The Scholars' Circle

How does the US Supreme Court decision to allow ICE to target immigrants based on language, accent, race, and employment affect the sweeps of undocumented immigrants in the US. And what are the social and economic impacts of Trump's deportation policy? [ dur: 29mins. ] Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and his latest book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy. Tony Payan, Ph.D., is the Claudio X. Gonzalez Fellow in U.S.-Mexico Studies, the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and the executive director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. his publications include, Social and Economic Effects of Expanded Deportation Measures and TN Visa’s Role in the US Labor Market and Its Uncertain Future Museums are changing their approach to exhibiting Native American artifacts. What is the new model and what is the impact? [ dur: 29mins. ] Alaka Wali is the Curator of North American Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. She is co-editor of The Future is Indigenous: Stories from the Native North American Hall at the Field Museum. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

As part of an ongoing attack on free expression, Donald Trump is trying to criminalize flag burning. Is this proposed ban constitutional? [ dur: 29mins. ] Dennis Baron is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a frequent commentator on language issues in the national media and has written a number of popular books, including What's Your Pronoun? (2020). Then, why is child care in America so expensive? This vital service that is so crucial for child and community development is among American families' largest expenses. And why is child care so underfunded by the government? We speak with Elliot Haspel, author of Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. [ dur: 29mins. ] Elliot Haspel is a nationally recognized child care policy expert, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita. He's the author of Crawling Behind America's Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, but today we're going to talk about his new book. The new book is entitled, Raising a Nation, 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All. Elliott Hospital is currently pursuing his PhD in early childhood policy at the University of Colorado, Denver. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

The Trump Administration is using the Alien Enemies Act to seize Venezuelans and ship them to a notorious prison El Salvador without due process. What can be done to protect and uphold the rule of law and human rights in the face of the Trump Administration's rejection of them? What are some means of legal and political resistance when human rights are being violated? [ dur: 58mins. ] Jennifer Selin is Associate Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She’s written numerous articles, and in particular, Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador sparks light Legal questions likely to reach the Supreme Court. Victor Narro is Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies. He teaches immigration law and is author of The Activist Spirit – Toward a Radical Solidarity and No One Size Fits All: Worker Organization, Policy, and Movement in a New Economic Age (Cornell University Press, 2018) and others. Andrea Pitzer is an author and podcaster. She’s written One Long Night, a global history of concentration camps. This traces the idea of mass civilian detention without trial from its beginnings through Auschwitz and beyond, including up to today. She’s also the host of the podcast, Next Comes What. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre. Recorded April, 2025.

Will the so-called peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan legitimize ethnic cleansing? Will it bring peace to the two nations? Or is it a recipe for future conflict? Military aggression and violations of the notion of sovereignty have marked the conflicts in the South Caucuses region over the last three decades. Will the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue this trend or will it avert claims to sovereignty? This agreement brings the US directly into the South Caucuses. Will America answer the call if there is further military violence? [ dur: 58mins. ] Anna Ohanyan is the 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 her latest book The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia . Narek Sukiasyan is Lecturer at the American University of Armenia. He specializes in foreign and security policy of Armenia and Armenia-Russia affairs. His publications include The Manifestations of Sunni Radicalism in Azerbaijan and Territorial Autonomy and Secession as Strategies of Conflict Management: Case of Nagorno Karabakh. 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. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch in both the Central Asian region and in the Caucuses. He is the author of Commentary: Who's Coming To Prague Castle For Dinner?. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

After nearly two years of a war on Gaza, some countries in the West have indicated that they intend to recognize Palestine as its own state. What would such recognition mean for the conflict and how can the war end? [ dur: 58mins. ] Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Carlton University. She is the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and co-editor (with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper) of Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates. Omar Dajani is Carol Olsen Professor of International Law at the University of the Pacific. He is the editor of FEDERALISM AND DECENTRALIZATION IN THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAST and Rethinking Oslo: How Europe can promote peace in Israel-Palestine. Omar Dajanhi was part of the Palestinian negotiation team at Camp David II in 2000 and has worked with the UN in peacebuilding initiatives, with a particular emphasis on building legal and judicial reforms in Palestinian governance. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

First, will Donald Trump's and the republican party's efforts to redraw electoral maps give them a permanent majority? [ dur: 24mins. ] Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the 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 co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy. Then, during the so called "dirty war," Argentina's military dictatorship kidnapped and disappeared its own citizens. But a dedicated group of activists, mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, dedicated their lives to finding those who were stolen from their families. Who were the Abuelas of the Playa de Mayo? And what happened in their quest to reunite the disappeared with their families? We speak with the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children. [ dur: 34mins. ] Haley Cohen Gilliland is a journalist and the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. She is the author of A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Congress has now clawed back the funding it had allocated for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. What does this mean for the future of publicly funded broadcasting in the USA? How will it affect news, public affairs and other vital information delivery? We will explore the role of public broadcasting in a democracy. What role does money play at ensuring an independent media? What is the status of public funding and even government owned media throughout the democratic world? [ dur: 58mins. ] Victor Pickard is the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy and also the co-director of the Media Inequality and Change Center At the University of Pennsylvania. He's the author of Democracy Without Journalism, Confronting the Misinformation Society. And America's battle for media democracy, the triumph of corporate libertarianism, and the future Of media reform. Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin is Associate Professor with the School of Public Service's Global Studies program and the Frank and Bethany Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs for the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. She has written, Decoding the Digital Church, Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump and last month published PBS and NPR are generally unbiased, independent of government propaganda And provide key benefits to U.S. Democracy. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Private Military Corporations have become a growing element of the warfighting landscape. States have historically had a monopoly on the use of military force. But private corporations challenge this monopoly. How much do they increase the lethality and likelihood of war? How much can private corporations be regulated? And what are the challenges to regulation? We explore the political, military, legal, and socioeconomic implications of private military corporations. [ dur: 58mins. ] Ori Swed is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Texas Tech University. He is the editor of The Sociology of Privatized Security with Thomas Crosby. He is the author of “The Afghanistan War’s Legacy: The Reimagining of the Outsourcing of War and Security” and "No Accounting for Bad Contracting: Private Military and Security Contracts and Ineffective Regulation in Conflict Areas" Sorcha MacLeod is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen and member of the United Nations Working Group on the use of Mercenaries. She is the author of Certifying Private Security Companies: Effectively Ensuring the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights?, Defining private security accountability and Regulating human rights in the context of outsourcing military logistics and armed security. Christopher Kinsey is Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London. He is the author of International Law and the Control of Mercenaries and Private Military Companies, Turning war into business: Private security companies and commercial opportunism and the book Corporate Soldiers and International Security: The Rise of Private Military Companies Anna Leander is Professor and Chair of the International Relations and Political Science Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is the author of The Power to Construct International Security: On the Significance of Private Military Companies and Militarization matters: rhetorical resonances and market militarism. She is co-editor of Handbook of Private Military-Security Companies with Rita Abrahamsen. This interview was recorded in July 2023. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

Although Access to safe drinking water is a human right, millions of people in the United States do no have access to safe water. Lead in the pipes is the most well-known cause but there are many others. What can be done to fix the nation's water delivery systems? What have we learned from the Flint case? [ dur: 34mins. ] Newsha Ajami is Chief Development Officer for Research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She is the co-author of Building water resilience in the face of cascading wildfire risks and ​Infrastructure and the Digital Economy: Reinventing Our Role in the Design, Financing, and Governance of Essential Services for Society. Benjamin J. Pauli is Associate Professor of Social Science at the Department of Liberal Arts at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. He is the author of Flint Fights Back: Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. Segment 2: Why did Ellicott City flood not once, but twice in 22 months (July 2016, May 2018)? How can "once in a thousand years' rainfalls happen so close to one another? How do cities respond to extreme weather? We speak with Ken Conca author of After the Floods: The Search for Resilience in Ellicott City.[ dur: 22mins. ] Dr. Ken Conca is Professor of environment, development, & health at American University. He is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy and his recent book After the Floods: The Search for Resilience in Ellicott City. Music clip by Sam Cooke - Change is going to come Poetry by Rachel Dillon - Dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem This show was originally published Oct. 2023 This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

The search for a safe haven for Jewish people in the early 20th Century led some Zionists to land on Galveston, Texas as a potential homeland for Jewish refugees. What was the Galveston Movement and what happened to it? We interviews the author of a new book MELTING POINT: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land.[ dur: 35mins. ] Rachel Cockerell is a writer and historian. Then, 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: 23mins. ] 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. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

The US Supreme Court has decided numerous cases and announced their opinions in the past week. On today's show we explore two cases. The Court declared an end to national injunctions in a case involving birthright citizenship. [ dur: 28mins. ] Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include, most recently, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, and The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State (with Howard Gillman). Parents can remove their children from any class they deem in opposition to their religious beliefs. [ dur: 30mins. ] Caroline Mala Corbin is Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. She is the author of Regulating LGBTQ Speech in the Classroom and New Judicial Federalism and the Establishment Clause: Classroom Ten Commandments as a Case Study in State Constitutional Protection This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

Does the aging world population mean fewer wars in the future? What exactly is a geriatric peace? Our guest, Mark L. Haas, is the author of The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War. [ dur: 30mins. ] Mark L. Haas is the Duquesne Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He is the author of many books including The Clash of Ideologies: Middle Eastern Politics and American Security. His newest book is The Geriatric Peace - Population Aging and the Decline of War. Then, we explore a new book on the peaceful uses of nuclear power: The Wretched Atom by Jacob Hamblin. [ dur: 28mins., recorded August 2021 ] Jacob Hamblin is Professor of History at Oregon State University. His books include Poison in the Well: Radioactive Waste in the Oceans at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, Oceanographers and the Cold War, Arming Mother Nature: The Birth of Catastrophic Environmentalism and his latest The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

We look at the history of conflict and outcome in the past to understand the attacks between Israel and Iran to control Nuclear capabilities of Iran. What is the humanitarian and political impact of this war? On both Iran and on Israel. What is the impact on the region? Is this war legal, based on the laws of war? Principle of JUS AD BELLUM. And how would American intervention on behalf of Israel escalate the war, and complicate the war. [ dur: 58mins. ] Note: This recording was made before US bombing of Iran's Nuclear Facility on June 22, 2025. Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus at City University of New York. He is the author of A History of Modern Iran and Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran and Syria. Christian Henderson is Professor of International Law in the School of Law, Politics, and Sociology at the University of Sussex. He's the author of U.S. And UK Military Strikes in Yemen and the Use Adbellum and The Use of Force in International Law. Hamoud Salhi is Professor of Political Science at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is commentator for Arabic media. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

President Trump has ordered federalization of the California National Guard and deployed them to Los Angeles. He also has deployed active Marines in the city. Does this violate the law? What is the law of posse comitatus? What is its history? And will mass protests help preserve democracy? The law of Posse Comitatus needs reform to prevent abuse? In today's political environment, is this even possible? [ 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. Gautham Rao is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the American University Washington, D.C. He is the author of The Federal "Posse Comitatus" Doctrine: Slavery, Compulsion, and Statecraft in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

What will it mean for Catholicism and the world to have the first Augustinian Pope? What were the teachings of Augustine of Hippo, who inspires the Order of Augustine? And what are Pope Leo's theological views for the Church and beyond as the Church confronts a world with poverty, violence, and war? [ dur: 58mins. ] Sarah Stewart-Kroeker, is the Associate Professor of Early Christian Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary; Pilgrimage as Moral and Aesthetic Formation in Augustine's Thought, and Sacrifice in Environmental Ethics and theology John Doody is the Clinical Professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. He's the co-author of at least 12 books on Augustine, and one of those is entitled Augustine and social justice. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

We interview Professor James S. Fishkin author of the recently published book - Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy? . Then we remember Ngugi wa Thiongo , scholar of language and author many books such as Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986). First our discussion with Professor Fishkin on his book Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?. He shares his experience in conducting deliberative polling 150+ times around the world. Hosted by Doug Becker.  [ dur: 30 mins. ] James S. Fishkin he holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University. He is the Professor of both communication and of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogly Institute for International Studies and the director of the Deliberative democracy lab. His work focuses on a concept We'll get into, uh, called deliberative polling. Interview with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o hosted by Prof. David Lloyd. This is an excerpt from the original recording from October 2021 ( show link ).  In this excerpt Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o recalls his thoughts on theory of Globalectics and how it affects thoughts of decolonizing the mind.  [ dur: 28 mins. ] Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine. Among his many writings are Decolonising the Mind, Globalectics and his memoir Detained recently recast as Wrestling with the Devil. His most recent novel is Murogi wa Kagogo, published in English as Wizard of the Crow. His rendering of the Gikuyu epic, The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, appeared in 2019. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

What exactly an emolument? Is the airplane gift from Qatar to President Trump an emolument? Is it evidence of corruption? And has the Supreme Court continued to enable corruption? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 26mins. ] Clark D. Cunningham is Lee Byrd's Chair in Law and Ethics at Georgia State University College of Law. He is the author of Using Empirical Data to Investigate the Original Meaning of Emoluments. In the Constitution, and has co-authored several amicus briefs on the Using Empirical Data to Investigate the Original Meaning of "Emolument" in the Constitution."Emolument" in the Constitution. Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is the Professor of Law at Stetson Law School. She's the author of The Stakes of the Supreme Court's Pro-Corruption Rulings in the Age of Trump. And the very recent publication, Corporatocracy how to protect democracy from dark money And corrupt politicians. From the arctic to the depths of the oceans, microplastics are wreaking havoc, posing health threats to human health, animals life & the ecosystems on which we all rely. How did we get here and what can we do? Hosted by Maria Armoudian. [ dur: 26mins. ] Samantha Ladewig is Research Fellow at University of Auckland, NZ. She is the co-author of Benthic ecosystem function responses to plasticizer content in polyester and PVC . Nathalie Gontard – Research Director at INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment). She is the author of Recognizing the long-term impacts of plastic particles for preventing distortion in decision-making. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

Canada's Liberals were facing a 20 point deficit a few months back but came back to maintain power by re-electing Liberal Prime Minister, Mark Carney. What does this mean for the country and its challenges this year and beyond? What are Canada's most pressing political challenges? Canadian politics are complex and experts argue their most recent election was not only a reaction to Donald Trump's remarks about the country. [ dur: 58mins. ] Terri Givens is Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. She's the author of The Roots of Racism, The Politics of White Supremacy in the US and Europe and also the impact of strategic voting in Canada. Mark O'Reilly is Professor of Political Science and the chair of the History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Religion Department at Heidelberg University. He's the author of unexceptional. America's Empire in the Persian Gulf. Stephen Lammy is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, International Relations, and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Introduction to Global Politics that's in its seventh edition This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

We are 100 days into the second Trump Administration. How different is this term from his first and from other Presidents? What are the constitutional and normative challenges it poses to American democracy? Just how much has Trump attempted to consolidate power in the Presidency? What are the biggest threats his administration poses to the constitution, the rule of law and to American democracy? [ dur: 58mins. ] Heidi Kitrosser is Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is the author of the book, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and the articles, The Shadow of Executive Privilege, and Accountability in the Deep State. Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the 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 co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy. 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. He writes extensively as a human rights monitor for Human Right Watch in both the Central Asian region and in the Caucuses. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

Science is under attack. Who and what are behind the attacks? While we face catastrophic climate change and other pending disasters, how can we restore the public’s understandings about scientific realities? We explore disinformation and ways to communicate with non-scientists to loosen the grip the disinformants have on so many people. [ dur: 58mins. ] Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a recent Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He is the author of How to Talk to a Science Denier , Post-Truth, and On Disinformation (MIT Press, August 2023), Christopher Reddy is a senior scientist in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and faculty member at MIT of the MIT/Woods Hole program in oceanography. He is the author of SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN A CRISIS: An Insider's Guide (Routledge; May 10, 2023). This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.