PolicyCast | Harvard Kennedy School

How do you turn protest into policy? Three HKS experts discuss the aftermath of the historic Women’s March on Washington this past January, and explain what needs to happen next in order to translate that activism into real policy changes. Featuring HKS Assistant Professor Leah Wright Rigueur, Women and Public Policy Program Executive Director Victoria Budson, and HKS Adjunct Lecturer Tim McCarthy.

As Donald Trump prepares to take office, three HKS faculty members discuss the challenges he’ll face in pursuing his unique brand of politics on the world stage. Featuring former US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, former Department of Homeland Security Official Juliette Kayyem and Foreign Policy Columnist Stephen Walt.

Sushma Raman, executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights and adjunct lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School, digs into the challenges facing human rights organizations on both the international and local levels and how they are rising up to meet the challenge.

HKS Professor Sheila Jasanoff urges us to closely consider the ways technologies have come to govern our lives, and question if unbridled technological innovation is inherently a good thing, or if it’s worth taking a step back before we make the next giant leap.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy discusses the challenges posed by the growing crisis of opioid addiction in the United States, how to combat the over-prescription of painkillers, and the importance of eliminating the stigma that often surrounds addiction. He also discusses how his advocacy on public health issues will continue during the Trump administration. Murthy was on campus thanks to the Center for Public Leadership, the Wiener Center, and the HKS Healthcare Policy Program to deliver the Seymour E. and Ruth B. Harris Lecture at the JFK Jr. Forum.

Nancy Lindborg, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace, discusses the development of practical tools that empower communities around the world to avoid violent conflict before it starts, and de-escalate where violence has already erupted.

Dr. Amanda Sloat, former US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs, explains the situation in Turkey, just a few months removed from a military coup attempt, as it grapples with stark internal political divisions, violent conflicts in neighboring Syria and Iraq, an influx of millions of refugees and increasingly tense alliances with the United States and European Union.

Chuck Hagel, former US secretary of defense, discusses what motivated him to pursue military and public service, and examines how military service is regarded in modern American society. Secretary Hagel is at the Kennedy School as a joint visiting fellow at the Institute of Politics and Belfer Center.

HKS Associate Professor Todd Rogers demonstrates the drastic emotional impact electoral wins and losses have on political partisans, influencing their overall happiness even more than national tragedies. He also discusses our tendency to believe in a favorable future and introduces the concept of paltering, which describes the active use of truthful statements to mislead.

HKS Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad makes the case that modern hot-button issues like race and policing as well as mass incarceration are fundamentally rooted in a widespread failure to fully educate Americans about their country’s racial history.

Peter Quilter, a non-resident fellow at the Kennedy School’s Ash Center, details the internal state of affairs in Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba, revealing that despite the unique nature of each country’s problems, their futures are all interconnected.

HKS Professor Alex Keyssar offers an historical perspective to modern worries about rigged elections, weighing the prevention of voter fraud against the risk of voter suppression.

Iranian journalist Yeganeh Rezaian, a Fall 2016 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, discusses the challenges she faced as a reporter in her home country, and describes the common thread that joins her experience with that of journalists, especially women, across the Middle East. She then offers advice to young reporters interested in reporting from the region.

HKS Lecturer Siddharth Kara of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy explains how his research into the tens of millions of girls around the world who have been forced into sexual slavery led him to Hollywood, where he wrote and produced the new feature film “Trafficked.” The film, based on true stories, follows three enslaved teens who end up in a Texas brothel after being trafficked across the globe.

HKS Professor Thomas Patterson, author of an ongoing series of reports out of the Shorenstein Center on the media's coverage of the 2016 election cycle, discusses what he sees as troubling consequences of how the press approaches reporting on the campaign.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warns against the trend of young activists attempting to achieve their aims outside the system rather than from within it; discusses the emerging relevance of non-state actors in the international system; offers her take on a proposed wall along the US/Mexico border; and encourages Americans to welcome in more Syrian refugees.

HKS Lecturer Juliette Kayyem, a national security expert and author of “Security Mom,” digs into the “Goldilocks” problem of security in the United States, analyzing whether the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) is worth the cost and hassle to air travelers; providing historical context to US approaches to safety and security; and explaining why national security is shaping up to become the central theme in the 2016 presidential general election, and what that means for the candidates.

US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James discusses the return of the Air Force's Reserve Officer Training Corps to Harvard; how remotely piloted drones have affected the United States' modern approach to warfare; whether serious issues regarding the command and control of US nuclear weapons have been adequately addressed; why the modernization of the nuclear arsenal is worth the $1 trillion it is expected to cost; and how the Air Force can foster more diversity in its ranks.

Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Counselor of the US State Department, gives her perspective on leadership in diplomacy, drawing on her experience as US ambassador to Ecuador, Thailand and the Philippines. She discusses what traits are most important, how she assembles her staff, why she became an avid social media user, and how technology will continue to change how the diplomatic corps operates.

Dr. Howard Koh, former Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services and professor at both the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and the Kennedy School, counters the popular perception that the fight against tobacco has been won, stressing that every day in the United States, thousands more teenagers pick up the habit. He discusses the new frontier opened up by e-cigarettes, recent efforts across the country to raise the smoking age to 21, and new regulations that have banned smokeless tobacco in several major league baseball stadiums.

Northeastern Professor Dan Kennedy, a spring 2016 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, describes the fates of three newspapers, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Orange County Register, that were bought in recent years by individuals with significant financial means but little background in journalism. He explains the differing approaches each paper has taken to find a sustainable business model, discusses how the models have impacted the quality of reporting, and interprets what other news organizations might learn from their examples.

Ambassador Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American to serve as US ambassador to China, reflects on how his personal and family history influenced his approach to diplomacy, both with China and with his own constituents.

Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times and current Harvard lecturer, discusses media coverage of both sides of the 2016 presidential campaign, relating her experiences reporting on presidential races since 1976.

BBC Reporter Joanna Jolly, currently a Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, discusses her research into the aftermath of the infamous Delhi gang rape in 2012. She describes the various ways in which news outlets covered the story and how they influenced the Indian society’s response.

HKS Professor Bill Clark describes the rapidly growing field of sustainability science, which combines a variety of disciplines in both the hard and social sciences to find paths towards a sustainable future.

HKS Professor Jeffrey Liebman, Director of the Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab, explains how Pay For Success, also known as Social Impact Bonds, allow governments to test out new social programs without risking taxpayer funds if they fail.

Michael Sulmeyer, director of the Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project, discusses the US government’s efforts to defend against cyber threats in the context of the legal battle between the FBI and Apple over its encryption methods.

HKS Professor Robert Lawrence explains what the Trans-Pacific Partnership is, how it could transform the global economy, what makes it controversial, and why its ratification has sparked a heated political discussion within both parties.

HKS Professor Iris Bohnet, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at HKS, discusses some of the lessons in her new book, What Works: Gender Equality By Design. Through both academic studies and anecdotes, she explains how gender equality is often prevented by unconscious biases that can’t be unlearned, but that can be diminished significantly by even small changes in the way we do things. She further details the business case for gender equality, which isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

Vera Mironova, a research fellow at the Belfer Center’s International Security Program and the Woman and Public Policy Program, explains the cascading series of choices people face when war descends on their communities. Her surveys of frontline fighters in Syria and Ukraine help paint a picture of not just why they choose to fight, but also whom they fight for.

Eve Ensler, the Tony Award-winning author of the Vagina Monologues and a veteran activist, explains how she believes art is always political, and it’s incumbent on everyone to recognize this and stand for causes they support. She discusses her efforts to create and rally the V-Day and One Billion Rising movements, which seek to improve the lives of women around the world. Ensler was on campus for the 2015 Gleitsman International Activist Award ceremony, put on by the Center for Public Leadership.

HKS Professor Bruce Western, Chair of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, explains how the prison population in the United States has quintupled since the 1970s and advocates for changes to the penal code to better deal with deep-rooted social problems.

Chris Nowinski of the Concussion Legacy Foundation makes the case that head trauma in contact sports, and football in particular, is a serious public health issue that requires action by policymakers and parents alike.

IOP Fellow Brent Colburn discusses the differences between campaigning and governing, drawing on his experiences both at the pentagon and on a presidential campaign to compare and contrast. He goes on to explain how the Department of Defense integrates public affairs into its decision making, how government agencies can adopt some of the more entrepreneurial aspects of campaigns, and how agencies can change to attract the talent required to tackle challenges like cyber threats.

David Ensor, former director of Voice of America and current Fall 2015 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, explains why Voice Of America is a key instrument in the projection of US soft power and how the organization’s commitment to objective journalism, as opposed to being an advocate for US policies, is vital to its success.

HKS Professor Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements out of the Belfer Center, explains why the COP21 in Paris is a critical step in addressing anthropogenic global climate change. He discusses the history of past climate summits and lays out both his markers for success and potential impediments to a deal. More from Professor Stavins and other Kennedy School scholars can be found at http://hkscop21paris.tumblr.com.

Marie Sanz, former bureau chief for the AFP in Lima, Peru and a Fall 2015 Joan Shorenstein fellow at the Shorenstein Center, describes how the announcement of normalized relations between the US and Cuba took the world ­ and the press, in particular ­ by surprise. She explains how talks between the two countries unfolded with help from Pope Francis, and discusses both the possibilities and obstacles ahead, especially regarding free speech and human rights issues.

Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, Research Director at the Harvard FXB Center for Health & Human Rights, discusses the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe and how the recent terrorist attacks in Paris might reshape policy regarding the resettlement of Syrian refugees in both Europe and the United States.

Bob Schieffer, former host of CBS News’s Face the Nation and current Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, explains the enduring popularity of the Sunday morning political talk show, offers his take on what he calls “the most different” presidential campaign in his long memory, and recounts some of his favorite stories from the campaign trail.

HKS Adjunct Lecturer Ronald Ferguson emphasizes the importance of looking beyond standardized test results and measuring students’ sense of agency - the belief that they have the capacity to succeed - in order to address lingering achievement gaps.

HKS Associate Professor David Yanagizawa-Drott’s quantitative analysis of three seemingly disparate topics shows the power of protests to change policy, the power of propaganda to induce violence and the power of religion to create happiness despite reducing GDP. You can read more on Professor Yanagizawa-Drott’s research on the HKS Faculty Research Connection website: https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/faculty_name.aspx?PersonId=256

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust discusses what drew her to the study of history; her role as a student activist in the civil rights movement in Selma; how her experience as an activist shapes her leadership now; her advice to young people who are trying to balance public service and career goals; and how universities can help students make those choices.

HKS Professor John Ruggie, who has twice served in senior roles at the United Nations, describes how the UN was able to leverage its convening power to create an unprecedented set of "Guiding Principles" for corporate responsibility on human rights issues. He also speaks to the growing role international sporting organizations like FIFA and the Olympics will need to play in bolstering human rights.

Peiran Wei, a 2015 China and Globalization Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and former Bloomberg reporter, describes his country as "switching gears" – in its economy, its politics, and its culture. Wei discusses attitudes towards the rising billionaire class in China, the impact of China’s capital outflow around the globe, and the importance of social stability to the Communist Party.

Christopher Herbert, managing director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, explains whether there’s reason for concern about the state of the US housing market, which has been beset by falling homeownership rates, rising rents, stalling incomes and demographic shifts that threaten to exacerbate trends towards inequality. If you’d like to learn more, you can read the 2015 State of the Nation’s Housing Report at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies website: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/state_nations_housing

The Harvard Kennedy School PolicyCast is an ongoing conversation on public policy, governance and global issues featuring weekly 15-20 minute discussions hosted by Matt Cadwallader with prominent thought leaders, researchers and decision makers.

Retired US Army Gen. David Petraeus, a non-resident senior fellow at the Belfer Center, explains why he believes a combination of four technological revolutions will lead to a renewed era of American power. Not just for the United States, but for Canada and Mexico, too. He details the steps he believes the United States must take to take advantage of its position at the head of each technological advancement. Gen. Petraeus also offers his perspective on the aftermath of the Iran nuclear deal, whether the United States can work with Iran regarding ISIS and the Syrian civil war, why the US should be wary of Iran’s increasingly cozy relationship with Russia, and how US strategy needs to adapt in the fight against ISIS. You can read the general’s report, co-authored with Paras D. Bhayani, titled “The Next Great Emerging Market? Capitalizing on North America’s Four Interlocking Revolutions” on the Belfer Center’s website: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/The%20Next%20Great%20Emerging%20Market%20FINAL.pdf Hear the interview mentioned in the show’s intro featuring Prof. Joseph Nye: https://soundcloud.com/harvard/joe-nye-on-presidential?in=harvard/sets/policycast

Gary Samore, President Obama’s former principal advisor on arms control and nuclear proliferation who currently serves as the Director for Research at the Belfer Center, gives his take on the agreement struck between Iran and a group of world powers referred to as the P5+1 to restrict and monitor Iran’s nuclear research and development program. He explains why he supports the pact, what concessions he’s most worried about, why he doesn’t believe Iran will be able to cheat, why Iran’s enhanced economic power won’t destabilize the region, and why United States allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia should have less reason to worry.

Nick Sinai, formerly a U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House and currently a Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy fellow at the Shorenstein Center, describes in detail the effort the Obama administration has put into modernizing the federal government’s digital services, both by opening up data to public and private groups, as well as to individual citizens by creating comprehensive online portals to access government services.

Former Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa and the Middle East Institute’s Dr. Paul Salem discuss Tunisia’s relative success in establishing a stable democracy in the wake of the Arab Spring. Jomaa, who recently delivered an address at the JFK Jr. Forum, and Salem, who lead a seminar at the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative, go into detail about how Tunisia’s strong national identity, existing civil service society and commitment to a secular government have set it apart.