Policy 360

Today’s guest, John Hillen, says that only a third of native-born Americans can pass the citizenship test that American immigrants are required to pass. He is part of a new bipartisan commission trying to change that. The goal is to revitalize the teaching of American civics and history. Hillen served as US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the Bush administration among many other roles. He is now teaching at Duke University in the Master of National Security Policy program. He is also affiliated with POLIS: Duke’s Center for Politics and The Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. He joins Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, to discuss the commission’s work and American grand strategy more broadly. Read show notes/transcript at our website.

Recently, the U.S. has experienced several financial crises - all of them hard on American families.  In 2008, over eight million Americans lost their jobs in the Great Recession. In 2020, unemployment was at 13 percent thanks to the COVID pandemic. By early 2025, the economy had recovered and unemployment had dropped back to the 4 percent range. Then sweeping new tariffs sent the stock market reeling.  Vicki Bogan, who studies household finance, inequality and investment decision making, talks with Manoj Mohanan, Interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, about what this latest financial shock might mean for families. Read show notes/transcript at our website.

The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, but we have a complex history on the topic. At times, the government has tried deporting large numbers of immigrants, with the goal of protecting the jobs and wages of native-born Americans. The current administration has announced plans to deport all undocumented immigrants, even some legal immigrants, as well as new travel bans. Hannah Postel researches the relationship of migration and economic development and provides a historical perspective on immigration deportations and restrictions. She talks with Anna Gassman-Pines, who leads faculty affairs at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Read show notes/transcript at our website.

The price of housing has skyrocketed in recent years. Scholars estimate we are short between two and five million homes nationwide. Warren Lowell spent the last several years immersed in American housing policy as part of his PhD studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. For one study, he interviewed real estate developers and investors. He joins Sanford interim Dean Manoj Mohanan podcast to talk about what he learned. Read show notes/transcript at our website.

In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, Congress established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB. It protects Americans from predatory practices by consumer finance companies. The CFPB enforces federal laws and investigates fraud and abuse. It has sent over 6.8 million complaints to companies for resolution so far. The bureau has been targeted for massive cuts by the new administration which, thus far, have been blocked by a federal judge. Mallory SoRelle, a consumer finance expert and author of Democracy Declined: the Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection, talks with Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, about the CFPB and what dismantling it could mean for Americans. Read show notes/transcript

What does it mean for the country that President Trump has signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education? Leslie Babinski, a researcher who focuses on education and former director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy talks about this extraordinary change with guest host Anna Gassman-Pines, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Read show notes/transcript.

What does it mean for democracy when a president owns a social platform, and is supported by others with major platforms of their own? Philip Napoli directs the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University and he joins Manoj Mohanan, interim public policy dean at Duke to discuss historical parallels to the connection between policy and media ownership, and regulation options. His book is called “Social Media and the Public Interest, Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age."  Read show notes/transcript.

The new administration’s interest in cold, snowy regions of the world might have come out of the blue to many Americans, but not to Tim Nichols. He leads the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy Master of National Security Policy program – and he teaches about the growing strategic importance of Greenland and the broader Arctic. He joins Manoj Mohanan, interim public policy dean at Duke to discuss how melting ice is opening up international competition related to shipping and mineral drilling. Read show notes/transcript.

President Trump returns to the White House with his “America First” approach - a strategy critics say often comes at the expense of international alliances and multilateral commitments. Duke professor Susan Colbourn, a historian specializing in NATO, joins Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke to discuss the topic. She’s the author of Euromissiles: The Nuclear Weapons That Nearly Destroyed NATO, and is associate director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. Read show notes/transcript.

It’s no secret that Americans’ ability to engage in meaningful conversations across political, cultural, and ideological divides feels more strained than ever. In this episode, we discuss how to bring people together. Two words: civil discourse. Duke professor Abdullah Antepli is a nationally recognized expert in civil discourse. Recently he’s been teaching a course on the topic and is creating public forums for dialogue between people with opposing views. Antepli leads Polis, Duke’s Center for Politics. He talks with Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke. This episode is part of a series of election-related conversations.

Could political polarization be addressed by something very simple – getting to know each other better? David Brooks argues that polarization stems from an urgent need for connection. "There are connections between seeing others and strengthening our communities and in turn, democracy," he says. Brooks is an opinion columnist for the New York Times. He appears regularly on the PBS NewsHour, NPR's All Things Considered, and NBC's Meet the Press. His new book is titled, How to Know a Person, the Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. This episode is part of our ongoing series of election-related conversations. Guest host: Alison Jones of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University.

In this episode of Policy 360, Duke Professor Bill Adair joins us to discuss lying in politics. Adair founded the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking organization PolitiFact. His new book, Beyond the Big Lie, explores how and why politicians lie, which party does it more, and what can be done about it. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election. Guest host: Phil Napoli, Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University.

Historically Black colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played an important role in America’s past, present, and future – and it’s becoming clear that they are playing a big role in democracy itself. Duke Sanford School of Public Policy professor Deondra Rose joins us to discuss the topic. Her new book is The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election. 

Duke professor William A. (Sandy) Darity joins host Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, to discuss his research on the racial wealth gap and its historical roots. They examine the implications of various policy proposals, including reparations and baby bonds, and how these policies might address the persistent disparities between Black and white households. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election

In this episode we will explore a policy idea that Republicans and Democrats seem to agree upon: expanding the Child Tax Credit. Duke professors Anna Gassman-Pines and Lisa Gennetian join host Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, to discuss their recent op-ed, "Cash Alone Won’t Relieve ‘Surviving’ American Families." They delve into the history of the Child Tax Credit and its beneficial yet incomplete impact on working-class American families. The episode is the first in a series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election. Also: welcome to our new host, Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Frank Bruni discusses his new book, "The Age of Grievance." --- Frank Bruni is a distinguished journalist and celebrated author. He talks with Judith Kelley about his latest book, "The Age of Grievance," which explores the cultural and political impacts of Americans’ fixation on grievances: “More and more Americans are convinced that they’re losing because somebody else is winning. More and more tally their slights, measure their misfortune, and assign particular people responsibility for it. The blame game has become the country’s most popular sport and victimhood its most fashionable garb.” Bruni is the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke.

Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for challenging corruption in her native country, the Philippines. She is now focused on the threat to democracy from big tech. --- Maria Ressa is a groundbreaking international journalist. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her efforts to address corruption in the Philippines. Ressa is CEO of Rappler, an international news organization that she founded. She is the author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for our Future.” The book is a memoir of her life’s work to hold power to account. In her book, Ressa argues that the trend toward authoritarian rulers around the world has been helped in large part by big tech. She documents how social media platforms are allowed to  spread lies and foster hate and disinformation — all to the detriment of democracy.

New series of related courses at Duke University explore civil discourse and democracy. --- Today’s guests argue that the January 6th storming of the Capitol in the United States is a stark example of the violence that can come from the way in which people talk to each other across the political divide. To address the issue, Duke faculty members Stephen Buckley and Sue Wasiolek have developed a series of courses for students focused on civil discourse and democracy. Their goal is to “deepen understanding of how public debates shape–and are shaped by–policymakers, higher education, and the media.”

In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal for "championing the stories of an unsung history." A conversation with Isabel Wilkerson. --- Isabel Wilkerson, an esteemed American journalist and author, visited the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy recently to meet with students and present the 2024 Terry Sanford Lecture. Born in Washington, D.C., and a graduate of Howard University, Wilkerson’s career in journalism included notable positions at The New York Times, recognized with the Pulitzer Prize in 1994, becoming the first woman of African-American heritage to win the award in journalism. Her debut book, “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” garnered widespread acclaim for its exploration of the mass migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West. This seminal work earned her numerous awards and established her as a leading voice on social justice in America. In her latest book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” Wilkerson delves into the concept of caste systems and their enduring influence on American society. Drawing parallels between the caste systems of India, Nazi Germany, and the United States, the book offers profound insights into the structural inequalities and systemic injustices that persist in contemporary America. She talks with Judith Kelley, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

“In 2018, Gallup recorded that some 74% of Americans said they had 'a great deal’ or 'quite a lot' of confidence in the military; in 2023, that number had dropped to 60%.  That is still high compared to other governmental institutions, but it is a marked decline.” – Peter Feaver Peter Feaver is a professor at Duke University, where he runs the Program in American Grand Strategy. He talks with Judith Kelley, Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy about his new book, Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military. Note: this conversation took place in late October, 2023. Transcript & resources