A Mayor for Change: Tackling National Issues at the Local Level

In Mayor Hodges final study group, attendees will explore the current moment in America and the role local government and local leaders can and should play to move to a brighter future. 

Are We Still in This Together? The Death of Parties, the Rise of Tribalism in American Politics and What It Portends for Our Future? 

During his eighth study group of the semester, Scott will be joined by Michael Adams, general counsel to the Republican Governor's Association, for a discussion of the current system of campaign finance laws. He'll discuss changes in campaign finance over the course of legislation and court decisions in recent years and answer attendees' questions on the topic and his extensive legal experience. 

Guest: Michael Adams, General Counsel, Republican Governor's Association

Policies to Address the Opioid Crisis: A Conversation with Chris Christie & Ed Gillespie 

Ed Gillespie
Spring 2018 Resident Fellow, Institute of Politics
GOP Nominee for Virginia Governor & Senate
Chairman of the Republican National Committee (2003-2005)

Chris Christie
Governor of New Jersey (2010-2018)

Tuesday, April 17, 2018
4:15 PM

***This Study Group is lotteried***

Enter the lottery HERE before, Sunday, April 15th at midnight.

Platforms, Networks, and New Power Technology’s Impact on Politics, Policy, and Elections

The internet has opened, accelerated, and shifted how Americans engage with everything. Anthea Watson Strong has been at the forefront of civic engagement for over a decade. She has built technology on the Obama Campaign, managed the Google Civic Innovation team that provided polling place and ballot data to millions, and now serves as the Product Manager for news at Facebook. Come join a discussion about designing and building the technology that supports our shared civic infrastructure.

Guest: Anthea Watson Strong, Product Manager for News, Facebook
 

A Mayor for Change: Tackling National Issues at the Local Level

A Conversation with Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo 

Building trust between police and communities of color and others is top-of-mind for many Americans. In recent years Minneapolis has seen two tragic, high-profile officer-involved shootings that killed Jamar Clark and Justine Damond. Mayor Hodges and Chief Arradondo were at the center of the city's response to those events and implemented some of the most forward-thinking policies, procedures, and ordinance-changes in the country. Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria "Rondo" Arradondo is a leader in the nation in pursuing effective strategies to build trust and will be here to talk about policing in the 21st century.

 Guest: Medaria Arradondo, Minneapolis Chief of Police

Are We Still in This Together? The Death of Parties, the Rise of Tribalism in American Politics and What It Portends for Our Future

George Washington warned us: “…[political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." Scott Jennings will host former RNC Chief of Staff Mike Shields and former DNC Chief Executive Officer Amy Dacey to explore the weaknesses in the two-party system today. 

Guests: Amy Dacey, Chief Executive Officer, Former Democratic National Committee and Mike Shields, Former Chief of Staff, Republican National Committee.

Beyond The Campaign Tactics: The Intersection of Politics and Policy 

In this session, we will be joined by Heritage Foundation President, Kay Coles James, for a discussion on policy issues likely to rise as priorities in the future. With the upcoming 2018 midterms, what should we expect and how should we view the election season? What would IOP students like to see as priorities?

Guest speaker: Kay Coles James, President, The Heritage Foundation; Former Director of the Office of Personnel Management for President George W. Bush, and Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources for Governor George Allen.

The Art of the Political Revolution: Millennials, Progressives and the Future of the Democratic Party

In her penultimate study group, Symone will sit down with Justin Fairfax, the recently elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, to discuss his electoral success and the way forward for Democrats in purple states. Do we go all-in to win Obama-Trump voters back to the left? Is “A Better Deal” really the message that resonates from Appalachia to California? How do we go about turning out voters of color without scaring off moderate voters we need?

Guest: Justin Fairfax, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia

The Politics of Globalization: How Trade Became a Four-Letter Word

In 2002, a year after China joined World Trade Organization; the U.S. was the number one exporter worldwide. By 2010, Germany had overtaken the U.S. and by 2012, China had emerged as the worlds top exporter. We’ll take a look at China’s ‘one belt, one road’ (OBOR) initiative and the China 2025 plan evaluating how it aided China in emerging as a dominant force in both trade and the global geopolitical arena as both a player and a disrupter.

Guests: Yasheng Huang, Profesor of International Management at MIT Sloan; Deborah Lehr, CEO, Bassilina and Vice Chairwoman, The Paulson Institute, and Juliana Liu , Editor, South China Morning Post.

Platforms, Networks, and New Power Technology’s Impact on Politics, Policy, and Elections

Today, almost all essential information is stored online. Everyone from scammers to nation-states are engaged in a constant battle online, and the 2016 election demonstrated unprecedented weaponization of digital information. With more information moving to the cloud, protecting it is essential to our use and trust of technology. Join Geoff Belknap, Slack’s Chief Security Officer, as we explore the challenges of running a global security team, how to think about this new world, and how you might think about a career in this buzzword.

Guest: Geoff Belknap, Chief Security Officer, Slack

A Mayor for Change: Tackling National Issues at the Local Level

A Conversation with Democratic Strategist Tracy Sefl, who serves on the Board of Directors for RAINN

 In April of 2017, before #MeToo was a viral hashtag, Mayor Hodges publicly disclosed that she is a survivor of childhood sexual assault. What happened in the aftermath of that disclosure holds stories of great compassion and great ignorance, and presages the current conversation about disclosure, politics, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and systemic change. Mayor Hodges is joined by Democratic strategist Tracy Sefl, who also serves on the Board of Directors for RAINN, the nation's largest sexual assault advocacy organization.

Guest: Tracy Sefl, Democratic Strategist and Board of Directors for RAINN
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Are We Still in This Together? The Death of Parties, the Rise of Tribalism in American Politics and What It Portends for Our Future

Some have called 2016 “the Facebook election,” and now the company is under the microscope for its role in spreading “fake news” and its responsibilities as a distributor of political information. At the same time, distrust in the traditional news media has hit an all-time high. Join Scott Jennings to explore the rapidly changing information distribution environment, including a new Rand Corporation study called Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life.

Guest (via Skype): Rebecca Kavanagh, Political Scientist, RAND Corporation and Associate Director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program in RAND's Arroyo Center