Government Works Weekly #18
Jobs, Events, the 1990’s, Cranks, and State Capacity
Welcome to your weekly roundup of opportunities, events, and information about how government works—and how government can work better—to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, and other ways to get involved
[NEW] Global Director-People, Culture, and General Counsel, Centre for Public Impact [Remote / Multiple locations / deadline 2 Oct.]
[NEW] Major Gifts Officer (and more), Common Cause [NYC / SF / LA / D.C.]
[NEW] Policy Associate (Political Economy & Governance), J-PAL Global [Cambridge, MA / deadline 13 Oct.]
[NEW] Division Director, Innovation and Project Delivery, US Office of Personnel Management [Washington, D.C. / deadline 7 Oct.]
[NEW] Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs (and more), Project on Government Oversight [Washington, D.C. / deadline 16 Oct.]
[NEW] Campaign Manager/ Director, Supreme Court Reform (and more), The Brennan Center for Justice [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Designer, Protect Democracy [Remote]
Senior Director for Data Programs, Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence, Johns Hopkins University [Hybrid / Baltimore]
Future Leaders in Public Service Internship Program – Summer 2025 [deadline 22 Nov.]
Program Assistant, Democracy Program (and more), The Carter Center [Hybrid / Atlanta, GA]
Director of Development, Accountability Counsel [Remote]
Organisational Assistant, The Innovation in Politics Institute [Hybrid / Vienna / deadline 30 Sept.]
Visiting Research Scholar, Center for the Study of Democratic Politics (CSDP), Princeton University [Princeton, NJ / deadline 15 Nov.]
Manager, Applied Research, Freedom House [Hybrid / D.C.]
Digital Manager, The Forge (and more), Center for Popular Democracy [Remote]
Senior Director of Partnerships, iCivics [Washington, D.C. / Remote]
Policy Analyst/Senior Policy Analyst: Affordable Housing (and more), DC Fiscal Policy Institute [Hybrid / D.C.]
Senior Vice President, Programs (and more), State Innovation Exchange [Remote U.S. / priority deadline 27 Sept.]
Chief Executive Officer, Open Government Partnership [Washington DC, London, Brussels, or Other / deadline 4 Oct.]
EGAP New Member Application 2024, Evidence in Governance and Politics [deadline 30 Sep.]
Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy [Hybrid / Charlottesville, VA / application review 1 Oct.]
Senior Director, CIRCLE, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]
Senior Researcher, The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]
Associate Director, Federal Evidence-Based Policy (and more), Results for America [Flexible U.S.]
Senior Director Knowledge & Research (and more), Power for Democracies [Hybrid / Berlin]
Project Director, Advancing Digital Democracy - United States (and more), Democracy International [Bethesda, MD]
Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, Brookings [Washington, D.C. / via Isaacson, Miller]
Communications Manager (and more), Virginia Civic Engagement Table [deadline 29 Sept.]
Director of Design, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]
First Mate, GovNavigators LLC [Washington, D.C. metro preferred]
Evidence and Evaluation Analyst, Arnold Ventures [Washington, D.C. or New York City]
Manager/Facilitator, Public Service Leadership Institute (and more), Partnership for Public Service [Washington, D.C.]
Senior Digital Democracy Program Officer (and more), International Foundation for Electoral Systems [Arlington, VA]
Communications Manager (and more), Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation [Hybrid]
Vice President for State Network Strategy (and more), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]
UPCOMING EVENTS – webinars, conferences, and other human things
29 SEP: Defining and Cultivating the New “Greater Good” [Brooklyn Book Festival]
30 SEP: Threats to Democracy and the 2024 Election [ProPublica]
1 OCT: Government Delivers: Celebrate #CXDay 2024 [Performance.gov]
1-3 OCT: Athens Democracy Forum 2024: A Moment of Truth [The Democracy & Culture Foundation]
2 OCT: Harnessing Local Data for Upward Mobility [Urban Institute]
2 OCT: Local Deep Dives: Fiscal openness [Open Government Partnership]
2 OCT: Unveiling the Magic: Process Design Demystified [Participation Factory]
3 OCT: Talking Transitions: Trust, Continuity and Service [Center for Presidential Transition]
3 OCT: The Case for More Parties [Boston Review]
9 OCT: Local Deep Dives: Open data [Open Government Partnership]
9 OCT: Green Industrial Policy's Unfinished Business [Roosevelt Institute]
10 OCT: Trust and Engagement: Insights on Young People’s Relationship with the Federal Government [Partnership for Public Service and Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship]
10 OCT: Navigating rejective referendum: cases of the Netherlands, Italy, and Ecuador [Democracy International]
10 OCT: Online seminar: Teaching digital-era government [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]
11 OCT: Fixing Frictions and Reducing Burdens in Citizens-Government Interactions: Behavioural science meet-up with Pamela Herd and Don Moynihan [OECD’s Community of Practice on Behavioural Insights]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
It was my birthweek, so this section is fleeting.1 Here are some recent podcasts that pair well together thematically and a single big think piece.
[PODCAST PAIRING] The Clinton Eras Tour
As I move into a new decade, these podcasts brought me back to my childhood in the 1990’s.
“We Report. You Can Suck It.” Slow Burn (18 Sept.) – The narrative podcast from Slate takes a look at “The Rise of Fox News” in its new Season 10. The first episode covers the role of Fox News in the presidential elections of 1996 and 2000.
“Absolute Power,” Unclear and Present Danger (14 Sept.) – On a recent episode of Unclear and Present Danger, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and freelance writer John Ganz break down Clint Eastwood’s 1997 thriller about a thief who witnesses the president committing a murder. A podcast series with insights and analysis about American political life through the lens of 1990’s political and military thriller movies? Be still my beating heart! And be sure to check out Ganz’ Substack Unpopular Front.2
[PODCAST PAIRING] Weirdos and Cranks
Without comment.
“The Coalition of the Weird with Dave Weigel,” Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast (24 Sept.) – Hayes talks to the Semafor reporter “about how the Trump-Vance coalition has aimed to cobble together contrarians, dissidents, conspiracy theorists and people who are distrustful of the so-called establishment into a majority coalition.”
“Pete Buttigieg on 2024 and the ‘Crank Realignment’,” The Ezra Klein Show (24 Sept.) – Klein interviewed Buttigieg about trust in government, a government that builds, immigration in the U.S., and many other interesting issues. Also, since when did Ezra have a beard? Welcome to the club.
[BIG IDEA] Henry Farrell on State Capacity Liberalism
Farrell’s consistently interesting Substack Programmable Mutter about “technology and politics in an interdependent world” this week attempts to categorize and map arguments centering around what he is calling “state capacity liberalism”:
State capacity liberalism is a family of ideas about the state-as-problem-solver in a plural society. [...]
State capacity liberalism moves decisively away from the strong Hayekian-Friedmanite form of neoliberalism. [...]
State capacity liberalism suggests instead that centrists and the left should engage over how to make the state better capable of solving problems. There are lots of different ways this could be done, and plenty of space for useful disagreement, without intellectual name calling!
That is why this post is very deliberately titled “the building blocks of state capacity liberalism,” rather than e.g. “A manifesto for …,” “The right way to do …,” or, for that matter, “The enemies of …” There isn’t one single approach, nor is there any overwhelming evidence that one approach is better than the others. [...]
Hence, we ought start thinking about how to combine different approaches to state capacity liberalism, coming to a better understanding of their particular strengths and weaknesses, and how to implement them in practice. As a very initial step, below is an initial list of some approaches, based on my own partial and limited understanding of the debates. Again: I’m not claiming that this is a comprehensive map, or making any grand statement of my own. I’m trying to pin down a loose set of arguments that are in the air, but that are never quite explicitly articulated in the way I do here. And even a flawed effort to set this all down might get other people talking about their own understanding of what is at stake, if only to correct my blunders.
So here goes: in no particular order, brief descriptions of six varieties of state capacity liberalism: big fix liberalism, adaptive state liberalism, supply-side progressivism, democratic steering, repurposed neoliberalism and cyborg bureaucracy.
I’ll be reading and re-reading this again over the coming weeks.
As is our time here on earth, so love one another.
It is really thoughtful, one of the few that I actually cough up some fiat for.