Podcast
Conference on the Political Economy of AI Podcast Episodes
Check out the podcast episodes from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation’s Conference on the Political Economy of AI to glean insights from each panel.
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Can Higher Ed Renew Our Democracy?
In new paper, Danielle Allen explores how higher ed can play a role in promoting the health of our democracy.
“Civic education and engagement in our universities — educating toward self-government and engaged citizenship — could use a major reset,” notes Danielle Allen along with John Bridgeland and Cecilia Muñoz in a recently published article. Bridgeland and Muñoz, served as senior White House domestic policy advisors in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, respectively.
Across the nation, surveys show that trust in one another and key institutions, such as government, media, and the courts, has reached historic lows. At the same time, political polarization among Americans has escalated rapidly over the past 40 years, while participation in large-scale civic institutions and volunteering rates have declined. Higher education offers a path forward – it can prepare young people to participate in democratic processes and, ultimately, change the country’s direction.
Colleges and universities have a critical role to play in enabling students to have vigorous and contentious debates about a whole range of issues while engaging in civil discourse that respects students who may hold different views![Headshot of Danielle Allen]()
Danielle Allen
Professor of Public Policy, HKS;
James Bryant Conant University Professor, FAS
While higher education cannot address every civic challenge, it plays a pivotal role in fostering civic education and engagement. “Civic learning in college can and should help democracy rebuild and renew our capacity to work together to form a “more perfect union,” a durable goal for our constitutional republic,” Allen, Bridgeland and Muñoz write in their article published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning.
With a majority of high school graduates transitioning directly to college, and millions more eventually enrolling, there is a pressing need to enhance civic participation and democratic learning in higher education, the authors argue. Several key strategies emerge, starting with implementing mandatory civic curricula with a focus on building foundational civic knowledge and the skills and dispositions needed to support constitutional democracy. Colleges and universities can also incentivize civic engagement through civic seals on diplomas in recognition of community service, experiential learning, and other civic contributions. Further, schools can advocate for policies that support a year of national service.
Institutions should encourage an environment of robust civil discourse. “Colleges and universities have a critical role to play in enabling students to have vigorous and contentious debates about a whole range of issues while engaging in civil discourse that respects students who may hold different views,” Allen and her co-authors urge.
Just as the world rallied behind sustainable development goals, the paper makes the case that colleges and universities can advance the goals of More Perfect, a national initiative to advance five democracy goals: universal civic learning, national service and volunteering, bridging divides, trusted elections and representative and responsible governance, and access to trusted news and information.
Ultimately, “the best ideas are likely to emerge from colleges and universities themselves in all of their wonderful diversity—public, private, independent, community, technical, historically black, Hispanic-serving, and tribal colleges and universities, and within the many associations and networks that represent them.” The authors propose holding an annual summit among college leaders to highlight innovations in higher education that foster democratic renewal and to facilitate knowledge-sharing and promote scalability at other institutions. “As our colleges and universities continue to play such central roles in educating and engaging generations of Americans, we can inspire students to understand our democracy and their vital role in it.”
More from this Program
Case Study
Beyond the Sound and Fury: The Landscape of Curricular Contestation in Texas
In this new Occasional Paper from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Hannah Kunzman and Danielle Allen offer a case study on contestation over K–12 civics curriculum in Texas.
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AI and Democracy Summer Reading List
This list, curated by the GETTING-Plurality Research Network at the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, highlights a mix of foundational texts and new thinking on the timely issue of how AI will impact democracy, especially as we head into election season.
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How Portland, Oregon Embraced Voting Reform — and Democratic Innovation
Portland, Oregon passed one of the most progressive voting reforms in the country. Max Kiefel, Nick Chedli Carter, and Archon Fung explore the motivating factors behind this big change.
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Avoiding conflict over conflicts of interest
Developing and enforcing conflict of interest policies is no simple task for anti-corruption advocates and ethics officials alike. Archon Fung and Dennis Thompson help to better understand the problem and examine when risk is underestimated and when it is overestimated.
Additional Resource
Laws That Govern Jail-Based Voting: A 50-State Legal Review
As part of the Ash Center’s ongoing work examining the legal, political, and policy implications of advancing jail-based voting, Aaron Rosewood and Tova Wang examine the statutory basis for jail voting in each state.