Samuel Moyn and Omar Sadr discuss failures of Cold War liberalism and the challenges of contemporary liberalism. Samuel Moyn is the Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. Trained in modern European intellectual history, he works on political and legal thought in modern times and on constitutional and international law in historical and current perspective.  Readings Liberalism against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times (Yale University Press,...

Omar Sadr discusses how refugee academics navigated the American academia with Halil Yenigun and Alfred Babo. Alfred is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Fairfield University, Connecticut. Halil is the Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. Reading: Alfred Babo. 38 Paradise Road, Being an African Francophone Refugee Scholar in American Academia, Journal of International Mobility 2021 Connect with us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,...

Omar Sadr discusses the status of Afghanistan's academia under the Taliban with Haroon Mutasem and Qasim Wafayezada. Haroon Mutasem is a Philip Schwartz Initiative fellow at the Law School of Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. Qasim Wafayezada is a specially appointed professor of peace and conflict studies at Kanazawa University, Japan. Readings: Haroon Mutasem, PhD Dissertation and Legal Education in Afghanistan Qasim Wafayezada Google Scholar Connect with...

Omar Sadr discusses the status of scholars in exile with Dr Mirwais Balkhi and Dr Bashir Mobasher. As we are getting close to the second anniversary of the Negotiating Ideas Podcast in July and the third anniversary of the return of the totalitarian Taliban in Afghanistan, the podcast aims to initiate a second season with a focus on the state of Afghanistan in-exile scholars in the US. Since the fall of the Republic of Afghanistan, numerous academics have fled the country in fear of...

Omar Sadr and Nader Hashemi discuss Islam and democracy. Nader Hashemi is the Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and an Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.  Readings: ISLAM, SECULARISM, AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY Connect with us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Google⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,...

Omar Sadr and Barnett Rubin discuss Jews history, antisemitism and Zionism. Barnett R. Rubin is a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center. He is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Quincy Institute Responsible Statecraft and at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, where he was Senior Fellow and Director of the Afghanistan Regional Program from 2000 to 2020. From April 2009 until October 2013, Rubin was senior adviser to the U.S. Special Representative for...

Omar Sadr and Lior Sternfeld discuss the recent controversies in the American campus on the war in Gaza LIOR STERNFELD is a Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State University.  He is a social historian of the modern Middle East with particular interests in the histories of the Jewish people and other minorities of the region. His first book, titled “Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran,” examines the development and integration of Jewish communities...

Omar Sadr talks to⁠ Haqmal Daudzai on consociational democracy in Afghanistan Dr. Haqmal Daudzai is a researcher at the Dutch Royal Academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. His book, The Statebuilding Dilemma in Afghanistan, the state governmental design at the national level and the Role of democratic provincial councils in Decentralization at the sub-national Level- was published reviews the US/NATO intervention and the subsequent state institutional design at Afghanistan's national and...

Omar Sadr talks to Halima Kazem on "Bread, Work, Freedom" Movement of Afghanistan Women Halima is a lecturer, historian, and filmmaker whose work intersects in the areas of gender, empire, human rights, and media. Her primary research focuses on Afghanistan and other Muslim countries with long histories of conflict. Her work is deeply rooted in feminist methodologies and 20 years of working as a journalist and human rights researcher. Suggested readings: Human Rights Watch: Afghanistan:...

Omar Sadr talks to Julian F. Müller on Pluralism and polycentric democracy. Julian is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Hamburg. Prior to that Julian was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Political Theory Project at Brown University and research associate at the Peter Loescher Endowed Chair of Business Ethics at Technical University of Munich and a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona. His doctoral dissertation - published under the title Political Pluralism,...

Omar Sadr talks to Timor Sharan on his book Inside Afghanistan: Political Networks, Informal Order, and State Disruption. Dr Timor Sharan is a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford. His expertise is on the relationship between counterinsurgency efforts, transnational financial flows, and violence as well as organised crime, corruption, and the political economy of international state building with a particular focus on Afghanistan. He is a fellow at the Centre on Armed Groups and a...

Omar Sadr talks to Hassan Abbas on his book The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan After Americans Left Hassan Abbas is Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre (NESA), National Defense University in Washington DC. Suggested readings:⁠ The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan After Americans Left The Taliban Revival: Violence and Extremism in Pakistan – Afghanistan Frontier published in 2015 by Yale University Press Connect...

Omar Sadr talks to Charles Dunst on how to improve quality of democracies. Charles Dunst is deputy director of research & analytics at ⁠The Asia Group⁠⁠, ⁠an adjunct fellow at the ⁠Center for Strategic and International Studies⁠⁠,⁠ and a contributing editor of ⁠American Purpose⁠. Suggested readings: Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman (Hodder & Stoughton, February 2023). Connect with...

Omar Sadr talks to Michael Goodhart on human rights as a political contestation Michael Goodhart is Professor of Political Science and of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. His core research interests include democracy, human rights, (in)justice, and emancipatory political struggles.  Suggested readings: Injustice: Political Theory for the Real World. Oxford University Press (2018). “Constructing dignity: Human rights as a praxis of egalitarian freedom,” Journal of Human Rights...

Omar Sadr talks to Nemat Bezhan on state fragility and resilience Nematullah Bizhan is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Development Policy Centre, Crawford school of Public Policy, Australian National University. He is also a Senior Research Associate with the Global Economic Governance Program, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. in association with the Oxford-LSE Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development, he worked on state fragility and international policy....

Omar Sadr talks to Jan Rovny on democratic resilience and pluralism in eastern Europe. Jan Rovny an associate professor at Sciences Po, Paris. His research concentrates on political competition in Europe with the aim of uncovering the political conflict lines in different countries. He explores the issues that political parties contest across the continent, the strategies that different parties follow, as well as the preferences and voting patterns of voters. Suggested Reading Jan Rovny....

Omar Sadr talks to Bengi Gumrukcu on democratic backsliding, populism, Islamism in Turkey. Bengi Gumrukcu is lecturer of political science at Rutgers University. She studies various aspects of social movements, political parties, far right, violence and Europeanization and Euroscepticism, mainly focusing on the case of Turkey. Suggested readings: Bengi Gumrukcu. "Populist discourse, (counter-) mobilizations and democratic backsliding in Turkey”, Turkish Studies, 2022 Bengi Gumrukcu....

Omar talks to Huma Saeed on Transitional Justice, Human Rights and Socio-Economic Harm Huma Saeed is an affiliated researcher at the Leuven Institute of Criminology, Belgium. Suggested readings: Huma Saeed, Transitional Justice and Socio-Economic Harm: Land Grabbing in Afghanistan, Routledge: 2023 Connect with us! Google, Apple, Spotify, Anchor Twitter: @negotiateideas & @OmarSadr Email: [email protected]

This is an exceptional episode in Persian-Dari/Tajiki Connect with us! Google, Apple, Spotify, Anchor Twitter: @negotiateideas & @OmarSadr Email: [email protected]

Omar talks to Mohamad Machine-Chain on protests in Iran. Mohamad Machine-Chian is a research scholar at the Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh. He has authored several books on privatization, constitutionalism, immigration, and economic reform. He is the founder and editor of bourgeois.ir. Suggested readings:  Max, Fisher. Even as Iranians Rise Up, Protests Worldwide Are Failing at Record Rates. New York Times. 2022 Parnshu Verma. Reporting in Iran could get you...

Omar discusses the Post 2011 democracy of Afghanistan with Scott Worden. Scott Worden is director of Afghanistan and Central Asia Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). At his previous time with USIP, Worden directed Rule of Law development programs for the USIP and served as a United Nations-appointed Electoral Complaints Commissioner for the 2009 Afghanistan elections, as well as advising the U.N. on elections in 2005-06. Suggested readings:  Scott Worden. Afghanistan An...

Omar Sadr discusses his book Negotiating Cultural Diversity in Afghanistan with Noah Coburn.  Connect with us! Google, Apple, Spotify, Anchor Twitter: @negotiateideas & @OmarSadr Email: [email protected]

Omar Sadr talks to Haroun Rahimi about the notion of rights, how the contestation between the liberal and Islamic notions of right took place, how the law scholars studied the totalitarian Taliban, and finally why legal scholarship in Afghanistan has been avoiding a critical approach about the Taliban. Dr. Haroun Rahimi is an Assistant Professor of Law at the American University of Afghanistan. In his research, Dr. Rahimi studies law and development, and institutional reform. He is also an...

Omar Sadr talks to Mujib Rahimi about his book State Formation in Afghanistan: A Theoretical and Political History.  Mujib Rahman Rahimi is a writer, political analyst, and translator. He is a PhD graduate from the University of Essex. He served as senior advisor to Dr Abdullah Abdullah, and spokesperson of the Office of Chief Executive at the National Unity Government and High Council for National Reconciliation.  Suggested readings  Jonathan L. Lee. 1996. The Ancient Supremacy:...