Root of Conflict

What are the key legal principles that govern the conduct of war and protect human rights? In this episode, we speak with Professor Kathleen Cavanaugh, the Executive Director of the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, and Senior Instructional Professor in the College at UChicago. Professor Cavanaugh’s scholarship, like her academic training, is interdisciplinary and seeks to interrogate questions of law in its social context. She has published on international human rights and humanitarian law; theoretical as well as applied research on the use of political violence; ethno-nationalism; and more recently, militant democracy and the politics of memory. As a consultant, she has undertaken numerous missions on behalf of Amnesty International including to Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and Iraq and she will be speaking at the 2024 Pearson Global Forum in October. We discuss, among other topics, the framework of international humanitarian law, storytelling in meta conflicts, and the difficulties of accountability for human rights violations within the international system.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

You can access the transcript here. 

Podcast Production Credits:

Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

How is law understood and used by different actors during political transitions to achieve peace? In this episode, we speak with Professor Louise Mallinder, a Professor in the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast and Faculty Affiliate of the Pearson Institute. She has a longstanding and internationally recognized expertise in amnesty laws through extensive writing and the creation of the Amnesties, Conflict and Peace Database. She works as part of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, led by the University of Edinburgh, and funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Professor Mallinder's teaching focuses on international human rights law, human rights practice, constitutional law, and transitional justice. We discuss how amnesties can be granted without compromising justice, the intersection of law with other disciplines in academia, and Professor Mallinder’s perspectives at large on the field of transitional justice.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Should you encounter any challenges with the audio quality, we invite you to follow along with the transcript provided for a seamless experience. You can access the transcript here. 

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Isabella Pestana de Andrade do Nascimento, Natalia Zorrilla Ramos, and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

How does the United States coordinate with regional partners to promote human rights in North Korea? In this episode, we speak with Ambassador Julie Turner, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights at the Department of State. Ambassador Turner is globally recognized as an expert in human rights and democracy and has worked over the past 20 years to strengthen democratic institutions and promote human rights throughout the East Asia and Pacific Region. As a career civil service employee and former Presidential Management Fellow, Ambassador Turner has dedicated her career to advancing human rights around the world. We discuss how the United States and its allies in the region play a role in protecting and promoting human rights in North Korea, how the United States balances Human Rights with some of its hardline measures – like economic sanctions and military deterrence, and how Ambassador Turner engages with the broader Korean American community.

A note that the acronym DPRK refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country’s official title, which is also commonly referred to as North Korea. 

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Should you encounter any challenges with the audio quality, we invite you to follow along with the transcript provided for a seamless experience. You can access the transcript here. 

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Levi Latoz, Myong Kun (Chris) Shin, and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci


Resources:

• Memoirs written by North Korean Refugees

How do stories give new perspectives to conflict and peace? In this episode, we speak with Juanita Vélez, a journalist and political scientist. She was the editor of La Silla Sur, a regional subsidiary of Colombian news website La Silla Vacía, focused on covering the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement in southern Colombia. She researches and writes journalistic stories on illegal armed groups, deforestation, and organized crime. She is also the author of A War Later, (Spanish: Una Guerra Después) a journalistic book that tells the stories of five Colombians impacted by the Peace Agreement made between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the FARC). The book focuses not just on the former FARC combatants but also tells the stories of victims, military personnel, and government officials that weren’t covered in the broader news at the time. We discuss the framework of the peace agreement, the impacts of implementation, and the how Vélez built trust within communities to facilitate her journalism.

Watch the Pearson Institute's talk featuring Juanita Vélez on YouTube here.

You can find more information on A War Later here.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Paula Cadena Moreno and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

What is the role of narratives within the political economy of development? In this episode, we speak with Professor Raul Sanchez de la Sierra, an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Faculty Affiliate of the Pearson Institute. His research tackles problems in the economics of development, political economy, and conflict. He conducts most of his research in areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); where he looks at the organization of society, the economics and psychology of armed groups, the emergence of state functions, and the economics of organized corruption, working closely with these actors, while also gathering detailed data for statistical analysis. We discuss Professor Sanchez de la Sierra’s path to working in the DRC and later involvement in Congo Calling, a documentary film that follows him and two other Europeans who work in various roles within the international development aid sector in the DRC. Later, we discuss his goals and objectives for his class Power and “Development,” which he teaches at Harris. Finally, we explore Professor Sanchez de la Sierra’s perspectives on the state of the world at-large, including his insights into the #FreeCongo movement.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Raphael Rony Anthony, Manda Bwerevu, and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

What factors hindered Tunisia's democratic transition after the Arab Spring? In this episode, we speak with Professor Daniel Brumberg, a Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and co-founder of its Democracy and Governance Master’s program. We discuss Tunisia’s political landscape and how polarization impacted its own democratic journey. We also discuss different theories of political transition, Middle Eastern development politics, and Dr. Brumberg’s perspectives on Iran.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Joshilyn Binkley and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

What is the history of Kashmir’s path to self-determination? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Hafsa Kanjwal, an assistant professor of South Asian History at Lafayette College. We talk about Dr. Kanjwal’s new book Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Indian Occupation. The book interrogates how Kashmir was made "integral" to India through a study of the decade long rule of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the second Prime Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. We discuss the historical context of the conflict in Kashmir through the book’s chapters.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Nishita Karun and Julia Higgins
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

What kind of ethical concerns should researchers think about when deciding to take on a project? In this episode, we speak with Professor Austin Wright, an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and a faculty affiliate of the Pearson Institute and Empirical Studies of Conflict Project. We speak about his past and current research projects in Afghanistan, dual-use infrastructure, and broad U.S. policy interventions. We also talk about his work teaching as a professor, his advice for students, and how his life journey has influenced his understanding of conflict and ripple effects.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Jose Macias and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

How do war and conflict give rise to gender-based violence? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Maliha Chishti, an assistant instructional professor at the Divinity School and an associate of The Pearson Institute. Her core research interests are international peacebuilding, security, and development, as well as gender and human rights in post-conflict contexts. We talk about gender-based violence in the context of war, Dr. Chishti’s work in passing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, and the complexities of humanitarian aid implementation today.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Julia Higgins, Rabail Sofi, and Hannah Balikci
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci

What is the role of mothers in counterterrorism efforts? Within conflict, women have traditionally been viewed as victims that need protecting; however, their involvement is much more nuanced than that. In this episode, we speak with Professor Amal Hamada, a professor of political science and gender studies at Cairo University. We talk about the role of gender when discussing conflict, the women’s movement in Iran, and Palestinian mothers today.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at ThePearsonInstitute.org

Access the transcript here.

Podcast Production Credits:

Interviewing: Jordan Enos, Raphael Rony Antony, and Isabella Pestana de Andrade do Nascimento
Editing: Nishita Karun
Production: Hannah Balikci