BOOKMARKED
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership” is a monthly speaker series where authors discuss their recently published books that are at the forefront of governance and civic leadership research.
Below, you can find previous episodes of Bookmarked!
- March 2024 Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Heath Brown
March 19th, 2024
What unexpected challenges thwarted Biden and Harris' transformative goals? "Roadblocked" holds the answers.
Join CLEAR's Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Heath Brown (John Jay, CUNY) about his upcoming book Roadblocked. Joe Biden's Rocky Transition to the Presidency.
Roadblocked offers a revealing exploration of the 70 days between the 2020 election and inauguration, delving into the Biden-Harris transition team's efforts to navigate a tumultuous landscape. Through exclusive interviews and a historical lens spanning the last four administrations, Brown unveils the complexities, setbacks, and isolating conditions that hindered the team's aspirations for transformative change. Discover the untold stories and challenges that shaped this pivotal period in U.S. presidential transitions.
- February 2024 Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Katlyn Carter
Feb 16th, 2024
Does democracy die in darkness?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Katlyn Carter (Notre Dame) about her book Democracy in Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions.
This book reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that transparency was its very essence. In the years preceding the American and French revolutions, state secrecy came to be seen as despotic—an instrument of monarchy. But as revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government, they faced a dilemma. Where gaining public trust seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? Whether in Philadelphia or Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a practical need to limit transparency in government. The fight over this—dividing revolutionaries and vexing founders—would determine the nature of the world’s first representative democracies.
- January 2024 Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Ranjit Lall
January 16th, 2024
How can AI revolutionize government operations?
Join CLEAR in conversation with Vidhu Shekhar (Microsoft) on his book Generative Artificial Intelligence Use Cases in State & Local Governments.
This groundbreaking book unveils the untapped potential of artificial intelligence, offering a roadmap for state and local entities to enhance operations and services. From predictive maintenance to budget forecasting, it explores real-world case studies showcasing the tangible benefits of integrating AI. It also offers practical insights on project planning, ethical considerations, and fostering collaboration between AI experts and government officials.
- December Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Ranjit Lall
December 1st, 2023
Why do some international institutions perform better than others?
Join CLEAR’s Jochelle Greaves Siew in conversation with Dr. Ranjit Lall (Oxford) about his book, Making International Institutions Work: The Politics of Performance.
Making International Institutions Work proposes a new theory of institutional performance and tests it using a diverse array of sources and data.
Contrary to the stereotype of international institutions as ineffective ‘runaway bureaucracies,’ it is individual countries with their own narrow political interests that are the greatest threat to successful institutional performance. Only when institutions possess a high degree of policy autonomy vis-à-vis governments, which emerges when they forge strong alliances with nonstate actors and exercise discreet governance tasks, are they likely to consistently work.
- October Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Matthew Levendusky
October 20th, 2023
Is there any solution to affective polarization?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Matthew Levendusky (UPenn) about his book, Our Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide.
In the midst of heightened political polarization in twenty-first-century America, Our Common Bonds delves into the heart of the issue, offering a thoughtful exploration of the toxic divide between Democrats and Republicans. Dr. Levendusky illuminates the roots of partisan animosity, revealing that misconceptions fuel the flames of discord. Drawing upon compelling survey and experimental evidence, this book presents a ray of hope for bridging the divide. By highlighting shared identities beyond politics, nurturing cross-party friendships, and fostering civil cross-party dialogue, Our Common Bonds shows a compelling exploration of concrete strategies to reduce partisan animosity.
- August Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation with Jennifer Pahlka on Recoding America
August 11th, 2023
Why is government failing in the digital age and how can we do better?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Jennifer Pahlka about her new book Recoding America, in which she offers a deeper theory for why the U.S government struggles in this era of digitalization to provide its services to people.
It’s not more money or more tech we need. She contends that the most significant problem lies in the lack of concern policymakers show towards implementation.
Jennifer Pahlka shows why we must stop trying to move the government we have today onto new technology and instead consider what it would mean to truly recode American government.
- June Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Akshay Mangla
June 23rd, 2023
What makes bureaucracy work for the least advantaged?
Join Dr. Eleanor Woodhouse (UCL) in conversation with Dr. Akshay Mangla (Saïd, Oxford) on his book Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education, and Public Service Delivery in Rural India, the winner of the 2023 Best Book Award from the International Public Policy Association and the 2023 Best Book Award from the Academy of Management Public and Nonprofit Division.
Making Bureaucracy Work investigates when and how public agencies deliver primary education in rural India. This book advances a novel theoretical argument anchored on differences bureaucratic norms, the informal rules of the game that guide how public officials understand their duties and relate with citizens on the ground. It reveals the complex ways bureaucratic norms interact with socioeconomic inequalities on the ground, illuminating the possibilities and obstacles for bureaucracy to promote inclusive development.
- May Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Don Kettl
May 23rd, 2023
Pandemics. Climate change. Refugee resettlement. Global supply chains. In the face of ever more complex societal challenges, how can the public sector meet the moment?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Don Kettl (UMD) about his upcoming book, co-authored with William D. Eggers (Deloitte), Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems.
Trusted and effective government has never been more important than today. To meet the moment, we need a fresh, new approach that strengthens institutions and government agencies by breaking free from organizational boxes and rigid, top-down leadership. Bridgebuilders provides a new model that current government decision makers—as well as young leaders who aspire to public service—can learn from and apply right now to transform government and restore public trust.
- April Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with John A. Dearborn
April 10th, 2023
Why and how did Congress actively promote “the superiority of presidential government”?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. John Dearborn (Vanderbilt) about his book Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation.
In Power Shifts, Dr. Dearborn shows that legislators acted on the idea that the president was the best representative of the national interest. Congress subordinated its own claims to stand as the nation’s primary representative institution and designed reforms that assumed the president was the superior steward of all the people. In the process, Congress recast the nation’s chief executive as its chief representative.
- March Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Shannon Portillo, Nicole Humphrey and Domonic Bearfield
March 6th, 2023
Is bureaucratic neutrality a myth that has institutionalized inequity in government?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Shannon Portillo (ASU), Dr. Nicole Humphrey (UMiami) and Dr. Domonic Bearfield (GWU) about their book The Myth of Bureaucratic Neutrality: An Examination of Merit and Representation, which can be accessed here.
The Myth of Bureaucratic Neutrality argues that neutrality is a myth that has been used as a means to oppress marginalized communities, largely disconnected from its origins within the field of public administration. The authors use a historically grounded positionality approach to trace the myth of bureaucratic neutrality back to its origins and highlight how it has institutionalized inequity, both legally and culturally.
- January Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Manny Teodoro, Samantha Zuhlke, and David Switzer
January 27th, 2023
Why do people choose expensive, environmentally destructive bottled water, rather than cheaper, sustainable, and more rigorously regulated tap water?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Manuel Teodoro (UW – Madison), Dr. Samantha Zuhlke (UIowa), and Dr. David Switzer (Missouri) about their book The Profits of Distrust: Citizen-Consumers, Drinking Water, and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government, which can be accessed here.
The Profits of Distrust links Americans’ choices about the water they drink to civic life more broadly, marshaling a rich variety of data on public opinion, consumer behavior, political participation, geography, and water quality.
- December Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Tony Bertelli
December 19th, 2022
How does representative government function when public administration can reshape democracy?
Join CLEAR’s Dr. William Resh in conversation with Dr. Tony Bertelli (PSU/IBEI) as they discuss his book Democracy Administered. How Public Administration Shapes Representative Government, which can be accessed here.
Democracy Administered challenges the traditional narrative of public administration by arguing that the democratic values of administration should complement the democratic values of the representative government within which they operate. It offers a novel framework for empirically and normatively understanding how democratic values have, and should be, reinforced by public administration.
- November Episode
Bookmarked: Conversations about Civic Leadership with Alexander Bolton and Sharece Thrower
October 28th, 2022
Are checks and balances enough to constrain ambitious executives?
Join the CLEAR Initiative in conversation with Alexander Bolton (Emory) and Sharece Thrower (Vanderbilt) as they discuss their book Checks in the Balance: Legislative Capacity and the Dynamics of Executive Power, which can be accessed here.
Checks in the Balance presents a new theory of separation of powers that brings legislative capacity to the fore, explaining why Congress and state legislatures must possess both the opportunities and the means to constrain presidents and governors—and why, without these tools, executive power will prevail.
- Inaugural Episode
Bookmarked: A Conversation on Who Matters at the World Bank with Kim Moloney
October 28th, 2022
How did one sector of the World Bank rise, against the odds, from comprising just under 3% of approved projects in 1980 to its inclusion within 73% of all projects approved between 1991 and 2012?
Join CLEAR’s Research Associate and Price doctoral student, Jochelle Greaves Siew, in conversation with Dr. Kim Moloney as she discusses her book Who Matters at the World Bank? Bureaucrats, Policy Change, and Public Sector Governance (2022), which tells the story of how public sector reform became a key focus of the World Bank. She will also discuss how incentives matter in the World Bank and how the policy power of the Bank’s international civil servants has been underestimated.
Who Matters at the World Bank can be accessed here.