Intersections

Latest Episodes:

Economic mobility and racial inequities: How the next president can revive the American dream Oct 20, 2016

Show notes

As part of the Brookings Election 2016 project, the Brookings Podcast Network brings you a special edition episode in which Indira Lakshmanan, Washington columnist for the Boston Globe and contributor to Politico, moderates a conversation with Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow in Economic Studies, Richard Reeves, senior fellow in Economic Studies and co-director of the Center on Children and Families, and Dayna Bowen Matthew, visiting fellow in the Center for Health Policy, on ways that the next president should address issues of race and economic mobility.

Special thanks to the event moderator, Indira Lakshmanan, and the events team, Eric Bull, Adrianna Pita, and Camilo Ramirez. Additional thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo and producer Vanessa Sauter, and also thanks for additional support from Eric Abalahin, Jessica Pavone, Nawal Atallah, Basseem Maleki, and Rebecca Viser.

Full show notes available here: http://brook.gs/2exzcE5

Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, and send feedback email to intersections@brookings.edu.

Intersections is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

India on the international stage Oct 12, 2016

Show notes

Guest interviewer Tanvi Madan, fellow and director of the India Project in Foreign Policy, Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, distinguished fellow in Foreign Policy, and Dhruva Jaishankar, fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings India, examine India's foreign policy, particularly toward the U.S. and China, as well as its counter-terrorism approach in the wake of a cross-border attack on an Indian military position in Kashmir.

With thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo, Vanessa Sauter, Basseem Maleki, Fred Dews, and Richard Fawal.

Find the full show notes here: http://brook.gs/2dLmoL1

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu.

Political gridlock and the U.S. economy Sep 28, 2016

Show notes

Alice Rivlin, senior fellow in Economic Studies and the Center for Health Policy, and William Galston, senior fellow in Governance Studies, discuss the importance of bipartisanship in the United States and how current party divisions are detrimental to the economy.

With thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo, Vanessa Sauter, Basseem Maleki, Fred Dews, and Richard Fawal.

Full show notes available here: http://brook.gs/2cCAOyD

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu.

Hong Kong's elections: Testing democratic reform in China Sep 14, 2016

Show notes

In this episode of "Intersections," Richard Bush, senior fellow in Foreign Policy and the John L. Thornton China Center and director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies (CEAP), and Cheng Li, senior fellow in Foreign Policy and director of the John L. Thornton China Center, discuss the recent elections in Hong Kong, the independence movement, and China's one country, two systems governance policy.

With thanks to audio engineer Mark Hoelscher, Vanessa Sauter, Basseem Maleki, Fred Dews, and Richard Fawal.

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu.

Inclusive cities: Transportation and accessibility Aug 31, 2016

Show notes

Adie Tomer, fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, and Jeff Gutman, senior fellow in Global Economy and Development, discuss how to transform transportation policy with a focus on accessibility and how cities around the world are grappling with improving infrastructure and increasing access for people of all incomes.

Full show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/inclusive-cities-transportation-and-accessibility/

Thanks to audio engineer Mark Hoelscher, Vanessa Sauter, Fred Dews, and Richard Fawal.

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu.

Democracy in Turkey: Before and after the coup Aug 03, 2016

Show notes

In this episode of "Intersections," Kemal Kirişci, TÜSİAD senior fellow and director of the Center on the United States and Europe's Turkey Project, and Ted Piccone, senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program, examine Turkey's history of democracy and military coups, its relationship with the Middle East and the European Union, and the Gülenist movement's relationship with the Turkish government. They also discuss the future development of the country's governance under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

For the full show notes, visit: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/democracy-in-turkey-before-and-after-the-coup/

With thanks to audio engineer Mark Hoelscher, Carisa Nietsche, Sara Abdel-Rahim, Fred Dews and Richard Fawal.

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu

Venezuela in Crisis Jul 20, 2016

Show notes

In this episode of "Intersections," Harold Trinkunas, senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative, and Dany Bahar, fellow in Global Economy and Development, discuss Venezuela's political and economic crisis, and how it is the result not just of dropping oil prices, but of years of economic mismanagement.

For our full show notes, go to: http://www.brookings.edu/podcasts/2016/07/venezuela

With thanks to audio engineer and producer Zack Kulzer, Mark Hoelscher, Carisa Nietsche, Sara Abdel-Rahim, Jacob Saliba, Fred Dews and Richard Fawal.

Questions? Comments? Email us at intersections@brookings.edu

Civil wars and U.S. engagement the Middle East Jul 06, 2016

Show notes

"At the end of the day, we need to remember that Daesh is more a product of the civil wars than it is a cause of them. And the way that we're behaving is we're treating it as the cause. And the problem is that in places like Syria, in Iraq, potentially in Libya, we are mounting these military campaigns to destroy Daesh and we're not doing anything about the underlying civil wars. And the real danger there is—we have a brilliant military and they may very well succeed in destroying Daesh—but if we haven't dealt with the underlying civil wars, we'll have Son of Daesh a year later." – Ken Pollack

"Part of the problem is how we want the U.S. to be more engaged and more involved and what that requires in practice. We have to be honest about a different kind of American role in the Middle East. It means committing considerable economic and political resources to this region of the world that a lot of Americans are quite frankly sick of… There is this aspect of nation-building that is in part what we have to do in the Middle East, help these countries rebuild, but we can't do that on the cheap. We can't do that with this relatively hands off approach." – Shadi Hamid

In this episode of "Intersections," Kenneth Pollack, senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy and Shadi Hamid, senior fellow in the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World in the Center for Middle East Policy discuss the current state of upheaval in the Middle East, the Arab Spring, and the political durability of Islamist movements in the region. They also explain their ideas on how and why the United States should change its approach to the Middle East and areas of potential improvement for U.S. foreign policy in the region.

Show Notes

Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World

Fight or flight: America's choice in the Middle East

Security and public order

Islamists on Islamism today

Temptations of Power: Islamists & Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East

Ending the Middle East's civil wars

A Rage for Order: The Middle East in turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS

Building a better Syrian opposition army: How and why

With thanks to audio engineer and producer Zack Kulzer, Mark Hoelscher, Carisa Nietsche, Sara Abdel-Rahim, Eric Abalahin, Fred Dews and Richard Fawal.

Subscribe to the Intersections on iTunes, and send feedback email to intersections@brookings.edu.

College education and student debt: Evaluating the investment Jun 22, 2016

Show notes

"…A lot of the conversation around college education is that tuition is increasing very rapidly, debt is increasing very rapidly and what does that mean for everyone? If we take a bigger step back we want to reframe the discussion around higher education as the potential investment available to people in our economy to help them be more productive in the labor market and to help them have better financial lives themselves. So when we think about higher education, rather than focusing all on the costs like we have been doing with the focus on the narrative about tuition and debt, I think it is important that we kind of refocus and talk about what students are getting from their college degrees. Basically encouraging people to think about this as cost-benefit analysis as they would with any other financial activity in their life. -- Beth Akers

"People who have higher levels of education are far more likely to start or own a business, create jobs in that way; they are far more likely to file a patent, and do other things that are immeasurable contributions to intellectual thought and scientific thought and advancing living standards in important ways. Now quantifying those would be impossible. One that is easy to quantify, that I did in a piece a few of months ago for Brookings, is looking at not just what college graduates pay in taxes but their actual consumption as a direct benefit to local communities and the entire country." -- Jonathan Rothwell

In this episode of "Intersections," Beth Akers, fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings, and Jonathan Rothwell, former fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program and senior economist at Gallup, examine the current state of higher education by looking at student debt and its correlation to the value added for individuals with a college education.

Show Notes

Using earnings data to rank colleges: A value-added approach updated with College Scorecard data

What colleges do for local economies: A direct measure based on consumption?

Making college less risky to boost social mobility

More data can make college less risky

The game of loans: rhetoric and reality of student debt

With thanks to audio engineer and producer Zack Kulzer, Mark Hoelscher, Carisa Nietsche, Sara Abdel-Rahim, Eric Abalahin, Fred Dews and Richard Fawal.

Subscribe to the Intersections on iTunes, and send feedback email to intersections@brookings.edu.

Presence and voice: Women in foreign policy Jun 08, 2016

Show notes

"When I go to meetings today, I see more women, and I see many more younger women coming into the field. But what's really struck me, as I've been thinking about this issue of women in foreign policy in the last couple years, is the difference between presence and voice. There are many more women working in foreign policy today, but you don't see the same proportion of women prominent in foreign policy speaking in the media, in senior positions, or even when you're all in the room together sitting at the table and speaking as the lead speaker at a conference. It's that distinction between presence and voice and what accounts for that gap. That's what I find both fascinating and frustrating."—Tamara Wittes

"I think it is getting better. I think women are starting to see examples of other women who are at the table, who are speaking up, who are volunteering, who are being more confident and starting to learn that just because you might not think you are the greatest expert on something, doesn't mean you don't have the right to give your opinion and start speaking up."—Sarah Yerkes

In this week's episode of "Intersections," Tamara Wittes, senior fellow and the director of the Center for Middle East Policy, and Sarah Yerkes, a visiting fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy, discuss their experiences as women working in foreign policy, both in and out of government. They also shed light on progress regarding the active participation of women in foreign policy, while looking forward to potential improvements in order to promote more equality for women's representation in government.

Show Notes

The Absence of Women from Middle East Policy Debates: An Update

Women still overlooked in vital peacekeeping process, study finds

An All-Women Symposium: The Missing XX-Factor

Foreign Policy Interrupted

Women Are Underrepresented In Cable News Segments On Foreign Affairs, National Security

With thanks to audio engineer and producer Zack Kulzer, Mark Hoelscher, Carisa Nietsche, Sara Abdel-Rahim, Eric Abalahin, Fred Dews and Richard Fawal.

Subscribe to the Intersections on iTunes, and send feedback email to intersections@brookings.edu.

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