The Brookings Cafeteria

“We have successfully built up our defenses so that here, at home in the United States, we’re probably safer than we were a decade ago but abroad our terrorist enemy is more numerous, more barbaric, more dangerous than ever before,” says Senior Fellow  in this podcast. Riedel, director of the , and also a former CIA officer and senior policy official, identifies the catalysts of the global jihadist movement, discusses the rise of the Islamic State and its rivalry with al-Qaida, addresses the crisis in Yemen, and examines how the Obama administration can better deploy soft power tools. “A strategy that only uses the stick isn’t going to work,” he says. “We have to have a strategy that not only goes after the terrorists but also seeks to deal with the underlying issues that produce this wave of terrorism. That’s easy to say and very very hard to do.” Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, delivers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update." Show Notes

“Go and interview a restaurateur in central London near Piccadilly or go and interview a theatre manager in central London about how their business was in central London in August of 2012 [during the Summer Olympics] and they’ll say ‘It was awful. It was like the great depression,’” says economist  in this podcast. Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and the author of (Brookings Institution Press, 2015), reveals the real economic costs and benefits of hosting mega-sporting events and discusses the prospects of FIFA following the corruption scandal. “This is what the modern Olympics and the modern World Cup are really about,” he says. “It’s the Circus Maximus in the old days of referring to these gigantic stadiums and elaborate facilities, but it’s also a Circus Maximus in the sense that it’s a circus.” Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , managing editor of , offers his "What's Happening in Congress" update. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Show Notes:  

“New Orleans is still in the middle of a major urban experiment,” says Senior Fellow in this podcast, the 50th episode of the Brookings Cafeteria. “It’s an urban experiment that is not so much just about responding to Katrina and the oil spill, but really is the great experiment of our time.” The central question within that experiment is, “regardless of any environmental or economic disaster—like the Great Recession, the loss of a manufacturing sector—how does an economic center, a population center, really continue to grow and adapt?” Liu is co-director of the at Brookings and has been an expert on the rebuilding efforts in greater New Orleans and southern Louisiana post Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf oil spill, and the recession.  -------------------------------------------------------------------- Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, offers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update." ----------------------------------------------------------------

“More and more we see that the separation between war and peace is not as clear-cut as it used to be,” says Jean-Marie Guéhenno in this podcast. Guéhenno, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group and a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, was head of United Nations peacekeeping operations from 2000 to 2008, the longest-serving person in that post. In this podcast, he talks about his toughest peacekeeping operation, his best results, and why a political process is so important to the success of peacekeeping operations, all themes in his latest book, “" (Brookings Institution Press, 2015). Also in this episode, Governance Studies Fellow John Hudak explains what’s happening in Congress. --- Show Notes: --- Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“The European Union is, in a way, a treasure,” says Distinguished Brookings Fellow  in this podcast. “It’s a treasure that really signifies peace, that signifies cooperation … the type of thing the global world of today needs.” Solana, former secretary general of NATO and EU foreign policy chief, describes how he started as a physics professor before turning to policy-making and reaching the highest levels of Spanish and European institutions; discusses how the EU negotiates the shoals of nationalism; addresses the EU’s responses to the crisis in Ukraine and its approach to the negotiations with Iran; and offers his advice for success in navigating a global world.    Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , director of the , offers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update," focusing on the question of whether the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program increased inequality. And, George Burroughs gets an update from Nonresident Senior Fellow  on the water crisis in the western states. This follows the Brooki

What is happening in Ukraine is a tremendous threat to Putin’s Russia precisely because of the kinship that Russians feel with Ukraine,” says in this podcast. Freeland, a Member of Parliament in Canada and also a journalist and author, talks about her own family’s connection to Ukraine, why the Russian propaganda machine has been effective, and why the Russian-Ukrainian language divide is oversimplified. Listen to find out why she thinks that the “Maidan and what has followed is the most hopeful moment ever in Ukrainian history.” --- Also in this episode, Fellow explains what’s happening in Congress, including a rare moment of agreement between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress. --- Show Notes: • "" •  --- Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .  

“Ten years from now college is going to look a lot different,” says Senior Fellow  in this podcast. Butler, an expert on the future of higher education, economic mobility, budget process reform, and federal entitlement reform, explains how developments in education technology, such as MOOCs, are driving college costs down, changing university business models, and could have a dramatic effect on social mobility in this country. “If you have a higher education system that actually does provide students with the skills they really need at a much lower cost than today,” he says, “that’s good for everybody, and good for the economy.” Plus, in "Wessel's Economic Update," , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, discusses the re-release of Arthur Okun's classic book, "." Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“The Arab world has made huge progress in giving children access to school,” says , a nonresident fellow with the at Brookings. Yet even so, she calls the 2.6 million Syrian children out of school in the region “perhaps the biggest education crisis globally.” In the podcast, Jalbout—former CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation and a global leader on education in international development—discusses the challenges and solutions to educating children in the Arab world, why quality and not just access matters, how the education crisis is a global security issue, and why 3 out of 4 Arab women remain out of the labor force in their countries. Much of the discussion is about Jalbout’s new report, “.” Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“Anger at the IRS for the complexity of the tax system is misplaced,” says Senior Fellow  in this podcast. “The IRS does not legislate the tax code; Congress does. And if the tax code is complicated, that is Congress’s fault.” Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explains one reason why the complicated tax code might be a good thing. Gale also addresses a variety of issues, including: what tax reform means; whether reform is good for economic growth; what are meant by a flat tax and consumption tax; and political rhetoric about abolishing the IRS. "You can argue about whether you want lower taxes or higher taxes, but I don’t think there should be an argument about whether we want an effective enforcement agency. It’s just a good government thing." - Bill Gale Show Notes:  (event w/ IRS Commissioner Koskinen) Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“I know that California has got a nightmare on [its] hands right now,” says , former general manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority and now a Brookings nonresident senior fellow, in this podcast taped just as California announced statewide water restrictions. Mulroy, who has been called “the water empress of Vegas,” discusses a path forward in California’s crisis; explains why criticizing the Bellagio fountain’s water use is misplaced; reflects on how she got into the water business in the first place; and offers insights from her experience on how communities can cooperate on water issues. “We in this country have no idea how fortunate we are,” she says. “We are a small minority around the world that actually has reliable 24/7 water.” (Hoover Dam photo by Sareen Hairabedian) Show Notes:  (YouTube) Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

Brookings Fellows  and  speak with noted political scientist and author Robert Putnam, professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, about his new book . Putnam explains how an “opportunity gap” has emerged over the past twenty-five years between education for wealthy and poor children in America, and how differences in politics, class, and race are impacting the American dream. Also in this episode, Governance Studies Fellow  explains "What's Happening in Congress."  Show Notes: - -  Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“The forces of darkness, the terrorists, know that education is a powerful change agent,” says former Australian Prime Minister  in this podcast about her commitment to global education. Ms. Gillard, now a distinguished fellow with the  at Brookings and chair of the Global Partnership for Education, discusses a variety of topics, including her path to becoming Australia’s 27th prime minister; overcoming barriers to achieving universal education; why quality of education matters as much, or more, than getting children into school; and what needs to be done in the post-2015 development agenda to achieve gender equity in education. Show Notes: - - - - -  Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“The real question is, are the proponents of ‘Audit the Fed’ legislation seeking to make the Fed more accountable …? Or are they basically people who don’t like what the Fed is doing and see ‘Audit the Fed’ as a lever to change the Fed?” asks Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy Director  in this podcast. Listen to find out why Wessel calls “Audit the Fed” a misnomer, but also how he explains why we are asking the Fed to do too much in the economy. He also offers ideas on useful reforms to Fed accountability and transparency. Plus, find out why he describes a return to the gold standard as “snake oil.” Wessel is also a senior fellow in Economic Studies and former economics editor of the Wall Street Journal. Show Notes: - - - - -   Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

"We have a deficit of knowledge about the Koreas" in both the academy and public discourse, says , the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies and a senior fellow in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings. In this podcast, Moon, who is also a political science professor at Wellesley College, describes her own journey to becoming a scholar with a focus on Asia and the Koreas; talks about what she observed during her trip to North Korea; explains the sources of North Koreans' national pride; and offers her thoughts on the very serious challenges for Korean reunification. Also in the podcast, a discussion between  of Governance Studies and in Foreign Policy about President Obama's request to Congress for an Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIS. Show Notes: -  -  -  - , by Mo Yan - , by Adam Johnson ---- Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .    

"I think the Affordable Care Act is actually doing quite well," says Senior Fellow  in this podcast. Rivlin, the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies and director of the  at Brookings, cited the expansion of medical insurance coverage, declining cost growth, and other positive factors for the ACA. She also reflects on continued political opposition to the law, the impending King v. Burwell Supreme Court case, and what it was like to stand up a new federal agency, the Congressional Budget Office, in 1975. Also in the podcast, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, offers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update." Show Notes: •  (with Mark McClellan) •  •  Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“Cities and metro areas are networks, they are not governments; therefore we need to put them central to the debate of how the country moves forward,”  says in this podcast on the metropolitan revolution—metro areas’ recognition that they are where change does and should happen, especially in an era of congressional gridlock. Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program and also the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy, explains that the nation’s 388 metropolitan areas are “the true organic economies”; discusses why metro areas are at the “vanguard of policy innovation”; describes why the traditional federalism pyramid should be flipped to feature cities and metros on top; and offers insights into the new spatial geography of innovation that is spurring production-oriented economic growth.   Also in the podcast, Governance Studies Fellow  offers his regular update, "What's Happening in Congress." Show Notes: •  (with Jennifer Bradley)•  (with Julie

In this podcast, Brookings President  reflects on growing up in Cleveland, his career—as a journalist, State Department Official, and think tank leader—and today’s challenges for governance and stability. Learn how a career in journalism prepared him for State Department diplomacy; about his role in defusing two international crises in one dangerous week in June 1999; what he thinks about Vladimir Putin and Russia’s course; and why nuclear proliferation and climate change are “existential threats.” And also listen to his reflections on Brookings’s centenary next year. Also at the top of the podcast, , director of the , offers his economic update and previews two important upcoming events. Show Notes: • , by Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy (2d edition)• , by Angela Stent• , by Strobe Talbott and William Antholis (revised edition)• • "," Brookings Essay by Strobe Talbott Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

In 1969, a conservative president made a liberal professor his urban affairs adviser in the White House. When Richard Nixon brought Daniel Patrick Moynihan onto the White House staff, the consequences for both would be tremendous, as recounted by  in this podcast based on his fascinating tale of those years,  (Brookings, 2014). Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at Brookings who was not only Moynihan’s deputy on the Urban Affairs Council but also a close friend, offers vivid anecdotes of what he witnessed, including: why “in a strange way Nixon fell in love with [Moynihan]”; a visit from actor Kirk Douglas; how Moynihan invented the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and the White House jazz concert led by Duke Ellington, the award’s first recipient. Also in the podcast, Governance Studies Fellow , in his "What's Happening in Congress" commentary, reviews the end of the 113th Congress and looks ahead to the next; and , deputy director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, talks about his new book, with David Steven, , whi

“One thing most people don't know is that our [social] programs don't work,” says Senior Fellow  in this podcast about how the Obama administration is starting to create a “culture of evidence” for the design and evaluation of government programs, with the ultimate aim to increase equality of opportunity in America and spend less money doing it. Haskins, the Cabot Family Chair and co-director of both the Center on Children and Families and the Budgeting for National Priorities project, is the co-author, with Greg Margolis, of  (Brookings, 2014). The book, Haskins says, tells the story of “how the Obama administration has been the most important administration ever for using the results of social science research and especially scientific program evaluation to improve federal programs.” Listen as Haskins describes the origin of the research, the “sausage making” of the policy process, and the move to instill a commitment to evidence-based policymaking across the political spectrum. “There is a growing commitme

“The Republican Party has become like a parliamentary party, vehemently oppositional and opposed to anything that the other party would do,” says  in this podcast in which he shares his expertise and insight on political dysfunction in America, on the roots of today’s divisive partisanship, on ideas for solutions, and on the 2016 presidential contest. Mann, a senior fellow in Governance Studies and the W. Averell Harriman Chair in American Governance, also reflects on his 45 years studying and engaging with the political scene in Washington, sharing what he has seen, heard and done along the way. In his regular segment on what's happening in Congress, Fellow  explains what Congress is doing now that the midterm elections are over. He focuses on the new confirmation environment for the president and also how congressional Republicans will react to Obama's executive action on immigration.  Show notes: •  (with Norman Ornstein)• •  (podcast)• • •  Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send