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Democratic Reform
At the Ash Center, we’re working to generate new ideas to reform our democratic institutions for the 21st century.
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Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Reimagining Democracy Program
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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Myanmar After the Coup
During a recent Ash Center event, experts discussed how the people of Myanmar have responded to recent events and what potential remains for a democratic future in the country.
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Moving Forward or Moving Backward: Election Legislation in the States
Q+A
Tarek Masoud Reflects on the Arab Spring Ten Years Later
As the world looks back on the events that convulsed much of the Middle East a decade ago during what became known as the Arab Spring, the Ash Center sat down with Tarek Masoud, Professor of Public Policy and Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations, to discuss the prospects for democracy in the region today.
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Georgia on Our Minds: Voter Engagement and Voter Protection in the Senate Runoffs
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Looking Forward: The Paths and Prospects for Democracy Reform
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Will This Election Pick the Next President: Election Break Down and What to Do About It
In this discussion, the speakers explored what election breakdown could look like: A President refusing to concede, a state legislature disregarding the popular vote, a tie-breaker by a Supreme Court some view as illegitimate, Congress deciding the election according to “contingent election” provisions, or something else altogether?
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Queer the Vote: Mobilizing the LGBTQ Community Ahead of the 2020 Elections
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation hosted a conversation to discuss the priorities of LGBTQ voters and how they are being mobilized to get out and vote in November 2020.
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Navigating the Rapids: Swing State Secretaries and the 2020 Elections
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation brought together a bipartisan group of secretaries from the key swing states of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
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Is Mandatory Voting the Answer to Our Voting Wars?
Ash Center Fellow Miles Rapoport helps ignite a public debate on implementing universal voting in the United States
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A Win for Democracy
Mauzy Award-Winner Demarquin Johnson sees democratic action as the path to overcoming injustice and protecting voting rights
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Insights from Congressional and Tribal Leaders: Coronavirus Relief for American Indian Tribal Govt
Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development hosted a diverse panel of Congressional and tribal leaders to look ahead and discuss how Congress might come together on a bipartisan basis to enhance support for Indian Country’s pandemic recovery efforts.
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Election 2020: What Keeps You Up at Night?
The Ash Center hosted a discussion with three leading U.S. election practitioners – one litigator, one election official, and one national grassroots organizing leader – as we asked each of them a series of questions about their greatest fears around the voting process, their work to achieve a fully inclusive and well-administered election, and their ideas for the future of U.S. democracy.
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This is why we still have the Electoral College
The Electoral College is the system by which Americans elect their president every four years. When American voters go to the polls for a presidential election, they are actually voting for a slate of electors who have pledged to support a specific candidate. These electors cast their own votes, and the winner is elected to the presidency. Two hundred years ago, the Framers incorporated the Electoral College into the United States Constitution, and to this day it remains one of the most controversial aspects of that document. But despite numerous attempts to reform or even abolish it, the Electoral College remains the mechanism by which Americans choose their president every four years. So why is it still around? Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, explores this subject in his latest book, “Why Do We Still Have The Electoral College?”
The answer is not as straight forward as one might think, and in this video Professor Keyssar discusses the myriad reasons that we still follow with what he calls, “a process that does not conform to democratic principles the nation has publicly championed.”
Behind the Book is a collaboration between the Office of Communications and Public Affairs and Library and Knowledge Services at Harvard Kennedy School.
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