Read the latest news, commentary, and analysis from the Ash Center.
Commentary
In this opinion piece, Audrey Feldman, Todd Rogers and Ben Valenta — participants in the Sports, Democracy and Civic Health project — describe their findings showing that shared fandom can soften partisan animosity and make political opponents more willing to connect.
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Feature
From polarization to populism, democracy is facing off against formidable foes and we need big ideas to save it says expert panel.
Commentary
In a new article for the Conversation, Ash Center Director Archon Fung and Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig introduce Clogger, a hypothetical political campaign in a black box.
Commentary
On Saturday, May 20, 2023, more than 1,000 tenants, union members, community organizers, and politicians gathered at Cadman Plaza in the rain and then marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to call for lower rents in New York City and the passage of state legislation to protect tenants from eviction without good cause.
Feature
David Corbie MPA 2023 is sparking a new conversation about how to shift the paradigm in Boston and strengthen opportunities for the city’s Black community
Media Release
Nine tribal governance programs have been selected by the Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development’s Honoring Nations program as 2023 All-Stars from the family of 142 Honoring Nations awardees.
Commentary
In late 2022, I guessed that the surge in anti-LGBTQ+ right-wing protests we saw in the summer and fall of last year would ebb after the elections.
Explore some of our top research and commentary from this semester
Video
The Ash Center invites you to watch a book talk and series of panel discussions to mark the publication of The Government of Chance: Sortition and Politics from Athens to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2023) by Yves Sintomer, Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow; Professor of Political Science, Paris 8 University; and Associate Member, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. Jane Suiter, Professor of Political Communication at Dublin City University chaired the discussion.
Film director and producer Ian Daniel MC/MPA 2023 looks to policy to help change the trajectory of centuries-old injustice.