Policy 360: Recent Episodes
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Policy 360 is a series of audio conversations from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. The series is hosted by Sanford's dean, Judith Kelley.
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have revolutionized the management of diabetes and obesity. Millions of Americans are experimenting with them. Celebrities like Oprah are sharing their experiences. Duke Sanford School of Public Policy faculty member Jonathan Zhang is an economist who works on health policy, health economics and public finance. His research shows that GLP-1 drugs live up to their promise in everyday medical care. But the study also finds that, at least in the short run, they do not reduce overall health care spending.
Duke Sanford School of Public Policy Professor Anirudh Krishna has been studying a seemingly simple question: why do people in certain countries just seem better at some things than others? Think of the large number of world-class runners from Jamaica like Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, or the long list of top female golfers from South Korea. Why are people in tiny Estonia keep hatching software companies worth billions? Krishna's research shows that these examples are due in large part to structures that are specifically designed to support the rise of talent. By giving a fair chance to everyone these "ladders of opportunity" both produce champions and serve as avenues of upward mobility, supporting community development. Krishna's TED Talk, The 7 Pillars of Unlocking Potential, has garnered half a million views. His latest book is The Broken Ladder: The Paradox and Potential of India's One-Billion.
As 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown, Jr. advised the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council. He now serves as an executive in residence at Duke with appointments in the Sanford School of Public Policy and the Pratt School of Engineering. Over his career, General Brown has held many different roles. As a pilot with the U.S. Air Force, he has logged more than 3,100 flying hours. He also served as the first African American chief of a U.S. military service, the Air Force, and was unanimously confirmed for that role by the Senate in 2020.
Every year, 250 million Americans face issues that land them in the civil justice system; think eviction, debt collection and poor housing. And here's a shocking number: more than 90% of people with low incomes either get no legal help or inadequate legal assistance. Today's guest, Mallory SoRelle, is a public policy faculty member at Duke. She's co-written a book called Uncivil Democracy: How Access to Justice Shapes Political Power. The book is filled with true stories and analysis about how to harness power, politics, and justice to create effective public policy for everyone.
Danny Werfel recently served as the 50th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. He led the U.S. tax system twice, and in his most recent stint he was in charge of a dramatic transformation, launching more digital solutions in a two-year period than in the previous two decades combined. Werfel joins us to talk about leadership, organizational change, and how a broader understanding of what the government does – and gets right – could have a profound impact on political polarization and democracy itself.
Danny Werfel earned a Master of Public Policy degree at Duke, and is now serving as a distinguished fellow with Polis, Duke's Center for Politics.
What if a single clause in your job contract could quietly shape how much you are able to get paid -- after you leave that job? And what if that same contract clause ends up limiting the places you can move for a job? Today, the hidden power of the non-compete clause. New research from Matt Johnson, professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and co-authors gives insight into what the practice actually costs workers.
Michael Regan recently served as the 16th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Previously he was Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality where he secured the largest coal ash cleanup settlement in U.S. history. And he led negotiations on the cleanup of the Cape Fear River from PFAS contamination. Now he has taken a role at POLIS: Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
Every technology in music history leaves artists behind. What if one left them all behind? AI-generated music is severely undermining artists' ability to make a viable living. Is it a canary in the coal mine for music and for how AI will affect the future of work more broadly? Grammy-nominated musician Tift Merritt and Professor David Hoffman of the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy discuss the research they are conducting with students to address these issues. Host: Anna Gassman-Pines.
This episode is part of a month-long series of stories related to tech policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Data centers hold computers and equipment that are the backbone of the digital age. They make possible the computational power and data storage needed to train AI models, store content, and operate the cloud-based services that many of us rely on. Some say that data centers and the innovations that come from them are key to solving huge issues facing the world right now, while others note major environmental concerns related to how they operate. However, a new report says data centers run by huge companies like Google called hyperscalers could actually be good for the environment in a key way - they could become mobilizers of clean energy and updated grids.
Read the report.
Guests: Merritt Cahoon and Ian Hitchcock from the Deep Tech at Duke Initiative. This episode is part of a month-long series of stories related to tech policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
In this episode: from living under a bridge to building bridges between policy and practice, CJ Appleton’s story is one of resilience, purpose, and possibility. Appleton is a new faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. After a rocky start to his academic career, including dropping out of college and becoming homeless, today he’s eager to bridge the gap between criminology scholarship and US policy. His focus is on desistance, the process of ending a criminal career. Duke Sanford interim Dean Manoj Mohanan hosts.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
In this episode we’ll explore AI – from deepfakes to the growing importance of social media verification. Our guest Robyn Caplan is an Assistant Professor at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and is currently teaching a class on the transformation of media. Her latest research considers the blue-check verification process that is used on many social platforms.
Our host for this episode is Anna Gassman-Pines, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Sanford School of Public Policy.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
States have increasingly come under pressure from President Trump to redraw district voting lines now even though they are traditionally redrawn every 10 years in response to the census. In response, Democratic strongholds like California are also taking steps to redraw maps out of cycle. Our guests today are both keeping a close eye on such “gerrymandering” efforts. Duke professor Jonathan Mattingly teaches a course on the topic and was involved in a gerrymandering challenge that went all the way to the US Supreme Court. Asher Hildebrand had a front row seat to the redistricting process as a longtime congressional staff member. He now teaches courses on American democracy and politics and directs the executive Masters of Public Affairs program at Duke. Our host for this episode is Phil Napoli, director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
Today’s guest, John Hillen, says that only a third of native-born Americans can pass the citizenship test that American immigrants are required to pass. He is part of a new bipartisan commission trying to change that. The goal is to revitalize the teaching of American civics and history. Hillen served as US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the Bush administration among many other roles. He is now teaching at Duke University in the Master of National Security Policy program. He is also affiliated with POLIS: Duke’s Center for Politics and The Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. He joins Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, to discuss the commission’s work and American grand strategy more broadly.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
Recently, the U.S. has experienced several financial crises - all of them hard on American families. In 2008, over eight million Americans lost their jobs in the Great Recession. In 2020, unemployment was at 13 percent thanks to the COVID pandemic. By early 2025, the economy had recovered and unemployment had dropped back to the 4 percent range. Then sweeping new tariffs sent the stock market reeling.
Vicki Bogan, who studies household finance, inequality and investment decision making, talks with Manoj Mohanan, Interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, about what this latest financial shock might mean for families.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, but we have a complex history on the topic. At times, the government has tried deporting large numbers of immigrants, with the goal of protecting the jobs and wages of native-born Americans. The current administration has announced plans to deport all undocumented immigrants, even some legal immigrants, as well as new travel bans. Hannah Postel researches the relationship of migration and economic development and provides a historical perspective on immigration deportations and restrictions. She talks with Anna Gassman-Pines, who leads faculty affairs at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
The price of housing has skyrocketed in recent years. Scholars estimate we are short between two and five million homes nationwide. Warren Lowell spent the last several years immersed in American housing policy as part of his PhD studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. For one study, he interviewed real estate developers and investors. He joins Sanford interim Dean Manoj Mohanan podcast to talk about what he learned.
Read show notes/transcript at our website.
In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, Congress established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB. It protects Americans from predatory practices by consumer finance companies. The CFPB enforces federal laws and investigates fraud and abuse. It has sent over 6.8 million complaints to companies for resolution so far. The bureau has been targeted for massive cuts by the new administration which, thus far, have been blocked by a federal judge. Mallory SoRelle, a consumer finance expert and author of Democracy Declined: the Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection, talks with Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, about the CFPB and what dismantling it could mean for Americans.
Read show notes/transcript
What does it mean for the country that President Trump has signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education? Leslie Babinski, a researcher who focuses on education and former director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy talks about this extraordinary change with guest host Anna Gassman-Pines, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Read show notes/transcript.
What does it mean for democracy when a president owns a social platform, and is supported by others with major platforms of their own? Philip Napoli directs the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University and he joins Manoj Mohanan, interim public policy dean at Duke to discuss historical parallels to the connection between policy and media ownership, and regulation options. His book is called “Social Media and the Public Interest, Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age."
Read show notes/transcript.
The new administration’s interest in cold, snowy regions of the world might have come out of the blue to many Americans, but not to Tim Nichols. He leads the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy Master of National Security Policy program – and he teaches about the growing strategic importance of Greenland and the broader Arctic. He joins Manoj Mohanan, interim public policy dean at Duke to discuss how melting ice is opening up international competition related to shipping and mineral drilling.
Read show notes/transcript.
President Trump returns to the White House with his “America First” approach - a strategy critics say often comes at the expense of international alliances and multilateral commitments. Duke professor Susan Colbourn, a historian specializing in NATO, joins Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke to discuss the topic. She’s the author of Euromissiles: The Nuclear Weapons That Nearly Destroyed NATO, and is associate director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy.
Read show notes/transcript.
It’s no secret that Americans’ ability to engage in meaningful conversations across political, cultural, and ideological divides feels more strained than ever. In this episode, we discuss how to bring people together. Two words: civil discourse. Duke professor Abdullah Antepli is a nationally recognized expert in civil discourse. Recently he’s been teaching a course on the topic and is creating public forums for dialogue between people with opposing views.
Antepli leads Polis, Duke’s Center for Politics. He talks with Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke.
This episode is part of a series of election-related conversations.
Could political polarization be addressed by something very simple – getting to know each other better? David Brooks argues that polarization stems from an urgent need for connection. "There are connections between seeing others and strengthening our communities and in turn, democracy," he says.
Brooks is an opinion columnist for the New York Times. He appears regularly on the PBS NewsHour, NPR's All Things Considered, and NBC's Meet the Press. His new book is titled, How to Know a Person, the Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.
This episode is part of our ongoing series of election-related conversations.
Guest host: Alison Jones of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University.
In this episode of Policy 360, Duke Professor Bill Adair joins us to discuss lying in politics. Adair founded the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking organization PolitiFact. His new book, Beyond the Big Lie, explores how and why politicians lie, which party does it more, and what can be done about it. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election.
Guest host: Phil Napoli, Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University.
Historically Black colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played an important role in America’s past, present, and future – and it’s becoming clear that they are playing a big role in democracy itself. Duke Sanford School of Public Policy professor Deondra Rose joins us to discuss the topic. Her new book is The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election.
Duke professor William A. (Sandy) Darity joins host Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, to discuss his research on the racial wealth gap and its historical roots. They examine the implications of various policy proposals, including reparations and baby bonds, and how these policies might address the persistent disparities between Black and white households. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election
In this episode we will explore a policy idea that Republicans and Democrats seem to agree upon: expanding the Child Tax Credit. Duke professors Anna Gassman-Pines and Lisa Gennetian join host Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, to discuss their recent op-ed, "Cash Alone Won’t Relieve ‘Surviving’ American Families." They delve into the history of the Child Tax Credit and its beneficial yet incomplete impact on working-class American families. The episode is the first in a series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election.
Also: welcome to our new host, Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Frank Bruni discusses his new book The Age of Grievance.
Frank Bruni is a distinguished journalist and celebrated author. He talks with Judith Kelley about his latest book, "The Age of Grievance," which explores the cultural and political impacts of Americans’ fixation on grievances: “More and more Americans are convinced that they’re losing because somebody else is winning. More and more tally their slights, measure their misfortune, and assign particular people responsibility for it. The blame game has become the country’s most popular sport and victimhood its most fashionable garb.”
Bruni is the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke.
Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for challenging corruption in her native country, the Philippines. She is now focused on the threat to democracy from big tech.
Maria Ressa is a groundbreaking international journalist. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her efforts to address corruption in the Philippines. Ressa is CEO of Rappler, an international news organization that she founded. She is the author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for our Future.” The book is a memoir of her life’s work to hold power to account.
In her book, Ressa argues that the trend toward authoritarian rulers around the world has been helped in large part by big tech. She documents how social media platforms are allowed to spread lies and foster hate and disinformation — all to the detriment of democracy.
New series of related courses at Duke University explore civil discourse and democracy.
Today’s guests argue that the January 6th storming of the Capitol in the United States is a stark example of the violence that can come from the way in which people talk to each other across the political divide. To address the issue, Duke faculty members Stephen Buckley and Sue Wasiolek have developed a series of courses for students focused on civil discourse and democracy. Their goal is to “deepen understanding of how public debates shape–and are shaped by–policymakers, higher education, and the media.”
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal for "championing the stories of an unsung history." A conversation with Isabel Wilkerson.
Isabel Wilkerson, an esteemed American journalist and author, visited the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy recently to meet with students and present the 2024 Terry Sanford Lecture. Born in Washington, D.C., and a graduate of Howard University, Wilkerson’s career in journalism included notable positions at The New York Times, recognized with the Pulitzer Prize in 1994, becoming the first woman of African-American heritage to win the award in journalism.
Her debut book, “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” garnered widespread acclaim for its exploration of the mass migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West. This seminal work earned her numerous awards and established her as a leading voice on social justice in America.
In her latest book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” Wilkerson delves into the concept of caste systems and their enduring influence on American society. Drawing parallels between the caste systems of India, Nazi Germany, and the United States, the book offers profound insights into the structural inequalities and systemic injustices that persist in contemporary America. She talks with Judith Kelley, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
“In 2018, Gallup recorded that some 74% of Americans said they had 'a great deal’ or 'quite a lot' of confidence in the military; in 2023, that number had dropped to 60%. That is still high compared to other governmental institutions, but it is a marked decline.” – Peter Feaver
Peter Feaver is a professor at Duke University, where he runs the Program in American Grand Strategy. He talks with Judith Kelley, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy about his new book, Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military.
Note: this conversation took place in late October, 2023.
Transcript & resources
Jasmine Crowe-Houston is a social entrepreneur and founder of Goodr.co. Jasmine started her journey cooking soul food for hungry unhoused people in her kitchen in her one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta. She fed upwards of 500 people a week for years with pop-up kitchens and parks and parking lots.
Then in 2017, she founded Goodr, a technology-based food waste management company that connects firms with food surpluses to nonprofit organizations that can use the food.
She has worked with organizations that have food waste issues, like the Atlanta International Airport, Hormel Foods, and Turner Broadcasting.
Today, Goodr has expanded nationwide and sponsors free grocery stores and schools. She has combined charity, innovation, and market-based solutions into a for-profit waste management company that Inc. Magazine called a rare triple win.
Guest host: Norbert Wilson of the World Food Policy Center. Their podcast is The Leading Voices in Food.
Jasmine Crow-Houston was on Duke's campus to give the 2023 Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture. Her talk was tied in with Duke's Climate Commitment.
Transcript & resources
Cal Newport's books, with titles like Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and A World Without Email, have sold over two million copies worldwide. He’s a contributing writer for the New Yorker, weighing in on hot button tech issues of the day. He is also a professor and a founding member of Georgetown University’s Center for Digital Ethics. He joins host Judith Kelley, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, to talk productivity and focus in the face of communication overload.
Cal Newport was on Duke’s campus to give the fall 2023 Crown Lecture in Ethics.
Transcript & resources
In this episode: how a program that supports kids outside of the school hours is driving student educational outcomes. New research shows that programs like Student U, which provides extra academics to participants after the school day and on summer breaks, along with field trips, social workers for families and more, should be considered closely as models by policymakers. The results indicate “comprehensive services outside of time spent in school can yield valuable benefits for disadvantaged students.”
Guests: Alexandra Zagbayou is a professor of the practice at Duke Sanford. She previously was part of the founding team of Student U. Sarah Komisarow is an assistant professor at the Sanford School.
Transcript & resources.
Richard Burr retired recently from public service after serving five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-2005) and three in the U.S. Senate (2005-2023). He came to Duke’s campus to speak to students in Professor Jon Rosenwasser’s Master of National Security Policy course, PubPol 890: Promise and Peril of US Intelligence. While on campus, he spoke with Duke Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley about bipartisanship, political polarization, and the importance of passing down to children and grandchildren the tradition of service.
Stephen J. Hadley served as deputy national security advisor, and then national security advisor to President George W. Bush. He recently edited a new book, along with Duke professor Peter Feaver and others, Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama.
The book is a collection of the national security and foreign policy memos that were prepared for the transition between the Bush and Obama administrations. The memos are now declassified and are made public in this book for the very first time, along with detailed post scripts from the original memo writers.
Stephen Hadley was on Duke’s campus for the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy Ambassador Dave and Kay Phillips Family International Lecture Series and he spoke with guest host David Schanzer. Schanzer is a professor in the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. He also leads the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is, according to today's guests, "the most expansive and widely viewed fictional narrative in the history of cinema." Compelling characters and intertwined storylines feature the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, X-Men, Thor, the Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Wolverine, Black Panther, the Avengers and more.
Our guests argue that in addition to being exciting stories to watch, the MCU features lots of messages about government, public policy, and society -- and they've collaborated with more than two dozen leading scholars to explore these themes in an exciting new book.
Guests: Lilly Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University, and Nicholas Carnes is professor of public policy at Duke. Their book is The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Kansas University Press, 2022).
It's no secret that the United States has major issues with gun violence and police brutality, but with a growing distrust between communities facing high rates of gun violence and law enforcement, how can we prevent future crimes and make our communities safer? Judith Kelly, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University considers this question and more with Professor in the School of Public Policy and author of Policing Gun Violence Philip Cook.
Guest: Philip Cook, emeritus Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy and author of Policing Gun Violence which came out in February 2023.
Transcript coming soon.
Link to Policing Gun Violence.
Plastics are a huge part of our everyday life, and most people know that plastics contribute to litter, but did you know that plastics also add to climate change? Host Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy, Judith Kelley discusses this issue and potential policy solutions with Duke Ph.D. candidate Zoie Diana.
Guest: Zoie Diana, Ph.D. candidate in Marine Science & Conservation at Duke University, speaks about her research of the harmful effects of plastics and the connections to public policy.
This is the fourth in a series of conversations about climate change.
- Transcript coming soon.
- Find out more about the Duke Climate Commitment.
CO2 emissions play a major role in climate change. Guest host and J.D./UPEP doctoral candidate Gabriela Nagle Alverio speaks with Sanford Professor and Interim Director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Brian Murray about different carbon tax approaches and their pros and cons for curbing emissions.
Guest:
- Brian Murray: Research Professor and Interim Director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Research Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy, and Faculty Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
This is the third in a series of conversations about climate change.
- Transcript coming soon.
- Find out more about the Duke Climate Commitment.
Climate change is forcing many people to move due to environmental stressors like heat, hurricane, and drought. Duke Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley speaks with Kerilyn Schewel and Sarah Bermeo of the Duke Center for International Development about emerging climate migration patterns and how research might better inform policy.
Guests:
- Sarah Bermeo: Director of Graduate Studies of the Master of International Development Policy in the Sanford School; Author of Targeted Development: Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World
- Kerilyn Schewel: Lecturing Fellow at Duke’s Center for International Development at Duke University; Leader of Rural Development and the Capability to Stay
This is the second in a series of conversations about climate change.
- Get show notes, transcript & credits
- Find out more about the Duke Climate Commitment.
When it comes to climate change, it’s important for all of us to think in new ways. For example, can we use artificial worlds to improve access to energy data? Are there ways to track climate change with satellites and AI?
Guests:
- Marc Jeuland, faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
- Kyle Bradbury, Managing Director of the Energy Data Analytics Lab at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability
This is the first in.a series of conversations about climate change.
According to a recent bipartisan report from the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, the federal budget inadequately addresses children's needs.
After three years of work, the group's consensus outlines a range of budget-neutral policy recommendations.
Guests:
- Michael Strain, the Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and one of the working group co-chairs.
- Lisa Gennetian, Pritzker Professor at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy and affiliate at Duke's Center for Child and Family Policy, who was a part of the working group.
- Get show notes, transcript and credits
Ray Starling grew up on a hog and tobacco farm in rural North Carolina. He recalls working on the property by age five. Abdullah Antepli grew up in poverty in a slum in Turkey - his father left school in the fifth grade, and his mother is illiterate. Today, both men live in North Carolina, and their politics could not be more different. Starling leans right - he is a former principal agriculture advisor to former President Trump. Antepli, a Duke professor and a Muslim leader, leans left. But the two became friendly through an innovative program designed to get civic, business and political leaders with differing political views to discuss important issues in the state of North Carolina. In this episode, they talk about how the strategies they learned in the program could help others in these divided times.
- Get show notes, transcripts and credits
Russia has invaded Ukraine. In response, President Biden has promised that the U.S. will impose “severe sanctions” against Russia for its actions.
But what are sanctions exactly? How do they work? Do they have a history of working? Do they work well?
Bruce Jentleson is a former State Department official. He has held numerous senior foreign policy positions in past U.S. administrations. He’s a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and his new book is called Sanctions: What Everyone Needs to Know.
- Get show notes, transcript and credits
COVID-19 has upended lives around the world. Prior to the pandemic, Jennifer Lansford and her colleagues were conducting in-depth. multi-year research on children and families in nine countries. They are now expanding their research to consider COVID-19 and children and parents’ mental health.
Jennifer Lansford is a research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University where she’s an affiliate of Duke’s Center for Child & Family Policy.
- Get show notes, transcript & credits
Duke Sanford School of Public Policy Professor Stephen Buckley argues In some ways, the events of January 6 and related actions by Trump and his allies feel "like a coup that will never end. An almost invisible, drip, drip, drip coup. Or, as one friend recently called it, 'a termite coup.'"
- Read the article in The Atlantic
- Get show notes, transcript & credits
Stephen Glass’s story is legendary in certain circles – he is one of the most famous liars in journalism. In 1998, as a young writer for the New Republic and other magazines, Glass fabricated more than 40 articles. And not just small details, he made up whole characters and scenes.
His story even became a film called Shattered Glass.
After Glass was caught, he had to somehow put his life back together again. He did find employment (not as a journalist) and he had a longtime partner. He decided he’d live by a simple rule: always tell the truth.
But when Duke Sanford professor Bill Adair invited Glass to speak to his ethics class, he discovered a little-known part of Glass’s story. He had vowed not to lie again, but he found he had to break that promise.
- Read the article Loving Lies on Air Mail
- Get show notes, transcript & credits
Twelve Duke students had an exciting opportunity recently – they attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. They join us to discuss what stood out to them, what worries them, and what gives them hope.
Get show notes, transcript & credits.
Dr. Jim Young Kim is a physician and anthropologist who previously served as the President of the World Bank. As a student at Harvard he co-founded the influential non-profit Partners in Health with Dr. Paul Farmer.
Kim has received the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World."
Dr. Kim sat for a wide-ranging conversation with the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley. The two discuss China, the challenge and the need to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, and how anyone can use their own skills to make real change.
Scholars, practitioners, advocates and students gathered recently at Duke University to examine the topic of redistricting, the process of drawing congressional boundaries.
The conference included judges and mathematicians, investigative reporters, and more. Each contributed insights to try and untangle the complex web that redistricting had become.
This episode includes comments from:
- James Andrew Wynn, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Jonathan Mattingly, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Duke University
- Tyler Dukes, Investigative Reporter, Raleigh News & Observer and Adjunct Instructor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
- Art Pope, Chairman, John William Pope Foundation
- Tom Ross, President, The Volcker Alliance and Co-Chair, North Carolinians for Redistricting Reform
Guest: Professor Deondra Rose, Director of Polis, the Center for Politics at Duke University.
There’s been tremendous political wrangling in the US recently about raising the debt ceiling (how much money we allow ourselves to borrow). The U.S. is not the first country in history borrow money and we won’t be the last. In the late imperial period until the early 1920s, Russia needed cash, and they got it from Britain and France. Owing so much money gave Russia a kind of power; if Russia defaulted, it would have been catastrophic for the countries that lent them money.
Guest: Duke professor Jennifer Siegel. Her book is For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service of Tsars and Commissars.
If you’ve ever opened the New York Times, it’s likely that you’ve read something by Frank Bruni. He worked at the paper for 25 years as metro reporter, White House correspondent, Rome bureau chief, and even the chief restaurant critic for a time. He was also the first openly gay op-ed columnist at the Times. Bruni is now a faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and he joins Dean Judith Kelley to talk about polarization, ambivalence and ambiguity in the media.
Here's the article they discuss.
Duke University’s Cyber Policy program has a new report that shows data brokers are openly and explicitly advertising sensitive information about US individuals for sale including demographic information, political preferences, even real-time GPS locations on current and former U.S. military personnel. The authors say such data brokerage is a virtually unregulated practice in the United States.
Guest: Justin Sherman directs data brokerage research for Duke’s Privacy & Democracy Project during his fellowship through Duke’s Technology Policy Lab.
Most Americans have no idea that there are elaborate pretend Iraqi and Afghan villages scattered around the United States – on US military bases. The villages are designed to look real. There are people in them - many of the people were born in the Middle East and immigrated to the U.S. They now play pretend versions of themselves, in pretend Middle Eastern villages, in the very real forests and deserts of the U.S.
Christopher Sims has been photographing the villages, and he joins Duke Sanford Dean Judith Kelley to discuss his work. Sims is a new faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He also serves as the Undergraduate Education Director at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies.
Credits/Transcript: https://policy360.org/2021/09/08/inside-military-training-villages/
COVID-19 has ripped through nursing homes and long-term care facilities in the US, painfully unveiling and amplifying the problems that have been inherent in long-term care delivery for decades.
Guest: Nathan Boucher is an assistant research professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
What does it take to build a business from the ground up? Are there special challenges that women face? Are there lessons that can be learned from those who have, as they say, been there and done that when it comes to building organizations that matter?
Our guest today is Maya Ajmera, who started her first organization, the Global Fund for Children, shortly after she graduated from Duke University with a Master of Public Policy degree. She’s now the President and CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of its award-winning magazine, Science News.
What role do corporations play in a functioning democracy? Is there a way to encourage companies to be more socially responsible?
Guest: Stan Litow is the author of The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward. At IBM he led the global corporate social responsibility program. Litow now teaches graduate courses at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He has held high level positions for the Mayor and Governor of New York, and served as New York City’s Deputy Schools Chancellor.
Our guest this episode is part of a team of researchers that used data from real people's social media accounts to build bots that expose people to news they don't agree with – then they measured how users reacted. What they found is that when people are exposed to views that oppose their own, they actually become MORE not LESS polarized.
Guest: Chris Bail, Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, and Data Science and director of The Polarization Lab at Duke University; Author of Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make our Platforms Less Polarizing.
Sometimes we know exactly what the consequences of a policy will be, and sometimes we don’t. In this episode, we’ll explore a surprising consequence related to stepped-up enforcement of immigration policy in one county in North Carolina: Mecklenburg County.
Guest: Professor Christina Gibson-Davis is Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke and co-author of the study Heightened Immigration Enforcement has Troubling Impact on Babies.
In this episode, we look at ways to demystify artificial intelligence (AI) for military commanders and arm military personnel with the right questions to ask to distinguish AI with real, enduring capabilities from so called “drive-by AI.”
Guest: Marc Losito is a Master of Public Policy student at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, where he is a Carlucci Fellow in Security Studies. He is also a Warrant Officer in the US Army. He authored an article for the Small Wars Journal, "The Commander's AI Smart Card".
As Elizabeth Warren memorably wrote, “It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance an existing home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting the family out on the street.”
That quotation is an apt introduction to Mallory SoRelle's book, Democracy Declined – the Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection.
Consumer financial protections are becoming more and more complex and yet the system still requires individuals to sift through fine print to make sure they aren't going to get taken advantage of by predatory lenders. In this episode we'll look at the history of federal policies related to consumer financial protection, and options for how policies might be changed to benefit Americans and our economy.
Get show notes, transcript, credits.
In this episode, we explore new research into providing healthcare recommendations by algorithm. Professor Kate Bundorf recently published a study examining the impact of algorithmic information and recommendations on consumer choice in health insurance plans.
On January 27, 2021, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security issued a first-ever National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the U.S., which DHS believes will persist in the weeks following the Jan. 6 Presidential Inauguration.
In a recent guest column in the Tampa Bay Times, Duke Professor David Schanzer wrote “Jan. 6 demonstrated to all Americans what many observers have been warning about for years – we have a serious domestic terrorism threat on our hands."
Schanzer joins Judith Kelly to explore options to reduce the threat. Schanzer directs the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.
Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Learn more about the Sanford School of Public Policy: sanford.duke.edu
Duke Professor Anne-Maria Makhulu joins Dean Judith Kelley to compare the current racial and socioeconomic disparities of South Africa with the disparities that have been made increasingly apparent over the past decade in the United States. The scholars discuss the countries' similarities and differences with regards to the coronavirus response, responses to police violence, movements for racial equity, and more. Makhulu says that one lesson to be learned from this comparison is that "the intractable problems that South Africa confronts are in fact the same intractable problems that the United States confronts. And there has to be a conversation about the infrastructure of racism, which is economic [...]"
Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Learn more about the Sanford School of Public Policy: sanford.duke.edu
The end of the Cold War is often considered a bit of a geopolitical anomaly. In 1980 the increasing antagonistic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union caused many to fear that the conflict was once again on the path to nuclear fallout. President Regan famously characterized the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” and while Soviet media described U.S. foreign policy as “nuclear insanity.”
Then suddenly, things quickly shifted. The two superpowers started cooperating and even more surprisingly the Soviet Union collapsed by the end of the decade and just like that the Cold War ended. As historian John Lewis Gaddis has observed “Wars, hot or cold, do not normally end with the abrupt but peaceful collapse of a major antagonist.” So what changed in those 5 years that brought about the end of the Cold War?
Simon Miles is an Assistant Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, and his recently released book Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War seeks to answer this question among several others. The book focuses on the often overlooked period of the early 1980s. Was this shift in relations as abrupt as it appeared? To what extent did popular perception of the conflict reflect the reality of the situation?
Grab a copy of Simon's book: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501751691/engaging-the-evil-empire/
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts
Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
In a special episode, Policy 360 joins a panel of Duke University experts for a debrief the day after election day 2020. Sanford professors Mac McCorkle, Director of POLIS: Center for Politics, and Deondra Rose, director of Research at POLIS: Center for Politics, moderate a discussion with four other professors here at Duke.
John Aldrich is a professor of Political Science and an expert on politics in the United States.
Duke Law School professor Guy-Uriel Charles is an expert on constitutional law, election law, campaign finance, and more political issues in the United States. He is also the Co-Director of the Duke Law Center on Law, Race, and Politics.
Public policy and journalism professor Bill Adair is the director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy. Bill also created the Pulitzer Prize-winning website Politifact.
Judith Kelley is the Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy. She is an expert in international relations and has written extensively about election observation in an attempt to monitor democracy across the world.
Watch the entire video from the Zoom event: The Day After Election Day: An Expert Recap:
https://bit.ly/3oXy801
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts
Read the episode transcript: https://sanford.duke.edu/articles/day-after-election-day-expert-recap-policy-360-podcast
Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
This episode takes a look behind the curtain to see what actually happens during elections and just how your vote counts and is counted. Judith Kelley is joined by Damon Circosta, the Chair of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Since graduating from Sanford in 2015, Emily Feng has travelled all over China as a foreign correspondent covering topics ranging from human rights, to technology, to the environment. As foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, Feng uncovered key information surrounding the Chinese oppression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. Her coverage of the human rights abuses in Xinjiang won several human rights press and journalism awards.
Feng now works as NPR’s Beijing correspondent and joins Dean Judith Kelly to discuss her path from Sanford graduate to award winning journalist, share stories from her work, and provide a unique insight on key issues she has reported on such as the Uighurs in Xinjiang, the protests in Hong Kong, and the coronavirus pandemic.
North Carolina has been at the center of discussions around race-based voter suppression, most recently focused on stringent voter ID requirements. With election day only two months away, there is growing concern among many in this pivotal swing state about whether their voice will be heard.
James Leloudis, professor of history at UNC Chapel Hill, and Robert Korstad, professor of public policy at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, join Dean Judith Kelley to discuss the implications of voter suppression on the upcoming election and the complicated legacy of voting rights in the state.
Thomas J. Tierney is an expert in smart philanthropy and co-founder of the Bridgespan Group which provides management consulting to nonprofits and philanthropists. He is the co-author of Give Smart: Philanthropy That Gets Results, which is intended for philanthropists and nonprofits with the resources to do big things to make big changes in the world.
Our guest host is Alex S. Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and former director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. This is part of a two-part series is produced in partnership with the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Billy Shore is a founder of the organization Share Our Strength, the umbrella organization of No Kid Hungry. Over the past 35 years, the organization has made huge strides in ending childhood hunger in the United States. How have they done it? Listen:
This episode is hosted by Alex S. Jones - Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and former director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. It is part of a two-part series is produced in partnership with the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Since the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Durham county back in March, the Durham city and county governments have had the tall task to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus while also responding to the struggles of local residents.
Sanford alumni Ryan Smith and Mariel Beasley and current MPP candidate Mary Grace Stoneking join Dean Judith Kelley to talk about the local response to the pandemic. All three of our guests worked on the Durham Recovery & Renewal Task Force in order to consult the mayor and the county commissioner on local policy decisions that affected the lives of all Durham residents.
Ryan Smith is an Innovation Project Manager for the City of Durham. Ryan was tapped to head the Recovery and Renewal Task Force. He graduated with his Master of Public Policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy in 2014.
Mariel Beasley is Principal at the Center for Advanced Hindsight and the Co-Director at the Duke CommonCents Lab. She joined Ryan to work on the "Back on the Bull" campaign which worked to normalize the act of wearing face masks in Durham. Mariel also graduated from Sanford with her Master of Public Policy in 2013.
Mary Grace Stoneking is a second year Master of Public Policy candidate at Sanford. She interned with the Durham City Manager's office and helped Ryan manage the student researchers working on the task force.
Read more about the Recovery and Renewal Task Force.
In late March President Trump said he considers himself a wartime president. The fight against COVID-19 has since intensified; the number of cases in the US doubled in that time. How does Trump compare to wartime leaders of the past?
Bruce Jentleson is the William Preston Few Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. He has held positions as foreign policy advisors to politicians including Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
His book is The Peacemakers, Leadership Lessons from 20th Century Statesmanship.
Discussions about providing direct cash payments to Americans have filled
Congressional chambers in recent weeks. But discussions are one thing. Getting these payments to million Americans, including those without access to a bank or a stable address, is another.
Here to discuss the many challenges of developing a strategy to provide payments to those who need it most is Lisa Gennetian, a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and an affiliate in the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy.
Many in the US were blindsided by the COVID-19 pandemic’s severity. Not Gavin Yamey. In early 2018 he wrote the op-ed, The Odds of a Devastating Pandemic Just Went Up.
Yamey is a professor at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy and director of The Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, based at the Duke Global Health Institute.
Former Ambassador Frederick Barton has conflict management experience in over 40 crisis zones -- Haiti, Iraq, Nigeria, Turkey and more.
He served as first Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and previously as U.S. Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in New York. He founded USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives among other roles. His book is called Peace Works: America’s Unifying Role in a Turbulent World.
In this episode, we sit down with two people with different views for a conversation about social media platforms and political advertising.
Matt Perault is a former director of Public Policy at Facebook. Phil Napoli is author of Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age. Both are faculty members at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke.
- Matt Perault's podcast is TBD: Technology By Design
- Phil Napoli's book is Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Is tech moving too fast for policymakers to catch up? A conversation with Matt Perault. He served as a director of public policy at Facebook. He is now a faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, and director of the Center on Science and Technology Policy.
Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Being obese puts people at risk for chronic disease like diabetes and is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. In this episode we explore a policy approach to deal with this epidemic – a tax on sugary drinks.
Kelly Brownell, director of the World Food Policy Center at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University breaks down the research and policy behind the approach.
- Subscribe to the Leading Voices in Food podcast
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: Donnalee by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Nivruti Rai is country head of Intel India and was recognized by Fortune India as one of the top 20 Most Powerful Women in Business in that country. She joins host Judith Kelley to discuss women in business and how private business and government can intersect, especially when it comes to a U.S.-based company and a country that is growing as rapidly as India.
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: The Zeppelin and Union Hall Melody by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Jason DeParle is a reporter for the New York Times and a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He was just a young reporter when he moved to the slums of Manila and lived with a local family. He has followed that family for three decades. The resulting book is remarkable; it provides an intimate yet sweeping perspective on migration.
- Book: A Good Provider is One Who Leaves, One Family and Migration in the 21st Century (Penguin Random House 2019)
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions - Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Medicaid is one of the largest social welfare programs in the United States. With over 70 million people enrolled, it covers 20 percent of the US population.
Though the program is federal, it’s implemented by the state and some states offer generous benefits while others do not. Professor Jamila Michener argues these disparities are actually having an effect on democratic citizenship. Her research shows that when Medicaid expands, more people vote, and when it contracts (or there’s a narrower scope of benefits) then people are less likely to vote.
Jamila Michener is an assistant professor at Cornell University. Her book is Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: Vittoro and Thannoid by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
The number of college students across the nation who voted in the midterms doubled between 2014 and 2018. At Duke University, the voting rate was even higher – it jumped 114 percent. We explore how that jump happened and what specific strategies other colleges could use to increase their own student voting rates.
Guests: BJ Rudell, Associate Director of POLIS, the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service at Duke University and Lindsay Morgenstein, student voting drive organizer.
- Read the episode transcript
- Visit the Duke Votes website
- Music: Georgia Overdrive and The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
In 2009, President Obama launched an initiative designed to use a community outreach approach to counter violent extremism. Ten years later, Professor David Schanzer, Director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security has analyzed the policy, and he says it was deeply flawed, but there are lessons to be learned.
- Read the episode transcript
- Read the report, “Engaging with Communities to Prevent Violent Extremism: A Review of the Obama Administration’s CVE Initiative”
- Music: Careless Morning by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
With recent scientific reports on the effects of climate change, climate strikes around the world and big companies like Amazon promising action, climate change is a topic that is important to research and understand. We discuss climate-related policy ideas with Billy Pizer, an expert in climate change policy, law and legislation.
Billy Pizer is Susan B. King Professor of Public Policy and senior associate dean in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
- Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast
- Read the episode transcript
- Music: Li Fonte and The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
New research shows forest fires are actually more harmful than we've previously thought. It's not just about the impact they may have on the environment or on the economy, but also on human health, especially unborn children.
Guest: Subhrendu Pattanayak, Oak Foundation Environmental and Energy Policy Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
- Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast
- Read an episode transcript
- Read more about Subhrendu Pattanayak’s research
- Music: Night Light and The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Jacob Bachmeier serves in Montana’s House of Representatives. He was just 18 when he was elected. A classmate was his campaign manager. At the time of his election, he was the youngest state lawmaker in the country.
Guest host: Gunther Peck of Duke University’s Hart Leadership Program
Note:
Policy 360 will return to our regular biweekly schedule in September.
- Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
China is investing heavily in coal around the world, even going so far as to build the coal sector from scratch, in a variety of developing countries. Coal plants are either being planned or constructed in 14 countries that currently have no coal power to speak of. Plants are also being planned for 19 other countries, and those new coal plants would more than double each country’s existing coal-fired capacity. Guest, Jackson Ewing, of Duke University's Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions, explains.
- Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast
- Read an episode transcript
- Read the op-ed Jackson Ewing wrote for The Hill
- Artwork: Melissa Carrico
- Music: Vittoro by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
In a new intergovernmental report, scientists say a million species of plants and animals could go extinct due to climate change, many within our lifetimes. Duke University Professor Alexander Pfaff contributed to the report. He's here to talk about history, and the five hurdles that have tripped policymakers and advocates up in the past when it comes to reversing environmental loss.
Show Notes:
Read the op-ed Alexander Pfaff wrote for The Hill
Music: Open Flames by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
A Duke University interdisciplinary student team has spent the past academic year trying to get a better understanding of the barriers to energy investment in rural Zambia.
The team looked at policy issues, assessed customers' willingness to pay, and even created a geospatial application so potential investors can easily look at variables in each region before deciding to invest.
- Read an episode transcript
- Find out more about the Energy Access Project at Duke University
- Find out more about Bass Connections at Duke University
- Music: Open Flames by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
Research shows that working-class people almost never become politicians, but Carmen Castillo is both a hotel housekeeper and a three-term Providence Rhode Island City Council member. Yet when Carmen first began to work as a housekeeper, the only English words she knew were "yes" and "no." How did she do it?
Carmen Castillo is featured in the documentary film Councilwoman.
Professor Nick Carnes' book is The Cash Ceiling: Why Only the Rich Run for Office.
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast.
Read the episode transcript.
Image: Melissa Carrico
Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions / Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.
The massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand was announced online and streamed live on Facebook. Afterwards, copies of the video were uploaded to YouTube at a rate of one per second.
Phil Napoli is an expert in media regulation and policy. He has provided expert testimony to the U.S. Senate, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission among other government entities. He joins host Judith Kelley to discuss potential government regulation of social media platforms.
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: www.policy360.org/
Read a transcript: sites.duke.edu/policy360/2019/04…ate-social-media/
Music: Vittoro by Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/ Licensed under Creative Commons: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Political satire isn't new, it's been with us throughout history, even Shakespeare's works were packed with political commentary. Lately Political News itself seems more like entertainment television. So how do you make fun of something that already seems like a joke?Our next guest says, it's a blessing and a curse to be a Trump era comedian. Zhubin Parang is a producer for the Daily Show with Trevor Noah having previously served as the head writer for three years. He even majored in political science and sociology at Vanderbilt University. He attended Georgetown law school, he was a corporate lawyer before he was hired by the Daily Show.
Zhubin has won multiple primetime Emmy awards for his work on the Daily Show. His trip to Duke was sponsored by POLIS, the center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service, as well as the Dewitt Wallace Center for Media andDemocracy, the Sanford School and the Graduate Student Association of Iranians at Duke.
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: www.policy360.org/
Read the transcript here: sites.duke.edu/policy360/files/2…bin-Parang-1.docx
Image: Melissa Carrico
Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/ Licensed under Creative Commons: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
We came across a great podcast produced by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. It's called Trending Globally [watson.brown.edu/news/trending-globally]. The weekly podcast features insight on today's critical global challenges. So today on Policy 360: a special episode from Trending Globally.
The episode features Sam Wilkin, an economist, political risk consultant, and fellow at the Watson Institute [watson.brown.edu/people/visiting/wilkin]. In 2015 Sam started to work on a book about the history of populist movements around the world. At the time people weren’t too interested in what he was saying. Then Donald Trump was elected President, and people became very interested. His book History Repeating: Why Populists Rise and Government’s Fall [profilebooks.com/history-repeating.html], came out in March of 2018.
Madeleine Albright served as the 64th U.S. Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton. In this episode of the Policy 360 podcast, she joins Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley to discuss the rise of fascism around the world, concerns about President Trump, the fragility of democracy and the messages hidden in her jewelry.
Transcript: https://sites.duke.edu/policy360/2019/03/04/ep-87-madeleine-albright/
Music: Vittoro by Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/ Creative Commons License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the One Belt, One Road Initiative. The massive infrastructure project aims to link countries along the old Silk Road routes with Europe. China has spent close to $150 billion a year in the 68 countries that are taking part.
Such a large undertaking has immense implications for the environment. Duke University faculty member Alexander Pfaff has been detailing the potential environmental risks of the BRI and considering alternatives that would avoid environmental damage while still allowing for improved infrastructure.
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: www.policy360.org/
Read a transcript: sites.duke.edu/policy360/2019/02…-road-initiative/
Image: Duke University
Music: Open Flames by Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/ (Creative Commons License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ )
Venezuela is in the midst of a catastrophic economic crisis. According to Forbes, Venezuela’s yearly annual inflation reached 80,000% in 2018, up from 2,400% the year before.
The hyperinflation was so intense that officials revalued the currency at a rate of 100,000 to 1 – and even after that, the exchange rate with the US dollar is still nearly 3,300 to 1. People are spending hundreds of dollars on basic necessities and many still go hungry.
And now on top of this economic hardship, two men are both claiming to have the right to be President.
Patrick Duddy has plenty of experience with the divisiveness of Venezuelan politics, and with the concerns of the people. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela and is currently the Director of Duke University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: www.policy360.org/
Read the CompleteTranscript (Link to come)
Image: Melissa Carrico
Music: Vittoro by Blue Dot Sessions/Creative Commons License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
With college basketball season in full swing and March Madness close approaching, the attention of the sports world is centered around student athletes. Yet despite the press brought to universities by these sports, they are rarely mentioned in the mission statement or acknowledged to be as influential as they are. On this episode of Policy 360, Charles Clotfelter discusses the tremendous impact college athletics has on students, alumni, and beyond, for better or for worse, as well as what can be done to reform how schools treat the business of sports as a core part of their identity. Charles Clotfelter is a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and author of the book Big-Time Sports in American Universities. (Cambridge University Press).
In 1995, John Koskinen was deputy director of the federal Office of Management and Budget. President President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was tussling with a Republican Congress over a variety of issues. Soon the government was in the midst of its first major shutdown.
Koskinen joins Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley to discuss lessons from that shutdown. They also talk about accomplishments and challenges Koskinen faced during his career spanning 11 different public leadership positions in the public and private sectors.
Music: Blue Dot Sessions/Creative Commons
Rich countries have a variety of reasons to give money to poorer countries. In this episode of Policy 360, Sarah Bermeo discusses what the U.S. foreign aid policy strategy is today, how it has changed over the years, and what that means for peace and security. Sarah Blodgett Bermeo is an associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and author of the book Targeted Development: Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World.
Mitch Prinstein examines how our popularity affects our success, our relationships, our happiness, and why we don’t always want to be the most popular. Mitch is the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and the director of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of the book Popular: Finding Happiness and Success in a World That Cares Too Much About the Wrong Kinds of Relationships.
Adriana Figueroa and Maggie Loredo's stories illuminate the compelling historical, ethical, and political challenges unfolding today on the U.S. Mexican border.
Both women were born in Mexico. Because their families were undocumented, both returned to Mexico in order to continue their education.
They are part of a growing number of young people who have had to make the same decision.
Both women are part of a group that is helping other young returnees find their footing in Mexico. They have also had an impact on policies affecting young people there.
Maggie and Adriana were on Duke’s campus as part of a series called Connect2Politics, a leadership initiative for Duke undergraduates interested in political engagement. The initiative is run by the Hart Leadership Program.
Researchers know that prekindergarten offers short term benefits - kids do better in the early grades if they’ve gone to Pre-K. But the effects seem to fade by about the third grade. In this episode: new research into this fade out effect.
Researchers paired student data from a statewide Pre-K experiment with records of teacher observation scores from Tennessee’s new formal evaluation program. Their idea was a simple one - would a student’s access to high-quality early grade teachers help the Pre-K effects last longer?
Guest: Walker Swain, University of Georgia
Guest Host: Anna Gassman-Pines, Duke Center for Child & Family Policy
The so-called “migrant caravan” has grabbed worldwide headlines. Approximately 3,000 people are walking toward the Southern U.S. border from a variety of countries. The caravan appears to have originated in Honduras, and the travelers say they are headed north for many reasons including fear of violence and gangs in their home countries. Many questions surround who the migrants are, and how the U.S. should deal with them.
Sarah Bermeo has been following the situation closely. She is a political economist at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University with expertise in foreign policy, development and migration. Bermeo is author of the book, Targeted Development – Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World.
Earlier this week, a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Authorities say the gunman made hateful, anti-Semitic comments on social media before the attack. David Schanzer is Director of the Duke Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. He calls the attack an act of “Trumpism-inspired Terrorism."
Sari Kaufman is a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. Her high school was the site of a horrific mass shooting this year. Since the shooting, Kaufman has worked alongside her friends to register thousands of voters.
Sari Kaufman was on Duke’s campus to participate in a panel discussion about the challenges to student voting rights. The event was part of a special series run by the Hart Leadership Program called Connect2Politics. The series is exposing students to a new generation of young political leaders. Gunther Peck, director of the Hart Leadership Program, is our guest host.
You might expect that elderly people would have more wealth than families with kids because they're older and they’ve had more time to save. But Christina Gibson-Davis' research shows the gap in wealth between the two groups has grown "startlingly wide" over the past 25 years.
Gibson-Davis is a faculty member at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Michael Sorrell is president of Paul Quinn College, and he has turned the historically black institution in Dallas into what he calls “an engine of social mobility.” He became president of Paul Quinn in 2007. At the time there were more than a dozen abandoned buildings on campus.
Michael Sorrell has since been named HBCU President of the Year three times for his contributions to higher education, and this year he was named to Fortune’s List of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
Leaders in towns and cities affected by Hurricane Florence are attempting to get operations running again. Soon they will likely be thinking about how their communities can do things differently so the next big weather event doesn’t cause as many problems.
Elizabeth Albright studies how communities recover after devastating natural disasters. For one research project, she followed seven Colorado communities for three years following deadly floods there. She joins Judith Kelley to talk about what she learned.
Yemen is in the midst of civil war, a brutal conflict that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis according to the United Nations. By some estimates, 75 percent of the people there are in need of humanitarian assistance. Millions have been forced to flee, and more are at risk of starvation. Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, recently returned from a trip to Yemen. She visited camps for displaced people, and has returned to the U.S. determined to help.
Kelly Brownell has stepped away from his role as dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy to launch a new World Food Policy Center at Duke University. He talks with the school's new dean, Judith Kelley, about key challenges that he hopes his new center will begin to address.
For example, he hopes to get people in the food and food policy space talking to each other. The academic field is segmented, he says. "There is a lot of depth around particular topics but not much breadth across them and very little communications across them."
It’s often said that one in 10 people on the planet is hungry, and that number is on the rise. Abigail Bennett is the lead author of a new report from Duke University’s World Food Policy Center, The Environmental Defense Fund, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Duke University Marine Lab on the contribution of fisheries to food and nutrition security. Abby has served as a fellow at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and is a consultant at the World Bank.
Researchers now believe they can predict bad behavior later in life, just from a child's behavior and life circumstances as a toddler. This is the last of a four-part series looking at early childhood.
Guest: Daniel Shaw of the Center for Parents and Children and the Pitt Parents and Children Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.
There's an intriguing new study that shows a connected between when low-income families receive supplemental nutrition, or SNAP assistance, and student test scores. The study is believed to be the first to show a connection between benefits of this sort and academic performance.
The authors of the study are Anna Gassman-Pines and Laura Bellows. Gassman-Pines is an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Neuroscience at Duke University. Laura Bellows is a doctoral student at the Sanford School of Public Policy.
It's becoming more and more apparent that the first thousand days of a child's life are crucial. In particular, the nutrition a child receives early in life dictates the kind of life that child will go on to have. But around the world, many women face huge obstacles when it comes to securing proper nutrition for their families.
Journalist Roger Thurow traveled the world to see firsthand the challenges many mothers face as a part of an exploration of a worldwide initiative to end early childhood malnutrition. He met new mothers and babies in Uganda, India, Guatemala, and Chicago, and tells their stories in the book The First Thousand Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children - And the World.
Most experts recommend mothers breastfeed for six months exclusively after birth – but most women don’t do so. In the U.S.. only 27 percent of mothers reach the 6-month mark. In the U.K., it’s less than one percent. Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla of the Yale School of Public Health has been working on a way to boost and sustain breastfeeding rates – and he’s doing it on a country-by-country basis.
“The tragic Parkland, Fla., shooting on February 14th is yet another dreadful reminder that schools are no sanctuary against mass violence. Americans are surely united in wanting reforms … But the reform that is getting the most attention in this bizarro era we live in — arming teachers with concealed handguns — would likely make things worse.” – excerpt from an op-ed by one of this country’s preeminent researchers on gun violence in America, Philip J. Cook.
Cook talks with Kelly Brownell about other, more promising strategies for dealing with gun violence in classrooms than arming teachers.
It's March Madness, but instead of basketball, we’re pitting U.S. presidents from throughout the ages against each other. Who will be crowned the best president? Will it be Washington or Honest Abe? Maybe FDR? What criteria should we be using to determine what makes a great president? Guests include Frederick "Fritz" Mayer and BJ Rudell from POLIS, the Duke Center for Political Leadership, Innovation & Service.
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
James Clapper served as director of national intelligence and Obama’s top security adviser from 2010-2017. He oversaw 200,000 intelligence employees, a $52 billion budget and top security organizations including the CIA, NSA and FBI. In this episode of Policy 360, he discusses threats to the U.S., his decision to speak out against the country's current leadership and his hopes for future leaders.
Music: Blue Dot Sessions/Creative Commons
It’s estimated that 1.2 billion people around the world live without electricity. Another billion have only limited access to electricity. And billions more lack access to clean fuel and technology for cooking. There's an exciting new project designed to address the energy needs of the world’s poor. The Energy Access Project aims to bring an interdisciplinary approach to one of the world's most vexing issues.
In recent years, oil and gas production in the U.S. has increased dramatically, in part because of new technology like hydraulic fracturing or “fracking." Proponents say fracking is helping the country be energy independent. Opponents cite environmental concerns. Daniel Raimi traveled to every major U.S. oil and gas- producing region in the U.S. His book is called The Fracking Debate.
Recently, Jonathan Mattingly has been a detective of sorts, delving into partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina. (Gerrymandering is when one party manipulates voting districts for their own gain.) Mattingly is chair of the math department at Duke and his mathematical analysis of the state’s 13 Congressional districts was used in a court ruling that declared the state's maps unconstitutional. He says what he uncovered in his research could be used to address gerrymandering in other states.
A panel of federal judges recently declared North Carolina's Congressional maps unconstitutional. (Congressional maps divide the state into voting districts.) The maps had been drawn by Republicans and tilted heavily in their favor. The ruling required lawmakers to redraw the maps by the end of January 2018, but the U.S. Supreme Court has put that ruling on hold.
Recently Tom Ross ran a bipartisan simulation which demonstrated how independent redistricting in the state might work. Lessons learned in North Carolina could be applied to other states who are grappling with these issues.
Tom Ross is president of the Volcker Alliance, which is working to rebuild public trust in government. He is the first Terry Sanford Distinguished Fellow at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
The algorithms that determine what we see on social media platforms wield a lot of power, especially when it comes to the news that people see. Facebook made big news recently when the company tweaked its algorithm. And did you know some real news stories are not written by humans, but by smart algorithm?
Kelly Brownell discusses the promise and peril of algorithms with Phil Napoli. Napoli was recently awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to explore this topic more closely.
Phil Napoli's upcoming book is titled "Media Technocracy: The Rise of Algorithmic News and the Future of the Marketplace of Ideas."
Recently, the Charlotte Observer ran a powerful five-part series that revealed shocking practices inside the state’s prison system. The investigation exposed correctional officers running contraband rings and collaborating with gang members. As a result of that series, the state commissioned a study to see whether best practices from other state prison systems could be implemented in North Carolina. The authors of the study, Caitlin Saunders and Joel Rosch, discuss their findings.
A student-led initiative on college campuses in North Carolina is tackling one of the most important issue of our time - political polarization. The project, called Leaders for Political Dialogue, convenes students from Duke, N.C. State, UNC and N.C. Central. Students spend a weekend learning how to communicate better with those whose political opinions may differ from their own. Kelly Brownell talks with the founder of the project, as well as three participants.
More and more rich people are choosing to give their money away before they die. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to give away 99% of his family's Facebook stock - a gift estimated at the time to be worth $45 billion dollars. Some mega-donors are even pressing to spend donated funds their own lifetimes.
Joel Fleishman, a preeminent scholar on philanthropy, compares this current trend with the more traditional approach of perpetual foundations which are designed to last for generations. Fleishman's book is Putting Wealth to Work - Philanthropy for Today or Investing for Tomorrow.
The latest research on poverty indicates that a federal job guarantee is economically feasible. Such a guarantee could help address big American issues like crumbling infrastructure while at the same time ensuring workers aren't living in poverty. Kelly Brownell talks about the topic with William "Sandy" Darity, the director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.
Barney Frank spent 32 years in Congress. He served most recently as the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. He sponsored the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which resulted in a sweeping reform of the U.S. financial industry. He is also one of the most prominent gay politicians in the U.S. In this conversation Barney Frank questions which side Donald Trump is rooting for in 2018, talks about the use of humor in politics, and explores the need for pragmatism in the fight for a fairer society.
Barney Frank’s visit to Duke was sponsored by the Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy and the Professions, in collaboration with the Kenan Institute for Ethics; POLIS, the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service, and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke.
For decades, higher education leaders have supported expanding college education to include disadvantaged groups. Many colleges have embraced policies that fight discrimination. And yet, as the economist Charles Clotfelter shows, America’s system of undergraduate education was unequal in 1970 and is even more so today.
He contends despite a revolution in civil rights, billions spent on financial aid, and the commitment of colleges to greater equality, stratification has grown starker in part because colleges cater largely to children of elites.
Charles Clotfelter's new book is Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity (Harvard University Press).
Earlier this week a lone gunman perpetrated the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Why does the U.S. lack a comprehensive gun control policy? After the violence at Columbine High School, Kristin Goss began studying the gun control movement in America. She talks about why the movement hasn't caught on (it's not the NRA) and how things may be changing.
Lisa Monaco served as President Obama’s chief counterterrorism and homeland security advisor for his entire second term. She was responsible for policy coordination and crisis management on issues ranging from cybersecurity to natural disasters to terrorist attacks at home and abroad. Previously, Lisa helped Robert Mueller transform the FBI after 9/11 into a national security organization focused on preventing terrorist attacks on the United States.
Does history make statesmen or do statesmen make history? A conversation with Bruce Jentleson about his forthcoming book The Peacemakers: Lessons Learned from 20th Century Statesmanship.
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
The United Nations estimates more than 400,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian civil war and millions more have had to leave their homes and the country. Cynthia Viveros-Cano is stationed in Damascus, Syria, as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer for the United Nations. Her role is help ensure aid gets to the people who need it most.
Recently, many have protested the dramatically different direction the U.S. is beginning to take in regards to climate change. Tim Profeta, director of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, helps sort through the many changes being proposed by the Trump administration.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has become the universal yardstick of progress. GDP judges the value of goods and services produced inside a country’s borders. But the number has a big problem: it only judges output. More car production for example, would seem on the surface as a success, but at what cost? Dirk Philipsen's book is The Little Big Number, How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to do About It.
Recently, a team at the Duke Reporters Lab has been developing a fact-checking app for the Amazon Echo. Owners of the Echo can “ask the fact-checkers” about claims they hear on the news and social media. The development team is led by Bill Adair, founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning site PolitiFact. Student researcher Julia Donheiser and project manager Rebecca Iannucci join Adair to talk through the promise and pitfalls of the project.
There's a project happening now in North Carolina in which people from across the state who have very different political views are meeting on a regular basis. The idea is this: if we can build relationships between people with differing political views, can mutual understanding – or even solutions - be far behind?
In the 1930s, half of all unmarried women who got pregnant out of wedlock got married (a so-called "shotgun marriage.") By the second half of the 2000s, only 6% of women in the same situation married before giving birth. But recently shotgun marriages have actually risen among certain groups of women.
Jared Cohen said recently, “the world is in a perpetual state of cyber-warfare.” He should know, he's the the Founder and CEO of Jigsaw, the tech incubator focused on geopolitical challenges created by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Previously, Jared served as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and thus as a close advisor to both Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Jared has a long-standing interest in international security issues; he has traveled to more than 100 countries, including Iran and North Korea, and has conducted interviews with members of various extremist groups including Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Al-Shabab, Somali pirates, and more recently, failed ISIS recruits. He talks with guest host Peter Feaver about the high-tech efforts Jigsaw is undertaking to harness the power of technology to make the world safer.
Across the globe more than 20 million people are victimized by human trafficking, the modern form of slavery. Judith Kelley has been digging in to the WikiLeaks documents to see whether ranking countries on how well they are tackling human trafficking issues is having an impact on their efforts. Her new book is Scorecard Diplomacy.
Think of the words "Illegal alien" or "welfare queen." What color faces do you see in your mind? Now think about about phrases like "real Americans," or "hard-working taxpayers." What color faces do you see now? Ian Haney López argues such phrases are "dog whistles," coded language used by politicians to get certain messages across. López is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and is the author of Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class.
Research shows Hispanic children in the U.S. worry a lot more than their non-Hispanic peers. Some told researchers they feared their parents would be taken from them and sent away. Given that more than one in four U.S. children live in a family with at least one immigrant parent, our guest argues we should work toward helping parents and their children feel integrated into U.S. society rather than isolated.
The number of hate groups in the U.S. has risen for the second year in a row and is close to an all-time high according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which conducts an annual census of such groups. There's been a huge spike in anti-Muslim hate groups. We talk with Heidi Beirich who leads the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, “one of the most respected anti-terror organizations in the world” and SPLC's president Richard Cohen. David Schanzer of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security is the guest host.
How can the U.S. increase security along the southern border without building a wall? Stephen R. Kelly says more cooperation between law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border is key. Kelly focused on border issues during his time as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to Mexico, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic establishments in the world. He served in a similar capacity in Canada. He says many of the tactics now in place in Canada could be implemented on the U.S./Mexico border.