Policy 360

Yemen is in the midst of civil war, a brutal conflict that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis according to the United Nations. By some estimates, 75 percent of the people there are in need of humanitarian assistance. Millions have been forced to flee, and more are at risk of starvation. Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, recently returned from a trip to Yemen. She visited camps for displaced people, and has returned to the U.S. determined to help.

Kelly Brownell has stepped away from his role as dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy to launch a new World Food Policy Center at Duke University. He talks with the school's new dean, Judith Kelley, about key challenges that he hopes his new center will begin to address. For example, he hopes to get people in the food and food policy space talking to each other. The academic field is segmented, he says. "There is a lot of depth around particular topics but not much breadth across them and very little communications across them."

It’s often said that one in 10 people on the planet is hungry, and that number is on the rise. Abigail Bennett is the lead author of a new report from Duke University’s World Food Policy Center, The Environmental Defense Fund, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Duke University Marine Lab on the contribution of fisheries to food and nutrition security. Abby has served as a fellow at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and is a consultant at the World Bank.

Researchers now believe they can predict bad behavior later in life, just from a child's behavior and life circumstances as a toddler. This is the last of a four-part series looking at early childhood. Guest: Daniel Shaw of the Center for Parents and Children and the Pitt Parents and Children Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.

There's an intriguing new study that shows a connected between when low-income families receive supplemental nutrition, or SNAP assistance, and student test scores. The study is believed to be the first to show a connection between benefits of this sort and academic performance. The authors of the study are Anna Gassman-Pines and Laura Bellows. Gassman-Pines is an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Neuroscience at Duke University. Laura Bellows is a doctoral student at the Sanford School of Public Policy.

It's becoming more and more apparent that the first thousand days of a child's life are crucial. In particular, the nutrition a child receives early in life dictates the kind of life that child will go on to have. But around the world, many women face huge obstacles when it comes to securing proper nutrition for their families. Journalist Roger Thurow traveled the world to see firsthand the challenges many mothers face as a part of an exploration of a worldwide initiative to end early childhood malnutrition. He met new mothers and babies in Uganda, India, Guatemala, and Chicago, and tells their stories in the book The First Thousand Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children - And the World.

Most experts recommend mothers breastfeed for six months exclusively after birth – but most women don’t do so. In the U.S.. only 27 percent of mothers reach the 6-month mark. In the U.K., it’s less than one percent. Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla of the Yale School of Public Health has been working on a way to boost and sustain breastfeeding rates – and he’s doing it on a country-by-country basis.

“The tragic Parkland, Fla., shooting on February 14th is yet another dreadful reminder that schools are no sanctuary against mass violence. Americans are surely united in wanting reforms … But the reform that is getting the most attention in this bizarro era we live in — arming teachers with concealed handguns — would likely make things worse.” – excerpt from an op-ed by one of this country’s preeminent researchers on gun violence in America, Philip J. Cook. Cook talks with Kelly Brownell about other, more promising strategies for dealing with gun violence in classrooms than arming teachers.

It's March Madness, but instead of basketball, we’re pitting U.S. presidents from throughout the ages against each other. Who will be crowned the best president?  Will it be Washington or Honest Abe?  Maybe FDR?  What criteria should we be using to determine what makes a great president? Guests include Frederick "Fritz" Mayer and BJ Rudell from POLIS, the Duke Center for Political Leadership, Innovation & Service. Music: Blue Dot Sessions

James Clapper served as director of national intelligence and Obama’s top security adviser from 2010-2017. He oversaw 200,000 intelligence employees, a $52 billion budget and top security organizations including the CIA, NSA and FBI. In this episode of Policy 360, he discusses threats to the U.S., his decision to speak out against the country's current leadership and his hopes for future leaders. Music: Blue Dot Sessions/Creative Commons

It’s estimated that 1.2 billion people around the world live without electricity. Another billion have only limited access to electricity. And billions more lack access to clean fuel and technology for cooking. There's an exciting new project designed to address the energy needs of the world’s poor. The Energy Access Project aims to bring an interdisciplinary approach to one of the world's most vexing issues.

In recent years, oil and gas production in the U.S. has increased dramatically, in part because of new technology like hydraulic fracturing or “fracking." Proponents say fracking is helping the country be energy independent. Opponents cite environmental concerns. Daniel Raimi traveled to every major U.S. oil and gas- producing region in the U.S. His book is called The Fracking Debate.

Recently, Jonathan Mattingly has been a detective of sorts, delving into partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina. (Gerrymandering is when one party manipulates voting districts for their own gain.) Mattingly is chair of the math department at Duke and his mathematical analysis of the state’s 13 Congressional districts was used in a court ruling that declared the state's maps unconstitutional. He says what he uncovered in his research could be used to address gerrymandering in other states.  

A panel of federal judges recently declared North Carolina's Congressional maps unconstitutional. (Congressional maps divide the state into voting districts.) The maps had been drawn by Republicans and tilted heavily in their favor. The ruling required lawmakers to redraw the maps by the end of January 2018, but the U.S. Supreme Court has put that ruling on hold. Recently Tom Ross ran a bipartisan simulation which demonstrated how independent redistricting in the state might work. Lessons learned in North Carolina could be applied to other states who are grappling with these issues. Tom Ross is president of the Volcker Alliance, which is working to rebuild public trust in government. He is the first Terry Sanford Distinguished Fellow at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

The algorithms that determine what we see on social media platforms wield a lot of power, especially when it comes to the news that people see. Facebook made big news recently when the company tweaked its algorithm. And did you know some real news stories are not written by humans, but by smart algorithm? Kelly Brownell discusses the promise and peril of algorithms with Phil Napoli. Napoli was recently awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to explore this topic more closely. Phil Napoli's upcoming book is titled "Media Technocracy: The Rise of Algorithmic News and the Future of the Marketplace of Ideas."

Recently, the Charlotte Observer ran a powerful five-part series that revealed shocking practices inside the state’s prison system. The investigation exposed correctional officers running contraband rings and collaborating with gang members. As a result of that series, the state commissioned a study to see whether best practices from other state prison systems could be implemented in North Carolina. The authors of the study, Caitlin Saunders and Joel Rosch, discuss their findings.

A student-led initiative on college campuses  in North Carolina is tackling one of the most important issue of our time - political polarization. The project, called Leaders for Political Dialogue, convenes students from Duke, N.C. State, UNC and N.C. Central. Students spend a weekend learning how to communicate better with those whose political opinions may differ from their own. Kelly Brownell talks with the founder of the project, as well as three participants.

More and more rich people are choosing to give their money away before they die. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to give away 99% of his family's Facebook stock - a gift estimated at the time to be worth $45 billion dollars. Some mega-donors are even pressing to spend donated funds their own lifetimes. Joel Fleishman, a preeminent scholar on philanthropy, compares this current trend with the more traditional approach of perpetual foundations which are designed to last for generations. Fleishman's  book is Putting Wealth to Work - Philanthropy for Today or Investing for Tomorrow.

The latest research on poverty indicates that a federal job guarantee is economically feasible. Such a guarantee could help address big American issues like crumbling infrastructure while at the same time ensuring workers aren't living in poverty. Kelly Brownell talks about the topic with William "Sandy" Darity, the director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.

Barney Frank spent 32 years in Congress. He served most recently as the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. He sponsored the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which resulted in a sweeping reform of the U.S. financial industry. He is also one of the most prominent gay politicians in the U.S. In this conversation Barney Frank questions which side Donald Trump is rooting for in 2018, talks about the use of humor in politics, and explores the need for pragmatism in the fight for a fairer society. Barney Frank’s visit to Duke was sponsored by the Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy and the Professions, in collaboration with the Kenan Institute for Ethics; POLIS, the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service, and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke.