In the 1930s, half of all unmarried women who got pregnant out of wedlock got married (a so-called "shotgun marriage.") By the second half of the 2000s, only 6% of women in the same situation married before giving birth. But recently shotgun marriages have actually risen among certain groups of women.

Jared Cohen said recently, “the world is in a perpetual state of cyber-warfare.” He should know, he's the the Founder and CEO of Jigsaw, the tech incubator focused on geopolitical challenges created by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Previously, Jared served as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and thus as a close advisor to both Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Jared has a long-standing interest in international security issues; he has traveled to more than 100 countries, including Iran and North Korea, and has conducted interviews with members of various extremist groups including Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Al-Shabab, Somali pirates, and more recently, failed ISIS recruits. He talks with guest host Peter Feaver about the high-tech efforts Jigsaw is undertaking to harness the power of technology to make the world safer.

Across the globe more than 20 million people are victimized by human trafficking, the modern form of slavery. Judith Kelley has been digging in to the WikiLeaks documents to see whether ranking countries on how well they are tackling human trafficking issues is having an impact on their efforts. Her new book is Scorecard Diplomacy.

Think of the words "Illegal alien" or "welfare queen." What color faces do you see in your mind? Now think about about phrases like "real Americans," or  "hard-working taxpayers." What color faces do you see now? Ian Haney López argues such phrases are "dog whistles," coded language used by politicians to get certain messages across. López is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and is the author of Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class.

Research shows Hispanic children in the U.S. worry a lot more than their non-Hispanic peers. Some told researchers they feared their parents would be taken from them and sent away. Given that more than one in four U.S. children live in a family with at least one immigrant parent, our guest argues we should work toward helping parents and their children feel integrated into U.S. society rather than isolated.

The number of hate groups in the U.S. has risen for the second year in a row and is close to an all-time high according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which conducts an annual census of such groups. There's been a huge spike in anti-Muslim hate groups. We talk with Heidi Beirich who leads the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, “one of the most respected anti-terror organizations in the world” and SPLC's president Richard Cohen. David Schanzer of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security is the guest host.

How can the U.S. increase security along the southern border without building a wall? Stephen R. Kelly says more cooperation between law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border is key. Kelly focused on border issues during his time as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to Mexico, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic establishments in the world. He served in a similar capacity in Canada. He says many of the tactics now in place in Canada could be implemented on the U.S./Mexico border.

This episode was originally published on September 9, 2016.

General Martin Dempsey is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as such he was the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. In this episode of Policy 360, Dempsey joins host Kelly Brownell to talk about his unlikely rise in the military, changes in the military since 9-11, the one thing he wishes he could have accomplished during his time as chairman, and the words he found to comfort those left behind when a fellow serviceman or woman has been killed.

More about the Sanford School of Public Policy: www.sanford.duke.edu

Photo: Dan Nguyen/Creative Commons www.flickr.com/photos/zokuga/7976447467/

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: www.incompetech.com/

Last week, President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive action related to immigration. The action implements a number of changes to our current policies: refugees won't be admitted to the United States for 120 days, for example. It also limits immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq; Syria; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen, and the action blocks Syrian refugees indefinitely. The executive action is called, "Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorists Entering The United States," and it has led to protests at many airports around the country.

David Schanzer is the Director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, and Associate Professor of the Practice at the Sanford School. Prior to his academic appointments, Schanzer served in a number of positions in Washington, including that of Democratic Staff Director for the House of Representatives' Committee on Homeland Security.

Professor Schanzer discusses the executive order on immigration and its impact on homeland security with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

"passport-12" flickr photo by oso flickr.com/photos/oso/153973593 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license​. Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: www.incompetech.com/

Colin Kahl, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden and Deputy Assistant to President Obama, spoke at the Sanford School Wednesday about his experience working in foreign policy and his expectations of the Trump administration.

During his visit, Kahl recorded an episode of Policy 360 with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell. 

Special thanks to Professor Peter Feaver and his Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, the Duke Department of Political Science, and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies for sponsoring Colin Kahl’s visit to Duke.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: incompetech.com/

Do children from low-income background benefit from living in economically mixed communities? Professor Candice Odgers, associate director of the Center for Child and Family Policy, says that growing up in the shadow of wealth may have a surprising effect on a child's development.

Odgers talks with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: incompetech.com/

"Sentenced to One Year in School" flickr photo by adwriter shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license.

Can it be physically damaging to be African American? Assistant Professor Jay Pearson says there's chromosomal evidence that our bodies react to a combination of ethnicity stress and socioeconomic status. There are important resources associated with those identities that can enhance health, but there are also important risks associated with those identities that can compromise health.

Pearson talks with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: incompetech.com/

What happens when there are very high hopes for a particular policy idea, and then researchers conclude the results are not as promising as they once seemed? Are there lessons to be learned from this?

A widely hailed initiative that combines franchising business models and telemedicine to deliver better quality health care in rural India has failed to improve care for childhood diarrhea and pneumonia, found a large-scale study by Assistant Professor Manoj Mohanan and researchers at Stanford and University College London.

Manoj Mohanan is an assistant professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke. He’s also appointed in Economics at Duke and as an assistant research professor in the Duke Global Health Institute.

Mohanan talks with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: www.incompetech.com/

Is the United States a country in inevitable decline, or are we a country in renewal? Should our foreign policy commitments include indefinite deployments of United States troops, or should we rely on our allies throughout the world to help maintain our interests? These are the kinds of questions the next administration will have to face, Peter Feaver says.

Peter Feaver is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke. He also serves as Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. He served in the White House during two administrations.

Feaver talks with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

Susan Coppedge is the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Her office estimates there are 21 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. From sex trafficking to labor trafficking, many in the world are vulnerable. In this conversation Coppedge talks about innovative ways in which her office is trying to combat the problem.

In the second of a two-part conversation with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, we explore the innovative ways he is addressing the issue of race in his city. He led a campaign to remove Confederate monuments from city property. He publicly apologized for the city’s role in the slave trade. But it was the murder of a 9-year-old boy, James Darby, that made the issue personal to him. The little boy had written a letter to President Clinton to say he was frightened that he would die. Eight days later, James Darby was dead, shot by another African American young person in Landrieu’s neighborhood. Since then, Mayor Landrieu has vowed to explore the related issues of race and gun violence. Six months ago, Landrieu had a chance to meet James Darby’s killer in Angola Penitentiary.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Artist: www.incompetech.com/

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu speaks about his role in reinvigorating the Louisiana port city. Landrieu was voted "America's top turnaround mayor" in a survey of mayors compiled by POLITICO Magazine. He first took office in 2010, and is serving his second term as the elected leader of the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and impacted by the BP oil rig explosion in 2010.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Artist: www.incompetech.com/

Emily Oster evaluated data behind many of the accepted rules of pregnancy. (Should you drink caffeine? Is sushi OK?) She says most advice given to moms-to-be is wrong. More recently, she's been studying how grocery store purchases change once a person has been diagnosed with a health challenge like diabetes. Household scanner data "helps us look at people outside of a monitored health setting, and really see in the real world what are the changes people make, what changes are impossible to make, and who is able to change a lot," she says.

Tyrone Hayes is known for his research findings regarding the effects of the herbicide atrazine on frogs. Atrazine is often used by corn farmers, but Hayes' research illuminated serious questions about its safety. Syngenta, the manufacturer of atrazine, launched a campaign to discredit both Hayes and his research, which resulted in the settlement of a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit against Syngenta.

When she was in her 20s, Maya Ajmera founded The Global Fund for Children. The non-profit invests in innovative organizations working with some of the world’s most vulnerable children. She says scaling an organization doesn't always mean scaling out. Sometimes it can be down (serving more in the community) or up (advocating for your idea on a wider stage.) Her latest book is called Invisible Children: Reimagining International Development at the Grassroots.

As we edge ever closer to election day in the U.S., Sanford professor Peter Feaver argues it’s time to critically examine the country’s grand strategy. He says the need to do so is becoming ever more pressing. He hopes the next president will assess the underlying assumptions of the country's grand strategy and have a sense of urgency to deal with what he calls a foreign policy crisis.

Peter Feaver is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke. He also serves as Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. He served in the White House during two administrations.

Feaver talks with Sanford's Dean, Kelly Brownell.

Image by Thomas Hawk, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/
Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: www.incompetech.com/

Guest host Ryan Smith, Senior Director of Innovation at the Sanford School, discusses local government innovation with Mariel Beasley of the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke. Mariel and Ryan are collaborating on a new course on the topic. The founders of a Durham, N.C.-based Idea Lab join the discussion.

Music: Impromptu in Blue by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Artist: www.incompetech.com/

One of the most highly anticipated Frontline documentaries of the year premieres this week on PBS. "The Choice" takes a close look at Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in an unusual way. Rather than interview Trump or Clinton directly, filmmakers interview the people in their lives: childhood friends and former colleagues, for example. The idea is, if we can better understand where they came from and what’s shaped them, we will gain insight into what kind of President each would be. Kelly Brownell talks to one of the film's producers, Phil Bennett. 

A 2012 study found that 89% of high school and college students had already decided unequivocally that they would never consider running for elected office. Guest host Deondra Rose talks with Jennifer Lawless, the author of the book "Running from Office: Why Young Americans are Turned Off to Politics."

General Martin Dempsey is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as such was the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. He talks about his unlikely rise in the military, changes in the military since 9-11, the one thing he wishes he could have accomplished during his time as chairman, and the words he found to comfort those left behind when a fellow serviceman or woman has been killed.