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

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. July 16, 2018. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Putin_%26_Donald_Trump_in_Helsinki,_16_July_2018_(6).jpg">Kremlin.ru (CC)</a>

AUG 22, 2018 Podcast

"Russian Roulette" & Influence, with Olga Oliker & Jeff Mankoff

Jeffrey Mankoff and Olga Oliker of CSIS host a podcast called "Russian Roulette" on all things Russian (and Eurasian), from food and wine to politics. ...

"Pizzagate" conspiracy protest, March 2017. CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blinkofanaye/33496659222">Blink O'fanaye</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(CC)</a>

AUG 20, 2018 Podcast

Digital Deception & Dark Money, with Ann M. Ravel

The term "fake news" is a little too tame, says Ann Ravel of the MapLight Digital Deception Project. Actually, this is foreign and domestic political ...

Watchkeeper tactical unmanned air vehicle (TUAV). Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/73614187@N03/43077245665/">Think Defence </a>(<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">CC</a>)

AUG 16, 2018 Article

Inexorable Changes in U.S. Foreign Policy?

Is Trump's presidency a brief aberration after which things will return to normal? That's unlikely, argues Nikolas Gvosdev. In addition to disruptions that have already ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/25218962886">Gage Skidmore</a> (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC</a>)

AUG 14, 2018 Article

The Populist Appeal of American Decline

"Is it possible that, in many circles, the decline of American hegemony is something voters are implicitly cheering?" asks Daniel Graeber of Grand Valley State ...

Detail from book cover

AUG 14, 2018 Podcast

Post-Truth, with Lee C. McIntyre

"Post-truth doesn't mean that no one cares about truth, it doesn't mean that there isn't any such thing as truth, it just means that there's ...

Taipei, Taiwan. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taipei_101_from_afar.jpg">peellden (CC)</a>

AUG 6, 2018 Podcast

China-Taiwan "Political Warfare" with Russell Hsiao

China and Taiwan have been trying to influence each other ever since 1949, often through very subversive means, says the Global Taiwan Institute's Russell Hsiao, so ...

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the 2017 G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 2017. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Putin_and_Donald_Trump_at_the_2017_G-20_Hamburg_Summit_(3).jpg">Kremlin.ru (CC)</a>

JUL 24, 2018 Article

The Assault on Ethics

"A year and a half into the Trump presidency, its most consequential feature thus far is its assault on ethics," writes Carnegie Council President Joel ...

CREDIT: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/buschap/2260006019">buschap</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(CC)</a>

JUL 23, 2018 Article

Is a Democratic "Blue Wave" Really Coming?

Grass-roots frustration within the Democratic Party could lead to the Left's own version of a Trump phenomenon, writes Nikolas Gvosdev in "The National Interest." What ...

JUL 18, 2018 Podcast

China's "Opinion Deterrence" with Isaac Stone Fish

"I think it's important to contrast what China is doing with what Russia is doing," says Asia Society's Isaac Stone Fish. "Russia influence operations and ...

JUL 11, 2018 Podcast

Asia's "Opinion Wars" with Historian Alexis Dudden

As part of our new Information Warfare podcast series, University of Connecticut historian Alexis Dudden looks at the propaganda efforts coming out of Northeast Asia, ...