Tag Archives: Human Rights

Scholars’ Circle – Abortion limits and its consequence – September 24, 2023

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, what are the legal and medical ramifications of the huge geographical swaths of women who have no access to abortion? We discuss reproductive healthcare in a post-Dobbs world. What has it meant for the medical profession and the ways in which it had to alter some of the ways healthcare is provided? How have women sought to secure access to abortion in the areas of the country where it is not legal? Mifepristone, the medicine used to terminate pregnancy, faces severe challenges and restrictions. What does this mean for access to medicinal abortion access? What can the areas where it is legal do to help their counterparts in red states? [dur: 58mins. ]

West Alabama Women’s Center: https://alreprohealth.com/

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

Scholars’ Circle – History of Queer culture in Germany; LGBTQ rights struggle in US – September 17, 2023

What was the experience of gay people in East and West Germany during the Cold War? We speak with Samuel Clowes Huneke author of States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany. [ dur: 32mins. ]

Since the 2020 election, anti-transgender campaigns have been growing in the United States. What are these efforts? We look at the campaigns to curtail and reverse gay and transgender rights, in particular we explore campaigns such as Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act (dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” bill) and attempts to ban trans athletes in all levels of competition. [ dur: 25mins. ]

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

Recorded May 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Prosecution of Presidents Around the World – August 27, 2023

The criminal indictments of former President Trump have created a political crisis in their unprecedented nature. Historically, U.S. presidents have not faced criminal charges even in cases where there is a high likelihood of guilt, in large part due to respect for the office. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon embodies this norm.

What can the U.S. learn from other countries that have prosecuted former presidents? And what can we learn from American history about the prosecutions of political figures? Is the prosecution of former heads of state simply the weaponization of justice mechanisms? And how common is this political charge? [ dur: 58mins. ]

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

Scholars’ Circle – Human rights of disabled persons in a society that favors able-bodied persons – July 9, 2023

The rights of persons with disabilities is a growing and important area of human rights. But what does it mean to ensure equal treatment under the law? What exactly is a disability, and who makes the judgment? And what do we mean by ableism? [ dur: 58mins. ]

This interview was recorded in October, 2021.

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

Scholars’ Circle – Politics, Violence and Memory The new social science of the Holocaust – April 30, 2023

New research on the Holocaust, on Jewish resistance and local collaboration in the killing offers insights into genocides, atrocities, and political violence. We discuss this research and other social science findings about the Holocaust in a new book Politics, Violence, Memory: The New Social Science of the Holocaust.

How does historical memory make researching the Holocaust a greater challenge? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Together they are editors of Politics, Violence, Memory: The New Social Science of the Holocaust.

Excerpt from the publisher:

Politics, Violence, Memory highlights important new social scientific research on the Holocaust and initiates the integration of the Holocaust into mainstream social scientific research in a way that will be useful both for social scientists and historians. Until recently social scientists largely ignored the Holocaust despite the centrality of these tragic events to many of their own concepts and theories.
In Politics, Violence, Memory the editors bring together contributions to understanding the Holocaust from a variety of disciplines, including political science, sociology, demography, and public health. The chapters examine the sources and measurement of antisemitism; explanations for collaboration, rescue, and survival; competing accounts of neighbor-on-neighbor violence; and the legacies of the Holocaust in contemporary Europe. Politics, Violence, Memory brings new data to bear on these important concerns and shows how older data can be deployed in new ways to understand the “index case” of violence in the modern world.

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

Scholars’ Circle – Addressing justice after mass atrocities – April 9, 2023

After mass atrocities and crimes against humanity, how can societies reconcile? How is justice performed and how should we recognize these crimes? And what of the clash between international interests and local needs when dealing with the punishment and acknowledgment of atrocities? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]

This interview was recorded on April 18, 2021.

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

Scholars’ Circle – Women protest in Iran, a persistent struggle – April 2, 2023

After the murder of Mahsa Amini by morality police Iran has seen protests, demonstrations, and an ongoing resistance movement against its regime. What best explains the origins and persistence of this movement? What has influenced Iran’s resistant movement? We will explore the status of women and the history of women’s rights movement in Iran. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Also, Iran has a substantial number of diaspora around the world. They help frame the issues that are occurring inside its borders. What is the interaction between Iranians abroad and Iranians in Iran and the resistance movement going on right now in the nation?

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

Scholars’ Circle – Humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh from blockade at Lachin Corridor – March 12, 2023

The deteriorating humanitarian condition in the Armenian-majority breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Lachin corridor, the only road that connects the region to the outside world, has been blocked by a military campaign limiting food and other essential supplies and trapping 120,000 people.

We explore the legal, political and military implications of this campaign.How are international actors responding to this campaign? What role is Turkey, Russia, and the United States playing in the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh? [ dur: 58mins. ]

  • Richard Giragosian is the Founding Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent “think tank” located in Yerevan, Armenia. He is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe’s Natolin Campus and Senior Expert at Yerevan State University’s Center for European Studies (CES). He is the author of the book chapter Small States and Large Costs of Regional Fracture: The Case of Armenia
  • 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. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. He is the author of Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners and Uzbekistan’s Ethnic Minorities: Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind.

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

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

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. ]

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.

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

Scholars’ Circle – Conflict Resolution in Post Communist Eurasia and Power of ideas to shape Nation States – October 2, 2022

Regions have the resilience to manage conflicts and ensure they do not spread to other countries. Our guest Anna Ohanyan examines the factors that help build this resilience. She is the author of The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Then, our panel looks at the power of ideas to shape countries, foreign policies, international power structures and the world. [ dur: 28mins. ]

From our archive, originally recorded in December 2012:

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