Law

Peter Neufeld: A Passion for Justice

Peter Neufeld
2001

Leading criminal attorney Peter Neufeld joins host Harry Kreisler to discuss the criminal justice system in America and his new book, Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Neufeld/neufeld-con0.html

Key Words: Law, Human Rights, Innocence Project

Oronto Douglas: The BP Disaster: Lessons from the Niger Delta

Oronto Douglas
2010

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Oronto Douglas for a discussion of the impact of the major oil companies on the ecology and politics of Nigeria. Drawing on his experience as a native of the Niger Delta and a leader of the environmental movement there, Oronto Douglas traces the struggle for environmental justice in his homeland. He analyzes the problems facing the new President of Nigeria and discusses his own role in the new administration. Oronto Douglas then analyzes the BP disaster in the American Gulf Coast and compares that tragedy to the experience of the Niger Delta. He...

John Yoo: The Shaping of a Legal Response to 9/11

John Yoo
2008

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor John Yoo of UC Berkeley for a discussion of Presidential war powers. Professor Yoo analyzes the situation confronting the United States after the 911 attack and explains the development of the legal justifications for the Bush'administration's response. Topics addressed include the memorandum on torture, the interface between law and politics, secrecy and democracy, and the Bush legacy.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people8/Yoo/...

John Witte Jr.: Religion and Law

John Witte Jr.
2011

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor John Witte, Jr., Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. Reflecting on his career as an historian and legal scholar,
Professor Witte explores the evolution of legal studies and the emergence of an interdisciplinary study of religion and law. Comparing the two domains, he describes the nature of each realm and the dialectic that
shapes their interaction. He then traces religion's role in securing political and civil rights in the West exploring the implications of this narrative for addressing...

John Shattuck: Diplomacy and the Shaping of a Human Rights Agenda

John Shattuck
1997

UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler welcomes John Shattuck, Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Library Foundation, for a discussion of his career and work in the area of civil liberties and human rights.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Shattuck/shat-con0.html

Key Words: Law, International Law, Human Rights, U.S. Presidents

John Shattuck: Inching Forward: Human Rights Policy in the Clinton Administration

John Shattuck
2004

Welcome to a Conversation with History. I'm Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies. Our guest today is John Shattuck, who is the CEO of the Kennedy Library Foundation. During the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1998, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and then from 1998 to 2000, Ambassador to the Czech Republic.book cover He is the author of Freedom on Fire, an account of his work in the Clinton administration.

Key Words: Law, Human Rights

John Fabian Witt: Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism and the Evolution of American Law

John Fabian Witt
2015

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Yale Law School Professor John Fabian Witt for a discussion of the craft of legal history. Topics covered include: understanding context in legal narratives; nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the evolution of civil liberties and tort law; and the importance of slavery, emancipation, and the established laws of nations in the making of Lincoln’s Code, a revolutionary change in U.S. laws of war. The conversation concludes with thoughts on how legal history could inform a discussion of the sharing economy’s impact on the law.

Key Words...

Jeremy Waldron: Dignity, Human Rights, and Torture

Jeremy Waldron
2009

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes legal philosopher Jeremy Waldron for a discussion of the legal concept of dignity, its origins in law and morality and its emergence as a foundation for human rights. In the conversation, Professor Waldron also talks about the importance of preserving liberal values in the fight against terrorism, and, in this context, he criticizes the torture memos for their assault on human dignity.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people9/Waldron/waldron-con0....

James Gustave Speth: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability

James Gustave Speth
2008

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Yale Professor James Gustav Speth for a discussion of his career in the environmental movement. Professor Speth traces his changing perspective on the appropriate response to the environmental crisis. Concluding that only a radical transformation of capitalism will save the planet for future generations, he outlines the changes in consciousness and in the political agenda that will be required.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people8/Speth/speth-con0....

James Gustave Speth: Manifesto for a New Economy

James Gustave Speth
2012

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes environmentalist James Gustave Speth, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School for a discussion of his new book, America The Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy. Speth discusses the systemic failure at the heart of the American crisis highlighting the inadequacy of a motivational system that focuses on economic growth, profits, and power to the detriment of people and the environment. In his view, the American system is broken. He criticizes progressives for not focusing on the big picture and thereby not recognizing the way issues like poverty,...