Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard University; Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
George Edwards, Distinguished Fellow, University of Oxford; University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Jordan Chair in Presidential Studies Emeritus, Texas A&M UniversityAlex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor of History
and Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderated by Archon Fung, Innovation Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at Harvard Kennedy School; Director, Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance
Terms of Engagement – Does American Politics Have a Nazi problem?
For decades, racial appeals in American politics were most effective when they could be denied. Today, that carefully maintained distance between coded language and explicit hostility is rapidly eroding. In this episode, Saladin Ambar joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine what this transformation reveals about American politics and democracy.
Labor Unions and Civic Participation: How Unions Can Increase Member Engagement
In a new policy brief, Tova Wang, Director of Research Projects in Democratic Practice at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and coauthors, explore how unions help members become more engaged in civic and political life.
Terms of Engagement – Is Democracy Eroding from the Top?
Larry Bartels, the Vanderbilt political scientist who wrote “Democracy for Realists” and “Democracy Erodes from the Top,” joins Terms of Engagement to explore the question, is Democracy eroding from the top?
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.
Tova Wang, director of research projects in democratic practice at the Ash Center, shares her top picks for summer reads focused on making democracy more resilient, responsive, and inclusive.