How do you teach a Senator to use the Snapchat dog filter?
Politicians are famous luddites. But in the mobile era change comes with every app update. So what’s it like to try and explain filters, stories, and the latest Snapchat update to candidates and elected officials?

Using Local Government to Create Systemic Change: Building Your Values Into Government
Conversations about Big Ideas are crucial to shaping thought, but in local government – as anywhere - one must use the tools one has at hand to make change happen. Tools like budgets, hiring, managing through resistance to change, ordinance changes, the bully pulpit, and cross-sector collaboration are what local leaders have to work with to make a difference. Mayor Hodges can talk about using those tools to bring Earned Sick and Safe Time to Minneapolis, increase the Minimum Wage, put racial equity into the Public Works Capital Plan, support immigrant entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color, support trans and gender-nonconforming people, and more.

A Conversation with
Ray Dalio
Founder, Bridgewater Associates
Author, Principles
Lawrence H. Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University
Co-Director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Can a Third-Party Rise in 2020?
Third party candidacies, the fantasy of many a political operative, may be closer to reality in 2020 than we know. How would a third-party candidacy be organized for success? Do current election laws allow a third-party candidate to have a chance? Is Trump, despite his Republican affiliation, effectively a third-party president? Join Scott Jennings and veteran political pollster Neil Newhouse for a war room-style, interactive discussion in plotting a third-party candidacy.

Communicating Across Coalitions on the Left
It is no small task to effectively engage grassroots progressives while simultaneously trying to keep them on message AND playing “nice” with the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. What are some communication success stories (and failures) when it comes to this? What happens when the grassroots wing isn’t so “grassroots” anymore? How can candidates and operatives effectively engage the various coalitions on the left?

Guest(s): Arianna Jones, Senior Vice President of Public Relations, Revolution Messaging/Former Deputy Communications Director, Bernie 2016

The Role of Think Tanks in Generating Policy Ideas
Many policy ideas are originated and driven by not-for-profit foundations and trade associations. This class will explore how ideas are generated and promoted by such 501 (c) 3 organizations.

Guest speaker: Doug Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum. Holtz-Eakin was the Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in 2001-02. From 2003-2005 he was the 6th Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the U.S. Congress. During his tenure, CBO assisted Congress as they addressed numerous policies — notably the 2003 tax cuts (JGTRRA), the Medicare prescription drug bill (MMA), and Social Security reform. During 2007 and 2008 he was Director of Domestic and Economic Policy for the John McCain presidential campaign.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Harvard Business School Professor Mitch Weiss will discuss "Chicago’s Innovation Economy: Tech, Science, and Career Opportunities in Chicago" at a Pizza and Politics event with Harvard students, fellows, faculty and staff . Mayor Emanuel, along with a delegation of Chicago business leaders, will visit Harvard as part of a tour of campuses to promote the city's technology industry.

Seating is limited.  Guests must RSVP for this event and provide a Harvard email address.  Harvard ID will be checked at the door.  Doors will open at 3:30 p.m.  

The Global Economy and Trade: How Do Nationalism and Globalism Play A Role
When NAFTA was signed, there were 12 free trade agreements around the world—today there are over 600. We’ll look at the politics of trade in the Clinton, Bush and Obama eras, and examine the trend lines and big events? Did we miss any mile markers along the way? How do America’s trade politics differ from the rest of the world? What does America still make? What are the compositions of our exports? What is the role and impact of trade on the global economy—how much does trade impact the rise of income? Decreased poverty? And economic development around the globe?

Confirmed Guest: Larry Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University
Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. During the past two decades he has served in a series of senior policy positions including as Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, Director of the NEC under President Obama and as Chief Economist for the World Bank.

A Conversation with
Dr. Jason Matheny
Director, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)
Eric Rosenbach (Moderator)
Co-Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, HKS
Director, Defending Digital Democracy Project
Chief of Staff, United States Department of Defense (2015-2017)
Assistant Secretary of Defense, United States Department of Defense (2014-2015)

The Harvard Political Review and the Harvard Political Union welcome Salena Zito, Washington Examiner reporter and contributor to CNN and the New York Post, to share her experiences reporting from small town America during the 2016 presidential election.

This will also serve as an information session for "Main Street and Back Roads of America: A Journalism Workshop," a HPR-HPU initiative that will give students the unique opportunity to experience main streets and back roads across New England and the Rust Belt with Salena Zito. This immersion experience will allow students to understand communities and the issues, concerns, and political perspectives that shape their worldviews, as well as an opportunity to publish writing for the Washington Examiner and the New York Post.

Dinner will be served. 

Understanding the influence of technology on information today: Platforms, networks, aggregators, and distributors.
Understanding the power that technology has today requires us to understand some fundamental concepts. Only then can we discuss the power these platforms and networks have and the disruption they have caused. These concepts include Commoditization, aggregation, distribution, and disruption of information, the rise of Platforms and platform companies, network power, and the difference between startups versus the big five tech companies.

Mayoring in America Right Now: Trump, Policing, #metoo, and the American People
This session will be a chance to talk about what it means to be a regular person who leads acity in irregular times and will set the stage for the rest of the semester. Mayor Hodges can share insight about leading through #pointergate, officer-involved shootings, Donald Trump coming after cities and people who live in them, being an elected official open about being a survivor of sexual assault, and transformational change in a time of great tumult in our country.