Through our books, case studies, journal articles, papers, and surveys, the Ash Center is home to some of the world’s most advanced research and publications on issues related to democratic governance and self-governance.
To explore all research authored by Ash Center faculty, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School website. You can view the Ash Center’s open access policy here.
Case Study
In this case study of democratic innovation at the local level, the authors answer the questions: Why, in 2022, was voting representation and democratic reform firmly on Portland’s agenda? Did this shift contribute to Portlanders passing Measure 26-228?
Newest
Video
Will environmentalists vote in November? Environmentalists aren’t voting as much as they ought to, but recent advances in data analytics and behavioral science offer hope for 2020 and beyond.
Video
The Ash Center hosted a discussion with leading experts about the latest young voter polling data, ongoing grassroots organizing efforts, and the challenges young people face in the voting process.
Video
In this discussion, Prof. Alex Keyssar was joined by Prof. Edward Foley and Tova Wang to discuss his new book, why the founders settled on such an institution, its persistence over the hundreds of years since, and current efforts to preserve, circumvent, or abolish it.
Video
The Ash Center hosted a conversation with leading practitioners in the field on the importance and state of current efforts to engage AAPI voters, AAPIs’ role and connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the stakes of the upcoming election.
Video
The Harvard Votes Challenge celebrateed National Voter Registration Day with Valerie Jarrett, businesswoman, senior advisor to President Barack Obama, a board member at When We All Vote, and advocate for equality & justice.
Video
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
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.
Case Study
Video
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.