Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

In the past 6 months (or maybe the last 5 years) Americans have been thinking about democracy and its fragility in entirely new ways. At the same time -- whether we’re talking about Poland, Turkey, or India -- it feels like democracy is on the edge around the world. But how big are these threats to democracy, actually? And how helpful is it to talk about all these different countries' experiences in the same discussion? On this episode Sarah Baldwin '87 talks with Rob Blair, a political scientist at Watson and founder of the Democratic Erosion Consortium. He’s been thinking about all these questions, and thankfully he has answers. You can learn more about the Democratic Erosion Consortium here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

On this episode, Watson Economics Professor Glenn Loury talks with writer Thomas Chatterton Williams. Williams’s 2010 memoir ‘Losing My Cool: Love, Literature, and a Black Man’s Escape from the Crowd,’ combined cultural criticism with his own personal story of falling in (and out) of love with hip hop culture growing up. His 2019 book ‘Self Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race,’ continued his exploration of issues at the intersection of race, culture, family, and his own story. Whatever your views, he and Glenn's discussion will be sure to challenge your assumptions about race, class, and identity in America. You can learn about and purchase 'Losing My Cool' here. You can learn more about and purchase 'Self Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race' here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

In April, President Biden announced that the US will pull all of its troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. On this episode Dan talks with Watson Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer about what this withdrawal might mean for Afghanistan -- and for the US. As Stephen makes clear, this news brings up questions about US foreign policy that are much bigger than any one conflict or country, and that will have ramifications for the entire world.You can learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts here.

After getting a master’s degree in public affairs at Watson, it’s common for folks to work in government, or with an NGO, or on a political campaign. Less common is what Anna Lenaker, from the Watson MPA class of 2020, did after graduating. She wrote a memoir. The book, titled ‘Able to Be Otherwise,’ tells the story of Anna’s turbulent childhood, growing up with a mother who suffered from overlapping struggles with mental health, poverty, and addiction. On this episode Sarah talks with Anna about her at-times-unbelievable journey from the streets of Tijuana, to fire-ravaged forests of California, to the halls of Brown University. In telling this story, she also provides a powerful argument for how we might re-envision the role of public policy in an interconnected world. You can learn more about -- and purchase -- ‘Able to Be Otherwise’ here or here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

On April 20, 2021, Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the death of George Floyd. But despite the overwhelming evidence -- including the infamous video of him kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes -- that verdict was hardly a foregone conclusion.On this episode Sarah talks with Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, associate professor of sociology at Brown, about why convicting police officers of crimes in the U.S. is so incredibly rare. Her 2016 book, “Crook County,” explores this question, and paints a picture of the overlapping forces that keep justice from being served when it’s directed at the police themselves. You can learn more about and purchase Crook County here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

On this episode, Sarah and Dan talk with scholars across Watson about the climate issues they think aren’t getting enough attention. The answers range from how climate change will affect warfare to the role international bribery might play in maintaining a habitable earth. Hopefully these conversations will leave you with lots to think about and underscore just how much our politics, policies, and futures depend on a healthy planet. Guests on today’s episode: Jori Breslawski, Jeff Colgan, Mark Blyth, and Patsy Lewis. You can learn more about Watson’s Climate Solutions Lab here. You can learn more about the Rhodes Center here. You can learn more about the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

In February, a colleague at the Watson Institute forwarded the team at Trending Globally an email from a former student. The subject line read: “I write to you in desperation and with my life at risk.”The email was sent from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. The man who sent it was not exaggerating.Myanmar is in the midst of violent unrest, which started when the country’s military staged a coup on February 1, 2021. Min (that's not his real name) has been part of the protests against the coup, and he’s been trying to get word out to the rest of the world about what’s happening in his country.On this episode: a conversation with Min about life during military coup, and a message from Myanmar.You can learn more about Watson's other podcasts here.

This is the fourth and final part in a special series from Trending Globally exploring the housing crisis in the United States, and in Rhode Island in particular. The crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as we’ll show, it’s a problem that has been with us for much, much longer.In this episode, we delve into Brown University's complicated relationship with the residential communities it touches. We explore the idea of housing not as a commodity but as a basic human right, and talk with people who are working to make that idea a reality. And we recommend ways that activists, politicians, and residents everywhere we can work toward equitably and affordably housing all Americans.Contributors to this podcast include students from Brown University and the media collective Signs of Providence. You can learn more about their organization here. Listen to Parts 1, 2, 3, and the series epilogue. You can learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts here.

2020 was a year defined by loss. Loss of life, of jobs, of opportunities. On this episode Sarah talks with Juliet Hooker, a political theorist and professor at Brown who has been thinking a lot about how feelings of loss affect not just our psyches, but our politics. Her newest book project, tentatively titled “Black Grief/White Grievance,” aims to shed light on how exactly these feelings intersect with matters of race, class, and history, and how they ripple out to our politics (for both good and bad) today. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ep0OFfCll8LbajR2ITb8x_b2cFVW2dd9/view?usp=sharing]

So many people have suffered as a result of the pandemic. But there’s one group who may pay the price for an especially long time: America’s children. As schools start to reopen this spring, and federal funds begin to flow into states and municipalities, what can we do to make up for kids’ social, emotional, and academic loss?Susanna Loeb, director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown, has some ideas. At the top of the list? Tutoring. To help spread what she and her team call “high-impact” tutoring to a wider range of communities, they’ve created The National Student Support Accelerator, a one-stop resource for schools and teachers to develop effective, long-term tutoring infrastructure in schools. On this episode, Sarah talks with Susanna about the definition of “high impact tutoring,” how to make it scale, and why it’s exactly what America’s students need right now. You can learn more about the National Student Support Accelerator here. You can read more about the story of its creation here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.