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Research & Resources

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.

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Additional Resource

How Americans Navigate Voting Information Ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections

The Shorenstein Center’s 2026 Voting Information Trends project—developed in collaboration with the National Internet Observatory at Northeastern University, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Program on Democracy and the Informed Public, and The Civic Health and Institutions Project—provides new insights into the voter information landscape in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Among the resources, an interactive dashboard maps where Americans are finding voting information and learning about key aspects of the voting process—from sourcing polling locations to voter registration. Also included are a series of trends reports gauging perceptions of voting in the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections.

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Massachusetts Municipal Leader Guide: Open Meeting Law in the Digital Age

Additional Resource

Massachusetts Municipal Leader Guide: Open Meeting Law in the Digital Age

As public officials increasingly turn to digital tools, this guide helps Massachusetts municipal leaders navigate Open Meeting Law and their everyday digital practice while safeguarding transparency.

American Indian Casino Operations and Firm Long-Run Employment and Sales
Billboard sign advertising the Desert Diamond casino.

Paper

American Indian Casino Operations and Firm Long-Run Employment and Sales

A new working paper by Randy Akee, Julie Johnson Kidd Professor of Indigenous Governance and Development, and co-authors examines the role of The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 in facilitating sustained private-sector growth for American Indian reservations through tribal casino development.

Contesting Repression in Divided Democracies: Can Counternarratives Reduce Support for Police Violence?
An image of 4 police officer shields.

Article

Contesting Repression in Divided Democracies: Can Counternarratives Reduce Support for Police Violence?

A new article in the American Journal of Political Science, co-authored by Yanilda María González, Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy and Ash Center affiliate, examines public attitudes toward police violence in Brazil. The authors find that while police discourse can increase public endorsement of violence, counternarratives from marginalized victims can be effective in reducing citizen support for repressive policing.

Reframing Efficiency: How Public Deliberation Strengthens Public Health Policy
A blue, green, and orange crowd of abstract figures with hospital ceiling lights in the background.

Article

Reframing Efficiency: How Public Deliberation Strengthens Public Health Policy

In a recent American Journal of Public Health essay, Ash Center Director Archon Fung, Democracy Visiting Fellow Aditya S. Pawar, former Non-resident Fellow Jon Alexander, and their co-authors examine how public deliberation and civic engagement can produce more efficient and reliable public health policy.

Why Anticorruption Campaigns Aren’t a Silver Bullet
A statue of Lady Liberty holding scales of justice.

Article

Why Anticorruption Campaigns Aren’t a Silver Bullet

In a recent Journal of Democracy article, Matthew Cebul, Lead Research Fellow for the Nonviolent Action Lab, explores the global pattern of anticorruption movements. He assesses mechanisms for navigating the “accountability-defections dilemma”—balancing the need to encourage authoritarian regime defections while maintaining democratic accountability.

Update Massachusetts Open Meeting Law for the Digital Age

Policy Brief

Update Massachusetts Open Meeting Law for the Digital Age

As technology reshapes how public officials communicate with their communities, this policy brief offers recommendations for modernizing Massachusetts Open Meeting Law to protect transparency and accountability while enabling the tools that expand access to government.

The Landscape of Digital Civic Infrastructure in Massachusetts

Paper

The Landscape of Digital Civic Infrastructure in Massachusetts

Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation authors offer the first comprehensive analysis of how Massachusetts municipalities are using technology to support civic engagement, government decision-making, and public service delivery.

What Do Workers Want and Need: Partisan Consensus on What it Takes to Make Ends Meet
McDonalds sign accepting job applications

Policy Brief

What Do Workers Want and Need: Partisan Consensus on What it Takes to Make Ends Meet

Survey nearly 10,000 hourly workers at 67 of the country’s largest service-sector employers — Walmart, Waffle House, Amazon — and you’d expect their politics to split them on everything. Instead, 78 percent of MAGA-identified workers and 96 percent of Harris voters back a $15 minimum wage, and across the board, workers converge on the same figure for what it would actually take to get by: $24 an hour, 40 hours a week. What they’re actually paid falls $7 short. The bigger problem may not be the wage gap at all — it’s who workers think is responsible for closing it.

Self-Evident Truths: The 250-Year Pursuit of Human Rights in the United States of America

Additional Resource

Self-Evident Truths: The 250-Year Pursuit of Human Rights in the United States of America

Published as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights’ essay collection “Self-Evident Truths” gathers faculty and fellows across Harvard’s schools including the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, to examine how well America has fulfilled its promise that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights.

The included essays span democracy, technology, public health, immigration, climate, and more, providing a nuanced look at what is required to fully realize the nation’s founding ideals today.