Stephen Hawkins

Here are three nonpartisan reflections on the #election2024 -More Americans are independents than Democrats and Republicans. The two party system forces people into categories and into making choices that often do not reflect their values. -If you were unhappy with what the Democrats and Republicans had to offer on your ballot, you should support open primaries and ranked choice voting to make sure we have more independent minded candidates on the ballot. -It's ok to agree with progressives on some issues and conservatives on others (or neither). Many of us are more open-minded than the two-party system leads us to believe.

14

check out this excellent primer - I learned a lot, and it made me think more about the constraints any one set of tools, like watermarking, are dealing with if we ask them to solve for an underlying concept - like "trust".

4

✏️ “The focus on immediate military objectives meant that long-term infrastructure projects and governance reforms were deprioritized. This oversight prevented the establishment of robust institutions necessary for a stable and self-sufficient Afghanistan”… In my latest article for LPI, I assess NATO’s nation-building failures in Afghanistan, and argue that counterinsurgency operations should be driven by ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’ strategies. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ddYC7it6

10

2 Comments

The Hill covered some history of our public libraries, current political threats, and legislation being proposed to protect these institutions which provide a lifeblood for their communities. #librariesmatter #libraries #publiclibraries #publicinstitutions #governance #democracy

2

There is nothing better than using your legal skills to help a voter cast their ballot! Learn more about working in voter protection this year by attending one of these sessions!

4

As elections unfold around the world it is essential to understand and share how democracies' defenders, and solutions oriented leaders can and do win elections, even in heartland regions that often respond to resentment-driven, nationalist leaders. That is why our new report "Democracy Can Win at the Ballot Box" is essential reading. It culls the insights from effective pro-democracy campaigners in the US, UK and Europe. It's the latest from our Heartlands Transformation Initiative, and just out from Jefferson Educational Society & Eisenhower Institute. #Democracy #elections #populism

7

All is not lost in our shared neighborhood. Regional #stability, #prosperity, #democracy, and familial bonds are common among us. The #US maintains rooted generational #partnerships, especially through our #military. The next #administration must reinforce #economic opportunities, shared values, and #trust. 🇺🇸 #America must #invest in the #WesternHemisphere to push back against rising #authoritarian regimes and the growing #influence of extra-hemispheric actors like #China, #Russia, and #Iran. By deepening our #diplomatic, economic, and #security investments in the Western Hemisphere, we can counter these #threats and safeguard democracy. 🌎 Strategic competition with #China isn’t just about the Indo-Pacific—it's here in the Americas. Strengthening our ties with regional #allies and #partners will create #resilient economies, reduce vulnerabilities, and reinforce #US #leadership. The next US administration's investment in the Western Hemisphere will be key to maintaining the relative advantage, support of regional partners, and meet US national security objectives. #LatinAmerica #Caribbean #LAC #strategiccompetition #NSS #nearshoring #supplychains #technology #DIME #IntegratedDeterrence

7

1 Comment

Our democracy faces significant challenges, but there's hope. New reports show the urgent need for renewed civic engagement, election integrity, and bridging partisan divides. TheFulcrum.US highlights these and more: https://ow.ly/60Ha50RNV5g

5

The latest updates from the Center for Democracy Innovation, including "Ten Steps Toward a Better Democracy," thousands more organizations on the Healthy Democracy Map, a new format for public meetings, new joint publications with NLC and C&S, the upcoming Conference on Citizenship, the pending Building Civic Bridges Act, All-America City Award applications, and a funny cartoon from the World Forum on Democracy, are here!

24

Happy to publish this new piece in Foreign Policy Magazine alongside Mark Hannah. In it, we argue that Harris and Walz have a chance to remake US foreign policy, breaking from the ossified thinking that’s defined so much of Washington since the end of the Cold War. A new foreign policy would inform a pragmatic and forward-looking realism, offering a new vision for American power, shaped for the world that will be, not the world that was. https://lnkd.in/e8wdrCyw

136

11 Comments

5th State Policy Roadmap is released! 🥂 Stay tuned to our December 2024 event: "Advancing Evidence-Based Early Childhood Policymaking: Great Progress, Great Opportunities"

7

In this week's "A View from Afar" podcast Selwyn Manning and I discuss the implication of the upcoming national elections on the US role in International affairs. We focus on the possibility of another Trump presidency and the hedging strategies both adversaries and allies are likely to employ in that event, the shifting voter demographics in the US, Biden's problems in dominating the election build-up and the stark fact that from afar the US increasingly looks like an unstable polity and therefore may be more unreliable as an international partner, especially if Trump wins. Plus a lot more. https://lnkd.in/gjp8-NSN

3

Last week, we filed supplemental testimony with the United States Commission on Civil Rights on the use of Artificial Intelligence by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-- we close them with a what we hope is a useful set of questions for DHS: 1) What stakeholder engagement is planned around specific use cases? 2) What empirical testing has been conducted with real-world users (e.g., has TSA measured whether or not airline passengers fully understand their ability to withhold consent at checkpoints to FRT uses? What evidence suggests that they do or do not feel at liberty to make a choice?) 3) What changes in biometric surveillance policy or other steps are DHS considering, if any, in light of the OMB EO? 4) What programs at DHS will likely receive waivers in December and what is the timeline for aligning those uses with the requirements of the EO? 5) What are the implications for FRT of Secretary Mayorkas’s new AI initiative? 6) What evidence of consent for data collection does DHS regarding its well-publicized collections of DMV and utility data that include US citizens? 7) Why does DHS feel a need to hold onto non-citizen data for an astonishing 75 years? 8) What training has been completed at this stage in terms of the timeline and what has yet to be done? 9) Does the planned training adequately capture the human factors and limitations of the tech use cases? Will the training be shared with the Commission? Has it been independently evaluated? 10) What are safety evaluations that have been conducted by DHS regarding risks to migrants and new, more hazardous corridors that may be created in light of the plan to expand DHS surveillance technologies and towers at the border? https://lnkd.in/eM3K7vm7

3

I've done an analysis (ie made a 2x2) about Trump's nominees. What do they tell us about his administration, his ability to enact his policies, and of course what are the implications for VP Vance! Check out my latest Substack and if you like it, please, tell your friends! https://lnkd.in/gG-tyfUJ

7

2 Comments

The challenges that the Organization of American States is facing in addressing the current crisis in Venezuela highlight a central challenge to the Inter-American Defense of Democracy Regime—the inability to address threats to democracy until there is a major crisis. The inability to respond before a crisis has been evident in several recent cases of democratic crisis in the region. Efforts to strengthen democracy before full blown crises emerge are necessary for ensuring the defense of democracy. Check out my latest article with Diplomatic Courier: https://lnkd.in/eK47x5r8.

15

Credit goes to Rocky Concepcion for the original post, but this article concerning shifting #demographics at the #usborder should have the widest dissemination possible; this is not a comment about policy, this is simply meant to inform. #us #border #immigration #global #dhs #data #shiftingtrends #europe #africa #asia https://lnkd.in/eMuFPZJ8

9

2 Comments

Last week, GA Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) published my court fines and fees fact sheet and interactive data storyboard, which highlights how fines and fees reliance, poverty and race collide in Georgia. I did this data project using a combination of Excel, R Studio and Tableau. The data storyboard can be viewed on my Tableau Public page at https://lnkd.in/eghzsrRG. It allows viewers to explore over 500 cities and nearly all 159 counties’ reliance on court fines and fees to fund their government operations, from 2016 to 2022 (latest data available). If you don’t already know from experience or observation, Georgia holds one of the nation’s highest concentrations of cities and counties that heavily rely on court fines and fees revenue to fund public services. The worst practices often happen in communities with the highest concentrations of Black Georgians and those experiencing poverty. Monetary sanctions for minor infractions like traffic violations, make up large shares of fines and fees revenues. Georgians who can’t afford to promptly pay those costs face consequences that more affluent people don’t, including: more fines and fees, criminalization and further entanglement with police and courts in ways that can lead to incarceration, and being saddled with long-term debt. These harms also layer more barriers to workforce mobility and broader economic opportunity. Dozens of cities and counties continue to heavily rely on fines and fees to fund public services inside and outside of the criminal legal system, planning their budgets around revenues that are generated through the harmful dynamic mentioned above. Even worse, Georgia lawmakers continue to expand fines and fees with minimal to no safeguards while seeking to reduce other revenue sources – which could further increase cities, counties and the state’s reliance on criminal legal system fines and fees to fund public services. Like, share widely, and comment! #gapol #DataVisualization #R #Excel #Tableau #CriminalLegalSystemFinesAndFees

21

6 Comments