Legal scholar Emilie Hafner-Burton (UCSD) discusses the importance of understanding the incentives of those who commit human rights abuses.

Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) discusses how it is dangerous in politics to believe that we should be heading towards some version of absolute truth.

Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) describes how, in politics, the explanation of a crisis often points to a solution.

Legal scholar Emilie Hafner-Burton (UCSD) discusses the lack of general awareness surrounding much of the international human rights system.

Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) discusses how our consistent complaint that politicians lie more today than in the past doesn't bear up to historical scrutiny.

Award-winning author Pankaj Mishra describes how his outlook to life has been irrevocably affected by a deep sense of crisis that is common to many people who grow up in Asia.

Award-winning author Pankaj Mishra describes his personal experiences of growing up in Asia while being disproportionately affected by Western cultural, philosophical and economic considerations.

Legal scholar Emilie Hafner-Burton (UCSD) highlights the difference between creating and applying human rights norms.

Author and independent scholar Pankaj Mishra explores how finding ourselves in a prolonged societal crisis can force us to grapple with vital political, economic and environmental issues.

Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) describes the inevitable moral questions that arise when taking global governance seriously.

Intellectual historian Quentin Skinner (QMUL) describes how egalitarian principles in Scandinavian societies might be said to provide greater freedom to their people .

University of Michigan business professor Andrew Hoffman relates how, in order to promote societal awareness of climate change, we need social entrepreneurs to consistently make public links to related events to disrupt people’s common...

Legal scholar Emilie Hafner-Burton (UC San Diego) describes why the zone of applicability of human rights laws and treaties is so small.

Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) describes a network form of social organization and governance.

Classicist and political theorist Josiah Ober (Stanford) describes two concerns that were as important in ancient Athens are they are today: elite capture and political inequality.

Classicist and political theorist Josiah Ober (Stanford) highlights the importance of dignity for a well-functioning democracy.

Historian Nile Green, UCLA, describes why the notion of a “Clash of Civilizations” between the West and the Islamic world is inappropriate, while describing how the model of “religious economy” can help us improve both understanding and...

Linguist Carol Padden (UC San Diego), describes how gesture is used in both sign languages and spoken languages.

Political theorist John Dunn (Cambridge) contrasts the societal advantages of representative democracy with unpredictable revolutions.

Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) discusses how societal purification movements to eliminate truth often have terrible consequences.

What’s a deepfake? Today on AI 101, we’re diving into these seriously realistic fake videos. Also, apparently a lot of you think that I’m actually a computer generated AI.

Political theorist Mark Bevir, UC Berkeley, relates his conviction of how political science - and the human sciences in general - differ strongly from the natural sciences in that political science requires acts of interpretation to...

UC Berkeley's Martin Jay discusses how intellectual history offers tools to understand and contextualize contemporary positions by exploring the historical evolution of concepts like lying and politics. He delves into the complex...

Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) highlights the importance of wrestling with the subtle and often deceptive nature of language in order to fully appreciate the cultural values of any particular society.