Tag Archives: Politics and Activism

Scholars’ Circle – Causes and potential resolutions of the Ngorno-Karabakh conflict – October 18, 2020

October 18, 2020 host

map of Nagorno-Karabakh ( Republic of ArtSakh ) history - Southfront.org

The Armenians living in their indigenous lands in a region known as Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, have long experienced existential insecurity. The fighting today between Azerbaijan, which is backed by Turkey, against Armenia over who belongs in those lands is threatening to escalate into a much bigger regional war and another round of ethnic cleansing.

We spend the hour exploring the causes of this conflict, the human rights implications of the aggression, whether the international legal principles apply, the importance of advancing democracy in the region, and potential resolutions to the war. Hosted by Doug Becker.[ dur: 58mins. ]

Steve Swerdlow is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. He has co-authored reports on violations of freedom of expression and the crackdown of media freedom in Azerbaijan and has conducted human rights field research in the region.
Anna Ohanyan, Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond and author of Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management.
Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is the author of, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights, and co-author of, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice and Negotiating Self-Determination.

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Scholars’ Circle – US Presidential Elections 2020 and Voter Suppression -/- How much does foreign and economic policy change with change of presidency? – October 11 , 2020

October 10, 2020 host

Who gets to vote? What are the laws that help or hinder the vote? How are those changing and how might that effect the results of the 2020 election? And how are the misinformation and disinformation campaigns through the use of social media misleading the voters? [ dur: 27mins. ]

Bertrall Ross is Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Passive Voter Suppression: Campaign Mobilization and the Effective Disfranchisement of the Poor and Fair Elections During a Crisis: Urgent Recommendations in Law, Media, Politics and Tech to Advance the Legitimacy of, and the Public’s Confidence in, the November 2020 U.S. Elections.
Tim Fadgan is Politics and Policy Lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Do the best interests of the child end at the Nation’s shores: Immigration, state courts, and children in the United States.
Jennifer Frost is an Associate Professor for History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is the author of An Interracial Movement of the Poor: Community Organizing and the New Left in the 1960s and Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism

How much does the president truly matter for the direction of the United States and for the rest of the world. [ dur: 30mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

William F. Grover is Professor of Political Science at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. He is the author of The President as Prisoner: A Structural Critique of the Carter and Reagan Years, co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, and The Unsustainable Presidency: Clinton, Bush, Obama and Beyond.
Joseph G. Peschek is Professor of Political Science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of Policy-Planning Organizations: Elite Agendas and America’s Rightward Turn, co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, and The Unsustainable Presidency: Clinton, Bush, Obama and Beyond.

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Scholars’ Circle – US Political System and the 2020 Presidential Election -/- Deep Sea Mining and ecological impact – Oct 4th , 2020

October 4, 2020 host

What are the parts of the US political system that will most affect the election outcome? [ dur: 32mins. ]

Tim Fadgan is Politics and Policy Lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Do the best interests of the child end at the Nation’s shores: Immigration, state courts, and children in the United States.
Hans Noel is Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgetown University. He is the author of Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America, and a co-author of The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform.
Jennifer Frost is an Associate Professor for History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is the author of An Interracial Movement of the Poor: Community Organizing and the New Left in the 1960s and Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism.

The search for minerals is leading some corporations to begin mining the ocean floor but scientists warn that this could devastate fragile ecosystems that will have repercussions that we still don’t understand. What is going on in the deep sea? What precautions should be taken to prevent devastating fragile ecosystems? [ dur: 26mins. ]

Craig Smith is Professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawai’i.
Verena Tunnicliffe is a marine biologist at the University of Victoria in Canada where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Deep Ocean Research.

They are co-authors of the study Deep Sea Misconceptions Cause Underestimation of Seabed-Mining Impacts.

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Scholars’ Circle – Politics and policy implication after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg – Sept 27, 2020

September 26, 2020 host

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the Republican promise to replace her has profound implications for American politics and policy. In our first segment we examine the potential legal impacts on the Court’s decisions themselves. In our second segment, we explore the impact of this decision on public policy, on the checks and balances of the branches of American government, and the 2020 election. [ dur: 58mins. ]

First Panel: [ dur: 28mins. ]

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.

Erwin Chemerinsky is Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law and Dean at University of California Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include Closing the Courthouse Doors: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable and We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century.

Second Panel: [ dur: 28mins. ]

John Vile is Dean and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee University. He is the author of Essential Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Leading Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law, 17th Edition, The United States Constitution: One Document, Many Choices and The Bible in American Law and Politics: A Reference Guide.

Mark Peterson is Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Legislating Together: The White House and Capital Hill from Eisenhower to Reagan and the editor of Healthy Markets? The New Competition in Medical Care and co-editor of the volume Institutions of American Democracy: The Executive Branch.

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Scholars’ Circle – Eastern Mediterranean Conflict where complicated diplomatic intervention is required – Sept 13, 2020

September 13, 2020 host

The Eastern Mediterranean has long been a powder keg for potential conflict, particularly between Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. A more aggressive Turkish push in the region to drill for oil and natural gas has raised the stakes. On today’s show we explore the potential for conflict and the impact of this drilling has on climate change initiatives in Europe. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Aristotle Tziampiris is Professor of International Relations and Director of the MSc Program in Energy: Strategy, Law & Economics at the Department of International and European Studies of the University of Piraeus. He is also the President of the Council for International Relations-Greece. He is the author of Greece, European Political Cooperation and the Macedonian Question and co-editor of The New Eastern Mediterranean: Theory, Politics and States in Volatile Era.
Nukhet Sandal is Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science at Ohio University. She is the author of the book Religious Leaders and Conflict Transformation.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insights into globally connected right-wing movements – Sept 6, 2020

September 5, 2020 host

What are the mindsets, trends, and changes of a globally connected right-wing movement? What are the solutions to the growing animosity between identity groups? Maria Armoudian hosts. [ dur: 58mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Dr. Lawrence Rosenthal is Chair and Lead Researcher of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies. He is the co-editor of STEEP: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party, and The New Nationalism and the First World War.
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 and Posing the Why Question: Understanding the perpetration of racially motivated violence and harassment.
Ervin Staub is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Founding Director of the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His extensive publications include Psychology of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence, The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil: Inclusive Caring, Moral Courage, and Altruism Born of Suffering, Active Bystandership and Heroism.

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Scholars’ Circle – The implications of Kamala Harris’ selection as vice president -/- Social media’s influence on political campaigns and communication. – Aug 16, 2020

August 16, 2020 host

What’s so important about the vice presidency and what are the implications of Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major party ticket? hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 24mins.]

Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at 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 author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy
Arthur Auerbach is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California . He is the author of the research publication The Dividing Line on Capital Punishment.

How does social media influence political campaigns and communication in contemporary America? hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 32mins. ]

Glenn W. Richardson Jr. is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He is the editor of Social Media and Politics: A New Way to Participate in the Political Process and the author of Pulp Politics: How Political Advertising Tells the Stories of American Politics.
Jennifer Petersen is Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Science & Technology Studies at Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Murder, the Media, and the Politics of Public Feelings: Remembering Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

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Scholars’ Circle – Root causes of political and economic crisis in Lebanon – Aug 9, 2020

August 8, 2020 host

The devastating explosion in Lebanon last week is just one of many crisis causing profound suffering for the people there. The economic and political crises have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic bringing the country to the brink of collapse. What is behind these crises? What can be done? Doug Becker explores. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

Bassel F. Salloukh is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at the Lebanese American University. He is the co-author of The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon and Beyond the Arab Spring: Authoritarianism and Democratization in the Arab World.
Hannes Baumann is Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, Middle East Center. He is the author of Citizen Hariri: Lebanon’s Neoliberal Reconstruction.

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Scholars’ Circle – Pandemic in times of Military occupation in Kashmir -/- Just War in the age of Military privatization – Aug 2, 2020

August 1, 2020 host

First, the difficulties of life under military occupation and a pandemic for the people of Kashmir. [ dur: 18 mins. ]

Mona Bhan is Ford Maxwell Chair of South Asian Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Syracuse University. She is the author of Counterinsurgency, Development, and the Politics of Identity: From Warfare to Welfare? and co-editor of Resisting Occupation in Kashmir, with scholars from the Critical Kashmir Studies collective.

Next, we revisit how privatization of militaries is compromising international conduct, and affecting international law and ethics in honour of Amy Eckert, who passed away this past week. She is the author of Outsourcing War: Just War tradition in the age of military privatization. [ dur: 39 mins. ]

Amy Eckert is Professor of Political Science at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where she teaches and studies international ethics and international law. Her books include The Future of Just War: New Critical Essays and, her latest, Outsourcing War: Just War Tradition in the Age of Military Privatization.

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Scholars’ Circle – Implications of Homeland Agency troops against Protestors in Portland – July 26, 2020

July 26, 2020 host

Federal troops occupy Portland despite local government’s demand that they leave. These troops often do not wear uniforms and have seized protesters off the streets in unmarked vans. We discuss the legal and political implications. We also examine the implications on democracy, civil liberties, and the protest movements that mark America’s cities. Doug Becker hosts. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jennifer L. Selin is a Kinder Institute Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. She is the co-editor of Sourcebook of United States Executive Agencies and co-author of Political Control and the Forms of Agency Independence.
Nadine Strossen is John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School. She is the Immediate Past President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008). She is the author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it With Free Speech, Not Censorship.
David S. Meyer is Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, and Design. He is the author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America and co-editor of The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Politics and Activism

Scholars’ Circle – Causes and potential resolutions of the Ngorno-Karabakh conflict – October 18, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – US Presidential Elections 2020 and Voter Suppression -/- How much does foreign and economic policy change with change of presidency? – October 11 , 2020

Scholars’ Circle – US Political System and the 2020 Presidential Election -/- Deep Sea Mining and ecological impact – Oct 4th , 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Politics and policy implication after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg – Sept 27, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Eastern Mediterranean Conflict where complicated diplomatic intervention is required – Sept 13, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Insights into globally connected right-wing movements – Sept 6, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – The implications of Kamala Harris’ selection as vice president -/- Social media’s influence on political campaigns and communication. – Aug 16, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Root causes of political and economic crisis in Lebanon – Aug 9, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Pandemic in times of Military occupation in Kashmir -/- Just War in the age of Military privatization – Aug 2, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Implications of Homeland Agency troops against Protestors in Portland – July 26, 2020

By Maria Armoudian