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.

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Rethinking the US Constitution through a Participatory Process

Video

Rethinking the US Constitution through a Participatory Process

What would it be like to really rethink our Constitution? In this webinar, we learned about participatory constitution building, a way of writing a new constitution with full public participation. Participatory constitution building is common around the world, but how it is designed and the process by which it is undertaken is critical to making it a success anywhere. We learned with experts on participatory constitution building globally, in Chile at this moment, and among tribal governments. What are the practices we might think about as we reconsider the strengths and weaknesses of our own constitution in this country?

Speakers included:

  • Erin Houlihan, Program Officer, International IDEA
  • Pamela Figueroa Rubio, Académica, Facultad de Humanidades – Universidad De Santiago
  • Joseph Kalt, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, HKS; Co-Director, The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
  • Co-moderated by Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, Harvard Kennedy School
  • Pedro Arcain Riccetto, Democracy Visiting Fellow, Ash Center

Voting Rights and Democracy Reform in the States and on the Hill

Video

Voting Rights and Democracy Reform in the States and on the Hill

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation convened advocates from the states and Capitol Hill to discuss what is at stake and the strategies being used in the fight for voting rights and democracy reform.

Voting Rights Battle Enters a New Round
Photo of the Capitol building

Commentary

Voting Rights Battle Enters a New Round

On March 1, the Georgia House of Representatives passed H.B.531, a sweeping elections bill that critics and voting rights advocates were quick to note increases restrictions on absentee voting and curtails weekend early voting hours.

Myanmar After the Coup
Photo of a computer screen that's displaying a zoom

Feature

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.

Tarek Masoud Reflects on the Arab Spring Ten Years Later
Photo of Tahrir Square

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.

Will This Election Pick the Next President: Election Break Down and What to Do About It

Video

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?