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Book Talk – When Democracy Breaks

The Ash Center invites you to watch a book talk with contributors to When Democracy Breaks (Oxford, 2023), a new edited volume intended to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility — by focusing on the latter.

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Reimagining Democracy Program

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Democratic Reform

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From South Texas to Cambridge, Josh Cortez Carries His Story Forward
Josh Cortez taking a picture on stairs at graduation

Feature

From South Texas to Cambridge, Josh Cortez Carries His Story Forward

When Josh Cortez crossed the stage to graduate from Harvard Kennedy School in May 2025 as an Ash Center fellow, he carried more than a degree—he carried generations of heritage, grit, and purpose. His story doesn’t begin in Cambridge but hundreds of years earlier, on the banks of the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas. There, his Tejano ancestors—Spanish land grantees and ranchers—laid the foundation for a life rooted in service, resilience, and a deep connection to place. Now, he’s setting his sights on the future, bringing his voice, values, and vision back home to South Texas as a candidate for Congress.

Terms of Engagement – Censorship by Settlement?
Terms of Engagement

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Censorship by Settlement?

What does Columbia’s recent settlement with the Trump administration mean for higher education? Are the First Amendment rights of Columbia and other universities being infringed?

Chicago’s Solution To Public Pension Debt is a Generational Scam
Chicago's skyline with a graphic of hands holding money.

Article

Chicago’s Solution To Public Pension Debt is a Generational Scam

In this op-ed, Jennifer Hochschild explains that Chicago is facing a financial crisis decades in the making — a crushing burden of pension debt that no current resident created but all must bear. Instead she says, it is the result of a century of political promises, underfunded commitments, and systemic avoidance — leaving Chicagoans to reckon with the consequences today.

More on this Issue

Chicago’s Solution To Public Pension Debt is a Generational Scam
Chicago's skyline with a graphic of hands holding money.

Article

Chicago’s Solution To Public Pension Debt is a Generational Scam

In this op-ed, Jennifer Hochschild explains that Chicago is facing a financial crisis decades in the making — a crushing burden of pension debt that no current resident created but all must bear. Instead she says, it is the result of a century of political promises, underfunded commitments, and systemic avoidance — leaving Chicagoans to reckon with the consequences today.