1050 Bascom

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were very happy to get to talk to Prof. Jon Pevehouse who teaches courses in both international relations and foreign policy for the Political Science department as well as the La Follette School of Public Affairs. We asked Prof. Pevehouse about how intensifying global differences over Taiwan’s status in the international order are fueling rising tensions between the island and China. We also asked him how Taiwan has the potential to be a flash point in US-China relations – with some analysts suggesting it could potentially lead to war. As always we learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Prof. Pevehouse. We hope you will too!

In this episode of 1050 Bascom we were grateful to talk with Professor Howard Schweber, a long-time friend of the pod, to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Prof. Schweber provided an in-depth analysis of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and explained to us why he believes we are in the midst of a constitutional revolution. We learned so much from Prof. Schweber and enjoyed the conversation. We hope you will too.

On this episode of 1050 Bascom we were grateful for the opportunity to interview Ethan vanderWilden, a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science department. Ethan studies political parties and electoral competition in Europe, the European Union and the United States. Some of his most recent research examines radical right electoral outcomes and divergences in radical right party strategies. In an interview conducted in late February, we asked Ethan about his research and its implication for the rise of right wing populist parties in Europe. We learned so much from Ethan and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. We hope you will too!

On this episode of 1050 Bascom, we are happy to welcome back Nils Ringe, Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Jean Monnet EU Center for Comparative Populism, to talk about his new book, The Language of Politics: Multilingual Policymaking in the European Union. The book, published in early 2022, investigates the impact of politicians’ reliance on shared foreign languages and translation services on EU politics and argues that multilingualism depoliticizes policymaking by reducing its political nature and potential for conflict. We asked Prof. Ringe about the research that informs his book as well as the geopolitical space that the EU occupies in contemporary global politics generally. We learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Prof. Ringe. We hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were grateful for the opportunity to talk to Sue Robinson, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW-Madison about her latest book, News After Trump: Journalism’s Crisis of Relevance in a Changed Media Culture. We asked Prof. Robinson about the arguments presented in the book (co-authored with Prof. Matt Carlson from the University of Minnesota and Prof. Seth Carlson from the University of Oregon) as well as how this project ties into her broader teaching and research interests. We learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Prof. Robinson.

On this episode of 1050 Bascom, we are happy to welcome back Professors Mark Copelovitch and Jon Pevehouse to talk about the upcoming La Follette Forum - American Power, Prosperity and Democracy that will be held on Wednesday May 4 at Monona Terrace and include academic researchers as well as experts from journalism, private industry and public policy. We covered a wide range of topics from the state of the US economy to the rise of China as a global power to the future of democracy at home and abroad. We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Profs. Copelovitch and Pevehouse, and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we are excited to one again interview Don Stanley, an award-winning instructor who teaches design, social media, and digital marketing courses for the UW-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication. Don also owns a digital consultancy firm, 3Rhino Media, that provides design and digital marketing services to clients throughout the United States. With Facebook (now Meta!) facing questions from both sides of the political spectrum -- we wanted to get Prof. Stanley’s take on the revelations unleashed by former FB product manager Frances Haugen. Internal company documents suggest that high level FB executives like Mark Zuckerberg were not only aware of evidence showing that its platforms sowed the seeds of divisive politics, but their own internal studies also indicated that Instagram can contribute to mental health issues, particularly among teenage girls. We also talked more broadly about the role that social media plays in our current information environment and the implications for the future of democracy. As always, we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Prof. Stanley, and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were happy to welcome back Prof. Herrera to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis. In an interview conducted on April 1, Prof. Herrera shared with us her insights into Putin’s motivations and the Ukrainian response thus far. We all also talked with Prof. Herrera about the short- and long-term consequences of the Russian aggression for Ukraine and the global world order more broadly. We learned so much from a fascinating conversation with Prof. Herrera and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we were grateful for the opportunity to talk to Mariel Barnes, Assistant Professor at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. Prof. Barnes is also a core and founding faculty member of UW-Madison’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative. Professor Barnes’ research examines everyday forms of violence against women, gender, and the politics of the welfare state. We asked Prof. Barnes about her research on the politics of domestic violence as well as her work at the University’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative which is an interdisciplinary group designed to investigate the psychological, societal, and policy aspects of sexual violence. We learned so much from our conversation with Prof. Barnes, and hope you will too.

In this episode of 1050 Bascom, we welcome back Prof. David Canon to talk about the future of voting rights reform. Prof. Canon provided us with a brief history of voting rights legislation in the United States and walked us through several Supreme Court rulings over the last decade that have altered election laws and practices throughout the country. He also gave us some insights into what ongoing efforts at election reform might look like in the future. As always, we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Prof. Canon and learned so much. We hope you will too. Listen here.