Policy 360 is a series of audio conversations from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Policy 360 is hosted by Judith Kelley, the Sanford School’s dean.
https://sites.duke.edu/policy360

Policy 360 with Judith Kelley

Ways & Means is a small radio show about surprising successes and spectacular failures in the art of creating successful neighborhoods, cities, states and countries. The show is produced by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
http://www.waysandmeansshow.org/

Ways & Means

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.

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2021/04/16/ep-123-breaking-the-social-media-prism/

Breaking the Social Media Prism

Frank Bruni – does his name sound familiar? Well, if you’ve ever opened the New York Times, odds are pretty good that it does. Frank Bruni had a regular column at the Times. He worked at the paper for 25 years; he was a metro reporter, a 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 ambivalence, ambiguity and the future of American society.

Image: Jack Maples

Show notes, transcript, credits:  https://policy360.org/2021/10/12/ep-129-uncertainty-on-journalism-education-and-social-discourse/

Music: Amber Glow courtesy of Scott Holmes Music/FreeMusicArchive https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/inspiring-background-music/amber-glow

(Un)certainty: On Journalism, Education and Social Discourse

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.

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2022/01/12/ep-134-loving-lies/

Music: Caseco by Blue Dot Sessions/Free Music Archive; Amber Glow by Scott Holmes Music/Free Music Archive
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions
freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Ho…sic/amber-glow

Loving Lies

COVID has upended lives around the world. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, all of our daily lives are, in some way, touched by the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, Jennifer Lansford and her colleagues were conducting in-depth. multi-year research on children and families in nine countries around the world. 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 the Center for Child & Family Policy.

Subscribe to Policy 360: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/policy-360/id1170662136?mt=2

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2022/02/08/ep-136-covid-families-across-cultures/

Music: Amber Glow by Scott Holmes Music/Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Ho…sic/amber-glow

Covid & Families Across Cultures

Russia has invaded Ukraine, with a massive attack from multiple directions on a wide range of targets. 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.

Subscribe to Policy 360: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poli…1170662136?mt=2

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2022/02/24/ep-137-the-truth-about-sanctions/ 

Music: RedProductions via Pixabay https://pixabay.com/music/upbeat-commercials-repetitive-synth-sport-modern-detective-music-21117/

The Truth About Sanctions

A nation's children offer the potential promise of a better future for society. According to "Rebalancing: Children First" -- a recent bipartisan report from the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution -- the federal budget inadequately addresses children's needs by overrepresenting the interests of older, higher-income populations and certain industries.

After three years of work, the group's consensus outlines policy recommendations, including a budget-neutral redistribution of these federal resources to provide better outcomes for children's health and education.

Conversation includes Lisa Gennetian, a Pritzker Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and affiliate at Duke's Center for Child & Family Policy, who was a part of the working group. Also joining is Michael Strain, the Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and one of the working group co-chairs.

Subscribe to Policy 360: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poli…1170662136?mt=2

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2022/04/08/ep-139-rebalancing-children/

Music: Courtesy Envato

Bipartisan Report Calls for Rebalancing U.S. Priorities Towards Children

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 of.a series of conversations about climate change.

Subscribe to Policy 360: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poli…1170662136?mt=2

Show notes, transcript, credits: https://policy360.org/2022/09/08/ep-140-satellites-machine-learning/

Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning: A Smarter Future for Energy Infrastructure Planning

Climate change is forcing many to consider the sustainability of their living and working situations in response to environmental stressors like heat, hurricane, and drought. For many, this results in the difficult decision to migrate elsewhere, a process with a whole host of its own challenges. Dean Kelley speaks with Professors Kerilyn Schewel and Sarah Bermeo about emerging climate migration patterns and how research might better inform policy.

Guests:

Sarah Bermeo: Associate Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University; Associate Professor of Political Science at Duke University; Director of Graduate Studies of the Master of International Development Policy in the Sanford School; Authored 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.

Climate Migration

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 a lot of messages about government, public policy, and society. They've worked with two dozen leading scholars to explore these themes in a new book.

Guests: Lilly Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University, and Nicholas Carnes is professor of public policy a at Duke. Their book is The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Kansas University Press, 2022).

Subscribe to Policy 360: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/policy-360/id1170662136
Transcript & resources: https://policy360.org/2023/03/16/ep-145-politics-mcu/

The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Maria Ressa has faced government arrests and online assaults for her work to “hold the line” and tell the truth. 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.

Maria Ressa fights for justice – often in the courts. She has fought numerous court cases brought against her by the Philippine government. Two of those cases are currently pending. She joins us to provides important lessons from her work that can be guideposts for a better world in the future.

Subscribe to Policy 360: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poli…60/id1170662136

Transcript & resources: policy360.org/2024/04/02/ep-153-civil-discourse/

A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa

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.

Subscribe to Policy 360: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poli…60/id1170662136

Transcript & resources:

The Age of Grievance

Recently New York Times fact-checkers compared a single stump speech from both U.S. presidential candidates and found former President Trump made 64 false or inaccurate statements in his speech while Vice President Kamala Harris made six such statements.

Sometimes the lies politicians tell are outrageous, like Trump alleging Haitian immigrants to the US are eating Americans pets (untrue). Harris recently alleged that, when Trump was president, he tried to end the Affordable Care Act 60 times (untrue - the Times said the number 60 referred to the "number of votes taken in Congress to change the health care law … The vast majority of those efforts preceded Mr. Trump’s presidency.”)

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.

Guest host: Phil Napoli, Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/election-2024-lying-politics-podcast

Election 2024: Lying In Politics

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.

Guest host: Alison Jones of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/how-seeing-each-other-can-combat-polarization-podcast/

Election 2024: How Seeing Each Other Can Combat Polarization

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. 

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/election-2024-towards-more-civil-discourse/

Election 2024: Towards More Civil Discourse

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 Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy’s 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.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/why-everybody-so-interested-greenland-and-arctic-podcast/

Why is Everybody So Interested in Greenland and the Arctic?

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. His book called “Social Media and the Public Interest, Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age” 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.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/when-those-who-lead-own-your-feed-podcast/

Does Ownership of Social Platforms Matter?

At the Table with Tony is a series of conversations with Tony Brown, Professor Emeritus at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Tony is facing significant health challenges, and he is clear about his 2025 priorities. In addition to prioritizing his wife, Teddie, and his family, nurturing a generative, “grow together” friendship community that creates benefits for others is an important 2025 aspiration. At the Table with Tony helps him do that. 

In this episode, Tony Brown has a conversation with Dan Kimberg about the importance of defining the life you want to live and living it. In Tony’s Social Entrepreneurship in Action class at Duke University 20 years ago, Dan and two classmates created a compelling plan to launch Student U, a nonprofit organization intended to support first-generation students in Durham, North Carolina.  Student U continues to be a great success story in Durham, and Dan’s relationship with Tony has evolved from being a student in his class to a cherished friendship. 

https://sanford.duke.edu/news-events/podcasts/table-tony/

Define the Life You Want to Live: Tony Brown & Dan Kimberg

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.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/explainer-what-dismantling-department-education-really-means-podcast

Explainer: What Dismantling the Department of Education Really Means

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 Manjo Mohanan, Interim Dean of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, about the CFPB and what dismantling it could mean for Americans. 

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/explainer-what-dismantling-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-will-cost-americans-podcast

Explainer: What Dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Will Cost Americans

It's not your imagination, the price of housing has skyrocketed in recent years. Scholars estimate we are currently short between two and five million homes nationwide. Warren Lowell joins us today to talk about the situation and potential solutions. Warren spent the last several years immersed in housing policy as part of his PhD studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. For one research project, he interviewed real estate developers and investors. He joins Sanford interim Dean Manoj Mohanan podcast to talk about what he found.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/keys-tackling-us-housing-crisis

Keys to Tackling the U.S. Housing Crisis

The United States 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.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/immigrants-built-america-can-we-keep-building-without-them-podcast/

Immigrants Built America, Can We Keep Building Without Them?

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. 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. Our host for this episode is Phil Napoli, director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke.

Subscribe, transcript, resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/gerrymandering-new-era-re-districting-battles-podcast

Gerrymandering: A New Era of Re-districting Battles

Welcome to the second season of At the Table with Tony, a series of conversations with Tony Brown, Professor Emeritus at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Facing a health scare, Tony first turned to podcasting to stay connected with more than a thousand former students and friends. The goal is to continue to nurture a generative, “grow together” friendship community that creates benefits for others.

Seaon 2 is hosted by Duke Senior Riley Reece: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-reece-329304290/
Subscribe! https://sanford.duke.edu/news-events/podcasts/table-tony/

At the Table with Tony, Season 2 Welcome

Data centers are huge structures. They 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. But data centers also prompt a lot of environmental concerns from pollution to massive water consumption. Today, we're going to talk about a new report that says big data centers run by huge companies like Amazon and Google could actually be good for the environment in a key way - they could use their power for good and become mobilizers of clean energy and updated grids. The report’s authors are Merritt Cahoon and Ian Hitchcock from the Deep Tech at Duke Initiative. 

Subscribe/transcript/resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/yes-data-center-next-door-can-be-good-neighbor-podcast

Yes, the Data Center Next Door Can Be a Good Neighbor

In a funny way, knowing when it’s time to make a decision can be tricky. For Tony Brown, he starts to feel irritated and adds notes to a folder calls “things that bug me.” Those notes usually lead to decisions. Today, Tony talks with executive and career coach Kelly Brown. She knows a decision is looming when she feels angst and frustration. Then she’ll ask herself a question: “If I’m doing exactly the same thing in five years, how will I feel?”  It’s a question that has “unlocked so much awareness for me in so many ways,” Kelly says. She also asks this: “What is at the heart of the conflict and what is it that I really want? What am I really looking for?”  (And don’t forget, a non-decision is a decision too!)

Subscribe to At the Table with Tony: sanford.duke.edu/news-events/podcasts/table-tony/

How Do You Know When Change is Calling?: Tony Brown & Kelly Brown

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.  

Subscribe/transcript/resources: https://sanford.duke.edu/story/ai-music-singing-canary-coal-mine

AI Music is Singing Like a Canary in a Coal Mine

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.
Subscribe/transcript/resources:  https://sanford.duke.edu/story/conversation-16th-administrator-epa-michael-regan-podcast

A Conversation with the 16th Administrator of the EPA Michael Regan

Many people talk about work/life balance. It’s something that bugs Tony Brown a bit because the phrase implies that work is not highly meaningful – and that meaning comes from life, not work. “For my story, work has been a tremendous source of meaning,” Tony says. He encourages others to find balance, not by finding meaning at work, but by creating meaning in work. Tony is joined by Dani Zapotoczny who graduated from Duke with a public policy degree which led her to Hollywood and work on a major motion picture. What she found most meaningful in that experience may surprise you.

Subscribe to At the Table with Tony: sanford.duke.edu/news-events/podcasts/table-tony/

Meaning and Work: Tony Brown & Dani Zapotoczny

On this episode of Ways & Means: how listening carefully to what seniors want when they’re dying could lead - surprisingly – to cost-savings for big government systems like Medicare. 
Website: www.waysandmeansshow.org/

A Beautiful Death

On this episode of Ways & Means: the paradox of gender equality. We look at how women gained a political voice in the U.S. and then - surprisingly - in some ways lost it. http://www.waysandmeansshow.org/

Women in Politics – Shout or Whisper?

On this episode of Ways and Means: How lessons learned in the tobacco wars are guiding a new public health fight: the battle against sugar hidden in our foods. 
www.waysandmeansshow.org/

Sugar Fix

On this episode of Ways & Means, we explore one of the most vexing issues in politics - how to get more ordinary people to run for office. 
www.waysandmeansshow.org/

The Extraordinary Search for Ordinary Politicians

On this episode of Ways & Means, what gets in the way of innovation in government?  And what do we need to know about ourselves to make something new work? Guests include Professor Dan Ariely of the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University.
www.waysandmeansshow.org/
Subscribe to the podcast! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ways-means/id1061406250?mt=2

Dan Ariely, Government Innovation

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 Columbine, 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. Her books are Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America and The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Subscribe to Policy 360 www.policy360.org
More about Kristin Goss https://kristingoss.com/
Image: Lane Becker/Creative Commons
Music: Blue Dot Sessions/Creative Commons

The Missing Gun Control Movement

Medicaid is one of the largest social welfare programs in the United States. With over 70 million people enrolled, it covers 20% 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.

Her book is Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: http://social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts
Read the episode transcript: https://sites.duke.edu/policy360/2019/11/08/ep-99-the-connection-between-medicaid-and-democracy/
More info: https://www.jamilamichener.net/
Music: Vittoro and Thannoid by Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Image: Jamila Michener

The Connection Between Medicaid and Democracy

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.

Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts

Read the episode transcript: https://policy360.org/2020/10/08/ep-113-telling-the-stories-behind-chinas-biggest-political-developments/

Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

Telling the Stories Behind China's Biggest Political Developments

Elections are the bedrock of our democracy, but for so many of us the process around the ballot box, is a black box –a total mystery. This year, the doubts and uncertainties surrounding the election are at an all-time high as our circumstances are forcing massive changes in our normal election experience. This episode takes a look behind the curtain to see what actually happens during elections and just how your vote counts and is counted.

Sanford Dean Judith Kelley is joined by perhaps the most qualified person to talk about the election process in North Carolina, because he heads the team that makes it all happen. Damon Circosta is the Chair of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, the state agency in charge of administering the elections process and monitoring campaign finance disclosure and compliance.

Voting information for those in the Duke community: https://vote.duke.edu/

Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts

Read the episode transcript: https://policy360.org/2020/10/21/ep-114-everything-you-need-to-know-about-voting-in-north-carolina/

Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/
Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

Everything You Need to Know About Voting in North Carolina

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/

The Day After Election Day: An Expert Recap

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

Read episode transcript: https://policy360.org/2020/11/20/ep-116-engaging-the-evil-empire/

Music: Blue Dot Sessions freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/

Music licensed under Creative Commons Attribution creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

Engaging the Evil Empire

When professor Anne-Maria Makhulu returned to South Africa to start her research in the late 1990's, the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission was just beginning to start it's work. She says that while the newly established transparency was important for understanding the workings of the government during apartheid, the commission's function was largely symbolic.

"It concretely didn't address the needs of the vast majority of South Africans who had suffered forms of systemic and structural violence, not the kind of violence that a human rights framework would address." In her research as a cultural anthropologist, Makhulu seeks to untangle the racial and class disparities that still exist in South Africa despite the transition to a Black-majority, democratic government.

Anne-Maria Makhulu is an associate professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies at Duke University. She also belongs to core faculty in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and has an appointment in the department of Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies. In her first book, Making Freedom: Apartheid, Squatter Politics, and the Struggle for Home, Makhulu explores illegal settlements and squatting practices outside of Cape Town just after the end of apartheid. She is currently working on another book called South Africa After the Rainbow: Aspiration, Ambition, and Social Mobility.

Professor Makhulu joins Dean Judith Kelley on this episode of Policy 360 to compare the current racial and socioeconomic disparities of South African 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 [...]" 

Grab a copy of Makhulu's book: https://www.dukeupress.edu/making-freedom

Subscribe to the Policy 360 podcast: social.sanford.duke.edu/Policy360_ApplePodcasts

Read the episode transcript: https://policy360.org/2020/12/03/ep-117-south-africa-after-the-rainbow/
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: https://sanford.duke.edu/

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