Government Works Weekly #20
Jobs, Events, and the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
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
RECENT LISTINGS
[NEW] Lead Researcher, Policy Impacts, MIT Economics [Hybrid / MA]
[NEW] Director of Research, Economic Innovation Group [Hybrid / D.C. / deadline 15 Nov.]
[NEW] Internship (Spring 2025), DEMSCORE [Sweden / deadline 22 Nov.]
[NEW] Student Trainee (Social Science), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Evidence Team [Washington, D.C. / deadline 24 Oct.]
[NEW] Call for Proposals from CSOs: To expand women's leadership and political participation, WYDE| Women's Leadership Initiative [deadline 11 Nov.]
[NEW] Analyst in Science and Technology Policy, Congressional Research Service [Washington, D.C. / deadline 12 Nov.]
[NEW] Global Director, People & Culture, Centre for Public Impact [Remote / multiple locations / deadline 15 Oct.]
[NEW] UN Advocacy and Network Officer (and more), CIVICUS [Geneva / deadline 24 Oct.]
[NEW] Climate Democracy Accelerator + Mainstreaming Participation Accelerator + Inclusive Democracy Accelerator + Democratic Innovations Accelerator [People Powered with partners / deadline 24 Nov.]
[NEW] Policy and Legal Advocacy Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center [Flexible U.S.]
[NEW] Programmes Assistant, European Partnership for Democracy [Brussels / deadline 27 Oct.]
[NEW] Undergraduate Fellowships, Roosevelt Institute [Virtual]
[NEW] Chief Executive Officer, Transparency International [Berlin / deadline 3 Nov.]
[NEW] Outreach Manager (and more), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [D.C.]
[NEW] Associate, Programs (and more), Partnership for Public Service [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Counsel/Senior Counsel, Judiciary Program (and more), The Brennan Center for Justice [Washington, D.C.]
DEADLINE APPROACHING
Programme Assistant, International IDEA [Belgium / deadline 11 Oct.]
Policy Associate (Political Economy & Governance), J-PAL Global [Cambridge, MA / deadline 13 Oct.]
Tax Researcher, The School for Moral Ambition [Part-time / remote / unpaid / deadline 13 Oct.]
Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs (and more), Project on Government Oversight [Washington, D.C. / deadline 16 Oct.]
Internship, Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, OECD [Paris / deadline 20 Oct.]
Operations Associate, Open Government Partnership [D.C. / London / Belgium / deadline 21 Oct.]
Research Coordination Core Team of Consultants, Global Youth Political Participation Index, European Partnership for Democracy [deadline 23 Oct.]
MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Short on space this week with so many upcoming events (see next section), so for many more jobs and opportunities still available, check out last week’s edition.
UPCOMING EVENTS – webinars, conferences, and other human things
Week of 14-18 October
14 OCT: AI & elections: Are democracies ready? [POLITICO Europe]
15 OCT: AI, Misinformation, and the Future of Democracy [Everyday Democracy]
15 OCT: Young Adults Think America’s Political System Isn’t Working [Century Foundation]
16 OCT: Democracy at a crossroads: Findings from the 15th annual American Values Survey [Brookings]
16 OCT: Building Civic Assemblies: A Collaborative Approach in Washington State [New America]
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]
18 OCT: Can Higher Education Help Renovate American Democracy? [ASH Center and Democratic Knowledge Project]
Week of 21-25 October
21-22 OCT: OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy: Breaking New Ground for the Future of Democracy [OECD]
21 OCT: Tax Policy, the 2024 Election, and a Look Ahead to 2025 [Tax Policy Center]
22 OCT: Democracy Innovations Workshop [National Civic League]
22 OCT: The Political Mind in 21st-Century Democracies [Apolitical Foundation]
22 OCT: 2024 Award for Excellence in Oversight Research [Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy]
22 OCT: Train the Trainer: Transforming Democracies – DIY Tools for Sustainable Project, Organizational, and Democracy Development [German Federal Environment Agency]
22 OCT: Budget Scorekeeping: an Insider’s View from OMB and CBO [American Association for Budget and Program Analysis]
22-23 OCT: Political Party Peer Network - Shaping 21st Century Democratic Movements [Apolitical Foundation]
22-24 OCT: Fall School on Citizens’ Assemblies [FIDE – North America]
22-24 OCT: LAGPA 2024 Conference: New Perspectives and Challenges for Democracy and Governance in Latin America [Latin America Group for Public Administration]
23 OCT: Presidential Elections & The State of Our Democracy [UChicago Center for Effective Government]
23 OCT: The Role of Government in Regenerating Civic Infrastructure [Percent for Place Coalition]
23 OCT: How to Write the Perfect Policy Brief [Apolitical]
23 OCT: That’s Not a Partisan Feeling, That’s Patriotic: A Portraits US Election 2024 Event [Verbatim Performance Lab]
23-24 OCT: Mastering Systems Stewardship: Leadership in Complexity [Centre for Public Impact]
22-25 OCT: Civil Society Policy Forum: Annual Meetings 2024 [World Bank]
24 OCT: Invigorating and Expanding Civic Power [Keseb Conversation Series | 21st-Century Democracy: Building a Transnational Innovation Ecosystem]
24 OCT: Scaling Local Innovations for Achieving Housing Affordability [Bipartisan Policy Center]
25 OCT: Our Democratic Futures: A discussion about electoral reform in the US, Canada, and the UK [ProRep Coalition]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
Here is some of the latest good, bad, and ugly content about getting our government to work.
THE GOOD NEWS
There is a Healthy Democratic Ecosystem: This week the National Civic League dropped the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map, an interactive tool that highlights the organizations, resources, connections, and ideas that sustain and strengthen democratic practices across the U.S. The first 10 states are live, with more to come in the coming weeks. Check out the launch webinar and of course go explore the map.
There is (Some) Bipartisan Consensus on State Capacity: Santi Ruiz and the Statecraft folks put together another great interview on the podcast/Substack called “How to Build State Capacity,” featuring Sam Hammond (from the right) and Jen Pahlka (from the left) finding common ground.
In the interest of building the cross-party consensus that you guys have both mentioned, I would like each of you to name something good that the other side of the aisle is doing for state capacity.
SH: You could make the case that California YIMBY has been the most successful advocacy campaign of the last decade, and that's coming predominantly from moderate Democratic voices. [...]
JP: In general, I feel like the right has got great thinking. There's so much in terms of permitting reform that you can give Republicans a high five for.
THE BAD NEWS
Money Has Too Big A Vote: The University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) just wrapped a great miniseries from its Talking Policy podcast on “Democracy and Its Discontents.” In the second episode, “Money and Power,” the host Lindsay Shingler speaks with UCLA professor Marty Gilens about the effect of money on American politics and representation. Gilens makes a number of sobering points, for example:
Marty: I mean, my focus has been on money and politics, and I do think that between the outsized role of money in American politics and the role of lobbying—which is a related, but sort of distinct problem in our political system —that government has just has not been pressured sufficiently to respond to the needs of the average citizens, but is pressured to respond to the needs of business and the well off. And that clearly has gotten worse over time as the sources of money in our elections have become more and more concentrated.
So, ironically—and frankly to my surprise, despite, you know, the rise of the Internet and sort of what’s sometimes called small-donor democracy, more and more of the money in our elections comes from fewer and fewer people.
There Are Some Mighty Cynical Actors: Whether it is Elon Musk spreading lies (Bloomberg) and spending millions (NYT) so that he can save billions in taxes, or JD “Trump might be America's Hitler” Vance running as VP, I continue to be surprised by the mental gymnastics that otherwise smart and successful folks engage in to cozy up to Trump. A great recent example is the PhD former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, in his podcast interview with David Remnick of The New Yorker, dumbing himself down for the cause: “It’s almost providential: he’s had four years [out of office] to think about what he’s learned . . . and he has a much deeper grasp of what has to be done and how to do it.”
THE UGLY NEWS
There is Still a Lot of Entrenched Anti-Government Sentiment: I don’t know why I do it. I must be a masochist. Every time I click on the Wall Street Journal Opinion section a little piece of me dies. It is a shame that one of the country’s very best newspapers allows for such baseless slop on the editorial side.1 A friendly reminder that some of us still live in the house that Maggie Thatcher built. Anyway, here is one of the latest:
Despite some claims that “the battle over big government has ended,” I never seem to run out of these examples. Good motivation for me to keep typing away here to make the case that Government Works.
It seems like just a few weeks ago I was praising an article WSJ opinion piece in this very newsletter. Always a sucker.