May 21, 2013, The Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at the School of Public Policy has announced the release of a comprehensive survey of public engagement in California. Two new reports by Public Agenda provide new insights into the perspectives of local public officials and the leaders of civic organizations on the state of public participation in local government decision making in California. Read more and download research highlights and the two full reports.

May 20, 2013, Luisa Blanco, assistant professor of public policy, will be attending the Psychological Science and Behavioral Economics in the Service of Public Policy Workshop, sponsored by the National Institute of Aging at the White House on May 22, 2013. She was invited in recognition of her status as an emerging leader in policy relevant science in areas related to psychology and economics. View Dr. Blanco's bio.

City Journal, May 15, 2013, - Pete Peterson (MPP '07), executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at the School of Public Policy, authored a book review "Internet Republic," wherein he discusses Gavin Newsom's book Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, which argues that technology is fundamentally changing the relationship between citizens and government. Read the book review.

The New York Times, May 8, 2013 - Ted McAllister, the Edward L. Gaylord Chair and associate professor of public policy, authored an op-ed "Congress Acts When Media and Others Fail." McAllister is currently a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Read the op-ed.

May 7, 2013, The poll conducted by the Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable (CBRT) on energy issues was cited on the California Economic Summit website. Michael Shires, associate professor of public policy, was also quoted on results from the poll. Read more.

May 2, 2013, The Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable (CBRT) have released the full results in their 2013 Statewide Issue Survey Series. Today's release includes Californian's views on jobs and economy. Read more.

May 1, 2013, The Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable (CBRT) have released the first results in their 2013 Statewide Issue Survey Series. Today's release includes topline results of voter opinions on a variety of energy and environmental issues. Read more.

April 30, 2013, The Pepperdine School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable (CBRT) are once again partnering to host a monthly survey series on issues affecting jobs and the economy. This month's survey asks voters their opinions about a variety of environmental issues including fracking, AB 32, and energy sources and their cost. Topline results of questions on the environment and demographics will be released tomorrow, May 1, via conference call. Read more and obtain conference call-in information.

Governing, May 2013, - Pete Peterson (MPP '07), executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at the School of Public Policy, was quoted in an article "How Generation X is Shaping Government," wherein he discusses how Gen Xers view the government/citizen relationship differently than older generations. Read the article.

Oregon Law Review, Volume 91, Symposium Issue 4 - Angela Hawken, associate professor of public policy at the School of Public Policy, published an article "High Tax States: Options for Gleaning Revenue from Legal Cannabis," with Jonathan Caulkins, Beau Kilmer, Mark Kleiman, Katherine Pfrommer, Jacob Pruess, and Timothy Shaw, wherein they seek to broaden the revenue discussion about marijuana legalization with respect to policy goals, types of taxes, and components of revenue. Read the article.

Latin American Research Review, 2013 Volume 48, Number 1 - Luisa Blanco, assistant professor of public policy at the School of Public Policy, published a paper "Explaining the Rise of the Left in Latin America" with Robin Grier of the University of Oklahoma. Blanco and Grier discuss how Latin American politics has taken a left turn in the past decade, with an increasing number of chief executives hailing from left-of-center parties. They investigate the political and socioeconomic factors explaining political ideology of the chief executive in a sample of 100 elections taking place between 1975 and 2007 in 18 Latin American countries. Read the paper.

Public Discourse, April 18, 2013 - Rich Danker (MPP '10), authored an essay "Ambition Explains America: From Benjamin Franklin to Ronald Reagan," the first of a two-part series, wherein he discusses how ambition in America has been portrayed both as a sentiment to be contained and a virtue to be cultivated. In the second part of the series, Danker authored "Ambition Explains America: From Bobos in Paradise to Obama," wherein he discusses that the ambition guiding today's young Americans is not the robust, risk-taking ambition of earlier generations, it is still essential to American life. Read part one of the essay. Read part two of the essay.

April 24, 2013, Audio: Ted McAllister, the Edward L. Gaylord Chair and associate professor of Public Policy, participated on a panel "Recovering Civil Society: The Space Between the Individual and the State," at the 49th Annual Meeting of The Philadelphia Society in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4-7, 2013. Listen to audio.

April 22, 2013, Pete Peterson (MPP '07), executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at the School of Public Policy, announced today his bid for California Secretary of State. Peterson was the first executive director of the bi-partisan organization, Common Sense California, which in 2010 joined with the Davenport Institute at the School of Public Policy to become the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership, where he co-created and currently co-facilitates the training seminar, "Public Engagement: The Vital Leadership Skill in Difficult Times," helping over 500 public sector officials lead better, more participatory public processes. View Peterson's Davenport Institute bio.