Lytt til Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Marc Dunkelman, Watson Institute fellow in International and Public Affairs and author of the new book “Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back.” In the book, Dunkelman explores how American progressives transformed from a movement dedicated to ambitious, effective, centralized government projects (think the New Deal or Medicaid) into a movement dedicated to limiting government power.  As Marc explains, this wasn’t an intentional project but the result of overlapping, competing impulses within the progressive movement and a cultural shift with progressivism in the 20th century, whose effects took decades to fully materialize.  In charting this transformation and its effects, Dunkelman explains why today, even when in power, progressives seem unable to achieve their own goals, from increasing housing supply to upgrading infrastructure to decarbonizing our energy grid. He also explains how this shift has shaped our electoral politics and what progressives can do to help get progressivism (and America) working again.  Learn more about and purchase “Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back.” [https://www.perseusbooks.com/titles/marc-j-dunkelman/why-nothing-works/9781541700215/]

In 2022, OpenAI, Inc. launched a free version of its software ChatGPT, ushering in a new phase in the widespread use of artificial intelligence. Since then, a constant stream of breakthroughs in AI tech by a handful of companies has made clear that artificial intelligence will reshape our planet more profoundly and more quickly than many of us imagined. Some of these promised changes are thrilling. Just as many, it seems, are terrifying.  So, how should we think about the impact AI will have on us all, especially when it comes to the most fundamental questions of humanity's shared future? According to Watson Institute Senior Fellow Malika Saada Saar, to make sure AI serves us all, we can’t be too scared of it. In fact, it’s all of our responsibility to use it and understand it.  “It's important that all of us be able to have curiosity about the technology and to be able to interact with it. Because if the fourth industrial revolution becomes technology that's only utilized by the few, it's very dangerous,” Saar told Dan Richards on this episode of “Trending Globally.”  Saar is a human rights lawyer who, before coming to Watson, served as the Global Head of Human Rights for YouTube. On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with her about how human rights law intersects with big tech and about the risks and opportunities AI poses for the future of human rights. Transcript coming soon to our website [https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/]

In the 19th century, about one in three Americans moved every year. In the 1960s, that figure had shrunk to one in five  In 2023, it was one in 13.  In other words, a smaller percentage of Americans are moving today than they have at any time in our history. As Yoni Appelbaum, historian and deputy executive editor at The Atlantic makes clear in his book, “Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity,” this change has played a devastating role in many of the most pressing issues Americans face, from income inequality to economic mobility to political polarization. On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Appelbaum about why Americans stopped moving, why that’s a problem for all of us, and what we can do to revive this key component of growth and opportunity in the U.S. Learn more about and purchase “Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity” [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700580/stuck-by-yoni-appelbaum/]

On February 23, Germans went to the polls. While the establishment center-right CDU/CSU alliance won the largest share of votes, the results revealed a country experiencing profound political and social change. The far-right AfD party received an unprecedented 20% of the vote, while the incumbent center-left party, the SPD, suffered its worst loss in over 100 years.  So, what does this election tell us about Europe’s largest economy? And as the Trump administration continues to upend U.S.-European relations, and the war in Ukraine challenges Europe’s own sense of security and stability, what will this new governing coalition mean for an international order that, for the first time in decades, has the U.S. and Europe on seemingly divergent paths?  On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with Watson political scientist and Europe expert Nick Ziegler to help make sense of this election and to place it in the broader context of European politics and global security.

On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Tyler Jost, a political scientist and assistant professor at the Watson Institute.  Tyler is an expert on international security and Chinese foreign policy, and his new book “Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation,” explores how leaders (in China and beyond) make decisions about when and how to engage in military conflict. Are there open channels of communication between a country’s leaders and security advisors? Are there forums for debate and disagreement? And what can be done to actually help leaders make better decisions? In one sense, the questions the book explores are timeless. But Jost’s book feels especially timely at this moment, as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. and China, and the world adjusts once again to an American president unmoored by traditional norms and institutions. The stakes of military conflict today have never been higher, and the need for clear, accurate analysis of the costs and benefits of military actions is more important than ever. And as Jost explains in this episode: there are lessons from history for how to help leaders make better decisions when it comes to national security. Let’s just hope those in power are willing to learn them.  * Learn more about and purchase “Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation" [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bureaucracies-at-war/ACFCE1F8DA53552F5F7AC7F872CE2C2B]  * Transcript coming soon to our website [https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/] * Questions? Send us an email at trendingglobally@brown.edu [trendingglobally@brown.edu]