Global Insights (Audio)

In what must be one of the most unusual classes offered at UCLA, a group of 10 law students hold in their hands the fate of people who have found their way to the United States after being persecuted by their governments. These survivors of torture and trauma now fear for their lives if they are forced to return home. For the students in the School of Law's Asylum Clinic, it's a heavy responsibility to shoulder as they work for months to prepare their client for this one chance at being granted asylum — a hearing at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Los Angeles Asylum Office in Anaheim. Series: "UCLA Newsroom" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28685]

Much attention has focused on Mexico's transition to electoral democracy in recent years. But how does it compare with other nations of Latin America? Is it typical of the region, or is it "unique" in specific ways? UC San Diego Professor Peter H. Smith compares Mexico with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Guatemala. The results yield insight on the pace of democratization, civil-military relations, party structures, separation of powers, and policy performance. Mexico fares relatively well along a number of key dimensions, argues Smith, and prospects for continuing consolidation of its democracy are surprisingly strong. Series: "Mexico: Twenty Years After NAFTA" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 27721]

UC San Diego sociologist David FitzGerald explains how recent changes in the economies of the US. and Mexico, along with border enforcement and shifting demographics have led to a stabilization of Mexican migration to the U.S. This is the fourth in a five-part series exploring the impact of NAFTA, sponsored by the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UC San Diego. Series: "Mexico: Twenty Years After NAFTA" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 27720]

In “Spying on Democracy,” National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies. Series: "Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28275]

Two decades after the horrific genocide in Rwanda, a panel of experts gathered at the Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego to reflect on the tragedy that left nearly a million people dead and the reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts that have taken place in the years since 1994. Series: "Peace exChange -- Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28131]

Veteran Middle East peace negotiators, Ambassador Dennis Ross (counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy) and Ghaith al Omari (Executive Director of the American Task Force on Palestine) discuss the framework of principles for the negotiations leading to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon to be unveiled by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Drawing upon decades of experience, they will compare the “Kerry Plan” to previous peace proposals and analyze the likelihood of its adoption. Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28043]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Congressman Howard Berman for a discussion of his 30 year career in the U.S. House of Representatives serving California’s 28th congressional district. Reflecting on his career, Berman discusses the following topics: his background; his early alliance with Henry Congressman Waxman: innovations in campaigning that they developed with Michael Berman; the skills and temperament necessary for the work of legislating; his support for the Iraq War Resolution; U.S. relations with Israel; the role of sanctions in blocking Iran’s nuclear program; the failure of the Stop Online Piracy Act; and advice to students preparing for a career in politics. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28143]

The Holocaust claimed anywhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million Romani lives, a tragedy the Romani people and Sinti refer to as the Porrajmos, or “the Devouring.” Notwithstanding the scope of the catastrophe, the Romani genocide was often ignored or minimized until Ian Hancock and others exposed this misfortune. A Romani-born British citizen, activist, and scholar, Hancock has done more than anyone to raise awareness about the Romani people during World War II. Now a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Hancock is presented here as part of the Holocaust Living History Workshop, a partnership between Judaic Studies at UCSD and the UC San Diego Library.

Series: "The Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28100]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes T.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations at McGill University, Montreal, for a discussion of his new book, “The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World.” Professor Paul analyzes the domestic and foreign policy implications of Pakistan’s role as a garrison state in South Asia. Drawing on history, geo-strategic context, and relations with the great powers, he demonstrates how Pakistan’s search for parity in its relations with India is critical for understanding why it remains a warrior state mired in a strategic dilemma which subverts its hopes for development at home and security in its regional environment. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28156]

Michael Nacht, the public policy professor and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs in the Obama Administration, surveys security conflicts around the world in this dinner address to the Goldman School of Public Policy board at UC Berkeley. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 28272]