Brookings Press Blog

Government goes ‘wiki’ in the 21st century

Beth Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, launches discussion on emergent online democracy

In an event hosted by the Markle Foundation, Beth Simone Noveck, author of Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful, led a 50-plus person discussion in New York City while the rest of the world connected via satellite to the MacArthur Island conference amphitheater in Second Life. This could very much be the model for modern government in the near future. Noveck, who is the Obama administration’s deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Open Government initiative, led a 30-minute discussion on ways the public can use emerging technologies and social media to govern, address, and solve problems more effectively. With the rise of multimedia networks such as YouTube, Twitter, and even blogs, Noveck believes that government can also tap into the emerging resource that connects the government to more citizens and broadens the prospects of open government.

In a visionary, yet pragmatic way, Wiki Government explains how the vision of a true democratic government can be transformed into reality and reveals the ways an innovative government can tackle the needs and opportunities of the 21st century.

- Learn more about Wiki Government

- Read articles on the event from the Markle Foundation and Second Life

Beth Noveck interviewed on government transparency

Author discusses transparency as means of driving innovation with Government Technology

With the White House blog publishing new posts nearly every day and the accompanying Twitter feed boasting more than 670,000 followers, it seems that the “open government initiative” may be succeeding. In a July 6 interview with Steve Towns, editor of the news collective Government Technology, Beth Noveck discussed local, state, and federal governments’ current transparency efforts in a digital age. Noveck, author of Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful, cited the blog and Twitter feed for the Office of Science and Technology Policy as one example of the successful integration of technology and government issues. On the simplicity and ease with which governments can utilize technology, Noveck had the following to say:

“Many of these tools are cheap. They're free. They're easy to maintain. It's just a matter of being ready and willing to put a toe in the water and say, ‘We're going to try this, and we're going to see what works for us and really try to adapt new innovations.’”

- Learn more about Wiki Government

- Read and watch the full interview with Beth Noveck

What happens when mayors take charge of schools?

School governance in the city

Public schools have been a source of contention when deciding who controls what in school districts. The Economist and The Detroit News take advice from Joseph Viteritti, editor of When Mayors Take Charge: School Governance in the City, in their reports on mayoral control of public schools. When Mayors Take Charge investigates cases of mayoral control in New York, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. The Economist's "Mayoral control of schools in New York: Political prisoners" asserts that “lawmakers in Albany are not thinking about New York’s children or any of their constituents at the moment.” Correspondingly, The Detroit News comments in "Mayoral control of Detroit schools debated" that “parents and constituents are frustrated with what they perceive to be the incompetence of the 11-member school board they fought to elect, ending the 1999-2005 mayoral control.”

Viteritti pools insight from leading experts on how to tackle the factors behind the development of mayoral control and possible ways to improve the system as well its prospects for the future. He is the Blanche D. Blank Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College, CUNY. He previously served as special assistant to the chancellor of schools in New York and as senior adviser to superintendents in Boston and San Francisco. He was also recently the executive director of the Commission on School Governance in New York.

In When Mayors Take Charge, the urgent problem of low-performing urban schools is expertly sliced and diced by a band of historians and political scientists. Policy elites and street-level reformers need to know that mayoral control does matter to democratic participation and managerial efficiency but not necessarily to students' test scores. —Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University

- Learn more about When Mayors Take Charge

- Read the articles from The Economist and The Detroit News

Journey into Islam experts comment on Obama’s Cairo speech

Ahmed and Martin featured on NPR, WaPo, HuffPo and C-SPAN

Akbar Ahmed, author of Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization offered his own insights on President Obama’s speech at Cairo University this morning in a Washington Post guest column. Referring to his 2006 travels into Muslim nations for the research behind Journey into Islam, Ahmed called on the president and the world to continue repeating the statements and actions of cross-cultural understanding.

Yesterday, on Wednesday, June 3, Ahmed was also featured in an interview on the Diane Rehm Show. Ahmed, whom the BBC has referred to as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” is currently taking a one-year sabbatical to research Muslims in America. His cross-country study of the attitudes and perceptions Americans have regarding Muslims will be published in a forthcoming complement to Journey into Islam, tentatively titled Journey into America. C-SPAN also had video of Ahmed discussing President Obama's speech in Cairo today.

In related news, Frankie Martin, one of Ahmed’s researchers for Journey into Islam, was published in the Huffington Post on Tuesday, June 2 with the article “Obama and the Dialogue of Civilizations.” In the article Martin ties his work for Journey into Islam into speculations on Obama’s Thursday morning speech at Cairo University:

“Given these challenges, what can the President say that will make his Cairo speech a success? I believe an extensive trip I took through the Muslim world in 2006 with Professor Akbar Ahmed, the Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, can yield some answers.”

Martin is currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of International Service.

- Read Ahmed’s column in the Washington Post

- Listen to Ahmed’s interview on the Diane Rehm show

- See Ahmed discuss President Obama's speech in Cairo on C-SPAN

- Read the full text of Martin’s HuffPo article, “Obama and the Dialogue of Civilizations”

- Follow the Journey into America blog

- Learn more about Journey into Islam

Brookings is #1!

Brookings leads the pack in Foreign Policy's "Think Tank Index"

Foreign Policy has just released their "Think Tank Index" and the Brookings Institution ranks number one! We are also grouped in with "The Scholars," which FP describes as "the stars of the think tank world, these powerhouses of policy are regularly relied upon to set agendas and craft new initiatives." We are happy to be surrounded by such good company; in fact, the Press distributes the publications of a number of the think tanks included in the ranking.

- Read the Foreign Policy article by James McGann, "The Think Tank Index".

Martin Indyk on Charlie Rose and Today Shows

Restoring the Balance will also have DC and NYC book launches

Martin Indyk, coauthor of Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President, will be appearing on the Charlie Rose show on Tuesday, December 2 and on NBC's Today Show Wednesday, December 3! On December 2 there will also be two major launch events for this new book: the Brookings Institution will host a launch event during the day in Washington, and the Council on Foreign Relations will host an event in New York later that evening.

Indyk was the Ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for near east affairs during the Clinton Administration. He now directs the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. Restoring the Balance will be available in bookstores shortly.

- Learn more about Restoring the Balance

Early Buzz for a Workbook for the New President

What Do We Do Now? Will offer advice on everything from selecting a cabinet to picking a desk for the Oval Office

Psst…check out this “Washington Whisper” from the latest U.S. News & World Report. The post is titled “A Beginner’s Guide Clinton Really Needed” and it comes complete with a cartoon of Bill Clinton wearing a dunce cap. The piece is on a forthcoming Brookings Institution Press book by Stephen Hess, a presidential expert here at Brookings. What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect will be available in October, just in time for an election week publication.

- Check out the "Washington Whisper" column featuring What Do We Do Now?

Media Hits

Washington Post, NPR & Publishers Weekly...Oh My!

- Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist, dedicated his column last Tuesday to research presented in The Price We Pay: Economic and Social Consequences of Inadequate Education, Clive Belfield and Henry M. Levin, eds. You can read the column here.

- Electronic voting and tech user frustrations were the focus of this past Tuesday’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on NPR. During the second segment Ben Bederson discussed Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot, by Paul S. Herrnson, Richard G. Niemi, Michael J. Hanmer, Benjamin B. Bederson, and Frederick C. Conrad. You can listen to the show here.

- The January 21 issue of Publishers Weekly is the Spring Books issue. The following titles from our new Spring 2008 catalog [pdf] are included in the listings:

• Hardcover/Contemporary Affairs: Freedom’s Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy, by Tamara Cofman Wittes
• Hardcover/Politics: Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution, by James P. Pfiffner
• Paperback/Contemporary Affairs: Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America, Audrey Singer, Susan W. Hardwick and Caroline B. Brettell, eds.
• Paperback/Politics: Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World, Marina S. Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso, eds. (a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace book)

Collapse of an Empire

Former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar Offers Lessons for a Modern Russia

In today’s Russia, nostalgia for the Soviet era is growing; some would point to Putin’s victory this past Sunday as evidence. Many Russians reflect wistfully on the passing of a time when the Soviet Union was a superpower, commanding international respect, and they blame its demise on external enemies and foolish changes in policy. In Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia, however, economic reformer and former prime minister Yegor Gaidar clearly illustrates why such notions are misguided, ill-informed, and dangerous.

Gaidar cautions that Russia could be repeating some of its tragic past mistakes, including uneven economic development that leaves the nation vulnerable to fluctuations in the energy market. Such misplaced nostalgia defies reality while it imperils the future of Russia and its people.

Dr. Gaidar made a whirlwind tour of the United States this week. Brookings hosted a book launch featuring Dr. Gaidar on December 3 Washington, DC. On December 5, Dr. Gaidar spoke at a public program hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The tour concluded at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute in New York City for an event featuring the book on December 6.

- Check out the full Brookings book launch transcript [coming soon].

- Listen to Dr. Gaidar discuss the Russian election results on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show.

- Listen to Dr. Gaidar discuss the Russian election results on BBC’s The World.

- Learn more about Collapse of an Empire.