The Ash Center's Democratic Governance Program explores the relationships between democratic governance and the persistence of urgent social problems with a particular focus on strengthening public participation, transparency, and technology as tools vital to the understanding of contemporary democracy.
Democratic Governance
Democracy Reinvented
In Democracy Reinvented, Ash Fellow Hollie Russon Gilman places participatory budgeting within the larger discussion of the health of U.S. democracy and offers policy recommendations to promote more inclusive governance.
Tech & Democracy Workshops
The Ash Center's Tech & Democracy Workshops bring together practitioners from the worlds of technology, policy, and government with HKS students for a series of hands-on workshops. Students gain practical skills and a deeper understanding of how to use technology to facilitate interaction between the public and government.
Mobilization, Participatory Institutions, and Elite Capture
In his paper Mobilization, Participatory Planning Institutions, and Elite Capture: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural Kenya, Associate Professor of Public Policy Ryan Sheely examines the linkage between mobilization and elite capture in participatory institutions.
Political Polarization
Jane Mansbridge writes on why political polarization is here to stay for the Washington Post, and outlines the structural changes that explain the huge decline in the numbers of party members willing to vote for legislation that the other party has sponsored.
Participedia
Learn about how Participedia harnesses the power of collaboration to respond to the rapid
development of experiments in new forms of participatory politics and governance around the world.
Race and American Politics
Check out Leah Wright Rigueur's Race and American Politics seminar series, an ongoing discussion of the most pressing political and social issues related to race in the United States: state-sanctioned violence, protest and social movements, voting rights, political representation, and more.