This research program is co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School and the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. Innovations for Successful Societies chronicles the challenges reform leaders face in serving publics better and helps share solutions across boundaries. A central aim is to identify strategies that can help reform leaders escape the governance traps that often subvert economic and political turnarounds. The program also focuses on innovative ways to solve principal-agent problems that arise in the context of resource scarcity and insecurity. ISS staff and Ph.D. affiliates develop operationally detailed, interview-based case studies and analyses. The also program also hosts an oral history project that highlights the experiences and reflections of reformers worldwide.