Joe Mathews

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT JOE MATHEWS

I\'m a scholar, author, and journalist who writes about fhow local communities govern themselves, in California and around the world.I\'m the founder-publisher-columnist of Democracy Local (democracylocal.com), a new planetary publication devoted to stories, ideas, data, scholarship and events about everyday people governing themselves. For Democracy Local, I\'ve reported from five continents in just the last year. To further this work, I am currently a fellow in the Renovating Democracy program at the Berggruen Institute. I served 15 years as co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, and was a founding member of the board of Democracy International, based in Cologne, Germany.For 12 years, I\'ve been the syndicated California columnist at Zocalo Public Square, a media nonprofit based in Los Angeles and affiliated with Arizona State University (I\'m also a senior director of the university). My weekly syndicated column runs in more than 30 newspapers; it\'s known for its originality, its mix of topics, and its humor.Previously, I was a full-time senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a think tank, for five years, and spent 14 years as a newspaper reporter, working for the Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. I\'m a frequent public speaker and guest on public radio and podcasts. I\'m the author of 5 books. • The People\'s Machine (2006, PublicAffairs), about Gov. Schwarzenegger\'s rise to political power• The California Crackup, about the failures of reform in the Golden State (2010, UC Press).• \"The California Recall: Its First 20 Years (2023)• \"The U.S. vs Us: Essays From California As It Leaves America\"(2025), a collection of columns and essays on California independence• \"The House of California: Stories of Family, State, and Home\"(2026) a collection of essays about 8 houses and photos across CaliforniaI\'m also a democracy practitioner. I serve as Design Advisory Partner to Engaged California, the state\'s digital deliberative democracy tool, and as a volunteer co-lead of Rewrite LA, which organizes deliberative assemblies to rewrite the Los Angeles city charter.I\'ve lived in China and studied in Argentina, but make my home in a Los Angeles suburb, where I coach youth baseball.