Brookings Press Blog

Watch Beth Noveck’s Long Now Foundation seminar online

Wiki Government author Beth Noveck’s March 4 seminar at The Long Now Foundation can now be viewed at FORA.tv. A full transcript of her remarks is also available. Noveck, who serves as deputy chief technology officer for open government in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, was recently chosen as one of the “Federal 100” by Federal Computer Week. In her Long Now seminar, she discusses the history of the patent system, the genesis of Peer-to-Patent, the Obama administration’s Open Government initiative, and more broadly, the implications of new technology for thinking about democracy. She also responds to questions on such topics as transparency and secrecy in government.

- Watch the seminar.

- Learn more about Wiki Government.

- Read about the Open Government initiative.

"Wiki Government" Author Beth Noveck Appears in "Open Gov the Movie"

UK-based consultancy Delib has put together a short documentary featuring key players in the Obama administration’s Open Government initiative. Launched one year after President Obama issued his Memorandum to the Heads of Executive Department and Agencies on Transparency and Open Government, the 14-minute film is based on interviews conducted late last year by Delib founder Chris Quigley. The full four hours of interviews, including a sitdown with U.S. deputy chief technology officer Beth Noveck, can also be watched online.

- Watch "Open Gov the Movie."

- Learn more about Wiki Government.

Beth Noveck’s Work on Peer-to-Patent Inspires New Effort to Help the Federal Government Use Crowdsourcing

The American Association for the Advancement of Science recently launched Expert Labs, “a new, non-profit independent lab, with a mandate to help policy makers in the U.S. Federal Government tap into the expertise of their fellow citizens.” In the news release announcing the project, which is backed by a $500,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Expert Labs director Anil Dash observed, “There has been a lot of attention on how the government is using new technology to talk to citizens. Expert Labs is about making technology that helps government listen to citizens.”

In an interview with “The Morning News,” Dash explained that Expert Labs was inspired by Peer-to-Patent, a pilot project at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headed by Wiki Government author Beth Noveck. Peer-to-Patent created a system for allowing members of the public to comment on patent applications and has inspired similar efforts in the United Kingdom and Japan. Now the deputy chief technology officer for open government, Noveck was recently mentioned as a possible candidate for appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

- Read TMN’s interview with Anil Dash.

- See CNET’s profile of Noveck.

- Learn more about Wiki Government.

Elaine Kamarck Interview on "Primary Politics": Presidential Nominating Process is Out of Control

Elaine Kamarck recently appeared on BroadSide, a program from New England Cable News. Talking about her book Primary Politics, Kamarck said the presidential nominating process is out of control. If she could change one thing, she “would allow the later states, the states in May and June, to be winner takes all.” This adjustment would focus the candidates’ attention on the people of states who are often overlooked in the primary elections.

- Learn more about Primary Politics

Brookings Hosts Discussion of "Primary Politics"

Elaine Kamarck, Dan Balz, and Walter Shapiro to speak on October 9

On Friday, October 9, Washington Post political correspondent Dan Balz and PoliticsDaily.com columnist Walter Shapiro will join Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Elaine Kamarck to discuss the past and future of the presidential nominating system. Kamarck is the author of the new book Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System. The discussion will be moderated by Brookings senior fellow William Galston. This event is part of the Governing Ideas series, which is intended to broaden the discussion of governance issues through forums on timely and relevant books on history, culture, legal norms and practices, values, and religion.

- Register for the event

- Learn more about Primary Politics

Elaine Kamarck to Speak on Political Partisanship at the University of Virginia

On Friday, October 2, Primary Politics author and DNC member Elaine Kamarck will join Washington Post columnist and Brookings senior fellow E.J. Dionne; William Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard; and Sidney M. Milkis, White Burkett Miller Professor of Politics, for a panel discussion titled “Party Animals: Is Political Partisanship Obama's Problem or Solution?”. The session, which begins at 1:30 p.m., will be moderated by media columnist Edward Wasserman and is cosponsored by UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, Washington and Lee University, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

- Read more about the event.

- See Austin American-Statesman’s coverage of Primary Politics.

Reforming the Primary Process: Author Elaine Kamarck shares perspective

“Democratic Change Commission” hosts Kamarck at public meeting

It’s an off year between presidential election seasons, so the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee have begun to discuss, once again, the many issues entangling the presidential primary elections. According to a Washington Post article on Sunday, June 28, Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System author Elaine Kamarck added her own opinion to the debate at a public meeting held by the “Democratic Change Commission.” Speaking before an audience of political elites, Kamarck suggested that superdelegates be eliminated from the primary process, a controversial stance that garnered a mixed response. From the article, Kamarck argued that “the selection of presidential nominees is now a public process and has eliminated the need for elites who could assert themselves in the equivalent of a back-room role.”

Kamarck’s Primary Politics, which explores how the presidential primary process became the complex, often confusing system that it is today, will be published this July.

- Read the Washington Post's "There They Go Again: Fixing the Primary Process"

- Learn more about Primary Politics

A Push for Power in the Political Arena

The Bush Administration’s Play for Power

If every individual who signed the Constitution traveled 221 years forward to the present, would they find America running according to the guidelines they intended? According to James Pfiffner, the Founding Fathers would probably turn to the 43rd president of the United States and shake their heads. Pfiffner believes that while the constitution outlines three equal branches of power, President Bush has used his time in office to shift the balance of power in favor of the executive branch. Pfiffner justifies these claims in his newest book, Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution, explaining why this abuse of power within the executive branch “will continue to threaten the future of republican government if the other two branches do not assert their own constitutional prerogatives.” Read Power Play to view a Constitutional and historical perspective of the Bush administration’s power grab.

- Read James Pfiffner’s take on the Bush Presidency in Power Play.

Freedom's Unsteady March

America’s Role in Building Arab Democracy

President George W. Bush intended to bring democracy to the Middle East, but the early results were dispiriting. After stalemate in Iraq and the electoral success of Hamas, many observers concluded that the pursuit of Arab democracy was a fool's errand. Despite these setbacks, Tamara Cofman Wittes argues that democracy promotion in the Arab world remains an essential component of any strategy to achieve long-term American goals in that critical region.

Freedom's Unsteady March shows why America cannot afford to be neutral or passive in the face of the momentous changes taking place in Arab states and why it must wield its power and influence in support of democratic reform. Wittes also dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East. She diagnoses the roots of America's ambivalence about Arab democracy, and shows how to confront more honestly the risks of change and act more effectively to contain them.

On May 1, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings will host Wittes for a discussion of this book.

- Learn more about Freedom’s Unsteady March.

- Learn more about the May 1 event at Brookings.

Front-loading and the Presidential Primaries

The compression and hastening of the nomination season are changing the nature of the presidential selection process

The race for the White House may seem like a marathon, but the nomination process is becoming a sprint, with the starting gun fired earlier each time. Where state primaries and caucuses were once spread out over a period of three or four months, most are now crammed into a four—or five—week interval at the very beginning of the delegate selection calendar. Despite the importance of this issue in American politics, however, too little systematic analysis has been done on the topic. The Front-Loading Problem in Presidential Nominations, by William G. Mayer and Andrew E. Busch, offers a comprehensive examination of the front-loading problem in all its facets.

- Check out the Democratic primary schedule.

- Check out the Republican primary schedule.

- Recent and forthcoming Brookings books on campaigns and elections:

• NEW! The Swing Voter in American Politics, edited by William G. Mayer
• NEW! Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot, by Paul S. Herrnson, Richard G. Niemi, Michael J. Hanmer, and others
• COMING SOON! Get Out the Vote! How to Increase Voter Turnout, 2nd edition, by Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber
• A Matter of Faith: Religion in the 2004 Presidential Election, edited by David E. Campbell
• The Marketplace of Democracy: Electoral Competition and American Politics, edited by Michael P. McDonald and John Samples