US presidential election: what the party platforms say – and what you need to know
In what has been called the year of democracy, the US presidential election is the contest that the world is watching most closely.
In this webinar, Global Government Forum’s experts examined the key issues of the 2024 campaign. It examined the pledges that each of the Democratic and Republican campaign platforms, what the presidential nominees have said they will do if they win, and what external think-tanks and groups will be looking to influence the next administration.
This session also looked at the situation that the next president will inherit when they take the oath of office, ranging from the economic outlook to international affairs, and what the campaign means for the world.
Join us to find out:
- The key issues shaping the campaign.
- The policy priorities being set out by the parties.
- The early actions that the next president will likely take.
Panel
Dr Thomas Gift, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre on US Politics (CUSP)
Thomas Gift is Associate Professor of Political Science at University College London. As founding director of the UCL’s Centre on US politics (CUSP), he has written for influential scholarly outlets and is extremely visible in the media, providing expert, non-partisan analysis on American politics and policy. Gift has made hundreds of television, radio, and news appearances for global venues including CNN, BBC World News, CNBC, NPR, Bloomberg, Sky News, and Voice of America. He has also written more than one hundred popular articles for venues such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Newsweek. In 2020, Gift served as the main in-studio guest for 10 hours of ‘round-the-clock BBC World Service “America Decides” election-night coverage. Gift has held fellowships or visiting appointments at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, and the London School of Economics. He holds a PhD in political science from Duke University
Kevin R. Kosar, Resident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Kevin R. Kosar, Ph.D., is a resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, DC think-tank, where he studies the US Congress and American politics. He edits UnderstandingCongress.org and hosts the Understanding Congress podcast.
Previously, he was a vice president at the R Street Institute, and served as an analyst on public administration and a research manager at the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research Service. He is the co-editor of Congress Overwhelmed: Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform (University of Chicago Press), co-author of Unleashing Opportunity: Policy Reforms for an Accountable Administrative State (National Affairs); and the author of Failing Grades: The Federal Politics of Education. He also wrote the preface to Government Project (AEI Press, 2023) by Edward C. Banfield.
He has spent more than two decades in Washington on governance matters. You can follow him at @kevinrkosar.
Richard Johnstone, Executive Editor, Global Government Forum
Richard Johnstone is the executive editor of Global Government Forum, where he helps to produce editorial analysis and insight for the title’s audience of public servants around the world. Before joining GGF, he spent nearly five years at UK-based title Civil Service World, latterly as acting editor, and has worked in public policy journalism throughout his career.
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Webinar chair: Siobhan Benita, former UK senior civil servant
Siobhan Benita was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ Whitehall experience. She worked in many of the major delivery departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government. She also had senior roles at the heart of Government in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, including supporting the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell to lead work on Civil Service reform and strategy. Siobhan left the Civil Service to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She subsequently joined her alma mater, Warwick University as Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.
