Events Calendar

Abstract: Two dynamics have been making their imprint on the political landscape of Europe over the past decade: the rise of autocratic rule, even in the ‘mature’ democracies of western Europe, and the spread of economic and social precarity, rooted in the insecurity of livelihoods. Professor Azmanova will trace policy developments through which these processes have taken place, and will examine the relations between the two phenomena.

Albena Azmanova is Professor of Political and Social Science at the University of Kent, Senior Fellow at OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative, Bard College, member of the Independent Commission for Sustainble Equality to the European Parliament, and Honorary Fellow at the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick.

Her research focuses on political and social transformations, with analyses of social justice and political judgment, democratic transition and consolidation, critiques of capitalism, social protest, and electoral mobilisation. In her last book, Capitalism on Edge. How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia (Columbia University Press, 2020) she identifies ubiquitous insecurity as politically generated social harm, traces its political consequences and charts an anti-precarity policy agenda. The book has received numerous awards, among which is the Michael Harrington Award, with which the American Political Science Association “recognizes an outstanding book that demonstrates how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world”, as well as the International Studies Association best book prize for International Political Economy.

Professor Azmanova has held academic positions at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna; The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne; the University of California Berkeley; Harvard University; Sciences Po. Paris; and the New School for Social Research, New York.

She has worked as a policy advisor for a number of international organisations, most recently, for the European Trade Union Confederation, The European Civic Forum, and the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

Professor Azmanova is co-founder and co-Editor in Chief of Emancipations: a Journal of Critical Social Analysis, member of the editorial boards of the journals Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Philosophy and Social Criticism, and member of the International Advisory Board of the “Alternatives to Capitalism in the 21st Century” series of Bristol University Press.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/14/75929/

The Visiting Room Project is a digital experience that invites the public to sit face-to-face with people serving life without the possibility of parole and hear them tell their stories. More than five years in the making, the project offers the only collection of its kind, containing more than 100 filmed interviews with people currently serving life without parole at Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The event will kick off with a 30-minute screening of several compiled interviews from The Visiting Room Project, followed by a panel discussion featuring people who were interviewed by the project and are now free.

To learn more: To learn more: https://www.visitingroomproject.org/

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/14/75395/

Now in its 42nd year, UT Law CLE's Jay L. Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference is one of the premier bankruptcy programs in the nation. The conference attracts a stellar national faculty of prominent judges, academics, and practitioners. This year’s conference will be a day and a half and provides an in-depth focus on current topics in business and consumer bankruptcy.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/15/74445/

Join the longtime director of the Southern Center for Human Rights as he discusses his work in capital punishment, indigent criminal legal defense, racial discrimination in the criminal legal system, conditions and practices in prisons and jails, judicial independence, and his new book (with co-author James Kwak), The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts (2023).

Presented by: The Athenaeum with The Budd Innocence Center and The Capital Punishment Center

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/15/76006/

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX - November 15 at 6:00 PM

RSVP Here: https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eXx6cLmOR9cUvrw

by Professor Angela Littwin The University of Texas School of Law - Austin, TX

Professor Littwin presents brand-new data from her National Science Foundation study of coerced debt, which occurs when the batterer in an abusive relationship uses fraud or coercion to incur debt in his partner’s name. New findings will include the eligibility of participants’ coerced debts for relief under bankruptcy and other debtor-creditor law as well as the effect of coerced debt on participants’ credit scores.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/15/74450/

Join leading members of the oil, gas and energy tax community—including senior government officials, IRS staff, corporate energy and tax counsel, and members of the energy tax bar—at the 16th Biennial Parker C. Fielder Oil, Gas, and Energy Tax Conference.

This nationally recognized event is a unique collaboration between The University of Texas School of Law and the Chief Counsel’s Office of the IRS, and provides an exchange of views and perspectives between the private sector and the Service.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/16/74446/

The death penalty is a highly contested element of the American criminal justice system with a long history. But is it time to part ways with the practice? Debating this issue, the Federalist Society is hosting Professor William Otis from Georgetown University and our very own Lee Kovarsky.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/16/75750/

On Thursday, November 16th, the Strauss Center is hosting a panel and book talk on The Rule is for None but Allah: Islamist Approaches to Governance, edited by Joana Cook and Shiraz Maher. The event will feature a panel with Dr. Joana Cook, Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at Leiden University, and Senior Project Manager at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Dr. Inga Trauthig, head of research of the Propaganda Research Lab at the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Nina Musgrave, Lecturer in Terrorism and Security Education and Assistant Director at the Centre for Defence Studies. Dr. Trauthig will present on the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and other Libyan Islamists that sought to participate in party politics after 2011, such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), and Dr. Musgrave will present on the case study of Hamas. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Maro Youssef, State Fragility Program Fellow with the Strauss Center.

The last four decades have been shaped by the rise of Islamist politics across significant swathes of the globe. Whether by gun or by ballot box, various Islamist movements—from as far and wide as the Malian desert and Indonesia’s archipelagos—have sought to obtain power and govern territories, in a bid to revive an Islamic ancient regime. With the regional privations produced by the ‘War on Terror’ and the political unrest following 2011’s Arab uprisings, the global march of Islamism has only accelerated in the twenty-first century.

Building on an established literature on rebel governance, The Rule is for None but Allah examines fifteen cases from around the world to consider the different ways Islamists have approached and implemented governance; the challenges they have faced; and how they have responded to obstacles. It brings new detail and insights on a wide range of themes, including legitimacy, constitutionality and social-welfare activism.

Biographies

Dr. Joana Cook is an Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence in the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University. She is also a Senior Project Manager at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) and an Adjunct Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Her research more broadly focuses on women and gender in violent extremism, countering violent extremism, and counter-terrorism practices. More recent scholarly interests include non-state actor governance, and factors and pathways to radicalisation. You can find out more at www.joanacook.com .

Dr. Inga Kristina Trauthig is the head of research of the Propaganda Research Lab at the Center for Media Engagement (CME) at UT Austin. She is also an affiliate fellow with the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) at King’s College London. Previously, she has been a research fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and received an MLitt from the University of St Andrews. She received her PhD at King’s College London for which she focused on post-Qaddafi Libya.

Dr. Nina Musgrave is Lecturer in Terrorism and Security Education and Assistant Director at the Centre for Defence Studies. She is also the course tutor for the MA programme in National Security Studies in the Department of War Studies. Nina holds a BA (Hons) from

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/16/75707/

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. If in doubt, verify with the web-based events calendar.

The ALDF invites you to join us for our 2nd theater night in this semester. We will be again showing The Smell of Money. The Smell of Money is a documentary that follows Elsie Herring and her community fighting for the right to clean air, water, and the life they were promised. The Smell of Money is the true story of everyday people versus corporate titans, in a battle with life or death consequences. It is now streaming in theaters, and this is a great opportunity to enjoy the documentary at the law school with food and soft drinks provided by the ALDF. All are welcome.

Full event information: https://law.utexas.edu/calendar/2023/11/16/75793/