First, while many in the West decry the politics of the former Soviet Union countries as corrupt and anti-democratic, our guest argues that there are much better ways of understanding the processes and politics of patronal systems. This is part one of a two part discussion with Professor Henry Hale. You can find Part 2 here. [ dur: 22 mins. ]

• Henry E. Hale is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University. His books include Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective, The Foundations of Ethnic Politics: Separatism of States and Nations in Eurasia and the World and Why Not Parties in Russia? Democracy, Federalism, and the State.

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, once upon a time, corporations were required to have a public purpose and once they fulfilled it, they were dissolved. How did we get to where we are today & what does it mean for democracy? [ dur: 36 mins. ]

• Richard Abrams, is Professor of History, UC Berkeley. He is the author of America Transformed: Sixty Years of Revolutionary Change, 1941-2001
• Paul Pierson, is Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley. He is the co-author of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer–and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
• Scott Bowman, is Professor and Chair of Political Science Department at  California State University, Los Angeles (CSU-LA). He is the author of The Modern Corporation and American Political Thought: Law, Power, and Ideology

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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