlets, or did he? Who was Bruce Ivins? How did the press contribute to misleading America? Why did some of our highest government officials disregard scientific data while spinning the letter attacks into a basis for war? David Willman is author of, Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks and America’s Rush to War.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 24th, 2012, Armenian Genocide

On the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we look at what are the conditions for genocide and what are the means to prevent it. [ Dur: 28 min. ]

  • Vahakn Dadrian, Dir. of Genocide Res. @ Zoryan Inst.
  • Prof. Alex Hinton, Rutgers Univ. Anthropology & Genocide;
  • Prof. Richard Dekmejian, Political Science, USC

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 19th, 2012

Seg. 1: Living Off the Grid? a look inside the movement to live with total freedom and independence. Who’s doing it? How and why? We speak with Nick Rosen author of, Off the Grid.

Seg. 2: Cancer and the environment – increasing evidence suggests that the cancer epidemic is linked to chemicals in the environment. We speak with Steingraber author of, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment.

Seg.3: On the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we look at what are the conditions for genocide and what are the means to prevent it.

  • Vahakn Dadrian, Dir. of Genocide Res. @ Zoryan Inst.;
  • Prof. Alex Hinton, Rutgers Univ. Anthropology & Genocide;
  • Prof. Richard Dekmejian, Political Science, USC.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 8st, 2012

First, did the sexual counter revolution polarize American politics? With author Nancy Cohen ( UCLA ) author of the just released book. Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America. [duration: 29 min.]

Then, on the scholars’ circle, how might the power of ideas shape countries and international power structures. [duration: 25 min. ]

  • Liz Borgwardt, Univ. of Chicago, author.
  • Christopher McKnight Nichols, Univ. Of Penn.
  • Tim Lynch, Univ. of Melbourne.

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Insighters & Scholars’ Circle – April 1st, 2012

Our interview with scholars’ about following questions:

1) How much does the President drive US foreign policy and how much is driven by other factors?  [duration: 25 min.]

With:

  • Prof. Jeremy Suri, Univ. of TX, Austin. Author of  Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama.
  • Prof. James D. Boys, Richmond Univ., London.

2) What are the issues that will determine our next president?
[ duration: 27 min. ]

With:

  • Prof. Thomas Holbrook, Univ. of WI. , author of Do Campaigns Matter? Contemporary American Politics.
  • Prof. Robert C. Smith, SF State Univ. , author of Conservatism and Racism, and Why in American They Are the Same.
  • Prof. Jan Leighley, American Univ. , author of  Strength in Numbers? The political Mobilization of Racial and Ethnic Minorities.

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