Americans have deep-seated skepticism about presidential power. This skepticism is not always made explicit in the public’s day-to-day political expressions, but it is a latent force in American political culture forged at the founding of the nation and ingrained in grade school civics lessons. It is not a legalistic or intellectual understanding of the text of the US Constitution or Declaration of Independence. Rather, this skepticism reflects a belief that the separation of powers, especially in their protection from tyranny, is...
The upcoming Boston Mayoral election promises to bring Boston into a new era of politics with the growing likelihood of electing the first non-white male Mayor in Boston’s history. However, with the litany of prevailing social issues impacting Black and Brown communities, will this election truly represent the change that so many have waited decades for?
Join the Ash Center, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Center for Public Leadership, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston for the first of two sessions in the "...
In the nearly one year since the November 2020 elections, the diverging directions state legislatures have taken on expanding or contracting voting rights have created a huge fault line in American democracy, described by some as ‘two Americas’. A Voting Rights Lab tracking report as of September 13th identifies 27 states representing 70 million voters that have passed laws to expand voting opportunities, and 13 states with 55 million people that have passed sharply restrictive legislation. And state legislatures are still at work. What’s causing this divergence?
Organizers and practitioners around the globe have long utilized “public narratives” as a way of connecting their work to leadership by learning to tell a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now. In this panel discussion, Ash Center Democracy Fellow Dr. Emilia Aiello will examine how public narratives can contribute to community building and power building even under constrained conditions. Dr. Aiello will be joined by leaders and practitioners of the Qom Ma’al Muallem (Stand Up with the Teachers) Campaign, which has been organizing for female workers rights in Jordan. The...
Elections are more than ballots, polling places, and voting machines. The human component of administering elections was exposed to unthinkable stress and attack during the 2020 cycle. It nearly reached the breaking point.
Whether it was persistent and recurring misinformation and disinformation, threats to the personal safety of full-time and volunteer elections office staff, or challenges to the independence of the voting process by political actors, our country is hurtling towards a cliff of retirements of the people who understand voting more than any others. Without...
This public discussion will highlight key challenges of racism, misogyny and other discrimination faced by our Asian and Asian-American community, the responses of local organizations who have long sought to address such challenges, and what more needs to be done in our own communities. Speakers represent perspectives from the Harvard Kennedy School’s staff, faculty and student groups, as well as leading local non-profits.
Speakers include:
Anisha Asundi, Research Fellow: Gender Specialist, Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Program...
President Biden came into office during one of the most turbulent moments in modern American political history. He promised an ambitious agenda and notably sought to include the voices of groups traditionally excluded from national politics. Now, 100 days into his administration, the Ash Center is convening a panel of experts who will examine the challenges and future opportunities for the Biden administration in a number of key policy areas including immigration, health policy, and economic justice.
The United States experienced an unprecedented surge in progressive social movement activity during the Trump presidency, with both new and existing groups organizing in opposition to the former administration’s agenda. What will these movements do now that there is a new administration? How can they take advantage of new federal leadership to advance their agenda as well as continue to grow and engage their members at the grassroots level? In this discussion, Ash Center Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow Johnnie Lotesta will talk with leaders from the environmental justice, gun violence...
The 2020 election and January 6th insurrection underscored the extent to which disinformation impacts political discourse and democratic norms in the United States. Many pundits, academics, activists, and politicians discuss the effects of disinformation in American life, yet these conversations lack a thorough evaluation of how disinformation and even radicalization specifically impact Latinx and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. This panel aims to fill this gap, focusing on how members of these communities have accessed, reacted, and forged new identities...
