Danielle Allen
Professor of Public Policy, James Bryant Conant University Professor
Democratic Reform
At the Ash Center, we’re working to generate new ideas to reform our democratic institutions for the 21st century.
Related Programs
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.
Meet the Experts
Justin de Benedictis-Kessner
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Archon Fung
Director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation;
Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government
Larry Lessig
Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership
Stephen Richer
Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy, February 2025 - November 2025
Non-resident Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy, December 2025 - November 2026
Jane Mansbridge
Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values Emerita
Tarek Masoud
Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance
Liz McKenna
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Pippa Norris
Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics
Ariel Procaccia
Alfred and Rebecca Lin Professor of Computer Science
Benjamin Schneer
Associate Professor of Public Policy
David Weil
Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School
Daniel Ziblatt
Eaton Professor of the Science of Government
Upcoming Events
Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress
In-Person Event
Ash Center Seminar Room 225, Suite 200, 124 Mount Auburn Street
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
The Latest News, Research, and Resources
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?
Video
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.
Video
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.
Feature
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
Feature
A Win for Democracy
Mauzy Award-Winner Demarquin Johnson sees democratic action as the path to overcoming injustice and protecting voting rights
Video
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.
Video
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.
Video
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.
Policy Brief
Lift Every Voice: The Urgency of Universal Civic Duty Voting
Media Release
New report by Voting Rights Advocates, Practitioners, and Scholars Details Need for Universal Civic Duty Voting
Video
Protest, Mobilization, and the 2020 Election: The Role of Philanthropy
The Ash Center hosted a conversation with leading practitioners in philanthropy who talked about all of these issues and the urgency that the times demand.
Video
A New Deal During COVID-19: A Million-Person Health Corps?
Policy Brief
Union Impact on Voter Participation—And How to Expand It
Book
Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?
In Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?, Alexander Keyssar explores the institution’s origins and persistent survival despite widespread public opposition, showing how partisan interests and constitutional barriers have repeatedly derailed reform.
Video
Book Talk — Governance for Urban Services: Access, Participation, Accountability and Transparency
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation hosted a virtual book talk with Shabbir Cheema, Senior Fellow, Ash Center – and the principal author and editor of “Governance for Urban Services: Access, Participation, Accountability and Transparency” (Springer 2020). The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Faculty Director, Jorrit de Jong, moderated.