Policymaking
Public Service and Counter-Terrorism: A Conversation with Christine Abizaid
TNSR talks with Hon. Christine Abizaid, who recently served as the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center. In this interview, Abizaid talks about her career in public service and the private sector, the craft of intelligence analysis, and current…
Chinese Politics since Hu Jintao and the Origin of Xi Jinping’s Strongman Rule: A New Hypothesis
What is the origin of Xi Jinping’s strongman rule? A “victorious Xi” thesis argues that Xi simply won his fight to gain power. But this raises the question of where Xi found the political support to do so. A “collective support” thesis suggests that…
Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Dilemma of a Conflicted Civil Servant
In December 2019, Alexandra Hall Hall resigned from her post as Brexit counselor at the British Embassy in Washington, DC. In this article, she writes about how she came to that decision and situates it in a broader discussion of principled resignation, giving…
To Regain Policy Competence: The Software of American Public Problem-Solving
American policymaking has declined over the past several decades, but it is something that can be regained. It is not ephemeral or lost to the mists of time. The skills needed to tackle public problem-solving are specific and cultural — and they are…