Tag Archives: War / Weapons

Scholars’ Circle – Historical and Current Practices to Redress Crimes Against Humanity – April 10, 2022

April 7, 2022 host

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. ]

Elazar Barkan is Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Director of Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He is founding Director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) in The Hague. He is the author of Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices and co-author of Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation.
Mark Drumbl is Professor at Washington and Lee University, School of Law, and Director of the University’s Transnational Law Institute. He is the author of Reimagining Child Soldiers In International Law and Policy and Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law.
Jeremy Sarkin is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law and member of CEDIS at Nova University Law School in Lisbon, Portugal. He is the author of The Global Impact and Legacy of Truth Commissions, Reparations for Colonial Genocides and co-editor of Africa’s Role and Contribution to International Criminal Justice.

This interview was recorded on April 18, 2021.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – War Crimes and Justice for Victims and Survivors- April 3, 2022

April 3, 2022 host

President Biden has called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a war crime. What does that mean in term of legal remedies? When and how are war crimes adjudicated? Prosecuting those who commit crimes against humanity or war crimes is one part of justice, the other part is redressing the victims and survivors. What can be done to redress them? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jennifer Trahan is a Clinical Professor and Director of the Concentration in International Law and Human Rights at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. She has published two digests on the case-law of the ad hoc tribunals and is the author of Existing Legal Limits to the Use of the Veto in the Face of Atrocity Crimes.
Gabor Rona is Professor of Practice at Cardozo Law School. He is the author of Is There a Way Out of the Non-International Armed Conflict Detention Dilemma? and State Responsibility to Respect, Protect and Fulfill Human Rights Obligations in Cyberspace.
Rebecca Hamilton is Associate Professor of Law at American University, Washington College of Law. She is the author of Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide and co-author of Social Media Platforms in International Criminal Investigations.
Kate Mackintosh is the inaugural Executive Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. She was Head of Humanitarian Affairs for Doctors Without Borders. She is the author of How long until the planet’s destruction is an international crime and the forthcoming The crime of ecocide through human rights: new tools for Climate Justice.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Sanctions, what we learned from it’s use and impact on Russia – March 13, 2022

March 12, 2022 host

Just how effective are sanctions? How are they used and what exactly do they entail? Can sanctions be applied in a way that they would not cause harm to citizens? And what does sanctions research suggest about their impact on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Erica Moret is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Global Governance and Visiting Lecturer at the Department of International Relations/ Political Science at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. She is the author of “When should the United States use hard-hitting sectoral and financial sanctions?” and “Sanctions on Russia: Impacts and Economic Costs on the United States.”
A. Cooper Drury is Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science and Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri. He is author of “Neo-Kantianism and Coercive Diplomacy: The Complex Case of Economic Sanctions” and “Media-driven Humanitarianism? News Media Coverage of Human Rights Abuses and the Use of Economic Sanctions.”
Timothy Peterson is Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. He is author of “Sanctions and Alternate Markets: How Preexisting Trade and Alliances Affect the Onset of Economic Coercion.” And the forthcoming “Does Punishing Sanctions Busters Work? Sanctions Enforcement and U.S. Trade with Sanctioned States.”
Bryan Early is Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean for Research at the University at SUNY Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. He is the author of “Using the Carrot as the Stick: U.S. Foreign Aid and the Effectiveness of Sanctions Threats” and “Still Unjust, Just in Different Ways: How Targeted Sanctions Fall Short of Just War Theory’s Principles.”

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

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Scholars’ Circle – The Human Rights issues in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – March 6, 2022

March 6, 2022 host

We discuss the situation on the ground in Ukraine, human rights violations, such as war crimes, and what is needed to end the war. [ dur: 29mins. ]

Sasha Romantsova is the Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. She joins us from Kiev, Ukraine.
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 (USC). He was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. He has conducted extensive field work internationally with a particular focus on Central Asia and the Caucuses.

Ukrainian refugees are fleeing the war by the hundreds of thousands. Poland is their most common destination. How is Poland responding and what does this mean for its refugee policies? We explore the refugee crisis and its impact on Poland. [ dur: 29mins. ]

Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska is a freelance journalist who covers covers politics and societies across the post-Soviet space, South Asia and the Middle East. Her articles are published on Al Jazeera English, the Guardian, Eurasianet, the Diplomat and many other English and Polish language media. She is the co-editor of Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda and Perspectives and Migration and the Ukraine Crisis: A Two-Country Perspective..

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Russia Attacks Ukraine – February 27, 2022

February 26, 2022 host

Russia attacked Ukraine this week. What does this mean for the region and the world? What are the international reactions to this invasion? What should be the international response? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College, and a two-times Fulbright Scholar in the South Caucasus. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond, and her latest book “The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia“. Professor Ohanyan is also a nonresident senior scholar in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
Serhiy Kudelia is Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University. He is the author of When Numbers Are Not Enough: The Strategic Use of Violence in Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution, “The Donbas Rift” and the op-ed “Breaking the Russia-Ukraine Stalemate“.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Conflict hot spots: Ukraine and Yemen – January 30, 2022

January 29, 2022 host

Conflict hot spots are popping up all around the world. We discuss two of them.

Is Russia acting out of aggression or self-defense in its threats against Ukraine? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.

The Houthis in Yemen launched drone strikes against the United Arab Emirates this week. Is this a new round of escalation in that ongoing and devastating war?

We will explore the new escalations in the civil war in Yemen. [ dur: 30mins. ]

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.
Charles Schmitz is Professor of Geography at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an Affiliated Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He is the author of the publications Historical Dictionary of Yemen, “Huthi Visions of the State: A Huthi Republic with an Unofficial Imam,” in Hamidaddin, Abdullah (ed). The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition and Security in the Arab Gulf and “A Parasitic Political Economy,” in Amat Alsoswa and Noel Brehony (eds.), Building a New Yemen: Transition and International Community.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Critique on Governance in Post-Colonial Cameroon, a country with linguistic and sectarian divide and clashes – November 7, 2021

November 6, 2021 host

Cameroon has seen increased violence and an ongoing civil war based on its linguistic, sectarian divide. Can the nation survive? How much is this a democracy deficiency and how much is this failure of leadership? How can Cameroon overcome its governance challenges? [ dur: 36mins. ]

John Mukum Mbaku is a Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow at Weber State University. He is the author of Protecting Minority Rights in African Countries: A Constitutional Political Economy Approach and co-author of Corruption in Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Cleanups.
Moses K. Tesi is a Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of the Balancing Sovereignty and Development in International Affairs: Cameroon’s Post-Independence Relations with France, Africa, and the World and a contributor to The State, Politics, and the Struggle for Democracy in Cameroon.

As civil war in Cameroon continued with clashes between the Franchophone and Anglophone populations, protests against violations of federalism agreements were met with state led violence. What were the impacts? We’ll hear from one of the organizers. [ dur: 22mins. ]

Fontem A. Neba was Secretary General of the Teacher’s Trade Union of the University of Buea before his arrest on the 17th of January, 2017. He was Secretary General of the now banned Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Mr. Neba was Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Buea. Now he is in exile and serves as the Secretary General of the Southern Cameroon’s Alliance.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Impact of American Lawyers on International Human Right Cases ; One Year after Armenia and Azerbaijan war – October 3, 2021

October 2, 2021 host

We interview Maria Armoudian who has published a book on international human rights and the role that lawyers have played at advancing cases against human rights abusers. Maria Armoudian is the author of Lawyers Beyond Borders : Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Maria Armoudian is a lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She is the author of the books Reporting from the Danger Zone: Frontline Journalists, Their Jobs and an Increasingly Perilous Future, Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World, and her most recent Lawyers Beyond Borders : Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts . Maria is a host and anchor of this show, the Scholars’ Circle.

Then, we explore the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan a year after the war over the disputed region of Ngoro-Karabagh. What is the current status of the region following the cease-fire? Is there possibility of lasting peace? [ dur: 26 mins. ]

Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College, and a two-times Fulbright Scholar in the South Caucasus. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond, and her latest book “The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia“. Professor Ohanyan is also a nonresident senior scholar in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Afghanistan, US ends 20 year stay and Taliban Takeover – August 29, 2021

August 28, 2021 host

The conflict in Afghanistan has transformed with the US withdrawal. We examine why the government fell and the impact on the country and the region.

What are the security threats within the country and the potential for increased violence with the fall of the government in Afghanistan? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Thomas H. Johnson is a Research Professor of the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School as well the Director of the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies. He is the author of Taliban Narratives: The Uses and Power of Stories in the Afghanistan Conflict.
Amin Tarzi is the Director of Middle East Studies at the Marine Corps University. He is the co-editor of Taliban and the Crisis in Afghanistan with Professor Robert D. Crews. He is the author of Iran, Russia, and the Taliban: Reassessing the Future of the Afghan State.
Robert Crews is Professor of History at Stanford University. He is the author of Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation and co-editor of Under the Drones: Modern Lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands.
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 conducted extensive field work internationally with a particular focus on Central Asia and the Caucuses.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Ethiopia and Tigray Region Crisis, cause and effect on regional politics – July 11, 2021

July 11, 2021 host

War has broken out in Northern Ethiopia in the Tigray region. What is the cause, and what are the implications for the nation and the region? What are the prospects for peace and what can international actors do to facilitate this process? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Ann Fitz-Gerald is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department. She is the author of Ethiopia in Turmoil, Ethiopia: A New Proxy Battlespace? and As G7 Leaders Gather, Canada Should Not “Blindly Follow” U.S. Lead on Africa.
Aly Verjee is a nonresident senior advisor to the Africa program at the U. S. Institute of Peace. He is the author of Five Steps to Sustain a Cease-Fire in Northern Ethiopia and What Ethiopia’s Brewing Conflict Means for the Country—and the Region.
Yohannes Gedamu is Lecturer of Political Science at Georgia Gwinnett College. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Politics of Contemporary Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Authoritarian Survival.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: War / Weapons

Scholars’ Circle – Historical and Current Practices to Redress Crimes Against Humanity – April 10, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – War Crimes and Justice for Victims and Survivors- April 3, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Sanctions, what we learned from it’s use and impact on Russia – March 13, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – The Human Rights issues in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – March 6, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Russia Attacks Ukraine – February 27, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Conflict hot spots: Ukraine and Yemen – January 30, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Critique on Governance in Post-Colonial Cameroon, a country with linguistic and sectarian divide and clashes – November 7, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Impact of American Lawyers on International Human Right Cases ; One Year after Armenia and Azerbaijan war – October 3, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Afghanistan, US ends 20 year stay and Taliban Takeover – August 29, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Ethiopia and Tigray Region Crisis, cause and effect on regional politics – July 11, 2021

By Maria Armoudian