The Scholars' Circle

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The Scholars' Circle episodes

September 01Scholars’ Circle – Drone Warfare and Author Interview on “The Crime of Aggression and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine” – August 30, 2026
The 21st century has seen a significant increase in the use of drones in warfare. Unmanned weapons, often cheaper than many of the more complicated and advanced weapons used by major powers like the US and Russia, seem to be aiding defenders and creating a more level playing field. What can these drones do? Do they make wars more likely to break out? Or, do they serve as a cautionary tale against aggression? How do drones change the battlefield? [ dur: 30mins. ]
Ori Swed is Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas Tech University. He is Director of the Peace, War & Social Conflict Laboratory. He is the co-author of “Emulating underdogs: Tactical drones in the Russia-Ukraine war” And “The Empirical Determinants of Violent Nonstate Actor Drone Adoption“
Roberto J. González is Professor of Anthropology at San Jose State University. He is the author of The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future (2022)
Hugh Gusterson is Professor of Anthropology and Public Policy at the University of British Colombia. He is the author of Drone: Remote Control Warfare and, with Professor Gonzalez, the co-editor of Militarization: A Reader.
In response to the devastation of World War I, world leaders lead by France and the US negotiated the Kellogg-Briand Pact. This outlawed aggressive war and outlined the crime of aggression. It was the legal foundation for one of the crimes prosecuted at Nuremberg and Tokyo following World War II. In addition, the UN Charter, specifically Article 2 (4), not only outlaws aggressive war itself but also includes the threat of aggressive war in its definition. However, the exact parameters of what aggressive war is has been a legal and political challenge for the last 100 years. Perhaps no current scholar has been more committed, more influential, and more productive on this specific issue than our current guest. [ dur: 28mins. ]
Jennifer Trahan has a new book on this precise issue. In The Crime of Aggression and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, she uses this very current and incredibly important case to demonstrate the historical development of this crime and the need to harmonize its definition and to prosecute its violation.
Jennifer Trahan is Clinical Professor and Director of the Concentration in International Law and Human Rights at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, War / Weapons, drones, warfare, laws on war
59 min
August 24Scholars’ Circle – Wildfires Erupting Across Europe and North America – August 23, 2026
The world is on fire. While that seems alarmist, this summer has been the summer of fire. Wildfires have spread all around the world, with specific fires in Spain, France, Canada and the US seizing global headlines. While the summer in the northern hemisphere is typically wildfire season, this year seems to mark an increased intensity and occurrences of these fires. On today’s show we will explore what has been the cause of these fires. What environmental conditions have lead to the increased intensity of these fires? And what should be done both locally and globally to better manage wildfires? [ dur: 58mins. ]
Doug Specht is a Chartered Geographer, a Reader in Cultural Geography and Communication, and Head of the School of Media and Communication at the University of Westminster. He is the author of Mapping crisis: Participation, datafication and humanitarianism in the age of digital mapping and most recently in the Conversation There’s nothing ‘wild’ about most wildfires, humans start them and have made them more dangerous.
Daniel Swain is climate scientist with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) and a research partner at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research. He is the co-author of Anthropogenic warming has increased drought risk in California and Climate change is increasing the risk of a California megaflood. He is the author of the Weather West blog.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.
Environment, Politics and Activism, Climate Change, Environmental Activism, Wildfires
58 min
August 18Scholars’ Circle – Does an Aging Population Mean Decline of War; Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy – Aug 16, 2026
Does the world’s aging 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. Recorded June 2025 ]
Mark L. Haas is 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 use 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, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.
58 min
August 09Scholars’ Circle – Horn of Africa Famine Explained; UK Politics of the New Prime Minister – August 9, 2026
The Greater Horn of Africa, in Northeastern Africa, faces severe food insecurity. In Sudan 19 million-plus people are facing acute hunger, including 825,000 children under five who are expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition in 2026. In addition, 12-14 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. What are the root causes and immediate effects of this famine? How can the world help address food insecurity in the region? [ dur: 27mins. ]
Merry Fitzpatrick is Research Assistant Professor at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. She has more than 20 years of field experience in humanitarian response. She has worked with multiple humanitarian agencies, including the International Rescue Committee, GOAL Ireland, Food for the Hungry and World Concern. She is co-author of “Five levels of famine prevention: towards a framework for the twenty‐first century and beyond” and her latest, published in the Conversation, is “Conflict, climate, and disease form convergent crises in the Greater Horn of Africa”.
The United Kingdom has a new Prime Minister. He is the 7th Prime Minister in the last decade, a remarkable instability for the nation. Who is Andy Burnham? Why did he replace Kier Starmer? Why has the UK had such instability? Does Brexit play a role? Lastly, we explore Burnham’s leadership and its potential impacts on the future of the UK. [ dur: 31mins. ]
Patrick Diamond is Professor in Pubic Policy in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. He is Chair of the think-tank Policy Network. He is the co-author of Warring Factions: Labour’s Civil Wars: How infighting has kept the Left from power (and what can be done about it) and author of The British Labour Party in Opposition and in Power 1979-2019: Forward March Halted?
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Sudd Dongre and Anna Lapin.
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Governance / Law, War, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Famine
58 min
August 02Scholars’ Circle – Current and Future Migration Issues within US from Climate Disasters – August 2, 2026
Climate change will lead to climate migration and there has been a renewed interest in adaptation strategies. Mitigation efforts seek to limit the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment to slow climate change but adaptation recognizes that the climate has changed and we as a society and as a planet must adapt to these rising temperatures and the changing ecosystem. We will explore some of the challenges for adaptation.
We Interview Jesse M.Keenan author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America. He surveys places which are vulnerable to climate change effects and looks at state and regional implications of migration in America. [ dur: 26mins. ]
Jesse M. Keenan is Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. His research advances the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable real estate and infrastructure finance and development. He is the author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America.
In addition, we discuss how climate change is socio-economically tied to movement. When disaster strikes, who is able to move and who is forced to remain? How will climate change affect demographics? How will it affect the economy, politics, and the well-being of the country as a whole? [ dur: 32mins. ]
Jesse M. Keenan is Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. His research advances the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable real estate and infrastructure finance and development. He is the author of the book North: Future of Post Climate America.
Matt Hauer is Charles B. Nam Associate Professor, Department of Sociology – Center for Demography and Population Health at Florida State University. He is the co-author of Sea-level rise and human migration.
This program was originally recorded in Nov. 2025.
This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Sudd Dongre and Anna Lapin.
Environment, Financial, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Governance / Law, United States, Urbanism
59 min
July 27Scholars’ Circle – Author Interview on “Cold War Football: A History in Ten Matches” and 1973 Coup D’État in Chile – July 26, 2026
The 2026 World Cup has finished and the final two teams, Spain and Argentina, have stirred up old notions of what we call soft power. Sports play a large role in how countries display their soft power, but it can often be confused for cooperation. Indeed all power is contested and soft power is no exception, and the contest is clear when two national teams meet in a sports contest.
Examples of soft power interactions in sports include the US beating the USSR in hockey in the 1980 Winter Games or the Soviets defeating the US in basketball at the 1972 Olympics during the height of the Cold War. No sport, however, garners more international interest than soccer (or what the rest of the world calls football). Our guests have written a new book that defines the Cold War rivalry through the lens of ten historic soccer matches. The book is called Cold War Football: A history in Ten matches. [ dur: 33mins. ]
Tony Shaw is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Hertfordshire. He is the co-author of The American and Soviet Struggle for Hearts and Minds and Hollywood and Israel: a History.
Alan McDougall is Professor of History at the University of Guelph. He is the author of Contested Fields; A Global History of Modern Football and Dreams and Songs to Sing: A People’s History of Liverpool FC from Shankly to Klopp.
We revisit the September 11th, 1973 coup in Chile that toppled democratically elected Salvador Allende and installed the dictator Augustin Pinochet. We’ll hear what happened, explore the latest revelations and how Chileans are dealing with their past now. [ dur: 25mins. ]
For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ
This interview was recorded September, 2014.
John Dingus is Professor of Journalism at Columbia University. He is the author of The Condor Years: How Pinochet And His Allies Brought Terrorism To Three Continents and Our Man in Panama: How General Noriega Used the United States- And Made Millions in Drugs and Arms
Peter Kornbluh directs the Cuba Documentation Project and the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archives. He is the author of The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana and The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Sudd Dongre, and Anna Lapin.
Politics and Activism, Diplomacy, Social Sciences, Organized Sports
59 min
July 21Scholars’ Circle – Protesting for the Disappeared in Mexico and US Guns Supply Mexican Gangs – July 19, 2026
At games played for the World Cup in Mexico, protesters have lined the stadium on behalf of Mexico’s disappeared. It is estimated that 135,000 people have disappeared in Mexico and there has been no accounting of them.
Desapardcidos protests by families of the missing during World Cup in Mexico City. Photo by D. Mora.
Their families and loved ones want to know where they are or what happened. So we will explore this issue. Why has the number of disappeared surged in recent years in Mexico? Who are the disappeared? And what has the protest at games meant for a global public whose attention is on the country and are just learning of these disappeared. [ dur: 31mins. ]
David Mora is Senior Analyst for Mexico with the International Crisis Group. He researches organised crime, violence, corruption and conflict. He has worked for VICE News, NBC News, ProPublica and The Atlantic. He has won prestigious awards for his coverage of migration, criminal violence and corruption in Mexico. He is the author of Mexico Struggles for Security under White House Duress and Killing of Mexican Cartel Boss Brings Diplomatic Victory and Domestic Mayhem
Beyond asylum seekers heading north, the problems of US/Mexico Border are also about the flow of guns and drugs. How can we understand the totality of problems related to the US southern border? What are the solutions? [ dur: 27mins. ]
We speak with Ieva Jusionyte, author of a new book Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border. [ dur: 26mins. ].
Note: This is an excerpt from the interview made in May, 2024. You can hear the full interview here.
Ieva Jusionyte is a legal and medical anthropologist and associate professor at Brown University. She is also the author of award-winning ethnography Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. She has been studying borders, violence, and security in Latin America and the United States for over fifteen years.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Human Rights, Gun Lobby, Militarism, Mexico, Borders
58 min
July 12Scholars’ Circle – Author Interview on “AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neo-liberal Era” – July 12, 2026
It didn’t always cost this much and deliver this little. Something broke in the early 1980s—and in AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neoliberal Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 11, 2026. You can use Promo-Code of HTWN at checkout to get 30% discount), John E. McDonough explains exactly what it was.
The failings of the American healthcare system didn’t happen by accident. They happened because its already sprawling, fragmented structure—Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance, the VA, and more—left it uniquely exposed to a de-regulatory wave that moved fast and largely out of public view. A bedrock faith in free markets was let into the hen house, and the results are stark: the U.S. now spends more and delivers worse outcomes than any other wealthy nation on earth.
John McDonough watched neo-liberal economic agenda reshape American political thinking—often without recognizing the seismic nature of the shift in the moment. Its narrow focus on economic and business interests altered government’s role, drove consolidation across industries, deregulated the healthcare sector, and shifted corporate priorities away from consumer benefit and toward shareholder returns. [ dur: 36 mins. ]
John McDonough is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a former Massachusetts state legislator who served thirteen years in the 1980s and 1990s as neo-liberalism was overtaking American political life. He has also co-authored Overcoming the Digital Divide in Health Care AI.
Then, many observers argue, that the economic forces are corrupting medical care and eroding the trust between patients and their doctors. The problems in health care delivery have wide implications related to how health care should function particularly when there are limited resources. We examine the ethics of medicine and healthcare, and the modern day issues that complicate them. [ dur: 22 mins. ]
Note: this segment is an excerpt from interview recorded on January 16, 2015. The complete version can be found here.
Thomas Pogge is the Director of the Global Justice Program and Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University. His books include World Poverty and Human Rights and Freedom from Poverty: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?.
Martin Wilkinson is Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. His books include Freedom, Efficiency and Equality and Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs.
Richard Cookson is Professor at the Centre for Health Economics, and Co-Director of the Equity in Health Policy (Equipol) research group at the University of York. His books include The Humble Economist: Tony Culyer on Health, Health Care and Social Decision Making and Jonathan Bradshaw on Social Policy: Selected Writings 1972-2011.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Health, Politics and Activism, Healthcare Industry, Medicine, neo-liberal economics
58 min
July 07Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS Decisions: Birthright Citizenship and Refugee Rights – July 5, 2026
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, Section 1 reads as follows: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” So all persons born in the US are citizens. We call this Birthright Citizenship. In Trump v Barbara, the US Supreme Court agreed. But only 5 of the 9 justices agreed. So what was the decision of the Court in this case, and what is the status of citizenship in the US? And how does it relate to the two asylum cases the Supreme Court decided, on temporary protective status or TPS and on where a person can claim asylum. On today’s show, we discuss the US and immigration and asylum. [ dur: 58mins. ]
Naomi Paik is Associate Professor of Global Asian Studies and Criminology, Law and Justice at University of Illinois, Chicago. She is the author of Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary: Understanding U.S. Immigration for the 21st Century and Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II, winner, Best Book in History.
Gabriel “Jack” Chin is Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Legal Education at UC Davies School of Law. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited his work in two cases: Chaidez v. United States and Padilla v. Kentucky. And Justice Sotomyer has cited his law article in Utah v. Strieff. He is the co-author of Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation and author of A Nation of White Immigrants: State and Federal Racial Preferences for White Noncitizens.
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.
Anna Law holds the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She is the author of The Immigration Battle in American Courts and Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, Refugees, asylum seekers, birthright, Jurisdiction
58 min
June 29Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS Decisions: Gun Rights and Pushing Colorblind Justice – June 28, 2026
If its June, its time for Supreme Court decisions. On today’s show we will explore recent rulings on two large topics. The first is the extent of the second amendment. That’s the gun rights Amendment and the right to bear arms. Then we will turn to the broad question, is the Constitution colorblind? What role does and should race play in Supreme Court decisions? [ dur: 58mins ]
Robert J. Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Political Science Department at SUNY Cortland, New York. He is the author of Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules And Rights, The Politics of Gun Control, and The Gun Dilemma.
Eric J. Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law and the Executive Director of Emmet J. Bondurant Center for Constitutional Law, Practice and Democracy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court Is Not a Court and Its Justices Are Not Judges.
Carlton Larson is Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California at Davis. He is the author of The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial in America and One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence.
This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.
Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, Gun Lobby, Gun Violence
59 min