The Framers’ Constitution - Democracy Journal
The Framers of the American Constitution were visionaries. They designed our Constitution to endure. They sought not only to address the specific challenges facing the nation during their lifetimes, but to establish the foundational principles that would sustain and guide the new nation into an uncertain future.
Educating for Democracy: The Case for a New Civics
The ongoing period of democratic backsliding in the United States and around the world, characterized by pernicious polarization, declining trust in democratic institutions, and a troubling openness of citizens to non-democratic alternatives, highlights an urgent need for a renewed focus on civic ed
China’s Assertive Authoritarianism : Democracy Journal
Elizabeth Economy is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University (on leave). She previously was C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The author of four books and co-editor of two volumes, her most recent book, The World According to China (Polity Press, 2021), explores …
Giving Minor Parties a Chance : Democracy Journal
In January 2020, freshman Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was asked what role she would want to play as a member of Congress should Joe Biden capture the White House. Her response was telling: “Oh God. In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same part
What’s the Matter with Massachusetts? : Democracy Journal
In November 2021, then-Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a Republican, signed into law new congressional maps that would, as before, give Democrats all nine of the state’s House seats—despite the fact that roughly a third of the electorate votes Republican. That is, although they constitute o
PR and Presidentialism: Yes, We Can : Democracy Journal
A myth haunts conversations about proportional representation in America. It is the belief that proportional representation requires a parliamentary system. We’re here to kill this myth. As comparative political scientists have long known, proportional …
Democracy Journal | A Journal of Ideas
A Journal of Ideas. Arguments The Democrats’ Big—and Failed—Bet With civic bonds frayed, the party bet big that delivering on policy would do the trick.
Why Have Miranda Rights Failed? - Democracy Journal
Jun 27, 2016 · Photo by J. Ross Baughman. The 50 th anniversary of Miranda v. Arizona—it was decided this month in 1966—should be the occasion for realizing that the Court’s approach to ending police coercion in interrogations failed and that new steps are essential.At the time Miranda was decided, conservatives and law enforcement officials vehemently attacked the requirement that police had to warn ...
A New Constitution for The United States : Democracy Journal
Illustration by Pep Montserrat. WE THE PEOPLE of the United States do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect Union founded on liberty, dignity, democracy, and equality; to seek truth and promote justice, past and present; to provide for the security and general welfare of the Nation and all who call it …
Can We Deliberate, Please? - Democracy Journal
Electoral representation is the double-edged sword of democracy. The ability of millions of citizens to choose proxies for their own will has made modern, nationwide democracy possible, yet it has also reduced the democratic citizen to a passive agent in her nation’s political life.