Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Renovating constitutional democracy for the 21st century
The Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation is an impact lab at Harvard Kennedy School working to renovate constitutional democracy for today’s large, complex, digitally powered society so that it delivers on its purpose: human flourishing.
Our work starts from two premises. First, democracy should not be treated as a stand-alone policy domain, but as a standard shaping how public policy is designed and evaluated. Second, democratic institutions and civic culture are mutually reinforcing. When institutions are unresponsive, people disengage; as participation and civic connection weaken, institutions become less responsive still. Realizing the promise of self-government requires reversing this cycle by strengthening both together.
Grounded in Danielle Allen’s field-defining scholarship on democracy, power-sharing liberalism, civic education, and technology, we combine research and real-world application to develop, test, and spread new frameworks and standards for democracy renovation.
Announcement
Our Record
Advancing democracy-supportive public policy
Develop and analyze new policy approaches; help establish democracy as a central consideration in emerging debates over AI and political economy through first-of-their-kind frameworks, research, and convenings; and equip future leaders to put democratic outcomes at the center of policymaking. Convened hundreds of leading economists, political scientists, journalists, writers and thinkers from across the political spectrum to explore and debate emerging visions for the future of the political economy.
Cultivating new ideas and leaders in democracy renovation
Provide students and emerging leaders with the tools to strengthen democracy; supporting Fellows producing influential books, original research, and civic initiatives, including former White House Senior Policy Advisor Ami Fields-Meyer’s On Courage, Professor Allison Stanger’s congressional testimony on democracy and Big Tech, and former AmeriCorps Director Sonali Nijhawan’s work connecting service alumni to sustain civic participation and leadership beyond service.
Building the foundation for stronger digital civic infrastructure
Produced the first Massachusetts statewide landscape analysis, building the OpenBook municipal budget transparency tool, and developing policy recommendations for digital civic infrastructure, including Open Meeting Law in the age of AI.
Strengthening civic culture
Advancing a national vision for universal civic learning across the lifespan, building a network connecting K–12, higher education, and adult civic learning, and advancing the policies needed to support lifelong civic learning.
Lab Staff
Danielle Allen
Professor of Public Policy, James Bryant Conant University Professor
Darshan Goux
PhD, Senior Lab Director
Sarah Hubbard
Associate Director for Technology & Democracy
Ryan Pell
Coordinator, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Lab Fellows and Researchers
Katherine Alderete
Researcher, Harvard College
Paula Berman
Non-resident Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Beamlak Birhane
Researcher, Harvard College
Mathis Bitton
Doctoral Student, Harvard Government Department
Niketa Brar
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Connor Buchanan
Researcher, Harvard College
Kristen Busch
Researcher, Harvard Law School
Claudia Chwalisz
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DemNext
Emily Clough
Research Fellow, AY2025-2026
Charlie Covit
Researcher, Harvard College
Joshua Darr
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Daniella DiPaola
Research Fellow, AY2026-2027
Adam Eichen
Research Fellow, AY2026-2027
Rani Eng
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Leon Erichsen
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Marci Harris
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Adam Hinds
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Hillary Lehr
Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Gideon Lichfield
Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Anne Meeker
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Beth Simone Noveck
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Cat O'Donnell
Researcher, Harvard Graduate School of Sociology
Henry Pahlow
Researcher, Harvard College
Christine Slaughter
Research Fellow, AY2025-2026
Summer Sun
Researcher, Harvard College
Joshua Tan
Policy Fellow, AY2026-2027
Matthew Victor
Berkman Klein Center Fellow
Kenneth Woodland
Researcher, Harvard Kennedy School
Lab Alumni
Ben Barsky
Lab Affiliate; Assoc. Professor, UCSF Law School
Carly Chen
Researcher, Harvard College
Felix Chen
Researcher, Princeton University
Naomi Corlette
Harvard College
Sofia Corona
Researcher, Harvard College
Caroline Curran
Researcher, Harvard College
Owen Ebose
Researcher, Harvard College
Emma Ebowe
Assistant Professor, College of William and Mary
Keren Elmore
Harvard College
Tyler Fisher
Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Eli Frankel
Researcher, Harvard College
Cynthia Garcia
Researcher, Harvard College
Brian Highsmith
Doctoral Student, Harvard Government Department
Yen-Lin Huang
Non-resident Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Conner Huey
Researcher, Harvard College
Martina Jaramillo
Researcher, Harvard College
David Kidd
Chief Assessment Scientist, Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics
David Knight
Principal Investigator;
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Columbia University
Hannah Kunzman
Researcher;
Doctoral Student, Harvard Government Department
Woojin Lim
Researcher, Harvard College
Jeremy McKey
Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Neil Miller
Researcher, Harvard Kennedy School
Cris Moore
Professor, Santa Fe Institute
Saddat Nazir
Researcher, Harvard College
Sonali Nijhawan
Chief Program Officer, EdRedesign Lab
Femi Ositade
Researcher, Harvard College
Alex Pascal
Lab Affiliate; Executive Director, Berkman Klein Center
Rishab Ramamurthy
Researcher, Harvard Law School
Charlotte Ritz-Jack
Researcher, Harvard College
Christian Schmidt
Researcher;
Master in Urban Planning Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Priyanka Sethy
Doctoral Student, Harvard Government Department
Karan Shah
Researcher, Harvard College
Allison Stanger
Senior Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation;
Co-Director and Co-Investigator, GETTING-Plurality Research Network
Feb. 2024-Jan. 2026
Andrei Stupu
PhD; Fulbright Alumnus
Tessel van Oirsouw
EthicAI and Former Visiting Fellow, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Shlomit Wagman
Allen Lab Policy Fellow AY 2023-2025
Sam Wang
Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
Jama Willis
Communications, Harvard College
Paulius Yamin
Non-resident Policy Fellow, AY2025-2026
The Latest News and Research
Media Release
AI models appear to recognize moral complexity — then ignore it, new study by researchers affiliated with Harvard Kennedy School’s Allen Lab finds
New study published in AI and Ethics introduces a new ethical-moral intelligence framework for AI and finds that leading AI models mimic human moral concern while making decisions that reveal a hidden value hierarchy.
Q+A
Q & A: Crocodile tears, Can the ethical-moral intelligence of AI models be trusted?
As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in everyday decision-making, its role in shaping how people think about ethics and morality is drawing increasing scrutiny. In this conversation with researcher Sarah Hubbard, we discuss insights from her co-authored paper, “Crocodile Tears: Can the Ethical-Moral Intelligence of AI Models Be Trusted?”—examining how AI systems respond to moral dilemmas, and what this reveals about the risks, limitations, and need for greater transparency and human oversight in AI-driven ethical guidance.
Article
Bootstrap Blackness: Black Men, Conservatism, and Party Politics
A new research article by Dr. Christine Slaughter, Research Fellow at the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation and co-authors examines the narrative of black men’s political “shift right”. The study finds Black men remain overwhelmingly Democratic, despite growing public attention to ideological divides.
Commentary
Voter Experience Summit Recap
Allen Lab Fellow Hillary Lehr convened a Voter Experience Summit at Harvard’s Ash Center in March, bringing together 25 cross-sector experts to rigorously map the voter journey. This essay explores how that collaborative process could lay the groundwork for new interventions to understand and improve the experience of voting for all.
Additional Resource
VIDEOS: After Neoliberalism From Left to Right
After Neoliberalism: From Left to Right brought together hundreds of leading economists, political scientists, journalists, writers and thinkers from across the political spectrum to explore and debate emerging visions for the future of the political economy.
Panel videos below.
Open Access Resource
Crocodile tears: Can the ethical-moral intelligence of AI models be trusted?
Allen Lab authors Sarah Hubbard, David Kidd, and Andrei Stupu introduce an ethical-moral intelligence framework for evaluating AI models across dimensions of moral expertise, sensitivity, coherence, and transparency in their recently published paper, Crocodile Tears: Can the Ethical-Moral Intelligence of AI Models Be Trusted? in Springer AI & Ethics.
Additional Resource
Storytelling Pathways to Civics Engagement
Watch Roadtrip Nation’s Living Civics documentary and hear from leading universal civic learning experts on the power of narrative for civic engagement.
Additional Resource
AI & Democracy: Perspectives from an Emerging Field
The Allen Lab is proud to have contributed to this timely landscape report from The David & Lucile Packard Foundation mapping the emerging field of AI and democracy.
Commentary
The Present — and Future — of Alternatives to Police
Allen Lab Affiliate Benjamin A. Barsky examines alternative emergency response programs — arguing for a democratic model of public safety governance in which responses to nonviolent incidents are shared across government and civil society rather than dominated by police.
Commentary
India & the Olympics of AI
Allen Lab Fellow Jeremy McKey reflects on India’s AI Impact Summit, exploring the theme of diffusion and the implications for sovereignty and democracy.
Commentary
Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: Why a People-Centered Approach to American Democracy Matters Now
Allen Lab Policy Fellow Christine Slaughter makes the case that democracy must be understood through people’s lived experiences and agency, not just institutions.
Commentary
Transparency is Insufficient: Lessons From Civic Technology for Anticorruption
Allen Lab Researcher David Riveros Garcia draws on his experience building civic technology to fight corruption in Paraguay to make the case that effective civic technology must include power and collective action in its design.
Additional Resource
Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: The Case for Building an AmeriCorps Alumni Leadership Network
In a new essay, The Case for Building an AmeriCorps Alumni Leadership Network, Allen Lab Policy Fellow Sonali Nijhawan argues that the 1.4 million Americans who have completed national service represent an underleveraged civic asset. Drawing on her experience as former Director of AmeriCorps, Nijhawan outlines a roadmap for transforming dispersed alumni into a connected leadership network capable of reinvigorating public service, rebuilding trust in government, and strengthening civic participation.
Additional Resource
The Ecosystem of Deliberative Technologies for Public Input
Ensuring public opinion and policy preferences are reflected in policy outcomes is essential to a functional democracy. A growing ecosystem of deliberative technologies aims to improve the input-to-action loop between people and their governments.
Video
Making Democracy Interesting: Tips from TV, Podcasts, Science Fiction, and Online Creators
The Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation’s Making Democracy Interesting webinar brought together scholars, writers, and creators to explore how storytelling can make democratic life feel more accessible, human, and compelling.