
Podcast
Trying to Understand Political Violence in the US
This week on Terms of Engagement, Alex Keyssar joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine the broader issue of political violence in the U.S.
Feature
A collection of must-reads curated by Ash Center’s Reimagining Democracy team.
As summer unfolds, the Reimagining Democracy team invites you to engage with a curated selection of thought-provoking books and research that reflect the values and challenges of democracy in our time.
Gary Gerstle
In this follow up to his 1990 Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, Gerstle’s book reminded me that at any particular time, the arguments between the left and the right in American politics occupy a tiny portion of the full spectrum of what is possible and very likely what is desirable. The Neoliberal Order governed America from the mid 1970s until the 2010s. What makes this period an “order” is the agreement – especially between Republicans and Democrats – on what society should look like and policies should be. If a signal moment of the New Deal order was Eisenhower’s (a Republican) endorsement of the policy basics that Roosevelt created, a watershed in the birth of neoliberalism was Bill Clinton’s (a Democrat) acceptance of the main tenants of Reaganism: free markets, deregulation, globalization, reduced social benefits.
Donald Trump has likely brought an end to the Neoliberal Order. Gerstle’s book puts the most important question squarely in front of us: what will the next political “order” look like? Do we want to try to recreate the neoliberal order, or move on to something that is hopefully better?
-Archon Fung
Melina Geser-Stark
Since the 2024 election there has been endless discussion of the apparent rightward shift of GenZ, which had been thought to be more liberal than other age cohorts. But rather than jumping to the conclusion that this is a triumph of the far Right, Geser-Stark persuasively argues that it is more an expression of deep disaffection from the democratic system and disillusionment with the status quo and every leader who has gotten us to the present state. She demonstrates this with a variety of polling data, and most interestingly points out that this phenomenon is happening in other countries as well. The difference is that in these European multi-party systems, GenZ has been voting for the far left as often as the far right, bolstering her argument that it is a rejection of the establishment more than a shift to the Right. I find this paper even more interesting in the wake of the victory of Mamdani in the recent NYC primary, a Democratic Socialist who was swept to his win by new young voters.
Podcast
This week on Terms of Engagement, Alex Keyssar joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine the broader issue of political violence in the U.S.
Commentary
The intensification of political polarization in recent years has raised pressing concerns about the health of democratic discourse and the rise of political violence. Ash Center Senior Fellow Stephen Richer shares ten principles he believes provide a framework for fostering more constructive engagement: encouraging self-reflection, prioritizing substantive dialogue over hyperbole, and creating incentives that reward integrity and ideas rather than division.
Podcast
Archon Fung and Stephen Richer are joined by Andrew Crespo, Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, to discuss a recent court case that found the Trump Administration’s freeze of over $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard illegal.
Commentary
Amid rising illiberalism, Danielle Allen urges a new agenda to renew democracy by reorienting institutions, policymaking, and civil society around the intentional sharing of power.
Commentary
The intensification of political polarization in recent years has raised pressing concerns about the health of democratic discourse and the rise of political violence. Ash Center Senior Fellow Stephen Richer shares ten principles he believes provide a framework for fostering more constructive engagement: encouraging self-reflection, prioritizing substantive dialogue over hyperbole, and creating incentives that reward integrity and ideas rather than division.
Podcast
Archon Fung and Stephen Richer discuss President Trump’s assertions about mail-in voting and what they portend for future elections and voter participation.