Democracy demands new ideas.


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.

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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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Work in the Age of AI: Reflections from After Neoliberalism

Commentary

Work in the Age of AI: Reflections from After Neoliberalism

Allen Lab member Charlie Covit reflects on the After Neoliberalism conference and examines the intersection of artificial intelligence and the future of work, arguing that AI forces a democratic reckoning with the meaning of labor itself and that an economy which generates abundance while stripping citizens of purpose and dignity undermines the very foundation of democratic life.

What Democracy Means to Us: Reflections on America 250
Images of Ash Center staff, faculty, and fellows on a grid layout.

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.

The Declaration of Independence at 250: Five Questions About America’s Founding Document
A painting of the Declaration of Independence signing.

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.