The Scholars' Circle

The midterms are fast approaching and here in Los Angeles where we record our show, the city braces for a much anticipated mayoral race. Incumbent Karen Bass, who initially expected to glide into re-election, is facing off with city councilwoman Nithya Raman, who narrowly defeated reality show participant Spencer Pratt in a contentious primary. While the polls show Raman leading, the vast number of undecided voters have left the race for leadership in America’s second largest city up in the air. We will discuss the mayoral race, with its non-partisan primary process, the different coalitions in a city famous for quickly shifting political sands, and the issues being raised in the race. [ dur: 24mins. ] Isaac Hale is Assistant Professor of Politics at Occidental College. He is co-author of “Interest Group Influence on Preferences for New Voting Rights Legislation in a Polarized Environment” and “Resentment & Democratic Politics: The Role of Racial Resentment in Motivating Electoral Participation.” Mike Bonin is Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State Los Angeles. He is the host of the podcast What’s Next Los Angeles, and a former Los Angeles City Council member. When we discuss borders in the US, we usually turn our attention to the southern border with Mexico. However, the US shares the world’s longest border in the world with Canada, and the narratives surrounding this border are essential to understanding not only the relationship between the two nations, but the individual stories of the people living on it. On today’s show we will turn our attention to the northwestern most point in the lower 48: Blaine, Washington. We will learn the story of Bob Boule and his role in smuggling and policing the US-Canadian border. [ dur: 34mins. ] Reece Jones is Professor of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He, along with his co-author Greg Boos, has written a new book detailing the story of Bob Boule entitled Smuggler: Drugs, Gangs and Refugees at America’s Northern Border. This is one of four other award winning books on the border, entitled Nobody Is Protected on racial profiling in the US, White Borders, on the relationship between race and immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Trump era. Violent Borders takes readers on a journey to hot spots of global migration to make the case that borders are inherently violent. And Border Walls (2012, Zed) draws on interviews with people impacted by walls built by the United States, Israel, and India. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Economics, Politics and Activism, Society and Culture, Elections, Refugees, Canada, Borders, Los Angeles

Since Russia’s initial attack on Ukraine, predictions claiming that the normative order against aggressive warfare is under threat have taken over political discourse. After the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, scholars worry that an attack against Taiwan from China could be next. As normative restrictions on war loosen and with the US tied up in the Middle East, should China choose to go on the offensive Taiwan would be extra vulnerable to its attack. However, two clear developments challenge the China/Taiwan prediction. Russia, after 4 full years of war, is not likely to prevail anytime soon, and the US, despite the President’s continual assertions that it has won the war, continues to struggle for an advantage. Significant advancements in warfare technology, such as drones, might be a reason. Defensive tactics could be another. So, on today’s show, we will explore the future of warfare in light of the Russian and American wars and their current lack of success, and what the implications may be in the Pacific. [ dur: 1h18m ] Yvonne Chiu is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and serves on the board of directors for the International Society for Military Ethics. She is the author of “Strategic Ambiguity Out of Balance: Updating an Outdated Taiwan Policy” in The Strategy Bridge. David McCourt is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of The Dragon Defined: How Washington, Canberra, and London Reimagined China. Ricardo A. Crespo is Associate Professor of Political Science and the chair of the Political Economy Department at Grossmont College. He is the author of “Currency Warfare and Cyberwarfare” in Comparative Politics, and “Currency Warfare and Just War” in the Journal of Military Ethics. Robert Williams Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University. He is the author of Seeking Security in an Insecure World, with Dan Caldwell. We recorded live in front of an audience at the International Studies Association’s West Regional Conference in Pasadena, California. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, War / Weapons, Diplomacy, Militarism, Russia, Ukraine, United States, China, Iran

Data drives politics. But politics drive data. That is to say, we make political decisions based on data, often selected from mountains of available information. How we gather data is an inherently political process and nowhere is this more clear than when the US collects information about its population, which is mandated by the Constitution every ten years. Today, we will interview Danah Boyd on her new book, Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census. and delve into the politics of the census. [ dur:58mins. ] Danah Boyd is the Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University, where she works on topics at the intersection of technology and society. She is also the founder of the research institute Data & Society and the author of It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Politics and Activism, Democracy, Civil Servants, Policy making, US

On August 26, 2026, massive floods swept through Nepal and Tibet. As of today, September 3, over 1,200 people are recorded dead and as many as 4,200 are still missing. A landslide reported to be an equivalent 5.2 earthquake hit the Nepal/China border in the Himalayan Mountains, triggering a massive glacial collapse that led to severe flooding. So, on today’s show, we will explore glacial collapse and their causes as well as the extent to which this disaster functions as a harbinger of escalating environmental risk. [ dur: 58mins. ] Umesh Haritashya is Director of the Sustainability Program and Professor of Earth, Environment and Sustainability at the University of Dayton, Ohio. He is the co-author of “Modeling lake outburst and downstream hazard assessment of the Lower Barun glacial lake, Nepal Himalaya”. Mathias Vuille is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at Albany, SUNY. He is the co-author of “Rapid decline of snow and ice in the tropical Andes-Impacts, uncertainties and challenges ahead.” Bethan Davies is Professor of Glaciology in the Department of Geography at Newcastle University. She is the co-author of “Glacier changes in Langtang Catchment, Central Nepalese Himalaya from the Little Ice Age (∼1815 CE) to 2023 CE.” This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre. Environment, Politics and Activism, Science / Technology, Climate Change, Nepal, China, Himalaya Mountains