The History-Politics Podcast: Putting the Past to Work

UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy
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"The History-Politics Podcast: Putting the Past to Work" connects past to present, using historical analysis and context to help guide us through modern issues and policy decisions. Then & Now is brought to you by the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. This podcast is produced by David Myers and Roselyn Campbell, and features original music by Daniel Raijman.

  1. 4d ago

    Why History Matters: Immigration

    In this special episode, we share a recording of a UCLA event titled Why History Matters: Immigration, sponsored by the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Department of History as well as the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Moderated by Dean of the UCLA Division of Social Sciences, Abel Valenzuela, this event features a discussion between UCLA professors Kelly Lytle- Hernández, Ahilan Arulanantham, and Rubén Hernández-León. Our experts consider the fraught and often racist history of immigration policy in the U.S. as well as the immigration pathways and policy today.  Kelly Lytle- Hernández is Professor and Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair of History, with appointments in History, African American Studies, and Urban Planning at UCLA. As one of the nation’s leading experts on race, immigration, and mass incarceration, she was named a MacArthur Genius Fellow in 2019. She is also an elected member of the Society of American Historians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she sits on the Pulitzer Prize Board.  She is the author of multiple award-winning books, including Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands (W. W. Norton, 2022). Her newest book, Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control,  will be published by W. W. Norton in late 2026. Ahilan Arulanantham is Professor from Practice and co-director of Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. In addition to his teaching, Ahilan maintains an active litigation practice. Prior to joining UCLA, Ahilan was senior counsel at the ACLU in Los Angeles, where he worked for two decades. In 2016, Ahilan was named a MacArthur Foundation Genius Fellow.  Rubén Hernández-León is Professor of Sociology at UCLA, Director of the UCLA Latin American Institute, and Co-Chair of the Master of Arts in Latin American Studies program at UCLA. He previously directed the UCLA Center for Mexican Studies (2009-2021). His most recent book, Skills of the “Unskilled”: Work and Mobility among Mexican Migrants (UC Press, 2015), co-authored with Jacqueline Hagan and Jean-Luc Demonsant, received the best book award (co-winner) from the Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility of the American Sociological Association in 2016. His research focuses on new developments in Mexico-U.S. migration and the role of the migration industry in international migration.

  2. Aug 19

    Sorcery and the Legacies of Colonialism in the Dominican Republic

    Assistant Director of the LCHP Rose Campbell welcomes UCLA historian Robin Lauren Derby to discuss her new book Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands. Robin explores how beliefs surrounding the bacá, spirits that appear as animals, preserve cultural memories of colonialism, slavery, authoritarianism, and capitalist exploitation in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Drawing on archival research, ethnographic studies, and oral interviews, Robin explains how stories of shape-shifting, zombies, and sorcery reveal enduring Indigenous, African, and colonial influences while challenging dominant nationalist narratives about Haitian-Dominican relations. She argues that these spiritual traditions are not simply folklore but valuable historical sources that illuminate the lasting legacies of violence, resistance, race, and political repression in the region, while continuing to evolve and take on new meanings in the present day. Robin Lauren Derby is Professor and Dr. E. Bradford Burns Chair in Latin American Studies at UCLA. Robin’s work has focused on everyday life under regimes of state terror, the long durée social history of the Haitian and Dominican borderlands, and how notions of race, national identity, and witchcraft have been articulated in popular media such as rumor, food, and animals. Her first book, The Dictator’s Seduction: Politics and the Popular Imagination in the Era of Trujillo (Duke, 2009; published in Spanish by the Academy of History of the Dominican Republic, 2016), considered public culture and daily life during the regime of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic (1930-61). She has also authored and co-edited many volumes and articles on Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She is currently Senior Editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review, which is housed at UCLA.

  3. Aug 5

    Trump, Populism, and the End of the Neoliberal Order

    Guest host and former LCHP Postdoctoral Associate Ben Zdencanovic welcomes Cambridge historian Gary Gerstle to discuss whether Trump and MAGAism represent the end of the neoliberal order. Gary traces American political systems starting with the transition from the New Deal order, which emphasized government regulation of capitalism in the public interest, to the neoliberal order that prioritized deregulation, free markets, and globalization under Ronald Reagan and later gained bipartisan support during the Clinton administration. Gary argues that the 2008 financial crisis undermined the neoliberal consensus, creating the conditions for the rise of populist movements across the political spectrum and the emergence of Donald Trump’s political project. He examines whether the United States is entering a new political order centered on MAGA and emphasizes the risks of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism. Gary highlights sources of democratic resilience, including civic activism and the possibility of a new progressive political coalition.    Gary Gerstle is Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. Gerstle received his MA and PhD from Harvard University. He is currently the Kluge Chair of American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress. Last year he was Joy Foundation Fellow at the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. His works include over ten books, including his most recent book The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era(Oxford, 2022) and his current project Politics in Our Time: Authoritarian Peril and Democratic Hope in the Twenty-First Century(to be published 2027/2028 by Penguin Press) Ben Zdencanovic is an Assistant Professor of U.S. History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. His research as a historian looks at the United States in the world, domestic and international politics, and social and economic policy. Ben was the inaugural Postdoctoral Associate at the LCHP. Ben is currently working on two book projects. The first is titled Island of Enterprise: The United States in a World of Welfare, 1940 – 1955 (forthcoming from Princeton University Press). His second book is tentatively entitled The Cold War on Poverty: Race, Labor, and Manpower in the U.S. Warfare/Welfare State.

  4. Jul 22

    Equality, Law, and the Trans Community

    In this episode, host Rose Campbell is joined by Cary Franklin to discuss nationwide efforts to erode the rights of transgender people. While the recent Supreme Court decisions allowing states to ban transgender girls from participating in sports at publicly funded schools have garnered attention, this is only the latest attack by the Trump administration.  Beyond barring transgender people from receiving medical care or serving in the military, the Trump administration has sought to give the government control over how, where, and when transgender people can express their gender identity. At the heart of this struggle is the search for equality under the law. Drawing from the history of anti-discrimination and suffragette movements, Cary considers what equality means in a legal sense, and explores how equal standing is created under the law. While the Supreme Court has historically considered discrimination based on gender stereotypes to be illegal, in recent years the Court has shifted away from this inclusive precedent. In the current political climate, the idea of biological sex is being wielded in much the same way earlier administrations treated different genders or races as "separate but equal," an attitude that appears to create equality while actually perpetuating and reifying hierarchical categories under the law. In this climate of constant attacks on the rights of the transgender community, Cary considers recent legislation and speculates about what the future may hold.

  5. Jul 8

    The 2026 Primaries and California’s Future

    The Los Angeles primary elections, held June 2, 2026, were the source of great debate and not a few surprises. In this episode, David Myers, in his farewell episode as founding host of The History-Policy Podcast,  interviews longtime LA public official and frequent LCHP collaborator Zev Yaroslavsky to discuss what the primary elections tell us about California’s political climate and what the future might hold. The discussion begins with Zev’s observation that inflation, cost of living, and the high price of gasoline have led to discontent throughout California. This sense of frustration played out in the LA primaries, with Republican candidate Steve Hilton advancing to the final two of the California governor's race. Meanwhile, Xavier Becerra set himself apart by refraining from vitriolic attacks on other candidates. Whether Becerra or Hilton can serve as California's chief executive once elected, rather than simply as a legislator, remains to be seen. At the local level, incumbent LA mayor Karen Bass faces surprisingly stiff competition from Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose platform drew attention to the failures, real or perceived, of Bass’s tenure. As the general election approaches and preparations for the Summer Olympics in 2028 continue, the trajectory of LA and California overall is very much in question. Read Sueño Incomplete: A History of the Latino Wealth Gap in the United States. Read The Making of a Crisis: A History of Homelessness in Los Angeles Zev Yaroslavsky is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the Luskin School of Public Affairs. He served as LA City Council Member from 1975 to 1994, and as a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors from 1994 to 2014. In 2023, Zev released a memoir, Zev's Los Angeles: From Boyle Heights to the Halls of Power, in which he reflected on his long career in politics.

  6. Jun 24

    The Future of History: Have We Reached the End of History Again?

    This special episode of LCHP’s History-Politics Podcast features a recording of an event titled “The Future of History: Have We Reached the End of History Again?” This event was the first in a multi-part series by the Luskin Public History Program in conjunction with the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy at the Wende Museum. LCHP Director David Myers moderates a conversation between Miloš Jovanović (UCLA Assistant Professor of History), Natasha Piano (UCLA Assistant Professor of Political Theory, and Terry Tang (Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times). This panel revisits the conclusion of political scientist Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man, that we have reached “the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” The scholars discuss whether the rise of illiberal authoritarianism marks a new end of history. From the rise of China and contemporary challenges to democracy to the role of journalism, education, and historical thinking in a “post-truth” age, the panelists examine the enduring appeal of liberty, equality, and human dignity. In an era of constant change, how should we think about the next phase of history? As part of an unfolding journey into the future, or as the beginning of the end?   Miloš Jovanović is an Assistant Professor of History at UCLA. His research looks at the Balkans, Ottoman and Habsburg Empires, capitalism, and Marxist theory and history. His first book, Cities of Dust and Mud: Urbanism and Bourgeois Fantasy in the Balkans (Stanford University Press, 2026), explores the social costs of elite-led urban change. His new project, Spaces of Empire: The Habsburg World and its Afterlives, examines the diverse trajectories of urban spaces after imperial collapse. David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor of History and the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA. He is the founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. He also directs the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate, the UCLA Dialogue Across Difference Initiative, and the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute. He is the author or editor of more than fifteen books, including American Shtetl (Princeton University Press 2022, winner of the 2022 National Jewish Book Award). Natasha Piano is Assistant Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at UCLA. She specializes in democratic theory and the history of political thought, focusing on realist and empirical traditions in political science and Italian political theory. Her book, Democratic Elitism: The Founding Myth of American Political Science (Harvard University Press, 2025), examines how misinterpretations of elite theory shaped American political systems. She is also the co-editor of Florentine Political Writings from Petrarch to Machiavelli (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). Terry Tang is Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times. Appointed in 2024, she is the first female editor in the paper’s 142-year history. Before joining the Los Angeles Times in 2019, she served as director of publications and editorial at the American Civil Liberties Union and held multiple editorial roles at The New York Times. She holds a BA in economics from Yale and a JD from New York University School of Law. She was also a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

  7. Jun 10

    Orbán, Trump, and the Autocrat's Playbook

    In April 2026, the world was shocked by when Péter Magyar handily defeated long-time Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán. In this episode, LCHP Assistant Director Rose Campbell speaks with legal scholar Kim Lane Scheppele about this unexpected upset after sixteen years of Orbán's autocratic regime, and what it reveals about the rise and fall of modern authoritarian regimes. Drawing on decades of research in Hungary and Eastern Europe, Scheppele explains how leaders such as Orbán, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump, among others, have used legal and constitutional mechanisms to consolidate power, weaken democratic institutions, and entrench their rule while maintaining a façade of legality. Orbán's tactics have been widely used by aspiring autocrats around the world, and his defeat throws the political future of these regimes into uncertainty. The conversation explores how corruption, economic stagnation, independent media, and grassroots organizing ultimately contributed to Orbán’s downfall and the rise of Péter Magyar, whose campaign successfully united opposition forces and mobilized voters across Hungary. While not a progressive himself, Magyar's policies nevertheless are more centrist than Orbán’s more hardline right-wing policies. Winning the election, however, is just the beginning. As Scheppele argues, elections can remove autocrats from office seemingly against all odds, but rebuilding democratic institutions can be a years-long challenge.    Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She is also a faculty fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She studies the sociology of law and specializes in ethnographic and archival research on courts and public institutions. She has published over thirty articles (find them here) and her book, Legal Secrets, won Special Recognition in the Distinguished Scholarly Publication competition of the American Sociological Association as well as the Corwin Prize of the American Political Science Association.

  8. May 27

    Religion, Suffrage, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

    Host David Myers welcomes historian Ellen DuBois to discuss her recently published book about the life, legacy, and contradictions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Ellen emphasizes Stanton’s central role in launching the women’s suffrage movement alongside Susan B. Anthony and her enduring relevance to modern debates over women’s rights, religion, and democracy. Ellen explores Stanton’s partnerships with Anthony and Frederick Douglass, her disappointment during Reconstruction when women were excluded from expanded voting rights, and her increasingly controversial critiques of organized Christianity through works like The Woman's Bible. The conversation also confronts Stanton’s racist and nativist rhetoric, with Ellen examining how her elite class background and the prejudices of 19th-century America shaped some of her most troubling views. Ellen argues that Stanton’s vision of women’s equality, bodily autonomy, and expanded democracy remains deeply connected to present-day political struggles over issues such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, conservative Christian activism, and modern “household voting” proposals. Dr. Ellen DuBois is a Distinguished Research Professor of United States History at UCLA. Ellen earned her B.A. in History from Wellesley and her PhD from Northwestern University. She taught at the University at Buffalo before joining the UCLA faculty until her retirement in 2017. She has published many works, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life (Hachette 2026), Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote (Simon & Schuster 2020), Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women's Movement in America 1848–1869 (Cornell 1999), and Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage (Yale 1997) which won the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize of the American Historical Association.

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"The History-Politics Podcast: Putting the Past to Work" connects past to present, using historical analysis and context to help guide us through modern issues and policy decisions. Then & Now is brought to you by the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. This podcast is produced by David Myers and Roselyn Campbell, and features original music by Daniel Raijman.

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