President Barack Obama delivers a health care address to a joint session of Congress at the United States Capitol

Democratic Reform

At the Ash Center, we’re working to generate new ideas to reform our democratic institutions for the 21st century.

Lucas, Flickr, Creative Commons

Many of our most basic democratic institutions, from the Electoral College to Congress itself, were born in the eighteenth century when American democracy and America looked markedly different than today. At the Ash Center, we’re working to modernize and reform these institutions for a healthy 21st-century democracy.

As political polarization continues to test the strength of even our most bedrock political institutions, the Ash Center brings together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from across the country to discuss how to protect and modernize our democracy.

Through working groups and convenings, case studies, and research projects, the Ash Center is working to identify reforms both large and small that will help strengthen the future of American democracy for generations to come.

The Latest News, Research, and Resources


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Empowering Affected Interests: Democratic Inclusion in a Globalized World
Cover photo of Empowering Affected Interests

Book

Empowering Affected Interests: Democratic Inclusion in a Globalized World

Empowering Affected Interests explores the radical implications of the All-Affected Principle—the idea that all those impacted by collective decisions should have a say—by bringing together leading theorists to debate how democracy can address the interdependence of states, markets, and peoples on issues like immigration, climate change, and labor markets.

‘Both parties now can claim the mantle of a multiracial electorate’
Harvard faculty and fellows sit in front of a classroom of students.

Feature

‘Both parties now can claim the mantle of a multiracial electorate’

From global election trends to inflation anger, swing state performance, and failed voting reform initiatives, Harvard election law experts break down last week’s presidential election and what it might mean for the future of American democracy.

Election 2024: Appreciating The Front-Line Workers of Democracy

Commentary

Election 2024: Appreciating The Front-Line Workers of Democracy

As the dust settles from the U.S. presidential election, the American public can celebrate that the election process was largely nonviolent and smooth. However, it is important that the public not be lulled into thinking this signals the end of election administrators’ problems.

Trump’s threat to American democracy
A graph of the most important issue for voters in the 2024 election

Additional Resource

Trump’s threat to American democracy

In her most recent contributing article to the U.S. Election Analysis 2024: Media, Voters and the Campaign, Pippa Norris discusses events preceding the 2024 election, voter behavior, and what the results may mean for democratic institutions.

Milestone or Misstep? Corruption, Development, and Democracy After Brazil’s Lava Jato Probe
people in Brazil take to the streets

Additional Resource

Milestone or Misstep? Corruption, Development, and Democracy After Brazil’s Lava Jato Probe

This case explores Brazil’s Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato in Portuguese), the largest public corruption investigation in history, which led to indictments and convictions of some 359 business executives, government officials, and political leaders from the ruling elite in Brazil.

Beyond the Ballot: Ensuring a Transparent, Secure, and Fair Election in 2024
Someone holds up a sign that says

Feature

Beyond the Ballot: Ensuring a Transparent, Secure, and Fair Election in 2024

Election integrity is under the microscope as we near the 2024 Presidential Election, and many Americans are apprehensive about election security, the timeframe of learning the results, and how peaceful the transfer of power will be.

The National Security Case for Public AI
tech background with a square in the middle

Occasional Paper

The National Security Case for Public AI

Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Fellow Alex Pascal and Vanderbilt Law Professor Ganesh Sitaraman make the case that public options for AI and public utility-style regulation of AI will enhance national security by ensuring innovation and competition, preventing abuses of power and conflicts of interest, and advancing public interest and national security goals.

Election Officials in Swing States and the 2024 Election
Graphic of the US with headshots of all of the secretaries of state in purple pointing to their own state

Video

Election Officials in Swing States and the 2024 Election

The Ash Center hosted a discussion with the heads of elections from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina to hear about their actions to ensure the election process is smooth and can be trusted.

In Denver, a Model for Jail-Based Voting
photo of a hallway of a jail from behind bars

Feature

In Denver, a Model for Jail-Based Voting

Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of people in jail retain their right to vote while being held in pretrial detention, having not been convicted of a crime.

Political Violence in America: Causes, Consequences, and Countermeasures
Police walking in riot gear

Feature

Political Violence in America: Causes, Consequences, and Countermeasures

In the wake of this most recent incident, the Ash Center convened a panel of experts to discuss Americans’ attitudes toward political violence and explore strategies for counteracting and de-escalating future violent acts to prevent them from becoming an accepted social norm.