Additional Resource
Democracy demands new ideas.
Q+A
The Declaration of Independence at 250: Five Questions About America’s Founding Document
Video
What Democracy Means to Us: Reflections on America 250
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The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation develops ideas and fosters practices for equal and inclusive, multiracial, and multiethnic democracy and self-government.
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Video
What Democracy Means to Us: Reflections on America 250
Exploring Ash Center perspectives on the meaning of democracy, democratic participation and citizenship, and how democratic life might evolve over the next 250 years.
Q+A
The Declaration of Independence at 250: Five Questions About America’s Founding Document
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, its founding principles—and its enduring contradictions—continue to provoke reflection and debate. In this conversation, Alex Keyssar, historian and Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, discusses the historical circumstances in which the Declaration was written, the ideals it sought to articulate, how its meaning has evolved over time, and the tensions between its soaring language and the realities of slavery, inequality, and political compromise.
Feature
Global Challenges to Democracy Seminar Series Recap (AY 2025-2026)
Key takeaways from the Ash Center’s 2025–2026 seminar series on navigating global threats to modern democracy.