Tag Archives: Elections

While much of the world is in a democratic backslide, some nations’ democracies are thriving. What do the elections in Mexico, South Africa, and India portend? We will examine the election of these three leading Global South nations, the impact of dominant parties losing some support, and the general state of democracy in each nation. How might the policies change? What was the impact of leadership personalities in the democratic developments in Mexico, South Africa and India? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Emily Edmonds-Poli is Professor of Political Science and International Relations, and Director of the Chapman Family Foundation International Program at the University of San Diego. She is the author of Contemporary Mexican Politics.
Ritu Mathur is Professor of International Relations at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
Carin Runciman is Senior Lecturer in the School Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. She is co-author of Decolonising and re-theorising the meaning of democracy: A South African perspective.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Politics and Elections in India – May 19, 2024

May 19, 2024 host

With its 1.4 billion population and a billion registered voters, India stands as the world’s largest democracy and 5th largest economy. India is holding national elections, which will decide its leaders for the next five years. What are the role of its institutions in supporting democracy and how are their elections conducted? What is the state of India’s democracy and what are its big challenges? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Ritu Mathur is Professor of International Relations at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.
Sandipto Dasgupta is Assistant Professor of Politics at New School of Social Research. He is the author of Legalizing the Revolution – India and the Constitution of the Postcolony
Amit Ahuja is Assciate Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements and Internal Security in India – Violence, Order, and the State

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War – April 14, 2024

April 14, 2024 host

The expansion of the vote to women throughout the 20th Century has had an impact on the discourses and politics of war and peace. What is the relationship between women voting, electing women leaders, and women-lead groups in civil society on the issue of war and peace?
Does the expansion of the vote to women lead to the election of women as leaders? And are these leaders more committed to peace than their male counterparts? We explore a new book, The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War..[ dur: 58mins. ]

Book cover of The Suffragist Peace, classic painting with woman in center against war and suffering

Joslyn Barnhart is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is also senior research scientist at Deep Mine in London. She is the author of The consequences of humiliation, anger, and status, threats in international politics
Robert F. Trager is a Professor in the political science department at the University of California, Los Angeles. He’s the author of a forthcoming book Diplomacy Communication and the Origins of International Order

Together they have authored The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS overturns Colorado State Supreme Court decision to bar insurrectionists from its state ballot – March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024 host

The US Supreme Court overturned Colorado’s State Supreme Court decision to remove Donald Trump from its ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on insurrectionists holding office. What might this signal about the court and its role in the 2024 election and in electoral politics more generally?

Polls suggest that voters want to know if Donald Trump is a criminal before voting in November. But the Supreme Court’s decisions make it less likely that this occurs before the election. What does this mean for the future of the US and for democracy and the constitution? [ dur: 58mins. ]

John R. Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of, The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action, Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-2015, and ReFramers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution.
Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of many publications including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and, with Cynthia Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.
Andrew Koppelman is John Paul Stevens Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Increasingly Dangerous Variants of the “Most-Favored-Nation” Theory of Religious Liberty and The Supreme Court and the new religious aristocracy in the Hill.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Guatemala election and inauguration drama explained; Puerto Rico’s struggle with corruption and self determination – January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024 host

In the summer of 2023, Guatemala elected as President an outsider with a famous last name—Bernardo Arevalo. But his political opponents used ever level of law they could to try to deny his Inauguration. Why was he victorious and what does his election mean for the future of democracy in the Central American nation? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Professor Luis Fernando Mack is a Guatemalan independent political analyst and political science professor at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. He is the author of “The Electoral Reform System in Guatemala” and Reform of the State, Assessment of the current constitutional period and prospects for 2024.
Guillermo Trejo is professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and Director and Principal Investigator at the Notre Dame Violence and Transitional Justice Lab (V-TJLab). He is the co-author of Containing Large-Scale Criminal Violence through Internationalized Prosecution: How the CICIG Contributed to the Reduction of Guatemala’s Murder Rate and Votes, Drugs, and Violence: The Political Logic of Criminal Wars in Mexico (book).

The island of Puerto Rico has a complex relationship with the federal government in the United States. Should it seek statehood or independence? Or is the status quo the best option for the nation. This segment was recorded January 2023. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Amílcar Antonio Barreto is Professor and Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies Department, and Interim Director of International Affairs and Political Science at Northeastern University. He is the author of American Identity, Congress and the Puerto Rico Statehood Debate and The Politics of Language in Puerto Rico Revisited.
Jorge Farinacci-Fernós is Associate Professor of Law at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Law School and Visiting Professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law. He is the author of The ‘New’ Insular Cases and the Territorial Clause: From Temporary Incorporation to Permanent Unincorporation and the book Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Paradox: Colonial Subordination, Democratic Tension, and Promise of Progressive Transformation.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Democracy is eroding in United States, why and how to stop the decline – December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023 host

Democracy is eroding in the United States? What are the causes and what should be done? Is the erosion of democracy because of political elites and specifically the reaction of the Republican Party to the 2020 election? Or does it run deeper? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jacob S. Hacker is Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He is the co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality, American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper and the 2010 bestseller Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, all books co-authored with Paul Pierson.
Sigal Ben-Porath is a professor in the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Political Science. She is the author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus, Varieties of Sovereignty and Citizenship, and Citizenship under Fire: Democratic Education in Times of Conflict .
Martin Gilens is Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is the author of Affluence & Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America and co-author, with Benjamin I. Page, of Democracy in America?: What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do about It.
Larry M. Bartels holds the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University. He is the Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. He is the co-author of Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (with Christopher Achen) and Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age.

Recorded February 2022.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Dark Money in Politics hides politicians real constituents – October 15, 2023

October 16, 2023 host

Money can distort politics. And the lack of transparency where this money comes from can further distort politics and invite corruption. Since much of the money in campaign finance is not subject to transparency laws, it has taken the name dark money. This specifically references spending by nonprofit organizations created for political spending. How much has dark money skewed American democracy? What role does transparency in spending play in ensuring the legitimacy of democracies? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Stan Oklobdzija is Visiting Assistant Professor at UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy. He is the author of Public positions, private giving: Dark money and political donors in the Digital Age and Closing Down and Cashing In: Extremism and Political Fundraising.
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is Professor of Law at Stetson Law School. She is the author of Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and Political Brands.
Maurice Cunningham is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization.

This interview was recorded October 2022.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Turkey’s 2023 election and regional effects – June 11, 2023

June 12, 2023 host

Turkey’s election returned President Erdogan to power, despite the crises in the country. How did he win and what does his re-election mean for Turkish democracy? What are the foreign policy implications for the re-election of Erdogan. What does it mean for regional politics and for Turkey as a regional power? Will Turkey become even more interventionist in the region? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Serhun Al is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. He is the author of An anatomy of nationhood and the question of assimilation: Debates on Turkishness revisited , Human security versus national security: Kurds, Turkey and Syrian Rojava and Is Turkey Ready for the Post-Erdoğan Era? Roadblocks to a Democratic Transition.
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. He is a host of SWANA Region Radio.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Puerto Rico considers statehood or independence ; Peru Riots challenge removal of democratically elected president – January 22, 2023

January 22, 2023 host

Amílcar Antonio Barreto is Professor and Chair, Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies Department, and Interim Director of International Affairs and Political Science at Northeastern University. He is the author of American Identity, Congress and the Puerto Rico Statehood Debate and The Politics of Language in Puerto Rico Revisited.
Jorge Farinacci-Fernós is Associate Professor of Law at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Law School and Visiting Professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law. He is the author of The ‘New’ Insular Cases and the Territorial Clause: From Temporary Incorporation to Permanent Unincorporation and the forthcoming book Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Paradox: Colonial Subordination, Democratic Tension, and Promise of Progressive Transformation.

Then, Peru has faced ongoing protests and violence since the removal of its president at the hands of the Congress. What socioeconomic divisions in the nation have lead to this deepened political crisis? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Victoria Chonn Ching is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. She is author of Conceptualizing China-Latin America Relations in the Twenty-First Century: The Boom, The Bust, and the Aftermath with Carol Wise and A Comparative View of Chinese Relations with Peru in China, Latin America, and the Global Economy, with Alvin Camba.
Jorge Antonio Chavez Mazuelos is a lecturer at Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Peru, at the International Relations Department, and is coordinator of a research group focused on Chinese Politics. He is author of The Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation and Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping and The Evolution of Chinese Diplomacy: From Plain-Clothed Soldiers to Wolf Warriors.

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

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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?

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

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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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Elections

Scholars’ Circle – Votes counted in India, Mexico and South Africa – June 16, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Politics and Elections in India – May 19, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – The Suffragist Peace: How Women Shape the Politics of War – April 14, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS overturns Colorado State Supreme Court decision to bar insurrectionists from its state ballot – March 10, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Guatemala election and inauguration drama explained; Puerto Rico’s struggle with corruption and self determination – January 28, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Democracy is eroding in United States, why and how to stop the decline – December 10, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Dark Money in Politics hides politicians real constituents – October 15, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Turkey’s 2023 election and regional effects – June 11, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Puerto Rico considers statehood or independence ; Peru Riots challenge removal of democratically elected president – January 22, 2023

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

By Maria Armoudian