Additional Resource
Democracy demands new ideas.
Commentary
Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: City Charters Are Deliberative Democracy’s Friends
Article
Reimagining public understanding: Toward an institutional model
Harvard’s hub for research and teaching on democracy
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation develops ideas and fosters practices for equal and inclusive, multiracial, and multiethnic democracy and self-government.
Our Work
From sovereignty and civil resistance to technology and elections, we are advancing democracy today while imagining a better version for tomorrow.
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Commentary
The Hidden Cost of Cord Cutting: Losing Access to Civic Life
As cord-cutting erodes the funding that sustains local cable access channels, this piece from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation offers recommendations for preserving vital sources of community information, government transparency, and civic participation.
Commentary
Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: City Charters Are Deliberative Democracy’s Friends
Allen Lab Fellow Tyler Fisher examines the untapped potential of city charters as a vehicle for deliberative democracy, arguing that advocates should work to embed tools like citizen assemblies, participatory budgeting, and town meetings directly into the governing architecture of cities, institutionalizing deliberative democracy one municipality at a time.
Feature
A More Perfect Union: Marcus Board Jr. On Bridging Practice and Scholarship
For Marcus Board Jr., democracy has never been just an academic subject—it has always been about people. As a 2025-2027 Democracy Visiting Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, the Howard University political scientist explores how scholarship and community practice can work together to strengthen democracy.
In this conversation, Board reflects on the experiences, ideas, and relationships that have shaped his work.
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