John Austin
@jcaustin.bsky.social
Senior Fellow, Eisenhower Institute & Brookings Institution, Associate Fellow Academy of International Affairs-NRW. Leading international work to strengthen economies, our alliances, our democracies, bringing new opportunity to neglected regions.
Looking forward next week to joining all my friends in Macomb County & deliver the keynote talk at this Great Lakes Conference. I will tell how we began to build out our blue economy and how we can lead the world in this work into the future! Join us!
Like so many promises #Trump's pledge to support manufacturing in Michigan & across the industrial heartland rings hollow. Use of #tariffs for political game-playing is damaging this wildly competitive sector of the American economy. heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com/p/american-m...
Trump's latest round of tariffs actually will do more damage to the manufacturing sector and the manufacturing-reliant communities like in my home state of Michigan he promised he would help. Read the real story of how manufacturing "works" in my article out from @milkeninstitute.org
The US manufacturing worker is the most productive on the planet at $140,000 value-added per worker, 7 times the Chinese worker-- and $100,000 more per person than second-place South Korea. Get the real story in @milkeninstitute.org Review www.milkenreview.org/articles/ame...
American Manufacturing
milkenreview.org
President Trump's latest efforts to tariff other countries, mainly so he can try and push them around, only tends to hurt our wildly competitive US manufacturing industry more! Read my latest "Manufacturing: The Real Story" out from Milken Institute. www.milkenreview.org/articles/ame...
American Manufacturing
milkenreview.org
A strong economy is not helped by tariffs, nor picking industry "winners and losers". Government can help by investing in the “public goods” that in turn fuel innovation and economic growth. Read Manufacturing the Real Story! heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com/p/american-m...
American Manufacturing
The Real Story
heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com
A conventional wisdom is that American manufacturing has been laid low by globalization, indifference to the plight of workers and unfair foreign competition. In fact, US manufacturing has never been more productive or output higher. Via @milkeninstitute.org www.milkenreview.org/articles/ame...
American Manufacturing
milkenreview.org
Manufacturing in US is not "dead" or even "dying". It's wildly competitive, high-tech, & producing more wealth and economic value than ever before. Tariffs don't help manufacturing, but help destroy it. Read my mfg. primer in @milkeninstitute.org www.milkenreview.org/articles/ame...
American Manufacturing
milkenreview.org
Catch my essay "American Manufacturing: The Real Story" Contrary to popular wisdom, US' Michigan & Midwest-centric manufacturing industry does not need "saving". It's wildly productive, high-tech & globally competitive. Until you do things like impose tariffs.... www.milkenreview.org/articles/ame...
American Manufacturing
milkenreview.org
Catch a number of good articles and examples around how transatlantic collaboration can keep paying dividends in terms of economic development and democratic resilience, including my own in @aia-nrw.bsky.social Magazine www.aia-nrw.org/en/publicati...
Subnational Diplomacy Shaping Global Affairs – Academy of International Affairs NRW
aia-nrw.org
@andyburnham.bsky.social taking small steps important to bring hope & economic opportunity back to people and places so long ignored. Read my piece in @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social why this task is important across all democracies. @andywestwood.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/20/a...
Andy Burnham’s Challenge
Andy Burnham has built his politics around Britain’s neglected industrial communities. His premiership depends on if he can deliver for them.
washingtonmonthly.com
One year ago I was in the middle of my six-month Fellowship at @aia-nrw.bsky.social travelling across Europe to meet with economy builders & democracy-defenders and engage them our #Heartlands Transformation Network. All these activities & more in new magazine www.aia-nrw.org/en/publicati...
Subnational Diplomacy Shaping Global Affairs – Academy of International Affairs NRW
aia-nrw.org
On his way to #10, @andyburnham.bsky.social name-checked the hollowed out communities he would focus on and try to lift up. Delivering for these type of communities can help preserve and protect our democracies everywhere. Read @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/20/a...
Andy Burnham’s Challenge
Andy Burnham has built his politics around Britain’s neglected industrial communities. His premiership depends on if he can deliver for them.
washingtonmonthly.com
As @andywestwood.bsky.social & I write via @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social Economic transformation is possible even in former industrial heartlands hit hard by globalization & technological change. Lots of examples from our work with @oecd-ocde.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/20/a...
Andy Burnham’s Challenge
Andy Burnham has built his politics around Britain’s neglected industrial communities. His premiership depends on if he can deliver for them.
washingtonmonthly.com
In US, Europe, & the UK, people inplaces where livelihoods are diminished & anxieties about the future high often turn to the politics of scapegoating like that offered by @nigelfarageuk.bsky.social & Reform. @andyburnham.bsky.social can change that. Read via @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social
Andy Burnham’s Challenge
Andy Burnham has built his politics around Britain’s neglected industrial communities. His premiership depends on if he can deliver for them.
washingtonmonthly.com
If leaders like @andyburnham.bsky.social can better the lives of working people in "left-behind" communities they can disable right-wing extremist movements! Sorely needed across democracies! Read via @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social @andywestwood.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/20/a...
Andy Burnham’s Challenge
Andy Burnham has built his politics around Britain’s neglected industrial communities. His premiership depends on if he can deliver for them.
washingtonmonthly.com
Britain's new PM @andyburnham.bsky.social helped bring new hope to residents of an ailing older industrial - Manchester. This delivery is the task of constructivist leaders across all democracies & pulls plug on support for extremes like #MAGA, #Reform & #AfD. postindustrial.com/stories/voic...
Voices: Can the “King of the North” heal Britain?
Discover how the United Kingdom has experienced significant economic challenges and the impact on living standards.
postindustrial.com
@andyburnham.bsky.social accepted the leadership of UK's Labour Party calling out communities where government had failed working people. Improving their lives is key to beating back nationalists & extremists everywhere! Read my latest @postindustrial.bsky.social postindustrial.com/stories/voic...
Voices: Can the “King of the North” heal Britain?
Discover how the United Kingdom has experienced significant economic challenges and the impact on living standards.
postindustrial.com
Ethnonationalist political movements that threaten our democracies get their oxygen from the anger and anxiety of working class white people in declining industrial regions. That's why hopes are high for UK's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Read my latest. postindustrial.com/stories/voic...
Voices: Can the “King of the North” heal Britain?
Discover how the United Kingdom has experienced significant economic challenges and the impact on living standards.
postindustrial.com
Mayor Andy Burnham showed he could take one of Britain's ailing older industrial cities & bring it into the future. That's why hopes are high as for him as PM. It is also how one beats the extremes. Read my article in @postindustrial.bsky.social postindustrial.com/stories/voic...
Voices: Can the “King of the North” heal Britain?
Discover how the United Kingdom has experienced significant economic challenges and the impact on living standards.
postindustrial.com
Hopes are so high for Andy Burnham as PM in UK is because he has actually delivered better lives for people in a struggling older industrial region. This is what is needed to beat back right-wing extremists everywhere. Read my latest in @postindustrial.bsky.social postindustrial.com/stories/voic...
Voices: Can the “King of the North” heal Britain?
Discover how the United Kingdom has experienced significant economic challenges and the impact on living standards.
postindustrial.com
UK's economy was once better than Germany's--now living standards falling to the level of the US' poorest state--Mississippi. And the largest geographic economic disparities among Western democracies. Can Burnham turn it around? Read: heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com/p/can-the-ki...
You are going to want to watch this video -- the program we recently hosted on how-- in democracies across the globe the people take back power from those who want to be authoritarians. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2LE...
Reclaiming Democracy
YouTube video by Jefferson Educational Society Of Erie
youtube.com
England's football striker Harry Kane, just pulled the country back from brink of extinction at the #WorldCup. Can Greater Manchester's former Mayor Andy Burnham do the same for Britain's flagging economy & society. Read why it matters: heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com/p/can-the-ki...
Can the “King of the North” Heal Britain?
The same week that the UK’s Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, made a surprisingly swift return to Parliament and on to what looks like a Labour Party coronation as leader and ascension to Prime Minister...
heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com
As America prepares to celebrate the birth of our democracy-- and is working hard to keep it--important to learn lessons from across countries around how an engaged citizenry and local leaders can strengthen our representative governments. Read how: jespublications.substack.com/p/new-report...
New Report: Important Work to Protect Democracies is Happening Locally
Jefferson Educational Society + The Eisenhower Institute
jespublications.substack.com
Reeling from declining living standards Britain's voters are frustrated and looking for big change. That is why hopes are high for @andyburnhampm.bsky.social. To better economy & beat back Reform. Read my latest Substack: heartlandstransformationnetwork.substack.com/p/can-the-ki...
Reclaiming #democracy from #authoritarians is hard but can be done. Poland did it several years ago. Hungary several months ago. But local leaders across democracies don't wait! organize, educate, and mobilize to prevent authoritarian takeover. Read how: jespublications.substack.com/p/new-report...
New Report: Important Work to Protect Democracies is Happening Locally
Jefferson Educational Society + The Eisenhower Institute
jespublications.substack.com
In Budapest, Hungary; Macomb County, Michigan; Erie, Pennsylvania; Bonn, Germany; Vienna, Austria; & all across Europe, local leaders are engaging citizens, educating the electorate & animating communities to create true democracies. Read how jespublications.substack.com/p/new-report...
New Report: Important Work to Protect Democracies is Happening Locally
Jefferson Educational Society + The Eisenhower Institute
jespublications.substack.com
In North America and Europe, democracy is under strain. Anti-democratic leaders and movement are trying to weaken democratic institutions and divide people against each other. But at the local level democracy defenders are fighting back. Read new report jespublications.substack.com/p/new-report...
New Report: Important Work to Protect Democracies is Happening Locally
Jefferson Educational Society + The Eisenhower Institute
jespublications.substack.com
As want-to-be authoritarian strongmen still threaten our democracies, local leaders are organizing citizens and practicing 'democratic front-sliding". Read how in our new report from @tamaraehs.bsky.social @gettysburg2024.bsky.social jespublications.substack.com/p/new-report...
New Report: Important Work to Protect Democracies is Happening Locally
Jefferson Educational Society + The Eisenhower Institute
jespublications.substack.com