Tag Archives: Governance / Law

Scholars’ Circle – Book interview – Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment – June 4, 2023

June 4, 2023 host

What did James Madison mean when he wrote the Second Amendment? What was his motivation? In a new book, our guest says the Second Amendment was intended to protect the states against slave insurrection, not to protect individual liberties. We explore the “original intent” of this controversial amendment to the US Constitution. And look at the epic debate between James Madison of the Federalists and Patrick Henry of the Anti-federalists and how they framed the motivations behind the Second Amendment. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Carl T. Bogus is Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law. He is the author of the book we are discussing today Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Oxford University Press 2023). He is also the editor of The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms and the author of The Hard, Simple Truth about Gun Control and Gun Control and America’s Cities: Public Policy and Politics.

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Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

May 22, 2023 host

The death penalty in the United States has faced increased opposition based on ethical, political, and legal concerns. Several states have outlawed it, but the federal government has returned to its use with a feverish wave of state executions last year. We discuss the implications of the use of the death penalty in the US and examine additional forms of extreme sentencing, such as life without parole. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Frank R. Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence and Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty.
Lee Kovarsky is Bryant Smith Chair in Law and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at The University of Texas in Austin School of Law. He is the author of The Trump Executions and the co-author of The Death Penalty: Concept and Insight.
Jenny-Brooke Condon is a Professor of Law in the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. She directs the Equal Justice Clinic. She is the author of When Cruelty is the Point: Constitutional Restraints and Remedies for Family Separation and Denialism and the Death Penalty.

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Scholars’ Circle – Israel’s democratic challenge – April 23, 2023

April 24, 2023 host

Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to give Israel’s Parliament the ability to overturn high court decisions has been met with widespread protests. What are the stakes of these protests? What’s the democratic and political future for Israel? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Carlton University. She is the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and co-editor (with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper) of Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates.
Liron Levy, is assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She is the author of King Bibi, the personification of democratic values in the 2019 2021 election cycle recently published in the book, the election in Israel 2019 to 2021.

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Scholars’ Circle – French protests explained – April 16, 2023

April 17, 2023 host

Amid mass Protests that have rocked France, the country’s constitutional council have approved President Macron’s move to raise the retirement age to 64. What does all of this mean for French politics, and for the future of unions in French politics and the workplace? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Martin A. Schain is Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at New York University. He is the author of The Politics of Immigration in France, Britain and the United States: A Comparative Study, and co-author and editor of Comparative Federalism: The US and EU in Comparative Perspective and Shadows Over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Europe.
Patrick Chamorel is Senior Resident Scholar and a lecturer at the Stanford Center in Washington. He is the author of France’s Vanishing Center and The French Presidential Election: Can Macron Stay Ahead of the Pack?
Herrick Chapman is Professor Emeritus of History. He is the author of A Century of Organized Labor in France: A Union Movement for the Twenty-First Century? co-edited with Mark Kesselman and Martin Schain and France’s Long Reconstruction: In Search of the Modern Republic.

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Scholars’ Circle – Causes of political and economic turmoil in Haiti – Feb. 5, 2023

February 5, 2023 host

Haiti faces a political, sociological, and economic set of crises. The country faces mass famine, with an estimated 4.7 million people facing acute hunger. With the assassination of its President, Haiti is also facing a political crisis. Officials governing the country are having a legitimacy crisis given the poor response to previous crises that have seen the Haitian people lose power, authority, even sovereignty over the nation. And international intervention has done little to help the nation, and in fact it has exacerbated the problems. How can the nation thrive in light of a history of exploitation and colonialism that has led to these crises? How can the Haitian people be empowered to seize control of their destiny? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Darlène Dubuisson is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of “Haiti: Black Utopia” and “We Know How to Work Together”: Konbit, Protest, and the Rejection of INGO Bureaucratic Dominance.
Mark Schuller is Presidential Research Professor and Professor of Anthropology and Nonprofit and NGO Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti and Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs.
Jean-Eddy Saint Paul is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Assassinations and invasions – how the US and France shaped Haiti’s long history of political turmoil and Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa.

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Scholars’ Circle – Politics and laws on Classified Documents ; How free is Free Speech in US? – January 29, 2023

January 28, 2023 host

We explore ongoing political, legal and normative questions about classified documents discovered in the homes of former President Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. What is the process of classifying documents? And does the government over-classify documents? [ dur: 29mins. ]

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 latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He is host of the podcast This is Democracy.

What are its legal, social, and political limitations of free speech? How does the advent of social media and concerns over misinformation have an impact on the exercise of free speech? And how do the new developments of free speech and its limits have an impact on the First Amendment protections? We discuss a new book You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech with its author Dennis Baron. [ 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).

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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

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. [ 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 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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Tag Archives: Governance / Law

Scholars’ Circle – Book interview – Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment – June 4, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Israel’s democratic challenge – April 23, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – French protests explained – April 16, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Causes of political and economic turmoil in Haiti – Feb. 5, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Politics and laws on Classified Documents ; How free is Free Speech in US? – January 29, 2023

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

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

By Maria Armoudian