Trump is back in the White House and as anticipated, his administration is moving fast and breaking things. One of the first aspects of government to get stepped on was USAID, one of the biggest financiers and administrators of global development, including programs like PEPFAR. To understand the implications of this for the wider global philanthropy sector, ePODstemology reached out to Shonali Banerjee, Assistant Professor of International Development at the University of Warwick. She was previously a postdoc at the University of Cambridge’s centre for strategic philanthropy. Her work has been published in Third World Quarterly and Development in Practice, and she has a book, Horizontal Development: Shifting Power and Privilege in Aid, forthcoming with Bristol University Press. We discuss not just Trump’s impact but her work more broadly, especially the rapidly rising momentum of ‘trust-based philanthropy’. 

Shonali’s website

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/banerjee-shonali/

Shonali’s book

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/horizontal-development

Climate change is the single biggest policy challenge facing the world today. A global political coordination problem of epic proportions, with baggage from colonialism, short election cycles, and a deep pocketed fossil fuel lobby running interference. The stakes couldn’t be higher, with hundreds of millions of human and billions of animal lives in the balance. Who do we need to take action? Parliaments. How do we get them to do it? Here to answer that question is Mitya Pearson, assistant professor in the politics of climate change at the University of Warwick. Dr Pearson was until recently a Leverhulme early career fellow at King’s College London, where he completed his PhD, and was previously a policy analyst focusing on the parliamentary politics of climate change at Policy Connect in Westminster. Mitya has written extensively on the determinants of politicians actions with respect to climate change and how to effectively pressure them into taking decisive action. 

Mitya’s website:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/pearson/

Citizen’s assemblies and climate action: 

https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PaperDetails/76391 

Other topics discussed this episode: 

Broockman, D. and Skovron, C. (2018) ‘Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites’, American Political Science Review, 112: 542–63

Dellmuth, L. et al.  (2022) ‘The Elite–Citizen Gap in International Organization Legitimacy’, American Political Science Review, 116: 283–300

Mitya Pearson & Alan Wager, 'Not so different: Comparing British MPs' and voters' attitudes to climate change', Parliamentary Affairs, 2024

Falck, R. (2023) ‘How Politicians and the Population Attribute Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation’, Environmental Politics, 33: 699–726

Rapeli, L. and Koskimaa, V. (2022) ‘Concerned and Willing to Pay?’, Environmental Politics, 31: 542–51.

Sundblad, E., Biel, A. and Gärling, A. (2009) ‘Knowledge and Confidence in Knowledge About Climate Change Among Experts, Journalists, Politicians, and Laypersons’, Environment and Behavior, 41: 281–302

Tranter, B. (1999) ‘Environmentalism in Australia: Elites and the Public’, Journal of Sociology, 35: 331–50

Walgrave, S. et al.  (2023) ‘Inaccurate Politicians: Elected Representatives’ Estimations of Public Opinion in Four Countries’, The Journal of Politics, 85: 209–22

Willis, R. and Westlake, S. (2023) ‘Sustaining the Political Mandate for Climate Action’, Green Alliance. https://green-alliance.org.uk/publication/sustaining-the-political-mandate-for-climate-action/

Paul Lucardie & E. Gene Frankland, Green Parties in Transition: The End of Grass-roots Democracy? (2008)

Democracy is unwell. Trust in politicians, institutions, experts, and other people is steadily falling across the OECD, and even young people seem to be losing faith in the system. What can be done? One idea that has gained traction and demonstrated potential of late is deliberative democracy: bringing together citizens, policymakers, area specialists, and other stakeholders to ponder a policy issue together. Hot off its success in generating a deep, heartfelt and restorative referendum on abortion in Ireland that bridged decades of animosity on the subject, more people are thinking maybe we need to get more deliberative. To explain how, regular host Dr Mark Fabian is joined this episode by deliberative democracy scholar Afsoun Afsahi from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Her research covers the theory and practice and deliberative democracy, and its potential to include often marginalised perspectives in the policymaking process. 

Afsoun’s homepage: https://politics.ubc.ca/profile/afsoun-afsahi/ 

Afsoun’s publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VP6qLF8AAAAJ&hl=en

Final report of the Grandview Woodland citizen’s assembly: https://council.vancouver.ca/20150624/documents/ptec5_AppB.PDF 

Learn more about deliberative democracy around the Irish abortion referendum: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/the-irish-abortion-referendum-how-a-citizens-assembly-helped-to-break-years-of-political-deadlock/ 

Jenny Mansbridge and Archon Fung on self-interest in deliberative democracy: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/place-self-interest-and-role-power-deliberative-democracy 

Brian Milstein, (2020). Justification crisis: Brexit, Trump, and deliberative breakdown. Political Theory,  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0090591720968596 

Bohman, James. "" When Water Chokes": Ideology, Communication, and Practical Rationality." Constellations: An International Journal of Critical & Democratic Theory 7.3 (2000).

Matthews, J. Scott. "The political foundations of support for same-sex marriage in Canada." Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique 38.4 (2005): 841-866.

Michael Saward’s many publications on democracy: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=miPAuzoAAAAJ&hl=en 

Michael Neblo, Kevin Easterling, and David Lazer on direct deliberative democracy: https://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/jnd260/cab/CAB2018%20-%20Neblo.pdf 

Alexandria Ocasia Cortez cooking Q&A: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisHer/videos/aoc-hosts-cooking-qa-on-instagram-live/481505699487177/ 

In the UK, up to 80% of a social worker’s time can be spent filling out forms rather than helping the desperate people in their care. This is an example of what Dan Honig calls ‘management for compliance’. Honig is associate professor of public policy at University College London, among many other affiliations including Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Lahore University of Management Sciences. In his new book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats, he argues that a ‘management for empowerment’ results in more motivated public servants, higher integrity commitment to the values inherent in public service, and ultimately better service delivery. Honig presents a range of empirical evidence, qualitative and quantitative, suggesting that managing people with metrics and reports and emphasising accountability creates a culture of mistrust and shirking, compounding the problems it is designed to solve. In contrast, recruiting people looking for purpose, supporting them to learn, and granting them autonomy to apply their expertise in a way that suits local conditions generates a virtuous cycle. Mission driven bureaucrats feel energised, unmotivated bureaucrats invest more in the mission, and lazy knaves get screened out by their more committed peers. In this episode, Dan joins regular host Mark Fabian from the University of Warwick to discuss the main arguments of his book and the wider context in which it sits. 

Dan’s website: https://danhonig.info/ 

Buy Mission Driven Bureaucrats here.

Moore on British Colonial Management in the Philippines

Christopher Hood on tools for all seasons in public management 

Michael Barber, Deliverology:

Knights, Knaves, or Pawns by LeGrand

Article by Esther Duflo using cameras to improve teacher attendance:

An introduction to self-determination theory:

Elizabeth Linos’ research, including on policing in Knoxville

Andrea Headley’s research on police and other front line responders

One of Nesta’s many reports on mission driven government

Social Finance UK on system change evaluation

“Digital governance” is a term commonly used to refer to the transformative potential of integrating contemporary technological advances into the day-to-day activities of government. Electronic filing of tax returns, text message reminders to get your vaccine booster, medical records that can follow your around as you change doctor’s offices – all are examples of digital governance. Digital governance holds much promise, most obviously in terms of efficiency and convenience, but also many risks such as cybersecurity breeches, creeping paternalism, and the alienation of citizens from the activities of their own political representatives. In this episode, ePODstemology hosts Dr Aaron Maniam from Oxford University to help you understand these issues. Aaron is Fellow of practice and director of digital transformation education at the Blavatnik School of Government. He also co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Technology Policy and is a member of the OECD’s expert group on Artificial Intelligence Futures. He was previously a high-level policymaker in Singapore, most recently Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information. Few are better place to explain how we can make the most of digital governance. 

Aaron’s website:

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/people/aaron-maniam-0 

Follow Aaron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-maniam-a86a842/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Episode with Malte Dold on behavioural public policy:

https://epodstemology.buzzsprout.com/1763534/episodes/13401729-can-we-make-the-world-a-better-place-with-behavioural-economics 

Statecraft podcast on Obamacare and policy implementation

https://www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-actually-implement-a-policy

Clayton Christensen on the Innovator’s Dilemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma 

Helen Margetts, Peter John, Scott Hale, and Taha Yasseri, Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action. 

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691159225/political-turbulence 

How to run a gold standard deliberative democracy exercise:

https://assemblyguide.demnext.org/#introduction

Dr Jaclyn Siegel from NORC at the University of Chicago joins regular ePODstemology host Dr Mark Fabian to discuss the psychological science of eating disorders and body image, especially her own qualitative research on eating disorders in the workplace and romantic relationships. The conversation also covers the relationship between social media and eating disorders, gluttonous eating, the pros and cons of the Kardashian physique and other pseudo-body positivity trends, the value of grounded theory as a method, and how you can approach someone you care about whom you suspect has an eating disorder. 

Jaclyn’s website:

https://www.jaclynasiegel.com/

Follow Jaclyn on twitter: 

https://x.com/jacasiegel 

How romantic partners can offer support to their partners with eating disorders:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144524000317

Eating disorders in the workplace:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361684318812475?journalCode=pwqa 

Helped, heard, or hugged?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/well/emotions-support-relationships.html 

Grounded theory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grounded_theory 

Braun and Clark thematic analysis:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa 

Becker’s study of the impact of western media on Fijian women’s body image:

https://www.brown.uk.com/eatingdisorders/becker.pdf 

ePODstemology brings you cutting edge insights and analysis from early career researchers to help you cut through 21st century complexity. A major driver of that complexity is Algorithms - an increasingly ubiquitous yet remarkably opaque aspect of modern life, directing what you watch on television, who drives your taxi, what products you see when online shopping, and, increasingly who purchases your labour. This episode, regular host Dr Mark Fabian from the University of Warwick is joined by Dr Hatim Rahman, Assistant Professor of management and organisations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Hatim has a new book out studying the nature and effects of algorithmic management of high skilled workers trading via online platforms like Taskrabbit and Upwork. The Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers, available from University of California Press, traces how Algorithmic management perpetuates earlier trends in personal management like Taylorism and Weber’s Iron Cage of bureaucracy, while also significantly departing from these traditional modes. Hatim’s book also explores the regulatory, cultural, and institutional loopholes that algorithmic labour market platforms use to skirt existing labour protections and extract more value for capital, and considers how policymakers and citizens might respond to contemporary trends. 

Hatim’s website: 

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/rahman_hatim.aspx 

Buy the book!

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520395541/inside-the-invisible-cage 

Weber’s iron cage of bureaucracy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_cage 

Taylorism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management 

Fair Work Consumer Reports: 

https://fair.work/en/fw/publications/fairwork-uk-ratings-2023-a-call-for-transparency/ 

Some of you may have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly 1.6 million square kilometres in size that contains between 45 000 to 129 000 metrics tonnes of plastic waste, mostly in the form of microplastics – fingernail sized or smaller bits of the material. The patch has increased 10-fold in size each decade since 1945, and has a twin in the North Atlantic Garbage patch. Growing awareness of the patch and other environmental consequences of plastic waste, like seagull bellies full of plastic lids or turtles trapped in beer nets from six packs, has led to an increasing eco-consciousness around plastic packaging and a desire to use less of it. But as with many policy challenges, the situation can be more complex than a simple slogan like reduce, reuse, recycle. To explain these nuances, my guest this episode is Dr Jack Pickering, a freelance researcher who recently completed a postdoc on waste in the UK food system at City University London. Jack is a qualitative researcher with a PhD from the University of Cardiff in Wales in human geography. He has been working in interdisciplinary teams using mixed methods to understand the causes of waste, people’s beliefs about it, industry attitudes, and how to improve the situation.

Jack’s Linkedin Profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-pickering-6170a4209/? 

Jack’s paper on consumer attitudes to plastic packaging: 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2023.2281398 

Mark Miodownik lab’s work on composting in the UK using citizen science:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.942724/full 

Sarah Greenwood, packaging expert:

https://scgreenwood.co.uk/ 

Mike Munger on recycling, especially of glass:

https://www.cato-unbound.org/2013/06/03/michael-c-munger/recycling-can-it-be-wrong-when-it-feels-so-right/ 

Lesley Henderson and team’s plastic mythbusters toolkit:

https://www.coastalpollutiontoolbox.org/ 

Max Liboiron’s website (Jack wanted to note that Max is an indigenous/first nations person and avoids using the word ‘Canada’ – an oversight on our part in the episode):

https://maxliboiron.com/

This podcast strives to bring forward new insights and innovative frameworks for understanding the world of the 21st century. Few things underscore just how radically different things are today from the 20th century than recent advances in artificial intelligence, where an AI ‘copilot’ on your smartphone can now perform myriad tasks for you in a few seconds. This episode’s guest is one of the people best placed globally to help us understand the implications of this new technology. He’s Ash Fontana, author with Penguin Random House of The AI First Company: How to Compete and Win With Artificial Intelligence. Ash has been working in the venture capital space with firms utilising machine learning applications for over a decade. He launched Angel List’s fundraising platform, which manages over $15 billion dollars, and was the first or largest investor in category defining companies like Canva, Kaggle, and Tractable. He remains at the forefront of thinking about how artificial intelligence can reshape economies and economies and societies for the better, and how regulators, investors, and other influential actors should approach the possibilities in the space. 

Ash's website:
https://ashfontana.com/

The AI-First Company: How to Compete and Win with Artificial Intelligence:
https://www.theaifirstcompany.com/

David Watson's episode on ePODstemology about machine learning and the acceleration of discovery:
https://epodstemology.buzzsprout.com/1763534/10465344-machine-learning-and-the-acceleration-of-discovery

James Steele is Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at Solent University. He has extensive research and consultancy experience working with elite athletes across a range of sports, the general population across the lifespan, and both those who are healthy and diseased. He was a member of the Expert Working Group revising the CMO Physical Activity Guidelines for the United Kingdom and is a founding member of both the Strength and Conditioning Society, and the Society for Transparency, Openness, and Replication in Kinesiology. James joins regular host Dr Mark Fabian, assistant professor of public policy at the University of Warwick, to discuss the new hotness in exercise: low-dose workouts, as well as the challenges and peculiarities of conducting research in the sports space. This is the episode for everyone who thinks that maybe all those sports influencers out there aren't being entirely honest with the 'science'.