The Scholars' Circle

The Scholars' Circle
  • 4.4 (10)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Weekly

Insight into Today's Most Pressing Issues

Episodes

  1. 4h ago

    Scholars’ Circle – Street Protests in France, India, US and its Effects on Authorities and Allies – October 25, 2026

    What motivates big protest movements like the ones occurring in France, India, and the “No Kings” demonstrations in the U.S.? Are there common demands? Have generational shifts led to more protests? When mass protests and large demonstrations break out, governments have responded with counter campaigns or violence to delegitimize protesters. What happens when governments counter movements? What constitutes a successful protest movement? [ dur: 58mins. ] David S. Meyer is Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, and Design at UC Irvine. 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. His blog is Politics Outdoors. Michael T. Heaney is Lecturer in Politics and Research Methods at the University of Glasgow. He is a co-author with Fabio Rojas of the book Party in the Street: The Antiwar Movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11 (Cambridge University Press, 2015). With Melody Shemtov and Marco Roldán he is creator, producer, and writer of a documentary film, The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets (Bullfrog Films, 2017). Jeremy Pressman is Professor of Political Science at University of Connecticut. He co-founded the Crowd Counting Consortium, an event counting project that has tallied and made publicly available data on all manner of protests in the United States since 2017. He is the author of the book The sword is not enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the limits of military force (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2020). Pressman questions the over-reliance on military force and highlights the negative military and political consequences such as greater insecurity, Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008) and co-author with Geoffrey Kemp, Point of No Return: The Deadly Struggle for Middle East Peace (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1997). This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, France, India, US, protests

  2. Oct 19

    Scholars’ Circle – LA Mayoral Race; Author Interview on “Smuggler: Drugs, Gangs and Refugees at America’s Northern Border” – October 18, 2026

    The midterms are fast approaching and here in Los Angeles where we record our show, the city braces for a much anticipated mayoral race. Incumbent Karen Bass, who initially expected to glide into re-election, is facing off with city councilwoman Nithya Raman, who narrowly defeated reality show participant Spencer Pratt in a contentious primary. While the polls show Raman leading, the vast number of undecided voters have left the race for leadership in America’s second largest city up in the air. We will discuss the mayoral race, with its non-partisan primary process, the different coalitions in a city famous for quickly shifting political sands, and the issues being raised in the race. [ dur: 24mins. ] Isaac Hale is Assistant Professor of Politics at Occidental College. He is co-author of “Interest Group Influence on Preferences for New Voting Rights Legislation in a Polarized Environment” and “Resentment & Democratic Politics: The Role of Racial Resentment in Motivating Electoral Participation.” Mike Bonin is Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State Los Angeles. He is the host of the podcast What’s Next Los Angeles, and a former Los Angeles City Council member. When we discuss borders in the US, we usually turn our attention to the southern border with Mexico. However, the US shares the world’s longest border in the world with Canada, and the narratives surrounding this border are essential to understanding not only the relationship between the two nations, but the individual stories of the people living on it. On today’s show we will turn our attention to the northwestern most point in the lower 48: Blaine, Washington. We will learn the story of Bob Boule and his role in smuggling and policing the US-Canadian border. [ dur: 34mins. ] Reece Jones is Professor of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He, along with his co-author Greg Boos, has written a new book detailing the story of Bob Boule entitled Smuggler: Drugs, Gangs and Refugees at America’s Northern Border. This is one of four other award winning books on the border, entitled Nobody Is Protected on racial profiling in the US, White Borders, on the relationship between race and immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Trump era. Violent Borders takes readers on a journey to hot spots of global migration to make the case that borders are inherently violent. And Border Walls (2012, Zed) draws on interviews with people impacted by walls built by the United States, Israel, and India. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Economics, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Elections, Refugees, Canada, Borders, Los Angeles

  3. Oct 12

    Scholars’ Circle – The Death Penalty: A Case of Cruel and Unnecessary Punishment by the State – October 11, 2026

    On September 30, 2026, the state of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1996. The state failed to execute her, and her case is not the first failed execution in the state. The subsequent reporting of how the execution was carried out and the pain and suffering that Ms. Pike experienced has raised several issues that we will attempt to explore on today’s show. These include whether the method of execution is a violation of the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment and whether the execution violated the Convention against Torture, to which the US is a signatory. Most importantly, the case of Ms. Pike raises the general human rights issue of capital punishment. So, on today’s show, we will explore the issues around the method of execution known as lethal injection. We will consider the general human rights questions of capital punishment, and we will try to understand what’s next, not just for Christa Pike, but for the future of capital punishment in the country. [ dur: 58mins. ] Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science at Amherst College. He is the author of Lethal Injection and the False Promise of Humane Execution and the forthcoming book Life After Death: Surviving Execution. Sandra Babcock is Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide at Cornell Law School. “The Lethal Consequences of Gender Bias in the Application of the Death Penalty,” 45 Amicus Journal 4 and co-author of Defending Women and Transgender Persons Facing Extreme Sentences: A Practical Guide, with Nathalie Greenfield, Gabriela Markolovic, and Jessica Sutton. Frank R. Baumgartner is Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The University of North Carolina at 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. Jenny-Brooke Condon is 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. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Human Rights, Prison, Courts, Punishment, Death Penalty, Capital Crimes

  4. Oct 5

    Scholars’ Circle – The Future of Warfare – October 4, 2026

    Since Russia’s initial attack on Ukraine, predictions claiming that the normative order against aggressive warfare is under threat have taken over political discourse. After the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, scholars worry that an attack against Taiwan from China could be next. As normative restrictions on war loosen and with the US tied up in the Middle East, should China choose to go on the offensive Taiwan would be extra vulnerable to its attack. However, two clear developments challenge the China/Taiwan prediction. Russia, after 4 full years of war, is not likely to prevail anytime soon, and the US, despite the President’s continual assertions that it has won the war, continues to struggle for an advantage. Significant advancements in warfare technology, such as drones, might be a reason. Defensive tactics could be another. So, on today’s show, we will explore the future of warfare in light of the Russian and American wars and their current lack of success, and what the implications may be in the Pacific. [ dur: 1h18m ] Yvonne Chiu is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and serves on the board of directors for the International Society for Military Ethics. She is the author of “Strategic Ambiguity Out of Balance: Updating an Outdated Taiwan Policy” in The Strategy Bridge. David McCourt is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of The Dragon Defined: How Washington, Canberra, and London Reimagined China. Ricardo A. Crespo is Associate Professor of Political Science and the chair of the Political Economy Department at Grossmont College. He is the author of “Currency Warfare and Cyberwarfare” in Comparative Politics, and “Currency Warfare and Just War” in the Journal of Military Ethics. Robert Williams Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University. He is the author of Seeking Security in an Insecure World, with Dan Caldwell. We recorded live in front of an audience at the International Studies Association’s West Regional Conference in Pasadena, California. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, War / Weapons, Diplomacy, Militarism, Russia, Ukraine, United States, China, Iran

  5. Sep 29

    Scholars’ Circle – Exploring Privacy as it Affects Security, Society, and Democracy – September 27, 2026

    Is the age of privacy over? We spend the hour on technology, spying, and privacy, exploring how privacy, and the lack thereof, affects security, democracy and society. What exactly is at stake when we lose our privacy? [ dur: 58 mins. ] For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ Helen Nissenbaum is Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech. She is the author of Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life, and co-author of Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest and Values at Play in Digital Games. Michael Patrick Lynch is Professor of Philosophy & Director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data, True to LIfe: Why Truth Matters and In Praise of Reason. Bruce Schneier is Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is the author of 14 books including the New York Times best-seller Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World, and The Electronic Privacy Papers: Documents on the Battle for Privacy in the Age of Surveillance. His blog is “Schneier on Security.” Joshua A.T. Fairfield is William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law at Washington and Lee School of Law. He is the author of Owned: Property, Privacy and the New Digital Serfdom, Privacy as a Public Good , and Smart Contracts, Bitcoin Bots, and Consumer Protection. Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Science / Technology, Privacy, Social Sciences

  6. Sep 21

    Scholars’ Circle – Author Interview on “Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census” – September 20, 2026

    Data drives politics. But politics drive data. That is to say, we make political decisions based on data, often selected from mountains of available information. How we gather data is an inherently political process and nowhere is this more clear than when the US collects information about its population, which is mandated by the Constitution every ten years. Today, we will interview Danah Boyd on her new book, Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census. and delve into the politics of the census. [ dur:58mins. ] Danah Boyd is the Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, where she works on topics at the intersection of technology and society. She is also the founder of the research institute Data & Society and the author of It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Democracy, Civil Servants, Policy making, US

  • 6 Episodes

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Insight into Today's Most Pressing Issues

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  • Creator
    The Scholars' Circle
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © copyright 2023- The Scholars' Circle
  • Show Website
    The Scholars' Circle

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