AshCast

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Citizen Ballot Initiatives: A New Tool for Election Reform Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

The last several years have seen the growing and successful use of citizen-initiated ballot initiatives to win major election reforms. Some of the most successful, well-funded, and engaging campaigns have had unlikely initiators: small groups of everyday Americans fed up with waiting for someone else to take on an issue and deciding to do it themselves.

On Thursday, March 4th, the Ash Center hosted a discussion titled, "Citizen Ballot Initiatives: A New Tool for Election Reform" featuring organizers of successful citizen-driven campaigns from different parts of the country:

Chris Melody Fields-Figueredo, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center
Katie Fahey, Executive Director, The People, Michigan
Desmond Meade, Executive Director, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
Cara McCormick, Co-Founder, Committee for Ranked Choice Voting in Maine
Dina Butcher, Co-Founder, Badass Grandmas of North Dakota
Carolyn Lukensmeyer (Moderator), Board Member, National Institute of Civil Discourse

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and Q&As with experts, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

The mission of the Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Political Geographies of the Populist Right Mar 01, 2021

Show notes

Support for populist right-wing parties and candidates has increased considerably across the globe in recent years. In addition to this overall rise in support, receptiveness towards the exclusionary, reactionary rhetoric and policies of Bolsonaro, Trump, Modi or their European counterparts all have their own distinct electoral geographies.

On Tuesday, February 23rd, Ash Center Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow Pauliina Patana and a global panel of experts discussed how to make sense of these deep geographic divides, similarities, and differences in spatial patterns across countries, strategies parties are using to mobilize voters across space and place, and other pertinent questions.

Panelists included:

Dr. Terri Givens, Founder and CEO, The Center for Higher Education Leadership
Prof. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, School of Political Science, Diego Portales University
Prof. Tariq Thachil, Associate Professor and Director of Center for Advanced Study of India and Madan Lal Sobti Chair for the Study of Contemporary India, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Pauliina Patana (Moderator), Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

The transcript for this episode is online here.

About the Ash Center

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Myanmar After the Coup Feb 24, 2021

Show notes

The February 1st coup launched by Myanmar's military effectively put an end to the country's tentative transition to democracy as civilian political leaders were imprisoned and the results of the 2020 elections annulled. On Friday, February 19th, the Ash Center hosted a discussion titled Myanmar After the Coup. Joining the Center to discuss these recent events in Myanmar and what they portend for the country's future were Pwint Htun, Non-Residential Myanmar Program Fellow at the Ash Center and Derek Mitchell, president of the National Democratic Institute and former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar. The conversation was moderated by Tarek Masoud, Professor of Public Policy and Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations at HKS.

The transcript for this episode is online here.

About the Ash Center

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Data-Smart City Pod: Improving Life in Southern California with GIS and Data Feb 24, 2021

Show notes

In the first episode of Data-Smart City Pod, Professor Steve Goldsmith talks with Rex Richardson and Darin Chidsey, respectively the president and chief operating officer of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). They discuss SCAG’s regional data platform, one of the most interesting models in the country of using multi-jurisdictional GIS and data to improve quality of life for Southern Californians.

About Data-Smart City Pod

New from the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Data-Smart City Pod brings on top innovators and leading industry, academic, and government officials to discuss data, innovation, and government. This podcast serves as a central resource for cities and individuals interested in the intersection of government and innovations, the adoption of data projects on the local government level, and how to become data smart. Hosted by Stephen Goldsmith, former Deputy Mayor of New York, Mayor of Indianapolis, and current Professor at Harvard Kennedy School.

Subscribe to the Ash Center wherever you get your podcasts for future Data-Smart City Pod episodes.

Music credit: Summer-Man by Ketsa

About Data-Smart City Solutions

Data-Smart City Solutions, housed at the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School, is working to catalyze the adoption of data projects on the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field. We highlight best practices, top innovators, and promising case studies while also connecting leading industry, academic, and government officials. Our research focus is the intersection of government and data, ranging from open data and predictive analytics to civic engagement technology. We seek to promote the combination of integrated, cross-agency data with community data to better discover and preemptively address civic problems. To learn more visit us online and follow us on Twitter.

About the Ash Center

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Election Legislation in the States: Moving Forward or Backward? Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

The 2020 elections hinged, in dramatic ways, on widely varying state laws and state election procedures. Major changes were made in light of the pandemic, to expand options for mail-in and early voting and to Election Day itself. These changes engendered strong support and strong opposition, and were one reason for the record turnout of 160 million voters. Now, state legislatures are in session all around the country. Will the changes adopted in 2020 be made permanent? Will voting options be expanded further? Or will states seek to roll back voting opportunities as a result?

On Thursday, February 18th, the Ash Center hosted a discussion titled Moving Forward or Moving Backward: Election Legislation in the States with leading state election experts and state legislators to see where things stand, and where they might go. Tune into the discussion featuring:

Dale Ho, Director of the Voting Rights Project, ACLU
Nan Grogan Orrock, State Senator, Georgia
Wendy Underhill, Director of Elections and Redistricting, National Conference of State Legislatures
Miles Rapoport (Moderator), Senior Practice Fellow of American Democracy, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation

The transcript for this episode is online here.

About the Ash Center

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Can We Break Out of the Two-Party Doom Loop? Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

The January 6 Capitol insurrection shows that the United States is facing exceptional challenges to our democracy. Lee Drutman, Senior Fellow in the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation, thinks that our two-party system is a root cause of that dysfunction. Although we have had a two-party system in name for many decades, there were divisions and overlaps between parties that created room for bargaining, compromise, crossing over, and even unity. In our current state of hyper-polarization, however, the two parties are fully sorted, and this give-and-take has eroded into a death-match. According to Drutman, our democracy will not succeed unless we can escape this two-party doom loop.

On Wednesday, February 10th, during an Ash Center event titled Can We Break Out of the Two-Party Doom Loop?, Drutman and Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, will discussed our two-party system and potential strategies for a critical, non-incremental move away from our dysfunctional "politics as usual."

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and experts Q&As, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Coming Soon - The Data-Smart City Pod Feb 17, 2021

Show notes

Subscribe to the Ash Center wherever you get your podcasts for future Data-Smart City Pod episodes.

Music credit: Summer-Man by Ketsa

About Data-Smart City Solutions

Data-Smart City Solutions, housed at the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School, is working to catalyze adoption of data projects on the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field. We highlight best practices, top innovators, and promising case studies while also connecting leading industry, academic, and government officials. Our research focus is the intersection of government and data, ranging from open data and predictive analytics to civic engagement technology. We seek to promote the combination of integrated, cross-agency data with community data to better discover and preemptively address civic problems. To learn more visit us online and follow us on Twitter.

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and experts Q&As, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

State Capture Mar 01, 2020

Show notes

Most Americans pay little attention to the massive number of elections that occur at the state level every year. Yet cumulatively, a party's success in state-level races across the country can produce major shifts in policymaking and governance. That is precisely what has happened in the US since 2010. In a wave election that year, the Republican Party began their ascendancy in state-level elections, and by 2016 had solidified their dominance. The party now fully controls 25 state legislatures and governorships-one of the largest advantages either party has had since the New Deal.

On November 18, 2019, the Ash Center hosted a discussion with discussion with Alex Hertel-Fernandez, author of State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States -- and the Nation and Assistant Professor in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University, moderated.

A transcription of this podcast can be found online here.

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and experts Q&As, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Deliberative Democracy and Urban Policy Design in Buenos Aires Feb 28, 2020

Show notes

In recent years, Buenos Aires City Government has set out to become a more inclusive and sustainable city, with a priority of serving the city's most vulnerable populations. The Housing Authority of the City of Buenos Aires has designed an innovative Socio-Urban Integration Plan which makes focus in the process by seeking to involve the relevant actors in the decision making of the slum upgrading intervention.
There are many examples in the global experience in slum upgrading. Unlike these experiences, the particularity of the Buenos Aires City program is that it starts from the premise that the community will design and implement the plan. In practical terms, this means that instead of a top-down approach to design and implementation of the public policy, the government's action concentrates on building local capacity so that neighbors are able to engage actively in a dialogue with the government and other stakeholders to further common goals, and ultimately, have the opportunity to influence the actions that shape their lives.
This process started three years ago, and today more than 120,000 households are benefiting from this program. Important results not only include the improved access to essential infrastructure, housing, social services and loans for repayments of the housing, it also shows that when mechanisms of participation are well designed, deliberative democracy can be massive, profound and effective.

On Thursday, November 7th, the Ash Center hosted a discussion with Juan Ignacio Maquieyra MPP 2014, President of the Housing Authority of the City of Buenos Aires. Candelaria Garay, Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Democracy, HKS, moderated.

A transcription of this podcast can be found online here.

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and experts Q&As, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

Getting Out the Intersectional Vote: What Do Black Women Voters Want? Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

On Thursday, November 21st, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, and the Harvard Kennedy School Black Student Union hosted a discussion about the results from the 6th annual "Power of the Sister Vote” survey and how the priorities of Black women voters may shape key dimensions of the 2020 presidential race. Panelists included:

Melanie L. Campbell, President & CEO Convener, Black Women’s Roundtable
DeJuana Thompson, Creator of “Woke Vote” and Partner, Think Rubix
Kirsten West Savali, Senior Editor News & Politics at Essence
Kimberlyn Leary, Moderator, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management & Enabling Change Program Director, DrPH Program, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health | Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School | Executive Director of the Center of Excellence in Women’s Mental Health, McLean Hospital

A transcription of this podcast can be found online here.

About the Ash Center

The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and experts Q&As, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.

Visit the Ash Center online, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For updates on the latest research, events, and activities, please signup for our newsletter.

Music is Wholesome by Kevin McLeod.

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