Recently I was asked to compare and contrast the Anti-Vietnam War Protests of the mid to late 1960’s and early 1970’s with the current Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Gaza, and Anti-Israel protests, largely on college campuses. I was very active in activities against the War in Vietnam while in college and graduate school. I have some regrets at some of the stupid things I said and did. Therefore I try to understand the current demonstrators. I had a ox being gored—fear of being drafted. Thus, I had a personal stake in the actions. Today’s students have no such stake. It is especially notable that most of the groups opposing Israel’s stance in the Gaza War have no stake whatsoever in that part of the world.
Category Archives: Academic Articles
Catalyzing Inclusive Urban Economies- by Ainesh Dey
The Dynamics of Urban Economies in India
In the rapidly changing landscape of urban economies in India, nuanced civic engagement, enhanced transparency, accountability, and representation have come to the forefront as significant issues. This piece seeks to investigate the shift in the public administration’s discourse from a traditional solution to a more collaborative one with the aim of creating inclusive and sustainable policy frameworks.
The prospect of nuanced civic engagement in democratic processes plays an important role in spearheading transparency, accountability and representation. It also strengthens the overall socio-political and economic character of contemporary administrative discourse. At a time when we are experiencing a paradigm shift from traditional redressal of grievances to instances of collaborative solution building, considerable emphasis has been laid on the effective streamlining of policy frameworks, thereby making them more inclusive and sustainable.
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DIPLOMACY IN THE INDO PACIFIC – by Ainesh Dey
THE RISE OF MINILATERALISM
INTRODUCTION
The present geopolitical landscape has witnessed a seemingly drastic transition, with the widespread emergence of multifarious groupings, popularly referred to as “Minilaterals”, premised upon the imperative understanding of peacebuilding and conflict resolution, and shared threat perceptions, with regards to numerous strategically viable areas. The growing realization of the virtual deficiencies of singular organizations in combating regional challenges through calibrated options and the pronounced infringements of broader strategic interests, have accentuated the need for the constitution of such multilateral organizations.
The Indo Pacific replete with a wider array of opportunities to broaden international partnerships, has emerged as the bastion of profound diplomatic engagements thereby taking shape as one of the most coveted realms of contemporary international relations . Kicking off proceedings with the actively revamped Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), a brainchild of the United States, integrating presently developing proponents of India, Japan and Australia into the fold of strengthened commitment against Chinese belligerence, this rapidly evolving phenomenon of “Minilateralism”, has remained manifest in the recently constituted AUKUS (Australia, UK and the US ) and the renewed fervour of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), skewed towards pursuing narrow and monolithic interests of international consolidation. Continue reading DIPLOMACY IN THE INDO PACIFIC – by Ainesh Dey
DEI, Religion, and Hate Crimes – by Deborah Ashton, Ph.D.
Introduction
Deborah Levine requested that I join her group on Black and Jewish Dialogue in 2021. Given today’s atmosphere, dialogue is crucial. Levine is the editor-in-chief of the American Diversity Report (ADR). She is a Holocaust documentarian (Courter, 2023; Levine, Untold Stories of a World War II Liberator, 2023), whom I am sure when she launched ADR never anticipated that diversity and DEI would be equated with anti-Semitism. Yet the cry has been aimed at academia and business (Cohen, 2023; Notheis, 2024) I am baffled by the cry to silence and dismantle DEI.
Through my DEI journey and practice since 1991 in corporate America, DEI has been inclusive and provides respect and dignity to all across religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, physical and mental ability, and other demographics. I will provide some examples later in the article.
Continue reading DEI, Religion, and Hate Crimes – by Deborah Ashton, Ph.D.
Peacebuilding: Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees – by Ashok Panikkar
The Nature of Peace and Peacebuilding in a Collectivist and Illiberal World
This article was originally published in Beyond Intractability
The only reasonable prediction we can make about the 21st century is that we don’t know what’s coming our way — except that it will be bad.
While triggered by the Israel/Palestine situation, this article is a critical reflection on the role of ‘peacebuilding’ (my umbrella term for all non-adversarial dispute resolution processes) in the 21st century.
To understand why the peacebuilding field has failed to live up to its lofty ambitions, we have to unpack the world we inhabit today. After the heady optimism at the end of the Cold War, the conflicts of the new century have forced Westerners to rethink their short-lived assumptions about abolishing war, making the world safe for democracy and capitalism, and world peace. Hence, I won’t give you a two-point off-ramp for Russia, a five-point plan for the Syrian embroglio, or a seven-point approach for the Israel-Palestine mess. Of course, we should try to make the world safer. However, our attempts should be rooted in hard-nosed realities, not skewered by wishful thinking.
Continue reading Peacebuilding: Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees – by Ashok Panikkar
Reimagining Indian Intervention in the Israel-Hamas Conflict – by Ainesh Dey and Diksha Gupta
India’s Non-Linear Engagement in the Region:
Abstract
This article delves into the broader geo-strategic positioning of India against the backdrop of the brewing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, India’s dehyphenation policy calls for valuing independent relationships with Israelis and Palestinians on their merit.
As reflected in her latest statements in the UN Security Council, India unequivocally hit upon the need for the resumption of direct dialogue and the overall de-escalation of tensions.
The Effects of SCOTUS Decision on One University – by Dr. Julia Wai-Yin So
The Supreme Court’s decision on the two college admission cases in June 2023 has left the 3,400+ colleges and universities in the country (both private and public institutions of higher education) rushing to review and revise their admission practices. By declaring the admission policies of Harvard University and the University of South Carolina had violated the Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment, the ruling essentially ended decades of race-conscious admission practice (which was permissible under Affirmative Action policy) in colleges and universities across the country.
Continue reading The Effects of SCOTUS Decision on One University – by Dr. Julia Wai-Yin So
The Polygraph Test: A Scientific and Moral Dilemma – by Koula Zambounis-Black
Introduction:
Throughout history, societies advanced in various methods of deception detection. In the earliest of times, it seems torture was the ideal method for identifying truthfulness. Confessions provided on the rack, by fire, water submersion, or even blood ritual, placated those seeking the truth during our early human history. The first noted scientific approach for lie detection arrived in 1885 when Cesare Lombroso invented a device that measured changes in blood pressure in individuals being questioned about truthfulness. In 1917, William M. Marstin, J.D., Ph.D. a student at Harvard University, alleged the discovery of a specific lie response that launched the means of distinguishing deception from truthfulness. This discovery birthed the creation of what we now know today as the polygraph test after considerable innovations and a patent by a police officer in California named Leonarde Keeler during the 1920s.
Continue reading The Polygraph Test: A Scientific and Moral Dilemma – by Koula Zambounis-Black
End of Affirmative Action? A Tale of Two Stories – by Dr. Carlos Cortés
Keynote Address for Constitutional Law:
The End of Affirmative Action
Part of the Signature DIAlogue Webinar Series of the
Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources
Thank you for the opportunity of reflecting on Affirmative Action, particularly the two recent Supreme Court decisions that struck down the admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. I’ll approach this topic as both an 89-year-old retired history professor and a half-century diversity consultant/public lecturer who actually witnessed the birth of affirmative action.
The six-decade affirmative action journey involves two intersecting stories: a vision story and a systems story. Both are rooted in the civil rights movement and were launched officially by President John F. Kennedy’s March 6, 1961, Executive Order 10925.
Continue reading End of Affirmative Action? A Tale of Two Stories – by Dr. Carlos Cortés
The Demise of Billionaires: Allure of Economic Reckoning – by Ainesh Dey
ABSTRACT:
The case for restricting wealth seems rather intense. Indeed the onus of proof is on those who defend the sanctity of the existence of billionaires, to show why they should be allowed to amass or even siphon off millions of dollars. However, this is not the end of the road. The erecting of a so-called “wealth ceiling”, as championed by Belgian- Dutch philosopher Ingrid Robeyns so that “no one has more than an upper threshold of valuable goods”, seems rather baffling in the contemporary age of economic slackness.
Indeed, a world without billionaires, would have profound contemporary significance. With the positive implications ranging from a steep fall in disruptive climatic conditions on the environmental front to reduced incidences of poverty, on the economic front, the grass might seem greener on the other side, however not correctly so, and this is where we get a glimpse of a different picture.
Continue reading The Demise of Billionaires: Allure of Economic Reckoning – by Ainesh Dey