Data Journalism and Policymaking: A Changing Landscape

The Commons Lab Presents a Roundtable in Open Innovation and Science:

Data Journalism and Policymaking: A Changing Landscape

Wednesday, July 30th, 10:00am - 12:00pm, 5th Floor Conference Room

Directions:

'Dangerous Passage: Central America In Crisis And the Exodus of Unaccompanied Minors': Cynthia J. Arnson Testifies Before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Cynthia J. Arnson, Director of the Latin American Program, joined a panel of experts in testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to discuss crisis in Central America and what's driving the exodus of unaccompanied minors.

Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Senate Dirksen 419
Presiding: Senator Menendez

U.S. Lawmakers Probe Root Causes of Border Crisis

[...]

Central American parents who send their children on a perilous journey may incorrectly believe that minors have an automatic right to remain in the United States under current law and Obama administration policy, but that false impression is not the primary driver of mass-migration, according to Eric Olson of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program.

“For many, the long odds of coming north are better than the impossible odds of staying," said Olson.

[...]

Does NSA Make Us Safer?

Does the NSA make us safer? Were Snowden's leaks good for the U.S.? Jane Harman discusses these questions with former NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander and the ACLU’s Anthony Romero during MSNBC's first "Great Debate" from the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Sunset in America

This week it is time to bid farewell to Washington D.C. as my fellowship draws to a close, and I look forward to writing my next column from Karachi.

Washington D.C. has been an interesting place to be during the past nine months. I had an opportunity to observe very closely as the policy dialogue in this city went about the business of making sense of a rapidly changing world.

Latin American Program in the News: "Venezuela divide a la Casa Blanca y al Congreso de EE.UU."

[...] "El canciller Elías Jaua aseguró el domingo que denunciará a Washington ante organismos internacionales como la ONU por su "injerencia" y las amenanzas de sanciones.

Este tipo de reacciones ha puesto a la Casa Blanca en un incómodo dilema.

"La política de Obama está atrapada entre el imperativo político de hacer also y el efecto que esa pueda tener en el terreno", le dice a BBC Mundo Cynthia Arnson, directora del programa de América Latina en el Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, un centro de estudios con sede en Washington.

Is Foreign Policy Bipartisanship Alive on Capitol Hill?

With today's Congress sharply divided along partisan lines, are U.S. lawmakers still capable of reaching across the aisle on foreign policy? This public program will examine the congressional politics of U.S. foreign policy making and the prospects for foreign policy bipartisanship.

Directions:

Directions to the Wilson Center

Robert Pittenger

Is Negotiating Political Agreement a Lost Art?

Voters often complain that members of Congress “can’t seem to agree on anything.” You know people are on to something when their own representatives in Washington echo the same complaint — one of the few bipartisan sounds emanating from the capital, if not in perfect harmony.

Jane Harman on the Crisis in Ukraine

Jane Harman appeared on "Fox News Sunday" with columnist George Will, former Senator Rick Santorum and Time Magazine Assistant Managing Editor Rana Foroohar to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and US politics.

"Vladimir Putin doesn't know the Colin Powell rule -- if you break it you own it. And if he breaks up Crimea, he's going to own their pension liabilities, their tanked economy, at a time when the Russian economy is stretched," Harman said.

Congress