Video
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee issued a major report in October 2021 claiming to show “the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis” during the events before and after the January 6 “capitol insurrection.” This crisis was prevented only by “a number of upstanding Americans in the Department of Justice.” “Donald Trump was unable to bend the department to his will. But it was not due to a lack of effort,” the report goes on. But, the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee responded that Trump “did not weaponize DOJ for his personal or campaign purposes” in their own report. Join Harvard Kennedy School historian Alexander Keyssar and Harvard Law School law of democracy scholar Guy Uriel-Charles as they parsed the major revelations in these reports and helped us to understand how these events may foreshadow future crises in American Democracy. Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at Harvard Kennedy School, moderated.
Podcast
Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine how today’s alarmingly-high levels of political corruption undermine democratic institutions and public trust, distort policymaking, and make citizens increasingly cynical about the democratic process.
Article
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.
Article
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.