Democracy

Framing ethical perspectives

Democracy is a form of government in which political control is given to the people, whether directly or through the election of governing officials. Currently, large numbers of people have lost faith in this form of government and some elected officials have been working to dismantle democratic institutions. Our programs, events, and experts strive to better understand this development.

Featured Democracy Resources

State of global democracy, U.S. global engagement, and more

JUN 9, 2021 Podcast

Illiberal Democracy on the Rise: Examining Brazil, Hungary, & India

APR 19, 2022 Podcast

Why Democracy vs. Autocracy Misses the Point, with Jean-Marie Guéhenno

Senior Fellow Anja Kapsersen is joined by Professor Jean-Marie Guéhenno for a conversation about virtual communities and the advent of the age of data.

FEB 23, 2024 Article

What Do We Mean When We Talk About "AI Democratization"?

With numerous parties calling for "AI democratization," Elizabeth Seger, director of the CASM digital policy research hub at Demos, discusses four meanings of the term.

Explore Our Democracy Resources

Senator Bernie Sanders at the 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco. CREDIT: <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/48023053593/">Gage Skidmore</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(CC)</a>

JAN 24, 2020 Article

The Democratic Debate and Competing Narratives

As the Democratic field of presidential candidates narrows, the contenders are beginning to devote more attention to foreign policy and Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev has ...

American and Floridian flags wave in Viera, FL. CREDIT: <a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/rusty_clark/32170527104/>Rusty Clark (CC)</a>.

JAN 23, 2020 Article

Foreign Policy Narratives in Palm Beach

After an invitation to speak at a gathering of the Palm Beach chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States, U.S. Global ...

The Loisach Group at the Munich Security Conference 2018. CREDIT: <a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcmcphotos/39670939834/>George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (CC)</a>

DEC 11, 2019 Article

Loisach Group and the Democratic Community Narrative

Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev reports from the Berlin meetings of the Losiach Group, a U.S.-German strategic dialogue, where the trans-Atlantic relationship and the ...

President Trump in the Oval Office on Christmas Day, 2018. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/32629901988">Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead/Public Domain</a>

NOV 22, 2019 Article

Trump is the Symptom, Not the Problem

Astute observers of U.S. foreign policy have been making the case, as we move into the 2020 elections, not to see the interruptions in the ...

Senator Elizabeth Warren in Iowa, June 2019. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/number7cloud/48037984057/">Lorie Shaull</a> <a href'="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/"(CC)</a>

OCT 30, 2019 Article

Crafting Narratives and the 2020 Elections

As the recent U.S. Global Engagement report notes, there is no longer one main narrative for U.S. foreign policy. Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev ...

President Donald Trump at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, September 2019. CREDIT: <a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/48791288231/>The White House (CC)</a>.

OCT 25, 2019 Article

The Search for a New Narrative: Recasting American Involvement in the International System

This project on U.S. Global Engagement was launched in 2018. An initial report, released in December 2018, diagnosed the causes and symptoms of the narrative collapse ...

OCT 23, 2019 Podcast

The Crack-Up: The 1919 Elaine Massacre & the Struggle to Remember, with Nan Woodruff

The massacre in rural Elaine, Arkansas was one of the most violent episodes of 1919's Red Summer of racist confrontations, but it also remains one ...

Palais des Nations, United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unisgeneva/12537210603">UN Geneva/UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(CC)</a>

OCT 21, 2019 Podcast

The Individual & the Collective, Politics, & the UN, with Jean-Marie Guéhenno

Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Jean-Marie Guéhenno, former head of United Nations peacekeeping operations, discusses the tensions between the individual and the collective in a ...

OCT 15, 2019 Podcast

Gen Z, Climate Change Activism, & Foreign Policy, with Tatiana Serafin

Generation Z makes up over 30 percent of the world's population and this group of people, most under the age of 20, are already having an extraordinary ...

L to R: Roger Berkowitz, Amy Chua, Walter Russell Mead. CREDIT: Amanda Ghanooni.

OCT 10, 2019 Podcast

The Power of Tribalism, with Amy Chua & Walter Russell Mead

"In our foreign policy, for at least half a century, we have been spectacularly blind to the power of tribal politics," says Amy Chua, author ...