American Politics (Audio)

Join Secretary Janet Napolitano and Senator Mark Warner for a discussion about the risks and opportunities of emergent technologies for voting, political engagement, and more. Must innovation and security always be at odds? Is there a way to find a balance between the two? Tune in for a fascinating conversation between two national security experts and lifelong public servants. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 37661]

Henry Brady, Dean of Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, draws a data-based picture of how religious attendance affects politics. Churchgoers tend to be more charitable and engaged in civic organizations than other Americans. But they tend to prefer elections and negotiations to conflict and protests -- even though conflict is important in overcoming the country’s deep racial and economic divisions. In general, churchgoers are much more inclined than other Americans to be pro-life and anti-gay and, since the 1980s, increasingly inclined to vote Republican. Brady talks briefly about his own religious and philosophical development. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36990]

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee speak from the heart about how the Black Church has helped to build African American electoral power. It’s a powerful story with practical lessons for present times. Dr. Williams-Skinner is head of the Skinner Institute and Co-convener of the African American Clergy Network. Rep. Lee represents Berkeley, California. She is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and now Chair of the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs appropriations subcommittee. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36988]

Hear remarks by Joshua Dickson to Berkeley's graduate seminar "Poverty and Communities of Faith in the Politics of 2021," taught by David Beckmann. Josh was the National Faith Engagement Director of the Biden-Harris campaign and is now Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Josh discusses the importance of persuading, mobilizing, and listening to faith voters; presents data on voting patterns across faith groups; and explains the Biden-Harris campaign's commitment and strategy to reach voters in diverse faith communities. He shows how an electoral campaign translated faith-grounded concerns into a dramatic shift in public policy to the benefit of people in poverty. He joins students in his unofficial, personal capacity, and not as a White House representative. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36987]

Four former Secretaries of Homeland Security discuss current issues in homeland security, the overlap between security and politics, and how our country can move forward by embracing the challenges—and opportunities—the Biden-Harris administration will face in their first year. Panelists: Michael Chertoff (2005-2009), Jeh Johnson (2013-2017), Janet Napolitano (2009-2013), Tom Ridge (2003-2005). Moderator: Doug Wilson. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36811]

Marion Nestle, Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition at New York University, discusses the U.S. food industry being in a highly competitive environment where profits are paramount and public health is not a priority. Series: "Excerpts" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36753]

General H.R. McMaster ranks among his generation's most distinguished scholar-soldiers. An acclaimed historian, his military service has spanned from West Point to Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Pentagon and the Oval Office. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, General McMaster is the author of Battlegrounds (2020). In conversation with Lowell Bergman, he discusses challenges facing the Free World and the case for responsible US leadership in world affairs. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36567]

Robert Reich reflects on the recent election; the presidential contest and initiative results. He also discusses UBI, income inequality and what he'd like to see in a Biden administration. Recih is a former Labor Secretary and currently Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36611]

This panel features leaders and experts addressing these unprecedented times and all the challenges confronting Election 2020. What can we do to make voters' voices heard during an unprecedented pandemic and a historic civil rights uprising? Panelists: Aimee Allison, She the People; Betrall Ross, Berkeley Law; James Schwab, Chief Deputy Secretary of State, California; Dr. John Swartzberg, UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Moderator: Dan Lindheim, Center on Civility and Democratic Engagement at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36509]

This lecture kicks off with Professor Jayaraman’s discussion of “astroturf” social movements and the growing battle around California’s Ballot Propositions 15 and 22. These propositions represent two attempts of billionaires to privatize the public-school system in California and to re-write the state’s labor laws to impose “independent contractor” status upon millions of gig workers. From there Professor Cohen takes up the main topic of voting rights and the long history of voter suppression in the United States with particular emphasis upon the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress voter turnout and challenge the election results after November 3. Remember, if your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t try so hard to suppress it. So if you have not already, go and vote early, especially in those down ballot races that really matter. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36513]

Many observers believe we need to grapple with challenges arising from the many well-established laws, regulations and policies which have been ignored or violated over the past four years. Goldman School of Public Policy faculty and former UC President and former Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, with Leon Panetta, L. Song Richardson and Eric Swalwell explore the norms, assumptions, and governmental practices that have changed during the Trump presidency and the ensuing impact on American society and democracy. Can we make our democracy stronger and better? What would a practical, yet ambitious, roadmap for reform look like? Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36471]

Today we explore the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the consequences her death may have for election 2020. The sudden death of the 87 year old jurist and feminist icon has not only disrupted the already unprecedented election season, but it has raised the stakes for the Presidency, the Senate and the future of the Supreme Court going forward. In this discussion we try to illuminate the partisan politics behind seeking her replacement, the constituencies most committed to replacing Ginsberg as well as those most threatened by this right wing shift in the Court, while holding up the possibility of future resistance and the need to mobilize in the defense of democracy. Join us as we attempt to displace despair with hope and replace anxiety with analysis in this moment of crisis. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36279]

Today we take up the question of racial classification and the 2020 census with professor Michael Omi. Professor Omi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Asians American and Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. He is the author, along with Howard Winant, of the ground breaking work Racial Formations in the United States, now in its third edition. At Berkeley, Professor Omi serves as the Associate Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and is an affiliated faculty member of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. In today’s talk, Professor Omi uses racial formations theory to discuss his research into the United States census and its evolving system of classifying and categorizing race. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36278]

The principle question for this presentation is what is “race” and how does it shape our politics? We begin with an introduction looking at the ongoing western wildfires, its differential impact upon white versus communities of color and the prison workers who get paid pennies a day to fight wildfires in California. From there we turn to a consideration of race and racism as defined by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Together, they define race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” Using this definition, we consider a range of examples of how racial categories and racial formations are “created, inhabited, transformed and destroyed.” We begin with the 1790 Naturalization act which reserved the rights of citizenship to “free white persons.” Then move on to consider how racial categories have both fixed our identities and shifted our history from Columbus to the 2020 Census. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36277]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” As look at the history of American democracy, we begin with the nation’s founding contradiction: the dispossession of Natives, the enslavement of Africans and the exclusion of women in a new nation dedicated to the radical concept of universal human equality. Through a reading of the founding documents of the United States, ranging from the Declaration of Independence to the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama, we consider how race, colonialism and slavery shaped the nation's founding, and how this legacy, this “original sin” of the American founding, continues to shape and distort our democracy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36276]

Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In 2018, Ms. Allison was one of the primary architects of the "year of women of color in politics." She is building a political home for a million women of color, nationally and in battleground states. In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36275]

In our opening public lecture, we will take up the immediate context of the 2020 election to consider what is at stake in COVID-19 and the recent uprisings around Black Lives Matter and racial injustice for the United States? We will draw upon Arundhati Roy’s concept of the “pandemic as portal,” in which she writes: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” As we approach these unprecedented, overlapping crises of public health, racism, economic decline and environmental breakdown, we must ask fundamental questions of what we need to leave behind in order to build what must come next. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36274]

Explore what’s ahead for November with political expert and author Thad Kousser, Chair, Department of Political Science at UC San Diego, in conversation with Chancellor’s Associates Scholar and UCDC program alumnus, José Luz González ’20, who recently graduated with a degree in Public Health. The conversation covers burning election topics, such as the use of social media, interest group influence, and the voting process and outcomes. Series: "American Politics" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36180]

Why are Americans at such odds about what should be done about the novel coronavirus? Why have Americans become so polarized, even on issue related to our health? What is the source of polarization regarding the pandemic and, if a pandemic doesn't bring the American public together, what will? Series: "American Politics" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35873]

UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies recently completed the largest survey of Californians to date regarding opinions and attitudes related to COVID-19. The results are fascinating and point to a wide range of potential political and societal impacts arising from our still-unfolding responses to the pandemic. This discussion with IGS Co-Directors Cristina Mora and Eric Schickler and Professor of Health Policy and Management Hector Rodriguez, who together devised and ran the poll, delves into the significance and meaning of the data, and what it all might portend for California and the nation in the current context of political polarization and racial inequality. Series: "Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley (IGS)" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36047]