Scholars’ Circle – Use of Software Algorithms to create Artificial Intelligence that inform institutions, why should we be wary? – January 1, 2023

December 31, 2022 host

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Story of Christmas Truce during WWI in 1914 ; Science of Compassion, a sense of humanity – December 25, 2022

December 24, 2022 host

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – COP 27 Review and other Global Environmental Agenda – December 11, 2022

December 10, 2022 host

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Executive powers use and abuse of the “Deep State” – December 4, 2022

December 3, 2022 host

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. ]

Book cover of Phantoms of a Beleagured Republic, image of the White House with pillars of administrative building above it

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Deep Listening to Sounds of Nature; Actual History in American Thanksgiving Story – November 27, 2022

November 27, 2022 host

How does deep listening to nature promote biodiversity and a deeper relationship with the natural world?

Book Cover of Civil War by Other Means has an red X on the title of the book

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 :

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.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Financing US Political Campaigns by Super Rich ; Civil War by Other Means, unresolved politics continues today – November 20, 2022

November 20, 2022 host

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 quality? In what ways does it challenge and potentially undermine democracy? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

Eugene D. Mazo is Visiting Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law. He is the author of The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times, Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America and co-author of Democracy by the Wealthy: Campaign Finance Reform as the Issue of Our Time.

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: 30 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, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Voter Suppression acts on marginalized communities ; In the name of Majoritarian democracy – November 13, 2022

November 13, 2022 host

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 Democracy at the University of Virginia School of Law. He is the author of Voter Data, Democratic Inequality, and the Risk of Political Violence, Passive Voter Suppression: Campaign Mobilization and the Effective Disfranchisement of the Poor and Partisan Gerrymandering as a Threat to Multiracial Democracy.
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 the book we are discussing today, Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy.
Dan Tokaji is the Fred W. & Vi Miller Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He is the author of True Threats: Voter Intimidation and the Constitution, Election Law, Democracy, and Legal Education and the co-author of Election Law: Cases and Materials.

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. ]

On this post election week, from our archives we bring you this discussion on the dark side of democracy.

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 Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Lula’s election win in Brazil ; Abelism invoked upon Pennsylvania Senate candidate – November 6, 2022

November 5, 2022 host

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. 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.
Fernanda Magnotta is Professor of International Relations at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) and Visiting Faculty Fulbright Scholar at the University of Southern California. She is a columnist on international politics at Universo Online (UOL). She is the author of Ideas Matter: American Exceptionalism at the Dawn of the Superpower, and numerous op-ed pieces for UOL, including the recent “If He Loses the Election, Bolsonaro is Expected to Follow Trumpist Protocol.“

The campaign of John Fetterman for a Senate seat from Pennsylvania has produced some truly disturbing ableist discourses about the qualifications of persons with disabilities for public service. How is this ableist narrative framing the rights and abilities of persons with disabilities in the United States? What does this mean for persons with disabilities and their capabilities as elected officials? We explore this debate. [ dur: 20mins. ]

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.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Biography of Judge Frank M. Coffin ; History of 3rd party politics in US – October 30, 2022

October 29, 2022 host

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 into America’s judiciary by design? We speak with the author of a new biography of former First Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge, Frank M. Coffin, a former member of congress, former USAID official and jurist renowned for his deep understanding of the politics of judging but was able to do so in a manner that privileged comity, cooperation and respect, even in times of profound political disagreement. Hosted by Tim Fadgen. [ dur: 23mins. ]

Richard J. Maiman is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at University of Southern Maine. He is the author of A Man for All Branches: Judge Frank M. Coffin of Maine.

On this election week, we bring you from our archives this panel discussion on third parties in the United States.

Throughout US history third parties have had a profound impact on policy, governance and voter turnout. So why are we still in a two-party system? [ dur: 35min. ]

This interview was first broadcast in July 2017.

Omar H. Ali is a professor of African Diaspora History and Politics at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third-Party Movements in the United States.
David Gillespie is a professor of Political Science at College of Charlston & the Citedal. He is the author of Challengers to Duopoly: Why Third Parties Matter in American Two-Party Politics
Scot Schraufnagel is a professor of Political Science & Director of Graduate Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Third Party Blues: The Truth and Consequences of Two-Party Dominance

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Use of Software Algorithms to create Artificial Intelligence that inform institutions, why should we be wary? – January 1, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – COP 27 Review and other Global Environmental Agenda – December 11, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Executive powers use and abuse of the “Deep State” – December 4, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Deep Listening to Sounds of Nature; Actual History in American Thanksgiving Story – November 27, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Financing US Political Campaigns by Super Rich ; Civil War by Other Means, unresolved politics continues today – November 20, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Voter Suppression acts on marginalized communities ; In the name of Majoritarian democracy – November 13, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Lula’s election win in Brazil ; Abelism invoked upon Pennsylvania Senate candidate – November 6, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Biography of Judge Frank M. Coffin ; History of 3rd party politics in US – October 30, 2022

By Maria Armoudian