Spring 2025 practitioner-led study groups

How to (not) Kill the Truth: Inside the Dictators’ Playbook of Propaganda, Censorship, and Manufactured Hatred
Vera Krichevskaya
Meeting virtually on Tuesdays 2/11, 2/25, 3/11, 4/1, 4/15, and 4/29 from 10:30 am-12 pm.
Registration closes on Thursday, February 6.

The main theme of this workshop is the examination of how autocratic regimes seek to control the media. We will delve into the tools, tricks and tactics these regimes use, exploring both the technological means and the human factors involved. We'll discuss the different forms of censorship, paying particular attention to two often underestimated types: self-censorship and what I refer to as "party" censorship. Together, we will explore how the relentless battle against state censorship can push journalists to the brink, transforming them from reporters into political activists.

Human Rights and AI: Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities
Malika Saada Saar
Meeting dates are Wednesdays 2/12, 2/26, 3/12, 4/9, and 4/23 from 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Registration closes on Monday, February 10.

The Human Rights and AI study group will explore the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of AI and its profound impacts on human rights, at the intersection of technology, public policy and international law. Participants will critically analyze both the harms and opportunities that AI poses to fundamental rights. Will these technologies further entrench hierarchies of racial, gendered, and economic privilege? Will AI undermine democratic institutions and the integrity of the electoral process, in the US and globally?  Is there such a thing as AI for liberation and justice, if the technology is shaped, designed and deployed from a rights respecting framework? Students will wrestle with these questions and examine if and how human rights principles, impact assessments, and due diligence best practices can be applied to ensure the responsible and equitable governance of AI.

Trump 2.0 and the Revenge of Geopolitics
Edward Luce
Meeting dates are Thursdays 2/13, 2/20, 3/6, 3/20 and 4/10 from 2:30-4:00 pm.
Registration closes on Monday, February 10.

People over 30 grew up in a world in which globalization and economic integration were presumed to be humanity’s chief driving force. This demographic bracket is emerging into a far less optimistic era in which confusion, risk and uncertainty have displaced the so-called Washington consensus that had prevailed since the end of the Cold War. Trump’s return cements that.

This study group will look at what this more dangerous and competitive new global era means for the future of the west, the survival of US democracy, the risk of war and US-China decoupling, and what the original Cold War between America and the Soviets can tell us about the new one between the US and China.