The USC Price School of Public Policy is pursuing a plan to establish a special doctoral program in public policy and management in Armenia, designed to build the academic infrastructure to address the significant public management needs of this growing country and region.
Tom Nichols’ The Death of Expertise is a broad look at the antipathy toward “experts” and “expertise” among the citizenry of contemporary United States. Nichols contends that this antipathy is dangerous for our democracy, that this distrust not only makes for unhealthy conversation but damages both political and public relationships with the very experts’ guidance. Spoiler alert – we do assume you’ve read it!
Featuring Richard Green (@keynesianr), Aubrey Hicks (@AubreyHi), Pamela Clouser McCann, Anthony Orlando (@AnthonyWOrlando), and Jan Perry (@JanPerry)
To listen to the Bedrosian Book Club discussion of The Death of Expertise click the orange arrow in the Soundcloud player on this post. Or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play
Bureaucracy is so boring. Who cares? Not you, right? Well then, you’re in for an unwelcome surprise because the people who run our government from day to day aren’t the ones you voted for. Our democracy depends on the men and women of the bureaucracy. They execute the laws, and lately they’ve been doing it without supportive leadership, without the trust of the public … without a voice.
In this episode, William Resh is their voice, and we would be wise to listen.
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PhD candidate Anthony Orlando discusses the “Ethics of Democracy” in the latest episode of Our American Discourse.
Democracy is a dialogue. It requires our leaders to ask, to listen, and to react. Good governance thus hinges on conversation and consent—and whether we like it or not, conflict. Planners and policymakers have to balance competing needs, never more so than in today’s polarized environment. How do they do the right thing? Does such a thing even exist? Citizenship demands that we engage with these uncomfortable questions, especially in this troubled era.
Listen to this episode of Our American Discourse by clicking on the orange play arrow on this post, or subscribe at iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
PhD candidate, Anthony Orlando, writes an op-ed about Los Angeles voters and Measure S within the larger political context:
The voters of Los Angeles have taken a stand—and the world should pay heed.
“Measure S,” the ballot initiative defeated in yesterday’s election, was not just a local issue. True, it would only have halted high-rise construction in one city. But like Brexit, like the election of Donald Trump, its effect would have been global.
The “causes of faction are…sown in the nature of man,” said James Madison. But could the founders have foreseen the level of political polarization we’re seeing today? They certainly tried. That’s why we have separation of powers, checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. In many ways, these institutions are under attack. Power has been concentrated, and minority rights have been threatened. How shall become of our constitutional system?
In this episode, we navigate this treacherous onslaught with Dean Jack Knott.
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First year MPP student, Jue Song, details her experience learning about protests in the United States in her first post for Bedrosian Center.
New to America, one of the things that simultaneously fascinates me as much as it puzzles me, are the student protests. When I see students marching in the street, burning flags, and criticizing the government, I am shocked. Why are there so many protests? Why do so many students participate in protests?
Continuing the series of Letters to a Trump Supporter – Yesterday, I addressed Hillary Clinton’s character. Today, I will address Donald Trump’s.
How do we learn how our government works? What is the role of the government in civic education? What is the state of civics education in the United States today, and what is being done to improve it?
A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece on partisanship in Puerto Rico and its detrimental effects on governance. In it, I mentioned how bipartisanship and cooperation is something that the U.S. needs as well. Nothing drives a wedge between people of different ideologies like an election year. What we are seeing so far…