Harvard | Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
DEMOCRACY
INSIGHTS
The American flag is untangled at the campaign event in Pennsylvania on July 13 where a gunman attempted to assassinate former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Photo: Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
How to turn back a tide of rising political violence
The 2024 U.S. presidential election has been like no other—from the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden stepping aside under intense pressure to Vice President Kamala Harris securing the Democratic nomination. Amid the tumult of this political season, especially the specter of violence and a deeply divided electorate, experts at HKS have provided analysis, context, and suggestions for pathways forward. Through conversation and events, scholars including Archon Fung, Erica Chenoweth, and Alex Keyssar helped explain the history of political violence in the United States, and what leaders can do to lower the political temperature.
What we’re reading
Suffering from information overload this election season? The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy has six tips to help you save time and stay informed.
Assessing the media’s role in a tumultuous political season
Harvard Kennedy School professors Nancy Gibbs and Thomas E. Patterson have long experience watching how the media cover American presidential campaigns. Rarely has the outlook been this unsettled. In a new Q&A, Gibbs and Patterson reflected on how news organizations are doing covering this wildest of presidential elections, how coverage in the fast-changing worlds of traditional and social media is likely to affect the course of the campaign, and what the media should be covering. “I’d like to see a much greater focus on topics that are relevant and useful to voters,” Gibbs said.
What we’re listening to
The Nonviolent Action Lab’s Jay Ulfelder and Freddy Guevara MC/MPA 2024 take stock of Venezuela’s election.
From crisis to opportunity: How Portland embraced democratic innovation
Last spring, Portland, Oregon, passed Measure 26-228, which represents some of the most expansive voting reforms by a major American city in recent history. Instead of being elected in at-large districts, members of the Portland City Council will be selected from four multi-member districts, through ranked choice voting. This expands the number of City Council members from four to 12. In a new case study, Professor and Ash Center Director Archon Fung and a team of researchers analyze the interplay between institutional structures and political agency. They argue that the opportunity for these reforms came from a permissive political environment characterized by the widespread perception that Portland was “broken,” alongside a broader context of racial reckoning amid the protest wave triggered by the murder of George Floyd.
What we’re reading
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are being held in jails without having been convicted. The Ash Center’s Tova Wang looks at efforts to provide them with access to voter registration and ballots.
How anti-incumbency and a ‘first-past-the-post’ system helped elect the Labour Party in the UK
The 2024 U.K. general election proved to be a watershed contest, with a stunning rejection of the Conservative government after 14 years in power. The Conservative’s share of the vote (24%) was its worst ever. In contrast, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party made a historic leap, winning almost two-thirds of all seats in Parliament despite securing only one-third of the vote. Why did the Labour Party achieve such a substantial victory, especially since their success seemed to buck the trend for the flagging electoral fortunes of other center-left parties? HKS Lecturer Pippa Norris explains the political forces at play, including the country’s ‘first-past-the-post-system,’ and cautions against seeing a broader international trend. “The way that parties compete strategically within the rules of the electoral game is critical for understanding the outcome in each country.”
What we’re reading
The Crowd Counting Consortium at the Ash Center uses its data on U.S. protest activity since 2017 to track crowd sizes at rallies for the presidential candidates.
