#16 – Seth Kaplan: Fragility in America – Fragile Neighborhoods

Seth Kaplan is a Visiting Fellow with the Mercatus Center’s Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange. He is also a Professorial Lecturer at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, Senior Adviser for the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), and consultant to the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), USAID, and the U.S. Department of State. Seth is the author of three books: “Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development” (2008); “Betrayed: Promoting Inclusive Development in Fragile States (2013); and “Human Rights in Thick and Thin Societies: Universality Without Uniformity” (2018). His new book, “Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time,” was published on October 17, 2023.

This was an incredibly interesting conversation and full of insights about the fragility present right now in one of the most prosperous countries in the world! We start by talking about how Seth’s experience with fragility around the world helped him spot the fragility present in America’s own neighborhoods and what motivated him to write the book. We then discuss what fragile neighborhoods look like, what makes a neighborhood fragile, and the role of norms and close relationships in the fragility of our communities. Seth makes the point that fragility is about relationships, whether those are found at the local community level, between communities, or at level of national institutions – and the nature of those relationships or their absence is what makes fragility emerge.

We also talk about why we have fragile neighborhoods and what policies and factors have contributed the most to this problem. Our conversation touches upon the role of public service and on the “poverty-industrial-complex” & institutional obstacles to addressing fragility in neighborhoods. Seth also makes the case for the value of prevention in terms of saving social, human, and economic capital and highlights marriage as one of the institutions that can help prevent social decay. We wrap up our conversation by discussing the need for reviving the American Dream and bringing back into our neighborhoods the robust institutions and instincts for civil society that Alexis de Tocqueville observed two centuries ago.  

Listen to the episode and read Seth’s book for so many more ideas on how we can help neighborhoods exit fragility!

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Dr. Seth D. Kaplan

Website: https://sethkaplan.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethkaplan28

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University: https://sais.jhu.edu/users/skapla13

Mercatus Center’s Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/seth-d-kaplan

Institute for Integrated Transitions: https://ifit-transitions.org/experts/seth-d-kaplan/

Seth D. Kaplan. 2023. Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time. https://amzn.to/3la0FSG

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Music: "Tornado" by Wintergatan. This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net.

Video editing by: Alex Mitran - Facebook (facebook.com/alexmmitran), X (twitter.com/alexmmitran), or LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alexmmitran)

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:32 Seth’s experience

00:04:00 What fragile neighborhoods look like?

00:10:21 Why Seth wrote this book?

00:16:48 The role of norms & closeness in relationships

00:24:30 Migration & social cohesion in neighborhoods

00:30:19 What's not working?

00:37:25 Problems in fragile neighborhoods

00:41:50 Homelessness

00:48:54 Why we have fragile neighborhoods?

00:57:34 The hero’s journey: rethinking meritocracy

01:06:07 Placemaking & the role of jobs

01:12:44 The role of public service & elected politicians

01:17:38 The poverty industrial complex: obstacles to well being

01:26:50 Fragility prevention in neighborhoods

01:34:13 Lessons for international development

01:41:07 The case for reviving the American Dream

01:55:43 Wrap-up