Video  

Should voting be a right or a requirement?

Harvard Ash Center Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy Miles Rapoport advocates that universal voting, a requirement that every citizen cast a ballot, could reduce polarization and pave a pathway to a more equitable American democracy.

Related Resources

Terms of Engagement – Is Democracy Eroding from the Top?
Picture of Larry Bartels in Terms of Engagement image.

Podcast

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?

Reimagining public understanding: Toward an institutional model
Two hands touching over a science network connection symbol.

Article

Reimagining public understanding: Toward an institutional model

In a new research article, Democracy Visiting Fellow Gordon Gauchat and co-author Kassandra Thompson offer an alternative framework for public understanding of science, focusing on “science’s role as a social system” shaped by institutional norms and practices, rather than traditional approaches centered on knowledge possession or trust in experts.

Terms of Engagement – The Fight for the Student Vote: Campus Democracy Under Pressure

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – The Fight for the Student Vote: Campus Democracy Under Pressure

Jen Domagal-Goldman, the executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and Yael Bromberg, a constitutional rights attorney and leading scholar on the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, join Terms of Engagement to explore what’s at stake in the ongoing partisan battle over student voting rights and civic participation.

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Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: City Charters Are Deliberative Democracy’s Friends

Commentary

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.

Reframing Efficiency: How Public Deliberation Strengthens Public Health Policy
A blue, green, and orange crowd of abstract figures with hospital ceiling lights in the background.

Article

Reframing Efficiency: How Public Deliberation Strengthens Public Health Policy

In a recent American Journal of Public Health essay, Ash Center Director Archon Fung, Democracy Visiting Fellow Aditya S. Pawar, former Non-resident Fellow Jon Alexander, and their co-authors examine how public deliberation and civic engagement can produce more efficient and reliable public health policy.