Government Works Weekly #19
Jobs, Events, and Parties in the U.S.A.
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] Social Media Strategist (and more), National Democratic Institute [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Programme Assistant, International IDEA [Belgium / deadline 11 Oct.]
[NEW] Operations Associate, Open Government Partnership [D.C. / London / Belgium / deadline 21 Oct.]
[NEW] Product Specialist, Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity [New York City]
[NEW] Internship, Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, OECD [Paris / deadline 20 Oct.]
[NEW] Resource Mobilisation and Partnerships Consultancy (and more), CIVICUS [Remote]
[NEW] Scouting & Research Assistant, The Innovation in Politics Institute [Part-time / flexible / remote]
[NEW] Tax Researcher, The School for Moral Ambition [Part-time / remote / unpaid / deadline 13 Oct.]
[NEW] Civic Education and Democratic Citizenship Research Program Manager, Hoover Institution [Stanford, California]
[NEW] Research Coordination Core Team of Consultants, Global Youth Political Participation Index, European Partnership for Democracy [deadline 23 Oct.]
Program Coordinator, City Support (and more), Harvard Kennedy School [Massachusetts]
Major Gifts Officer (and more), Common Cause [NYC / SF / LA / D.C.]
Policy Associate (Political Economy & Governance), J-PAL Global [Cambridge, MA / deadline 13 Oct.]
Division Director, Innovation and Project Delivery, US Office of Personnel Management [Washington, D.C. / deadline 7 Oct.]
Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs (and more), Project on Government Oversight [Washington, D.C. / deadline 16 Oct.]
Campaign Manager/ Director, Supreme Court Reform (and more), The Brennan Center for Justice [Washington, D.C.]
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]
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.]
Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy [Hybrid / Charlottesville, VA / rolling application review began 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]
Director of Design, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]
Evidence and Evaluation Analyst (and more), 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
7 OCT: Building a Truly Reflective Pro-Democracy Public Leadership [Keseb Conversation Series | 21st-Century Democracy: Building a Transnational Innovation Ecosystem]
8 OCT: Train the Trainer: Transforming Democracies – DIY Tools for Sustainable Project, Organizational, and Democracy Development [German Federal Environment Agency]
9 OCT: Local Deep Dives: Open data [Open Government Partnership]
9 OCT: Launch Webinar: Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map [National Civic League]
9 OCT: A Tale of Two Cities: Two Cities’ Application of Performance Management [American Society for Public Administration]
9 OCT: Green Industrial Policy's Unfinished Business [Roosevelt Institute]
9 OCT: Training Session: Effective Public Participation in the Public Comment Process [Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs]
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]
14 OCT: AI & elections: Are democracies ready? [POLITICO Europe]
15 OCT: AI, Misinformation, and the Future of Democracy [Everyday Democracy]
16 OCT: Democracy at a crossroads: Findings from the 15th annual American Values Survey [Brookings]
16 OCT: Educators Workshop [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]
16 OCT: Why State Ownership Matters for Resource Governance [Wilson Center]
16 OCT: Report Launch: Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online [Freedom House]
16 OCT: The Commons in Conversation with Nealin Parker [The Chronicle of Philanthropy]
17 OCT: (Re)building trust in the police [Academy of Social Sciences]
17-18 OCT: Autumn School on Citizens’ Assemblies [FIDE - Europe]
21-22 OCT: OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy: Breaking New Ground for the Future of Democracy [OECD]
22 OCT: Democracy Innovations Workshop [National Civic League]
22 OCT: The Political Mind in 21st-Century Democracies [Apolitical Foundation]
22-24 OCT: Fall School on Citizens’ Assemblies [FIDE – North America]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
[Parties in the U.S.A.] Elections on the way, where the parties at?
With about a month left until the U.S. election, here is some good recent content on how the current party system could better serve the work of American government:
[READ] Hypertext forum on our partisan paradox
Hypertext, an online journal from Niskanen Center “linking ideas, and people, in pursuit of an America where competitive markets and an effective state advance the common good,” put out a recent issue on “Partisans without parties: A forum on our partisan paradox - and how to escape it.” In it, the contributors—Seth Masket, Ray LaRaja, Daniel DiSalvo, Julia Azari, and Danny Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld—“explore how parties have responded to broader societal changes and how they might adapt in healthier ways moving forward.”
[READ] The Hollow Parties. This forum in part is anchored around Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld’s latest book, The Hollow Parties, which argues that “political parties are hollow shells of what they could be, locked in a polarized struggle for power and unrooted as civic organizations.”
[LISTEN] Niskanen podcast pairings. Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld were also guests on two recent Niskanen podcasts to discuss the book. Happy to recommend these particular episodes of The Vital Center and The Science of Politics, but also the podcasts more generally. They are great.
[READ] Democracy forum on bipartisanship
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas recently released its quarterly “symposium” of articles, this time covering “Bipartisanship Reinvigorated.” The articles look at proposals to strengthen democracy that might actually get bipartisan support. As they say:
Too often, when progressives talk about ways to save and strengthen democracy, they’re talking only to themselves, with grand plans to transform the system dramatically. Ideas that will win only liberal support may be laudable, but let’s face it—in today’s Washington, they’re probably going nowhere. Meanwhile, believe it or not, there are proposals that have bipartisan support. Might it make more sense to start there?
In this issue, with support from Issue One, the bipartisan advocacy group dedicated to building a better democracy, we explore those ideas. As these essays show, there is support across the aisle for a number of reforms that would actually strengthen our democracy. This is an issue on which progressives understandably want to swing for the fences. But maybe, given today’s Beltway realities, hitting for singles isn’t the worst idea.
And of course, as we mentioned a couple weeks ago:
[READ] Boston Review forum on “a path beyond our broken two-party system”
The Boston Review forum (The Case for More Parties) was organized by Lee Drutman and includes responses from Danielle Allen, Deepak Bhargava & Arianna Jiménez, Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld, Josh Lerner, Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Grant Tudor & Cerin Lindgrensavage, Joel Rogers, Ian Shapiro, Bob Master, and Maurice Mitchell & Doran Schrantz.