Become a Patron! Carah Ong Whaley Carah Ong Whaley Associate Director of the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement and cohost of the podcast Democracy Matters. The podcast Democracy Matters is a collaboration between faculty and students. It incorporates ideas and perspectives from students alongside the experience and professional connections of faculty like Carah. As a result,... Continue Reading →
Miles Rapoport on How We Can Achieve Universal Voting
Miles Rapoport is also the Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. He formerly served as secretary of the state of Connecticut. He is the coauthor of the book 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting with E.J. Dionne. Become a... Continue Reading →
Should Voting be Mandatory?
Become a Patron! Voting Reforms and Ideas About Voting At the center of the debate over democracy involves a battle over election reform. Over the year many conservative states have rolled back innovations designed to increase political participation to protect against voter fraud. Meanwhile, liberal states continue to look for ways to increase voter participation.... Continue Reading →
Liz Joyner Interview: Bonus Content
Become a Patron! Liz Joyner Liz Joyner is the founder and CEO of The Village Square. Their podcast, The Village Squarecast, is the newest member of The Democracy Group. Liz founded The Village Square fifteen years ago. It began as an effort to bring people with different viewpoints together to discuss controversial topics in an atmosphere of... Continue Reading →
The Avoidable War and Other New Democracy Books
Democracy Books This Week I'd like to believe every war is an avoidable war. So, the new book from Kevin Rudd is quite appealing. He believes conflict between the United States and China is not simply possible but necessary. It's an important read as the world inches closer to outright conflict with Russia. Other titles... Continue Reading →
Between Russia and China: Anja Mihr on Central Asia
Anja Mihr is an associate professor of Political Science at the OSCE Academy at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and the founder and program director of the Center on Governance through Human Rights at the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform (gGmbH) in Berlin. Recently, she edited the volume Between Peace and Conflict in the East and the West Studies on Transformation... Continue Reading →
Between Peace and Conflict
Become a Patron! War is Deceptively Simple “War is a deceptively simple event,” writes Frederic Oberson. In recent weeks, a handful of politicians and scholars have deflected blame from Russia through complex geopolitical arguments. John Mearsheimer is perhaps the most well-known who’s provocative 2014 article in Foreign Affairs was titled, “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is... Continue Reading →
Richard Davies Interview: Bonus Content
Become a Patron! Richard Davies Richard Davies has a wealth of experience in radio and television from a career as a journalist. He is the co-host of the podcasts How Do We Fix It? and Let's Find Common Ground. The podcast How Do We Fix It? is approaching its seventh year with nearly 350 episodes published. His co-host... Continue Reading →
Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge and Other Democracy Books this Week
Introduction As the world watches in horror at unprovoked Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, many readers will look for books to offer background or explanations for the conflict. Fortunately, many new books offer insights for those with questions about the conflict. Christopher Smith offers an account of the origins of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine... Continue Reading →
Moisés Naím on the New Dynamics of Political Power
Moisés Naím is a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an internationally syndicated columnist. He served as editor in chief of Foreign Policy, as Venezuela's trade minister, and as executive director of the World Bank. He is the author of The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why... Continue Reading →