The Brookings Cafeteria

, a fellow in the Governance Studies Program at Brookings, explains why the Iowa Caucuses matter so much in the presidential election. She also discusses what to expect from Congress this year for both congressional elections and the presidential election. “There are a lot of quirky details to the Iowa Caucus,” Reynolds says. In this interview, she explains what makes the Iowa Caucuses so important in the presidential nomination process and what to expect as the races continue. She also weighs in on what we can expect from Congress this year, including appropriations and what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he plans to do. Also in this episode: Listen to Hollie Russon Gilman, a fellow at New America and Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, discuss her new book "." Also, get to know , a fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, during our "Coffee Break." Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

This episode features two of the leaders of the Brookings Institution: the co-chairs of the , John L. Thornton and David M. Rubenstein. They reflect on our first 100 years and share their thoughts on Brookings’s second century. The episode is the first in a series celebrating 100 years of the Brookings Institution. Later in this series, you’ll hear from former and current Brookings presidents as well as scholars.

In this week’s episode, , a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program, assesses the potential role of several economic strategies in transforming Africa’s industrial development for the global economy. “Between now and about 2030, the estimates are that as many as 85 million jobs at [the] bottom end of manufacturing will migrate out of China. So the question is: where will they go?” In this podcast, Page explains that with policy change, great focus, and a cohesive implementation of economic strategies, a number of African countries can capitalize on this opportunity in the global market. Also in this episode: Our regular economic update with , senior fellow and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. Also, a new segment about issues affecting metropolitan areas with , senior fellow and deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program. Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

Tune in to hear , senior fellow in , and , senior fellow and the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in and former policy advisor to President Bill Clinton, review President Obama’s State of the Union address and look ahead to the 2016 presidential and congressional elections. In this episode, they assess policy issues from the Obama Administration and discuss how the presidential candidates will address these issues. They identify the political party of the next President as a determining characteristic in the legacy President Obama will leave behind. Show Notes:   Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

, vice President and director of the Economic Studies Program at Brookings and the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow, forecasts the top economic issues in the upcoming year. Tune in to hear more about the labor market, wages, and productivity growth in 2016. Gayer also outlines which economic issues the presidential candidates should be talking about in the elections and how much impact the president has in economic policy decisions. Also in this podcast: “What’s Happening in Congress” with , senior fellow in Governance Studies and deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management. And also get to know , senior fellow and deputy director of the Brown Center on Education Policy, during our “Coffee Break.” Show Notes:  (Case/Deaton study)  (from Economic Studies Program) Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

In this last episode of the Brookings Cafeteria podcast for 2015, you'll hear some of the best moments from the show selected from the year's episodes. Thanks to the team that makes this podcast possible: Zack Kulzer, Mark Hoelscher, Carissa Nitchy, Jessica Pavone, Rebecca Viser and Eric Abalahin. Also, special thanks to the leadership and support of David Nassar and Richard Fawal. And a very special thanks to our intern Karen WaelGirgis, who was instrumental in putting this episode and many others together. Show Notes: Visit the to listen to all of the episodes. Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

, senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, discusses her new book (co-authored with Gene Sperling and Christina Kwauk) "" (Brookings Institution Press, 2015). “Girls’ education really is quite unique in terms of interventions you can do," she says. "Not because it’s a silver bullet; there are no such things as silver bullets. But, certainly in developing country contexts, it has so many high returns across such a wide variety of areas important for society.” In this podcast, Winthrop walks us through the evolution of girls’ education and how “Twenty-five years ago, girls’ education was an issue in every single country in the world.” She reminds us that there’s a reason to be optimistic: “There are a lot of huge gains in girls’ education. There is a lot to celebrate. Over the last twenty years, the number of girls who have been out of school have been cut in half.” Also in this podcast: Listen to , senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy program and author of the book “,”

“A lot of the issues that we focus on as crises on a daily basis—I think particularly of Syria—they are certainly crises in their own right,” says . “But to my mind the failure to deal with them does have a lot to do with the consequences of the breakdown in international order and the breakdown in the international capacity to create order.” , fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy and the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings, gives his view on the top foreign policy issues of the day and in the 2016 presidential election. “The interesting thing about terrorism is that it is never, at least for advanced societies, a direct threat in any existential way, despite what many of our politicians say,” argues Shapiro in this podcast, “What can threaten a nation like ours is that in the process of responding to an attack like in San Bernardino or in Paris that we destroy the things that are most precious to us, like our freedoms, like our civil liberties, that we engage in foreign p

, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies and holder of the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies and also the Michael H. Armacost Chair, talks about Hong Kong’s relationship to China, the umbrella movement of 2014, and the future of democracy in Hong Kong. “First of all,” Bush says, “there is the continuing challenge of how you make the Hong Kong economy competitive in a global economy that is … constantly changing technologically.” “On the political side, I personally believe that Hong Kong would benefit from having competitive elections for senior leaders. … But elections in and of themselves won’t solve all the governance problems that Hong Kong has.” Also in this podcast: Listen to with the first installment of “Steve Hess Stories,” in which Senior Fellow Emeritus explains how he came to write a best-selling book, , while serving in the Army. And part four of our Paris climate conference series with Fellow ______________________________________________ Show Notes: _____

, fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, tells us what’s missing in conventional college ranking systems like that of U.S. News & World Report. And using President Obama’s new college score card, Rothwell talks about his new value added approach to rankings. “I don’t actually think we need more college ranking systems. I think we need better ranking systems,” argues Rothwell. The “problems with U.S. News and some of the conventional rankings,” he continues, include “way too much emphasis on selectivity. Non-selective schools have no chance to ever make it towards the top of the rankings. And as a result there are a lot of hidden gems out there … that are providing great outcomes for [their] students.” Also in this podcast: In our Coffee Break segment, meet a scholar who grew up in Vancouver, the son of World War II refugees, visiting fellow . And stay tuned for part three of our Paris climate conference series as Senior Fellow discusses the role of carbon pricing in reducing greenhouse g

, an expert on counterterrorism and Middle East Security, and research director for the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, explains what we know and don’t know about the ISIS terrorist attack in Paris and whether he thinks ISIS will strike the U.S. Also, part two of our Paris climate talk series on new technology from , senior fellow and policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program. “The real danger to me is not taking care of the refugee problem,” argues Byman, “If these refugees are trapped in the Middle East, if they’re in these huge camps where there are no opportunities, if they’re not integrated into host societies, over time we’re going to see the development of a terrorism and radicalization problem among large numbers of refugees.” Also in this podcast: “What’s Happening in Congress” with special guest , a fellow in Governance Studies. ______________________________________________ Show Notes:  (video) ______________________________________________ Subscribe to the Brookings Caf

, nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University discusses climate change and the upcoming global climate talks in Paris.  “Scientists are telling us,” Roberts says, “that about 2 degrees Celsius is about the highest limit to stay safe... And in fact right now we’re just under 1 degree Celsius of warming and we’re already seeing these impacts of wildfires, droughts, heat waves, flooding, sea level rise, melting Greenland icesheets and Antarctica being potentially destabilized. There are great risks we’re running at 1 degree. What is it going to be like at 2?” Also hear from Senior Fellow as she discusses a new report on immigrants and their integration into American society. ______________________________________________ Show Notes: ______________________________________________ Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

This week, talks presidential primaries, congressional primaries, and the problems facing our current nominating system. She also offers predictions on the likely GOP and Democratic presidential nominees. Listen to find out who she’s tapped to win. “Political parties are incredibly important,” says Kamarck, “They shape Americans’ behaviors. They are the best predictor of how Americans are going to vote. And there are in fact real and meaningful differences between the parties. You can’t really have democracies without political parties. Political parties are the sort of essence of democracy, but they’re also the part of democracy that voters love to hate.” Kamarck is a senior fellow and founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management. She is also author of  “The primary method of nominating candidates increases polarization,” argues Elaine. “The place that you see it affect behavior most dramatically is in congressional primaries. … So what happens is the most extreme voters tend to dominate

, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and former CBS News Correspondent, discusses his new book "." “I think since 1991 at the end of the Soviet Union, the end of Communism as a global philosophy, Ukrainians have come to understand that they are an independent culture,” explains Kalb. “The shame of it is that though they are, they are locked into a history which may deny them the full expression of their politics and their culture. And they can’t escape that; it is simply a part of their history.” “When I started doing the research for this book,” Kalb says, “one of the things that I did was to go back and read notes of the classes I used to do fifty and sixty years ago as a graduate student. … And I realized, rather quickly I’m happy to say, that unless you went back a thousand years, truly, you would not understand why Putin is doing what he’s doing now either in Crimea, or Ukraine, or even in Syria. You couldn’t because the thousand years gives you the perspective and the reasoning and the psychologic

and discuss their Ending Rural Hunger project, designed to help the world achieve one important facet of the “No Hunger” Sustainable Development Goal.   “[P]robably about ¾ of the [food insecurity] problem that we’re dealing with globally is actually in rural areas,” Kharas says in this podcast. McArthur explains, “I think the first thing to note is that the world is making progress. So roughly speaking, undernourishment as a share of the world is dropping by about 1 percent every three years.” Also in this episode, John Hudak gives his regular “What’s happening in Congress” update. ______________________________________________ Show Notes:   A Note from Our Guests: Homi and John are very grateful to the full team that contributed to the Ending Rural Hunger project. The report itself was prepared by a group in Brookings’s Global Economy and Development program, which also included: Geoffrey Gertz, Sinead Mowlds, and Lorenz Noe, assisted by Julie Biau, Soumya Chattopadhyay, Krista Rasmussen and Madelyn

Fellows  and  from the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings debate the challenges facing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “In the long term, [Hamas] is not where peace lies… What doomed the disengagement in Gaza was the rise of Hamas and the continuation of the war from it… This reality, where war continues from a territory that is evacuated is perhaps the biggest [factor], except for the second intifada,… that has made Israelis skeptical of peace,” explains Natan.  “The other two trends on the ground are deepening Israeli occupation…You would expect if you are moving towards a two state solution…that there would be movement towards disengaging from that reality rather than deepening it. But it is in fact deepening. There are more settlers, more construction. And that is a source of anger for Palestinians who see more and more of their land being swallowed up… and their hopes for an independent state sort of vanishing before their eyes,” says Khaled in this podcast. Also in this podcast: "Coffee B

“To use some of the time honored clichés, ‘The enemy may get a vote too.’ Or the Bolshevik line, ‘You may not have an interest in war, but war may have an interest in you.’ I paraphrase that to say we may not, at the moment, have an interest in counterinsurgency and stabilization missions, but they may have an interest in us… we can’t be like the ostrich putting our head in the sand just because we’re tired of these kinds of wars. They might come back, whether we like it or not.” says Senior Fellow about his new book, The Future of Land Warfare. After learning about the various scenarios that might necessitate land warfare, we’ll hear , senior fellow in Economic Studies and Editor of the Evidence Speaks project, discuss the cost of universal Pre-K. “The question is: what should the nation or states do to increase participation rates to a universal level?” Whitehurst asks in this project. “And what I’ve found by looking at the evidence is that actually people haven’t provided very good evidence on how many ch

“For someone who has followed these issues from 1989 ... it is a sad moment,” says in this podcast. “It is a sad moment because we feel that international solidarity is not there. And that solidarity was, ... for a fleeting moment, triggered by that little child ... on the beaches of Turkey.” Kirisci, TÜSİAD Senior Fellow at Brookings and an expert on Turkish foreign policy and migration studies, speaks on why Syrians are fleeing to Europe, the impact of Syrian displacement on neighboring countries, and how the failure of the international community to do its part in resettling refugees has increased Syrian reliance on human smugglers. “I think there is a growing loss of hope. There is a growing feeling that the likelihood of things improving in Syria is less than nil,” he says. Also stay tuned for "What’s happening in Congress" with Brookings Fellow , and hear Senior Fellows and  discuss their new paper advocating for universal voting. Show Notes: Elizabeth Ferris and Kemal Kirişci forthcoming pape

“Iran gets out of jail free. I mean, they’re out of the penalty box at this point," says Senior Fellow  in this podcast on Iran in a post-nuclear deal world. "The rest of the world will do business as usual with Iran. Iran will be welcomed to international fora. The ... stench of pariah-hood that had attached itself to Iran during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—both because of the nuclear escalation and because of Ahmadinejad’s proclivity for really provocative statements and reprehensible rhetoric on the Holocaust and other issues—that problem is now gone.” Maloney, the interim deputy director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, and a senior fellow in the , examines the impact of the nuclear deal on U.S.-Iran relations and on the Iranian people, discusses Iran’s place in the international community, and talks about her optimism for the future of Iran. “It’s a young, dynamic, incredibly well-positioned society for the future,” she says. “I think if I were to place a bet on the long-term democratic opportun

“Almost half of undergraduates in the United States start at a community college,” says Fellow  in this podcast. Soliz, a new fellow in the  at Brookings, identifies challenges faced by students looking to transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions, reacts to President Obama’s proposal to make community college free, and discusses the conflict between for-profit colleges and community colleges. Regarding the conflict between the two, she says, “From an institutional perspective, there is a lot of potential for competition to be a beneficial thing. If the community colleges are losing students to the for-profits, then that could encourage them to increase their efficiency and increase their quality. [However] there are a couple of reasons why that may not be happening.”   Also in this episode, Fellow , managing editor of FixGov blog, offers his "What's Happening in Congress" update. Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .