Read the latest news, commentary, and analysis from the Ash Center.
Commentary
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.
Newest
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Archon Fung on the threats to American democracy and what we can do about it.
Commentary
The Democracy in Hard Places program has grown from an obsession with how countries that lack democracy can get it and keep it.
Commentary
ChatGPT and other AIs could supercharge the influence of lobbyists—but only if we let them.
Video
On Thursday, March 9, 2023, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Director Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, spoke to Kennedy School community members about threats to American democracy and how we can overcome them.
Video
You’re invited to watch a book talk with Harvard Kennedy School’s Bruce Schneier, author of “A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back.” Schneier was joined in conversation by moderator Archon Fung, Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government.
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Feature
During a discussion at Harvard Kennedy School, activists featured in the film “There’s Something in the Water” warn that environmental racism continues to stymie efforts for clean water in Black and Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia.
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts may have a political target on them, but the scholarly literature is clear that they help universities recruit, retain, and teach a more racially diverse pool of talented students and faculty, says the Kennedy School’s Khalil Gibran Muhammad.