Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program
 

A New Generation of Public-Minded Thinkers

The Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program supports talented journalists, academics and other public policy analysts who offer a fresh and often unpredictable perspective on the major challenges facing our society.   Schwartz Fellows are selected on a highly competitive basis, and serve - some full-time, some on an adjunct basis - for one or two years.  New America provides them with a non-partisan intellectual community where they can pursue their individual research projects.   The Schwartz Fellows benefit from their engagement with each other, and with New America's various policy programs, while their presence adds to the intellectual verve of the institution and helps shape its longer-term agenda and focus. 

New America is committed to identifying and supporting some of tomorrow's more promising thought leaders and policy entrepreneurs. The Schwartz Program also appoints a number of senior fellows, more established thinkers who still have a provocatively fresh perspective on issues, and may not otherwise have a natural intellectual home in an increasingly partisan landscape.  Senior fellows also help mentor their younger colleagues in the Schwartz Program.   By investing in the career development of some of the brightest policy thinkers and writers of our day, New America seeks to enrich the quality of public discourse for decades to come.  

Articles

Chile’s Big Surprise

Latin America has seen independent candidates run for office before. They have won in countries like Peru, with Alberto Fujimori and then Alejandro Toledo, and Colombia, with Álvaro Uribe. Caudillos like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa have bucked entrenched but sclerotic party systems. And leaders of broad movements have brought an end to decades-long single-party rule, as Fernando Lugo did with his victory in Paraguay over the Colorado Party. But something unusual is happening in Chile. In its upcoming presidential election,

Jorge Castañeda | Newsweek | November 6, 2009

What Ails the Senate

In 1994, after Democrats lost control of the Senate, Senator Joe Lieberman called a press conference with his colleague Tom Harkin to announce their plan to reform the filibuster. "[People] are fed up--frustrated and fed up and angry about the way in which our government does not work," Lieberman said. "And I think the filibuster has become not only in reality an obstacle to accomplishment here, but it is also a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today." Lieberman and Harkin's proposal to weaken the filibuster… more

Christopher Hayes | The Nation | November 4, 2009

Switching Channels

The night of September 9 appeared to fulfill all the promise underlying NBC Universal's ambitious $2.7 billion acquisition in 2001 of Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish language television network in the U.S. On that night, the NBC sibling carried President Obama's important healthcare address to a joint session of Congress-on a slight delay to allow for dubbing into Spanish-followed by its highest-rated program ever, which reached more than 5 million viewers.

Andrés Martinez, Faith Smith | Poder 360 | November 4, 2009

Behind the Democratic Wipeout

After Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey and a near-miss in upstate New York, conservatives have supposedly gotten their groove back. But it's not the same old groove. In the late 1990s, it was social issues that obsessed the American right: abortion, gay rights, gun control, Monica Lewinsky. After 9/11, it was the war on terror. Now both obsessions have faded. Doug Hoffman-the right-wing insurgent candidate for Congress in the 23rd District of New York-didn't even list his position on the Afghanistan surge on his Web… more

Peter Beinart | Daily Beast | November 4, 2009

America's Worst Governor?

Charlie Crist is an extraordinarily gifted politician, known for his unpretentious and warm demeanor. He might also be America's worst governor. Given that there is a great deal of competition for this dubious honor, that's saying rather a lot.

Reihan Salam | Forbes.com | October 26, 2009

More:

All Articles & Op-Eds | All Related Content | Program RSS Feed RSS feed for this program

Policy Papers

Guantanamo: Who Really 'Returned to the Battlefield'?

As President Obama receives formal recommendations in the coming months on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released. Contrary to recent assertions that one in seven, or 14 percent, of the former prisoners had "returned to the battlefield," our analysis of Pentagon reports, news stories, and other public records indicates that the number who were confirmed or suspected to… more

Peter Bergen, Katherine Tiedemann | July 20, 2009

To Save America's Finances, Bring Back Community Banking

In the fall of 2007, Countrywide Financial, then the nation's largest mortgage lender, had a curious new idea -- or, more precisely, an old one. It would no longer import foreign capital through Wall Street to make subprime loans. Instead, it would depend entirely on deposits from savers, who would finance each other's mortgages -- kind of like that humble thrift institution run by George Bailey in the movie It's a Wonderful Life."

Phillip Longman, Ellen Seidman | November 20, 2008 |

How Not to Lose Afghanistan (and Pakistan)

In late May, some 40 Pakistani journalists received a summons to an unusual press conference held by Baitullah Mehsud, the rarely photographed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who is accused of orchestrating the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, sending suicide bombers to Spain earlier this year, and dispatching an army of fighters into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and NATO forces in recent months. Surrounded by a posse of heavily armed Taliban guards, Mehsud boasted that he had hundreds of trained suicide bombers ready for martyrdom.

It was… more

Peter Bergen | October 10, 2008

The Energy Security for American Families Initiative

Lisa Margonelli | September 23, 2008 |

Redressing America's Public Infrastructure Deficit

Chairman, Oberstar, Representative Mica, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on the question of "financing infrastructure investments."

Over the past several decades, we have accumulated a sizeable public infrastructure deficit. As a result, a variety of infrastructure bottlenecks-traffic congested roads, clogged ports, and an antiquated air traffic system, to mention just a few-have begun to undercut our economy's efficiency and undermine our quality of life.

Bernard L. Schwartz | June 19, 2008

More:

All Policy Papers | All Related Content | Program RSS Feed RSS feed for this program

Events

Understanding REDD

On October 30, panelists Tia Nelson, Nigel Purvis, and Steve Schwartzman discussed the new market mechanism, REDD -- Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation -- that aims to allow residents of tropical forest properties to earn more money from standing forests than from their removal. Tropical deforestation accounts for 20 percent of all carbon emissions into the atmosphere, more than the combined emissions of every car, truck, ship, plane and train on the planet. The panelists

10/30/2009 - 12:15pm
10/30/2009 - 1:45pm

"Go West, Young Policy Wonk"

Only five years ago, programs like "ER," "The West Wing," and "The Wire" were exploring the major policy issues of our times:  access to health care; the war in Iraq; and the battle over drug abuse in the inner city.   Television in the past has played a vibrant role in dramatizing the complexities of policy debate, but are shows today continuing that legacy?  Do dramatic programs capture and reflect social policy issues and dilemmas?  In light of the demise of… more
10/02/2009 - 12:15pm
10/02/2009 - 1:45pm

"¿Que pasa, América Latina?”

On October 1, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda outlined the challenges and opportunities currently faced by Latin America. In conversation with Andres Martinez, the Director of New America's Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program, Mr. Castañeda discussed the continent's fraught attempts to develop a working framework for collective action, even as its major players start to focus their attention on increasing their clout on the global stage.

10/01/2009 - 9:15am
10/01/2009 - 10:45am

CA EVENT: Asia Resurgent?

Please join us in a lunch discussion featuring two dynamic authors. Nicholas Schmidle, author of To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan will discuss the most recent and turbulent period of Pakistan’s history. His observations provide a contemporary history of this country at a time when President Pervez Musharraf’s power was waning and the Taliban’s was growing, and when Americans began to realize that Pakistan’s fate is inextricably linked with our own.

09/16/2009 - 12:00pm
09/16/2009 - 1:30pm

The Cold War's Friendliest Quarrel

On September 15, Nicholas Thompson discussed his new book The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War. Covering the remarkable rivalry and friendship bonding two of the nation's foremost foreign policy thinkers, Paul Nitze and George Kennan, the event was moderated by Andrés Martinez, Director of Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program.

09/15/2009 - 12:15pm
09/15/2009 - 1:45pm

More:

All Events | All Related Content | Program RSS Feed RSS feed for this program

About Bernard L. Schwartz

Bernard L. Schwartz's generous support underwrites New America's fellowship program, as well as various issue-specific initiatives at the foundation.

One of the nation's leading philanthropists in the realms of medical research, higher education, foreign affairs, and public policy, Mr. Schwartz is the former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Loral Space & Communications, Ltd., one of the world’s largest satellite manufacturing and satellite services companies. In recent years, he has established endowed programs at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, at the Graduate Faculty at the New School University, and at the Council on Foreign Relations.

For more information on Mr. Schwartz, please click here.

 
The New America Foundation, 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20009
http://www.newamerica.net

New America content carries a Creative Commons license, which permits non-commercial re-use when proper attribution is provided. For additional information, please visit http://www.newamerica.net/about/copyright

This site carries a Creative Commons license, which permits non-commercial re-use of New America content when proper attribution is provided. Please click on this image for more details.