Tag Archives: Governance / Law

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interview : Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000 – December 7, 2025

December 7, 2025 host

We interview Aileen Teague author of Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000 . Why has war on drugs fails to address overdose deaths in the United States. [ dur: 35mins. ]

Book cover has a photo of Mexican police and Military arresting farmers on Drug supply charges..Title of the book is Policing on Drugs- The United States, Mexico, and the Origins of Modern Drug War, 1969 - 2000 by Aileen Teague.

Aileen Teague is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. She is the author of Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000.

Is humanity the most damaging predator on earth? Our guests say yes, and that its predatory practices may be disrupting evolution.[ dur: 23 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Chris Darimont, is a Professor at the Department of Geography at University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. He has a PhD in Evolution and Ecology from the Biology Department at the University of Victoria.
Dr. Tom Reimchen, is a Professor at the Department of Geography at University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. Canada. Please visit the Evolutionary Studies Lab at University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada where you will find additional studies on this subject.
Heather Bryan, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Applied Conservation Science lab exploring the physiological mechanisms by which wildlife responds to environmental change at University of Victoria BC, Canada.

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

Politics and Activism, Science / Technology, Governance / Law, Drugs, government policy

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interview : Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000 – December 7, 2025

December 7, 2025 host

Aileen Teague is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. She is the author of Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000.

Is humanity the most damaging predator on earth? Our guests say yes, and that its predatory practices may be disrupting evolution.[ dur: 23 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Chris Darimont, is a Professor at the Department of Geography at University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. He has a PhD in Evolution and Ecology from the Biology Department at the University of Victoria.
Dr. Tom Reimchen, is a Professor at the Department of Geography at University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. Canada. Please visit the Evolutionary Studies Lab at University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada where you will find additional studies on this subject.
Heather Bryan, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Applied Conservation Science lab exploring the physiological mechanisms by which wildlife responds to environmental change at University of Victoria BC, Canada.

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

Politics and Activism, Science / Technology, Governance / Law, Drugs, government policy, Drugs, Evolution, Human society

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma – November 30, 2025

November 29, 2025 host

In 2020, the Supreme Court surprised many observers by holding up the rights of the Muscogee (Creek) nation. In McGirt v Oklahoma, the Court held that the Creek Nation retained its sovereign rights over a very large part of Eastern Oklahoma. The decision began with a poetic line: “At the end of the Trail of Tears is a promise.” The case raises further interest in issues of Indian law, which includes a very important case on the docket this year on the issue of the adoption of Indian children without the consent of the tribe.

bookcover - shows bust of an American Indian with book title

Robert Miller and Robbie Ethridge have written a new book on the McGirt case, on the history of the Muscogee nation’s relations with the United States, and the details of the case itself. And the title of the book references that first line of the decision. It is called A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma. Our guests are the authors of the book. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Robert J. Miller is Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is the author of Reservation “Capitalism”: Economic Development in Indian Country and Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny.
Robbie Ethridge is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of From Chicaza to Chickasaw: The European Invasion and the Transformation of the Mississippian World, 1540–1715 and Creek Country: The Creek Indians and Their World, 1796–1816.

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

Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, indigenous rights

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Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s anti-green energy policies ; ICJ climate change ruling for all affected states – October 19, 2025

October 23, 2025 host

Green energy shunned by the Trump Administration, we examine how this affects US economy, energy costs and green technology leadership. [ dur: 22mins. ]

Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She’s also the author of Climate Change or Social Change? Environmental and Leftist Praxis and Participatory Action Research and State-led social boundary change: Transnational environmental activism, ‘ecoterrorism’ and September 11.
Dr. Kelly Twomey Sanders is an Associate Professor in the University of Southern California’s Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is the co-author of Integrating Sociodemographic, Health, and Environmental Data to Assess the Spatiotemporal Trends of Vulnerability to Heatwaves in California .

International Court of Justice (ICJ ) made decision on behalf of Vanuatu in July 2025 Recognizing the “urgent and existential threat” facing the world, granting those harmed by human-caused climate change may be entitled to “reparations”. [ dur: 35mins. ]

Johanna L. Gusman Regional Adviser for Human Rights and Social Development at the Pacific Community (SPC) based in Suva, Fiji. She has authored Pacific Island Countries Make Historic Submissions to the International Court of Justice Climate Change Advisory Opinion.
Dr. Justin Sobion Lectures on Environmental Law at University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has contributed chapter to Reflections on Earth Trusteeship. Mother Earth and a new 21st-century governance paradigm.

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

Environment, Politics and Activism, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Governance / Law

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Scholars’ Circle – Reasons for political violence and how it becomes inevitable – September 21, 2025

September 22, 2025 host

Political violence is on the rise, we get insight into why it happens and ways to mitigate it’s occurrence. With scholars of politics, social inquiry and criminal justice. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Roger Petersen is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at MIT. He is the author of Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe, Death, Domination, and State-Building: The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, and Emotions and backlash in US society and politics.
David L. Altheide is a Regents Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. He is the author of Terrorism and the Politics of Fear, The Media Syndrome and Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump.
Brian Levin is Director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism and Professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, San Bernardino. He is co-author of the book The Limits of Dissent and co-author of the publications Report to the nation: hate crimes rise in US cities and counties in time of division and foreign interference, Posing the Why Question: Understanding the perpetration of racially motivated violence and harassment, and Fact Sheet: Anti-Asian Prejudice 2020 (March 2, 2021).

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Threat to Freedom of expression in US ; Author interview on case for universal Child Care for working American – September 7, 2025

September 7, 2025 host

As part of an ongoing attack on free expression, Donald Trump is trying to criminalize flag burning. Is this proposed ban constitutional? [ dur: 29mins. ]

Dennis Baron is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a frequent commentator on language issues in the national media and has written a number of popular books, including What’s Your Pronoun? (2020).

Picture of a Child's closet for a book titled Raising A Nation - 10 reasons every American has a stake in Child care for all. by Elliot Haspel.

Then, why is child care in America so expensive? This vital service that is so crucial for child and community development is among American families’ largest expenses. And why is child care so underfunded by the government? We speak with Elliot Haspel, author of Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. [ dur: 29mins. ]

Elliot Haspel is a nationally recognized child care policy expert, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita. He’s the author of Crawling Behind America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, but today we’re going to talk about his new book. The new book is entitled, Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. Elliott Hospital is currently pursuing his PhD in early childhood policy at the University of Colorado, Denver.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Texas Re-districting ; Grandmother’s of Argentine’s disappeared – August 10, 2025

August 10, 2025 host

First, will Donald Trump’s and the republican party’s efforts to redraw electoral maps give them a permanent majority? [ dur: 24mins. ]

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. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy.

Dual tone image of Abuelas of the Playa de Mayo in Argentina with book title of A Flower Traveled In my blood. By Haley Cohen Gilliland.

Then, during the so called “dirty war,” Argentina’s military dictatorship kidnapped and disappeared its own citizens. But a dedicated group of activists, mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, dedicated their lives to finding those who were stolen from their families. Who were the Abuelas of the Playa de Mayo? And what happened in their quest to reunite the disappeared with their families? We speak with the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children. [ dur: 34mins. ]

Haley Cohen Gilliland is a journalist and the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. She is the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Supreme Court decisions: Federal Injunctions and Religious belief exemption from public school curriculum – July 6, 2025

July 18, 2025 host

The US Supreme Court has decided numerous cases and announced their opinions in the past week. On today’s show we explore two cases.

The Court declared an end to national injunctions in a case involving birthright citizenship. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include, most recently, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, and The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State (with Howard Gillman).

Parents can remove their children from any class they deem in opposition to their religious beliefs. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Caroline Mala Corbin is Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. She is the author of Regulating LGBTQ Speech in the Classroom and New Judicial Federalism and the Establishment Clause: Classroom Ten Commandments as a Case Study in State Constitutional Protection

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Canadian election insights – May 18, 2025

May 19, 2025 host

Canada’s Liberals were facing a 20 point deficit a few months back but came back to maintain power by re-electing Liberal Prime Minister, Mark Carney. What does this mean for the country and its challenges this year and beyond? What are Canada’s most pressing political challenges? Canadian politics are complex and experts argue their most recent election was not only a reaction to Donald Trump’s remarks about the country. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Terry Givens is Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. She’s the author of The Roots of Racism, The Politics of White Supremacy in the US and Europe and also the impact of strategic voting in Canada.
Mark O’Reilly is Professor of Political Science and the chair of the History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Religion Department at Heidelberg University. He’s the author of unexceptional. America’s Empire in the Persian Gulf.
Stephen Lammy is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, International Relations, and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Introduction to Global Politics that’s in its seventh edition

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

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Scholars’ Circle – First 100 days into the second Trump administration – May 11, 2025

May 12, 2025 host

We are 100 days into the second Trump Administration. How different is this term from his first and from other Presidents? What are the constitutional and normative challenges it poses to American democracy? Just how much has Trump attempted to consolidate power in the Presidency? What are the biggest threats his administration poses to the constitution, the rule of law and to American democracy? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Heidi Kitrosser is Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is the author of the book, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and the articles, The Shadow of Executive Privilege, and Accountability in the Deep State.
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. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy.
Steve Swerdlow, Esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch in both the Central Asian region and in the Caucuses.

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

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Governance / Law

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interview : Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000 – December 7, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Book Author interview : Policing on Drugs – The United States , Mexico and Origins of Modern Drug War, 1996 – 2000 – December 7, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma – November 30, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s anti-green energy policies ; ICJ climate change ruling for all affected states – October 19, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Reasons for political violence and how it becomes inevitable – September 21, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Threat to Freedom of expression in US ; Author interview on case for universal Child Care for working American – September 7, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Texas Re-districting ; Grandmother’s of Argentine’s disappeared – August 10, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Supreme Court decisions: Federal Injunctions and Religious belief exemption from public school curriculum – July 6, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Canadian election insights – May 18, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – First 100 days into the second Trump administration – May 11, 2025

By Maria Armoudian