Beyond Your News Feed: Understanding Contemporary Politics

This episode takes up the topic of Utopia.  What value do dreams of a better world have for understanding politics in the real world?  What impact has utopian thinking had on the evolution of the political world over the past few centuries?   Can imagining utopias provide a way to solve political challenges in our contemporary world?   These and other questions our guest, Professor Mark Jendrysik,...

Providence College Associate Professor of Political Science Ruth Ben-Artzi joins host William Hudson to discuss the formation of a new Israeli government formed last spring.  We discuss the March election (the fourth Israeli election in two years) and how its outcome led the long and complicated process that produced the new coalition government.  This government, under Prime Minister Natali Benne...

Last week, after twenty years of conflict, the Afghanistan Taliban took effective control of the country.  The rapid collapse of Afghan government forces clearly surprised American officials and has led to the continuing chaotic removal of Afghan refugees, American citizens, citizens of allied Nato countries, and NGO workers.  This episode of Beyond Your News Feed offers some perspective and conte...

This special edition of Beyond Your News Feed analyzes last week’ report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  Professor Casey Stevens, PC Political Science Department’s environmental politics specialist, joins host William Hudson to discuss the report.  Casey offers his insights into the significance of the report, its implications for the on-going global political dynamics arou...

This episode is a conversation with Professor Keith Morton of the Public and Community Service Department about his recent book “Getting Out: Youth Gangs, Violence, and Positive Change” published in 2019 by University of Massachusetts Press.  The book recounts Dr. Morton’s experience with an innovative youth program in the Smith Hill neighborhood of Providence Rhode Island aimed at reducing so cal...

Listeners will find this a different kind of Beyond Your News Feed episode.  Rather than analyze political events in the news as we usually do, this episode takes a deep dive into the history of the Providence College Political Science Department.  Joining Professor Hudson for this discussion are two retired members of the department: Professors Emeriti Mark Hyde and Robert Trudeau.  Our conversat...

Donald Trump’s defeat in last November’s election spawned an eruption of press analyzes about the impact of the defeat on the Republican Party.  Pundits have opined endlessly on questions like: What will be the long-term impact of the Trump presidency on the Party? Has Trump completely taken over the Party or will his influence fade with time?  Can the Republican Party bring back the moderate vote...

In this episode, Providence College Professor of Political Science Ruth Ben-Artzi talks with podcast host Professor William Hudson about the recent Israeli elections and other developments in Middle East politics.  With the fourth election in four years last Tuesday producing little change in the distribution of votes from the previous three, Israel seems looked into a “Groundhog Day” like repetit...

Today Bill Hudson, host of Beyond Your News Feed, interviewed six PC students: Megan Labbe, Sienna Strickland, Cole Dougherty, Carson Giles, Sofia Belen Carrillo, and Dean Williams, about their experiences as first time voters in the 2020 election.  Our conversation probed how they went about making their voting choice, what characteristics of the candidates and issues were most important in their...

Professors Adam Myers, Matt Guardino, and Joe Cammarano, all of the PC political science department join host, William Hudson for a post-election analysis of the 2020 election.  The focus of our discussion is the larger meaning of this election for the future of American politics.  What is the significance and long-term implications of the high level of mobilization, shown by the high election tur...

Professors Adam Myers, Matt Guardino, and Joe Cammarano, all of the PC political science department join host, William Hudson to look at the state of the presidential race seven days out from election day.  We cover a wide  variety of topics including the race in key battleground states, the impact of early voting, potential surprises, and potential for election disruption.  We also look at key Se...

In this episode, Professors Abigail Brooks, Director of PCs Women’s Studies Program, and Paul Herron, the PC Political Science Department’s Supreme Court expert, join Beyond Your News Feed host, William Hudson, to discuss the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s contributions to constitutional law.   The discussion reviews Ginsburg’s historic contributions to expanding women’s rights in her career a...

On today’s episode, I was joined by Professor Adam Myers to discuss the 2020 races for the US Senate.  With more Republican Senate seats at stake in this election, Democrats have a good opportunity to take enough seats from Republican incumbents to gain a Senate majority.  If Joe Biden wins the presidency and, as expected the Democrats maintain their majority in the House of Representatives, we co...

In this episode, Professor Tony Affigne, Professor of Political Science at Providence College takes a deep dive into survey data of Latinos

This summer the United States has experienced a number of severe weather events that seem related to climate warming.  In the West, weeks of drought and high temperatures have created a tinder box for an unprecedented explosion of wildfires.  The hurricane season is heating up and we already have had hurricanes and tropical storms wreaking havoc along the Gulf coast and in Eastern states.  Summer...

William Hudson, host of Beyond Your News Feed, has invited back PC Professors Matt Guardino and Adam Myers, as promised at the end of the last episode, to bring us up to date on where the 2020 race for the presidency stands after completion of both political conventions.  In this episode, we discuss what happened at both conventions, what issues were emphasized, and the contrasting arguments that...

Host William Hudson is joined by political scientists Adam Myers and Matt Guardino to analyze the shape of the presidential race as of August 18th.  Our conversation took place after the first day of the Democrats virtual convention.  We reflect for a few minutes on how we think the Democrats did in making their case for electing Joe Biden on this first day.  We then discuss Democratic nominee Joe...

In this episode of Beyond Your News Feed, host Bill Hudson sits down with one of the newly graduated seniors from Providence College, Emily Ascherl, to discuss her honors thesis entitled: From Authoritarian Rule to Democratic Accountability: The Negotiation for Human Rights Trials Following the Proceso Regime. Professor Thea Riofrancos, Emily's thesis advisor, also joins us in this episode to give...

In this second installment of Beyond Your News Feed: Virtual Edition, Professor Susan McCarthy joins us to unpack the origins of the virus, COVID-19. Professor McCarthy helps us to trace back the discovery of the virus in Wuhan, China and analyze how the Chinese regime reacted initially. Furthermore, we delve into the details of the regime's response to the virus, the impact of the pandemic on Chi...

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News Theme 1 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ) Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Welcome to Beyond Your News Feed. We regret that the episode you are about to hear has distorted sound quality. Technical issues during recording produced echoes in voices for most of the episode. Despite these sound distortions, we decided to make the episode available because of the quality of the discussion. We have found that raising the listening volume does reduce the distortions somewhat so...

In this episode of Beyond Your News Feed, Professor Gizem Zencirci and Professor Ruth Ben-Artzi discuss the details of the killing of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani that occurred earlier in January. We also discuss the implications of this attack on future U.S. foreign policy and on other nations within the Middle East.

Link to purchase "A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal" by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos https://www.versobooks.com/books/3107-a-planet-to-win