The Scholars' Circle

Biodiversity is under extreme attack in the high seas. With roughly 70% of the Earth’s surfaces as oceans, protecting biodiversity needed to extend beyond these national

jurisdictions. Hence, in June of this year, 2023, nearly 200 countries adopted the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty, also called the BBNJ. we will explore what this treaty seeks to accomplish and what mechanisms are in place to protect ocean species. And we will examine the most significant risks to this biodiversity. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Elizabeth Mendenhall is Associate Professor in the Departments of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She is the author of Building a Regime Complex for Marine Plastic Pollution and Nuclear Weapons Free Zones and the issue of maritime transit in Latin America.

Rachel Tiller is a Chief Scientist at SINTEF Ocean in the Department of Fisheries and New Biomarine resources in Norway. She is also the Director of the key strategic research area of biodiversity and area use at SINTEF. She is the author of Orchestration within plastics governance – From global to Arctic and And so it begins – The adoption of the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ treaty.

Invasive species are wreaking havoc all over the world and costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The alarming rate of the spread of invasive species are threatening nature, food security, our economies, and human health. Some areas are more successful than others in maintaining or restoring ecosystems with their indigenous species. How bad is the damage from invasive species and what can be done about it? We explore the south pacific island of New Zealand. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Jacqueline Beggs is Professor at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland's School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She is co-Executive Director of Ngā Ara Whetū (www.ngaarawhetu.org), UoA’s flagship research centre on Climate, Biodiversity and Society, and Director of Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity. She is the co-author of Science-based, stakeholder-inclusive and participatory conservation planning helps reverse the decline of threatened species.

Al Glen is is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science, Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is the co-author of What can wildlife-detection dogs offer for managing small mammalian predators?.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

Biodiversity is under extreme attack in the high seas. With roughly 70% of the Earth’s surfaces as oceans, protecting biodiversity needed to extend beyond these national jurisdictions. Hence, in June of this year, 2023, nearly 200 countries adopted the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty, also called the BBNJ. we will explore what this treaty seeks to accomplish and what mechanisms are in place to protect ocean species. And we will examine the most significant risks to this biodiversity. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Elizabeth Mendenhall is Associate Professor in the Departments of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She is the author of Building a Regime Complex for Marine Plastic Pollution and Nuclear Weapons Free Zones and the issue of maritime transit in Latin America.

Rachel Tiller is a Chief Scientist at SINTEF Ocean in the Department of Fisheries and New Biomarine resources in Norway. She is also the Director of the key strategic research area of biodiversity and area use at SINTEF. She is the author of Orchestration within plastics governance – From global to Arctic and And so it begins – The adoption of the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ treaty.

Invasive species are wreaking havoc all over the world and costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The alarming rate of the spread of invasive species are threatening nature, food security, our economies, and human health. Some areas are more successful than others in maintaining or restoring ecosystems with their indigenous species. How bad is the damage from invasive species and what can be done about it? We explore the south pacific island of New Zealand. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Jacqueline Beggs is Professor at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland's School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She is co-Executive Director of Ngā Ara Whetū (www.ngaarawhetu.org), UoA’s flagship research centre on Climate, Biodiversity and Society, and Director of Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity. She is the co-author of Science-based, stakeholder-inclusive and participatory conservation planning helps reverse the decline of threatened species.

Al Glen is is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science, Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is the co-author of What can wildlife-detection dogs offer for managing small mammalian predators?.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

Rage and a desire for vengeance after 9/11 drove the US to violate human rights on a mass scale. What were those mistakes and what lessons do they offer to others dealing with political violence? How much does rage and demands for vengeance undermine peace? [ dur:28mins. ]

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. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. He worked as a human rights monitor for the Union of Council for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) as their Caucasus monitor in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as well as with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Russia.

Brent Sasley is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas, Arlington. He is the author of the book Politics in Israel: Governing a Complex Society and the book chapter "The End of Oslo and The Second Intifada, 2000-2005."

Then, How much does race and class determine legal outcomes in the United States? What role does the prosecutor play in the justice system?

We speak with the co-author of a new book A Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts. Co-authors are legendary death penalty opponent Stephen Bright and legal scholar James Kwak. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Our guest James Kwak is a former professor of law at the University of Connecticut and chairperson of the board of the Southern Center for Human Rights. His co-author is Stephen Bright. He teaches law at Yale and Georgetown Universities. He was director of the Southern Center for Human Rights and won multiple capital cases in the Supreme Court.

From the publisher:

Almost 70 years ago Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black wrote there "can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has." In THE FEAR OF TOO MUCH JUSTICE: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts (The New Press; June 20; 2023), legendary death penalty opponent Stephen Bright and legal scholar James Kwak show the myriad ways the US criminal legal system fails to live up to this ideal of fairness: Innocent people are condemned to death and convicted of crimes because they cannot afford lawyers and because of the color of their skin. Racial discrimination in jury selection still lives in communities that have substantial Black and Latino populations. The mentally disabled are incarcerated instead of given the treatment they need, while the poor are processed through many courts with little or no legal representation in an assembly-line fashion. And many courts act as centers of profit whose main purpose is to raise money by imposing fines on the most vulnerable in their community and jailing them when they cannot pay.

But Bright and Kwak also see the promise of meaningful change on the horizon. They point to jurisdictions across the political spectrum that have made significant progress. The use of the death penalty has plummeted, and the authors see a future where it will remain in only the most ardent holdouts. Public defender offices that protect clients from wrongful convictions have been established across the country, and many places have reduced the use of cash bail and stopped imposing fines and fees on people who cannot afford them.

The book makes the case that prosecutors have too much power and defense lawyers are often out-gunned and incentivized to encourage plea bargains. How should the system rectify this? What is the first step in fixing this imbalance?

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin,

After the Republican caucus ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, it has continued to reject those who have stood for election. What does this all mean for the country at such a crucial time? Is there anything in history that can guide the US though this chaos? Why has it come to this and what's the way forward? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.

How were cities born? How did they affect culture, economies, politics, and societies? What changed in the 21st century, especially after the pandemic? Which cities are best for quality of life? And how can cities offer a sustainable and fulfilling future? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Ian Goldin is Professor of Globalization and Development at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Age of the City, Rescue from Global Crisis to a Better World and Terra Incognota 100 maps to survive the next 100 years.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

Money can distort politics. And the lack of transparency where this money comes from can further distort politics and invite corruption. Since much of the money in campaign finance is not subject to transparency laws, it has taken the name dark money. This specifically references spending by nonprofit organizations created for political spending. How much has dark money skewed American democracy? What role does transparency in spending play in ensuring the legitimacy of democracies? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Stan Oklobdzija is Visiting Assistant Professor at UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy. He is the author of Public positions, private giving: Dark money and political donors in the Digital Age and Closing Down and Cashing In: Extremism and Political Fundraising.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is Professor of Law at Stetson Law School. She is the author of Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and Political Brands.

Maurice Cunningham is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization.

This interview was recorded October 2022.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

When Elon Musk promised that Twitter ( re-branded as X ) will allow a wider range of content, including some that was previously banned as hate speech, disinformation, or conspiracy-centric, concerns over disinformation in political discourse heightened. But the challenge of democratic discourse in light of misinformation and disinformation is a historic challenge. Social media just speeds the process. Yet a significant concern is discerning who best to regulate what constitutes disinformation, in light of the political power of censorship.

We look at how disinformation has spread worldwide, shifting politics and challenging democracies. What are the most effective ways to counter disinformation? How might it be different for states, than for individuals? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Elzbieta Drazkiewic is Senior Research Fellow at the Slovak Academy of the Sciences. She is the author of "Taking vaccine regret and hesitancy seriously. The role of truth, conspiracy theories, gender relations and trust in the HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland” and co-author of “What Should Academics Do About Conspiracy Theories? Moving Beyond Debunking to Better Deal with Conspiratorial Movements, Misinformation and Post-Truth” (with Jaron Harambam).

Nora Benavidez is Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice & Civil Rights at Free Press. She also serves as Faculty Associate at Arizona State University’s Cronkite Institute. She is the author of "Now What? Fixing Facebook to Protect Us All" and “Facebook Ought to be Protecting Democracy Every Day."

Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford and Head of the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group. He is the author of Digital Diplomacy and International Organizations: Autonomy, Legitimacy and Contestation (with R Zaiotti) and Countering Online Propaganda and Violent Extremism: The Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy (with J. Pamment).

Recorded May 2022.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

Azerbaijan has attacked the indigenous Armenian people in an area known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing them to flee from their ancestral homelands. Over hundred thousand have fled the region they know as Artsakh. Why has the international community failed to do anything to protect this population who left behind their homes, communities, belongings, and historical heritage?

Russia’s abandoned its role of protector of Armenians who are now victims to atrocities and grave human rights violations. And the US has failed to act on the warnings about Azerbaijan’s aggression toward the civilian population. What should now be done to address Azerbaijan’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and atrocities? [ dur:58mins. ]

* Stephan Astourian recently retired as the William Saroyan Director of the Armenian Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley. He is now Professor in the International Relations and Diplomacy Program at American University of Armenia and the Director of the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis. He is the author of State, homeland, and diaspora: The Armenian and Azerbaijani cases and On the Genealogy of the Armenian–Turkish Conflict, Sultan Abdülhamid and the Armenian Massacres.

* Vahram Ter-Matevosyan is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the American University of Armenia. He is the co-author of the monographs “Turkey, Kemalism, and the Soviet Union: Problems of Modernization, Ideology and Interpretation,” “Islam in the Social and Political Life of Turkey, 1970-2001”, and “Navigating between international recognition paradigms: prospects and challenges for Nagorno Karabakh”,(with Edita Ghazaryan).

* 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. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. He worked as a human rights monitor for the Union of Council for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) as their Caucasus monitor in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as well as with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Russia.

* Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States, Red Flag Wounded: Stalinism and the Fate of the Soviet Experiment, and editor of Transcaucasia, Nationalism and Social Change: Essays in the History of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, what are the legal and medical ramifications of the huge geographical swaths of women who have no access to abortion? We discuss reproductive healthcare in a post-Dobbs world. What has it meant for the medical profession and the ways in which it had to alter some of the ways healthcare is provided? How have women sought to secure access to abortion in the areas of the country where it is not legal? Mifepristone, the medicine used to terminate pregnancy, faces severe challenges and restrictions. What does this mean for access to medicinal abortion access? What can the areas where it is legal do to help their counterparts in red states? [dur: 58mins. ]

* Greer Donley is an Associate Professor of Law at the University Pittsburgh Law School. She is the author of Medication Abortion Exceptionalism, and co-author of Abortion, Pregnancy Loss, and Subjective Fetal Personhood (with Jill Wieber Lens) and The New Abortion Battleground (with David S. Cohen and Rachel Rebouché) was cited by the Supreme Court’s dissent in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

* Carole Joffe is Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe v. Wade, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients and the Rest of Us and co-author of Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America.

* Robin Marty is Executive Director for the West Alabama Women’s Center and a freelance reporter. She’s the author of Handbook for a Post-Roe America and co-author of The End of Roe v. Wade: Inside the Right’s Plan to Destroy Legal Abortion.

West Alabama Women’s Center: https://alreprohealth.com/

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

What was the experience of gay people in East and West Germany during the Cold War? We speak with Samuel Clowes Huneke author of States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany. [ dur: 32mins. ]

* Samuel Clowes Huneke is Assistant Professor of History at George Mason University. He is also the author of Heterogeneous Persecution: Lesbianism and the Nazi State.

Since the 2020 election, anti-transgender campaigns have been growing in the United States. What are these efforts? We look at the campaigns to curtail and reverse gay and transgender rights, in particular we explore campaigns such as Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act (dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” bill) and attempts to ban trans athletes in all levels of competition. [ dur: 25mins. ]

* Clifford Rosky is Professor of Law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. He is the author of Anti-Gay Curriculum Laws, Fear of the Queer Child, “Still Not Equal: A Report from the Red States,” and co-author of the opinion article After 50-year stalemate, it’s time to pass federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination law.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

Recorded May 2022

We explore a new book on the peaceful uses of nuclear power: The Wretched Atom by Jacob Hamblin.[ dur: 29mins. ]

* 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.

Then, why arms control discourses are centered around western notions of modernity and civilization. What does it mean to decolonize the language around arms control? [ dur: 30mins. ]

* Ritu Mathur is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.