Solving Public Problems

The world has faced big problems and challenges in recent years: a global pandemic and its economic consequences, climate change, increasing inequality, technological disruption, conflict and war. Pew Research studies have found public trust in government near historic lows. Poor governance tends to promote skepticism about government, which in turns fuels unhappiness with elites, populism and extremism. What are the tools to solve the deepest problems of our democracy? What makes effective governance? Can citizens promote it and get involved?

Beth Noveck is the author of Solving Public Problems: How to Fix Our Government and Change Our World (Yale Press 2021) which was named a Best Book of 2021 by Stanford Social Innovation Review. She is a professor at Northeastern University, where she directs the Burnes Center for Social Change and its partner project, The Governance Lab (The GovLab) and its MacArthur Research Network on Opening Governance. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy appointed her as the state’s first Chief Innovation Officer and Chair of the State's Future of Work Task Force. Between 2018-2021, she served on Chancellor Angela Merkel's Digital Council.

This online talk is moderated by John Torpey, Presidential Professor of History and Sociology and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.