Statecraft

In 2015, LA Metro’s new CEO, Phil Washington, created the Office of Extraordinary Innovation. To run it, he brought in an outsider from DC: Joshua Schank.Schank's office had some notable successes and notable failures: he wrote them all up with two colleagues in New Tricks for Old Bureaucracies: Improving Policy Outcomes in the Public Sector, an unusually candid account of what worked and what didn’t.The full transcript for this episode is available at www.statecraft.pub. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

Anna Giaritelli has covered immigration and the border for the Washington Examiner since 2018. In the last two years, I’ve found her reporting invaluable for understanding the Department of Homeland Security, including the campaign by Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski to push out the head of Customs and Border Protection, the border wall contracts stuck on Noem’s desks, and more.We taped a week before the midterm elections. As a reminder, the full transcript is available at www.statecraft.pub. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

AI could bring a huge windfall to American philanthropy. Caleb Watney wants to make sure that money is spent well. Caleb is Coefficient Giving's first managing director of public policy, and also my old boss. We talk about his essay “A Long Sequence of Small, Correct Decisions,” how to be effective in DC, and whether you, dear listener, should quit your job.I have a wonderful co-host for this episode: Leah Sargeant, my successor as IFP’s editorial director and Statecraft superfan.As always, the full transcript for this conversation, with links, is available at www.statecraft.pub. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

My guest today is Will Howell, the inaugural dean of the School of Government & Policy at Johns Hopkins, which welcomes its first class in fall 2028. His argument is that the standard policy masters degree is no longer fit for purpose. I happen to agree.Two disclaimers: I took Will’s class as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, and I’m a Journalist-in-Residence at his school now.Thanks to Harry Fletcher-Wood and Shadrach Strehle for their support in producing this episode. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

A while back, Edward Luttwak explained to us how to stage a coup. Julian Waller focuses on the next step: how authoritarian regimes are built and maintained. We discuss:* Authoritarian regimes as the historical norm* Why military juntas don’t last and party states do* Autocracies: Iran, North Korea, and the Papacy* How the Kremlin has reacted to the Wagner mutiny* What a “pacted transition” looks like in Venezuela* Why the US shouldn’t worry about authoritarianism This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub