In Service of Humanity

Countries such as Russia and Iran are influencing U.S. politics by spreading disinformation and propaganda through social media. At the same time, the Trump administration’s rejection of long-negotiated agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Agreement has arguably altered perceptions of the U.S. among its allies.Jacob N. Shapiro joins Before the Ballot to discuss the rapid changes in American foreign policy since 2016, and what might lie beyond Nov. 3.Shapiro is professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and directs the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project. ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

With the coronavirus revealing the cracks in the U.S. health care system, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) being challenged before the Supreme Court, how will health care access and affordability impact voters’ decisions in November?Heather Howard joins Before the Ballot to discuss how the pandemic is intertwined with the economic crisis, its effects on the ongoing opioid epidemic and preventative care, and the campaigns’ approaches to health care policy. Howard is a lecturer at Princeton University and director of State Health and Value Strategies. ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

The executive branch’s power has grown in ways beneficial to both Republican and Democratic presidencies — from the expansion of federal agencies to an increased reliance on executive orders. How have the Constitutional checks and balances fared over the past four years, and what effects might the Trump presidency have on the future of the office?Sarah Staszak joins Before the Ballot to discuss Congressional gridlock, the role of the courts, and how far we may have strayed from the founding fathers’ intentions.Staszak is an associate research scholar in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

Since the onset of the pandemic and subsequent slowing down of the economy, lawmakers have debated how best to provide ongoing economic relief to individuals, businesses, and state and local governments.Cecilia Rouse joins Before the Ballot to discuss the politics and efficacy of government aid options; inequalities laid bare by the pandemic in income, health care, and education; and the need for new policies to protect workers in the future.Rouse is dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Katzman-Ernst Professor in Economics and Education, and professor of economics and public affairs.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

Amid a growing chorus calling to “defund the police,” some worry about the potential for rising violence on the one hand and a question about what replaces the police on the other. Patrick Sharkey joins Before the Ballot to discuss the public health consequences of violence on children’s outcomes, the role of police and other community-building organizations in low-income neighborhoods, and strategies that can improve child wellbeing. Sharkey is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton and the founder of AmericanViolence.org.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

In 2013, the Senate passed — but the House failed to consider — a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants. This year, voters will consider President Trump’s and Joe Biden’s vastly different approaches on border security, refugee admissions, the separation of families at the border, and the status of Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.Marta Tienda joins Before the Ballot to discuss the facts and politicization of immigration. She is the Maurice P. During Professor in demographic studies at Princeton University.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

The Trump administration has departed from longstanding U.S. policies in the Middle East, relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and cutting aid to the Palestine Liberation Organization. While Israel has normalized relations with some other countries in the region, it is unclear what the future is for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.Daniel C. Kurtzer joins Before the Ballot to consider the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. He is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University and former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

Editor’s note: This episode was recorded before the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.In recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled on cases involving polarizing issues in U.S. politics, including campaign finance, the Affordable Care Act, and same-sex marriage. The nomination and confirmation processes for new Justices have also become increasingly influenced by politics.Chuck Cameron and John Kastellec join Before the Ballot to discuss “judicial activism,” how the Supreme Court affects American life, and the future of the judicial branch under either a Trump or Biden presidency.Cameron is professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. Kastellec is associate professor of politics at Princeton University.ABOUT THE SHOWBefore the Ballot is a podcast series designed to educate voters before they cast their ballots this November. It features faculty at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The show is hosted by Elisabeth Donahue, associate dean of public affairs and communications. It is produced and edited by Henry Barrett ’22 and B. Rose Huber, communications manager and senior writer. Sarah Binder, communications specialist, wrote these summaries.

August marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which legally ended the use of sex a qualification for the right to vote. In this episode, Corrine McConnaughy takes listeners back in time to what gave the movement legs, explaining how "coalition politics" were the lynchpin women securing the right to vote. She also discusses some well-known suffrage figures, highlighting how often they are mythologized. Instead, she advocates for the recognition of the movement as a collective force. McConnaughy is a research scholar and lecturer at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. She studies how political identities–from party identification to race, gender, and ethnicity–are formed and function in the American political system. She’s the author of a book on the politics of women’s voting rights: “The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment."

This week’s show is special: We’re running an episode of Democracy Works, a podcast produced by Penn State University’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy. (You may remember we swapped episodes with them last summer.)This episode features Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, assistant professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, and Candis Watts Smith, associate professor African American Studies and political science at Penn State. Bunyasi and Smith are coauthors of a book called "Stay Woke: A People’s Guide to Making all Black Lives Matter," which looks at the history of structural racism in the U.S. and gives people information and tools to become antiracists.In this episode, they talk about the clumsiness associated with changing patterns of thinking and behavior and how that’s playing out across our online and offline lives and among both individuals and companies. We also discuss the inherent messiness of the Black Lives Matter movement and why that’s not necessarily a bad thing.