America at 250: Rethinking U.S. Democracy at a Historic Inflection Point

America at 250: Rethinking U.S. Democracy at a Historic Inflection Point

America’s 250th birthday is both a milestone and a crossroads, so as both a political historian and a theorist, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Danielle Allen is the ideal guest for this special episode of Terms of Engagement. She joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss thoughtful and original ideas on the past, present, and future of U.S. democracy Allen, the director of the Allen Lab for Democracy for Democracy Renovation at the Ash Center, has published two important books on democracy this year, including an updated edition of “Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality,” in which she argues that America’s founding document is as much about political equality as it is about individual freedoms. She also published “Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat—and the American Revolution—Transformed Britain,” which reveals some surprisingly British origins of the U.S. struggle for liberty. Guest bio: Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy and director of the Democratic Knowledge Project [https://www.democraticknowledgeproject.org/] and of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/allen-lab-democracy-renovation] at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, national voice on AI and tech ethics, distinguished author, and mom. A past chair of the Mellon Foundation and Pulitzer Prize Board, and former Dean of Humanities at the University of Chicago, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Philosophical Society. Her writings have included numerous books and a column on constitutional democracy for the Washington Post. Outside the University, she is a co-chair for the Our Common Purpose Commission [https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/report] and Founder and President for Partners In Democracy [https://partnersindemocracy.us/], where she advocates for democracy reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and to drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all.  About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu [info@ash.harvard.edu].    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney.  Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy.  In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.”  In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.”  In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times.  And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/], a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

Terms of Engagement – The 2026 Midterms: Trust, Turnout, and a Shifting Electoral Landscape

What’s happening on the ground during an already-busy Congressional primary season? How much change and uncertainty has been the result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais? Are more voters registering, and what does it take to turn a civic bystander into a participant? The 2026 midterms seem to prompt a nearly endless array of questions. Andrea Hailey, who leads Vote.org, one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter engagement platforms, joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer on Terms of Engagement to answer some of them. About our Guest As the CEO of Vote.org, Andrea Hailey leads one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter engagement platforms, using a blend of technology, legal strategy, and grassroots energy to defend and expand access to the ballot box. Through her leadership, Vote.org has registered more voters than any nonprofit in U.S. history—during the 2020 election, her team registered more than 2.2 million voters and helped 3.3 million request mail-in ballots. She launched field efforts to support voters stuck in hour-long lines, sending food trucks to polling places and turning moments of disenfranchisement into moments of care. Raised in a civic-minded family of lawyers in Indianapolis, Hailey witnessed early on how fragile access to voting can be – and how urgently it needs defending. Under her leadership, Vote.org has filed and won key lawsuits challenging archaic, discriminatory laws that disproportionately affect young people, people of color, and low-income voters. Prior to joining Vote.org, she served as the founder of Civic Engagement Fund, an incubator for grassroots nonprofit organizations focused on voter empowerment and engagement. She has advised and supported the efforts of presidential and congressional candidates, ballot initiatives, and historic landmarks, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Hailey launched her career on Capitol Hill in the office of Representative Patrick Kennedy. In addition to leading Vote.org, she sits on the boards of NARAL and Bend The Arc, serves on the Leadership Council of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and is a member of the Society of Fellows for the Aspen Institute. Resources Mentioned During this Episode: Vote.org Check Your Voter Registration Status Tool [https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/] The views expressed on this show are those of the hosts alone and do not necessarily represent the positions of the Ash Center or its affiliates. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu [info@ash.harvard.edu].    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney.  Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy.  In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.”  In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.”  In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times.  And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/], a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

Sinking Yachts: Can a Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy?

The United States is experiencing record levels of inequality amid the rising political and economic influence of finance, tech, and corporate leaders. But popular discontent from across the political spectrum is also growing, as issues including the impact of technology platforms, financial industry practices, and high-profile scandals involving prominent individuals are increasingly contributing to popular anger over wealth concentration, corporate power, and public accountability. University of Oxford Professor Pepper Culpepper believes that public hostility can be channeled into real political change. Together with Harvard University Professor Taeku Lee, he’s co-written a new book: “Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy.” He joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss how rising populist sentiment against corporate power and inequality could impact the future of democracy. About our Guest: Pepper Culpepper is the Blavatnik Professor of Government and Public Policy at the University of Oxford and Vice-Dean of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. With Taeku Lee, he is the author of “Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy.” His book “Quiet Politics and Business Power” was awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research, and he has written or edited three other books on European politics. His public commentary has appeared in Le Monde, the New Republic, and the Washington Post, among others. Originally from the American south, he has lived and worked in France, Germany, Japan, and Italy. He now resides in Oxford with his family. Resources mentioned in this episode: “Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy.” [https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/billionaire-backlash-9781399424110/]  (book) "When Populism Can Be Good" [https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/when-populism-can-be-good/] (Journal of Democracy article)     About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu [info@ash.harvard.edu].    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney.  Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy.  In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.”  In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.”  In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times.  And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/], a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

The End of the Voting Rights Act—and the Beginning of What?

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in the case of Louisiana v. Callais effectively dismantled Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which has been the primary tool for voting rights advocates to challenge racially discriminatory voting districts. Within days, states began altering maps, including in Louisiana where Republican Gov. Jeff Landry suspended a congressional primary—in which mail-in voting had already started—to draw new districts. About our Guest: Harvard Law School Professor Guy-Uriel Charles saw the decision coming. Earlier this year he and his colleagues wrote a remarkably prescient article in the Yale Law Journal predicting the high court’s decision and its impacts. He joints Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss how pushing for forms of proportional representation now may be voting rights advocates’ most effective strategy to achieving electoral fairness.About our Guest Guy-Uriel E. Charles is the Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he serves as Faculty Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his scholarship focuses on how law mediates political power and how law addresses racial subordination. He has published more than 30 articles in leading journals and is co-author of two casebooks, “Racial Justice and Law” and “Election Law in the American Political System.” His long collaboration with Luis Fuentes-Rohwer has produced some of the most prescient scholarship on the VRA’s decline, including a 2015 article “The Voting Rights Act in Winter: The Death of a Superstatute” and the February 2026 Yale Law Journal piece that is the anchor for today’s conversation. Before joining Harvard, Charles held the Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professorship of Law at Duke, where he founded the Duke Law Center on Law, Race and Politics. He received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where he co-founded and served as the first editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, and clerked for the Honorable Damon J. Keith on the Sixth Circuit. Resources Mentioned in this Episode: “Callais Confusion, Power-Sharing, and the Inevitability of Proportional Representation [https://yalelawjournal.org/essay/callais-confusion-power-sharing-and-the-inevitability-of-proportional-representat]” (Yale Law Journal) “The best response to the Supreme Court’s Callais ruling: proportional representation [https://www.ms.now/opinion/supreme-court-callais-voting-rights-act-reform-proportional-representation]” (MS NOW) About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu [info@ash.harvard.edu].    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney.  Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy.  In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.”  In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.”  In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times.  And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/], a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

Orban’s Ouster: Impacts on Budapest, Brussels, MAGA, and Beyond

Princeton University Professor Kim Lane Scheppele is a leading scholar of international constitutions who coined the term “Frankenstate” to describe the legal, but illiberal, tactics employed by autocrats seeking to consolidate power in constitutional democracies. She joins Terms of Engagement to explore the future of Hungary, Europe, and Trump in a world after the recent resounding defeat of Hungary’s longtime autocratic prime minister Viktor Orbán. Orbán los by a wide margin to center-right opponent Péter Magyar, ending his 16-year reign and the dominance of his far-right Christian nationalist Fidesz party, it also signaled a change of direction from the authoritarian, anti-EU, pro-Russia, and pro-Trump policies of Orbán, who had become a darling of MAGA and the American right.  About our Guest Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She is also a faculty fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her primary field is the sociology of law and she specializes in ethnographic and archival research on courts and public institutions. Her research examines the rise and fall of constitutional government. When the Soviet Union began collapsing in 1989, she moved to Eastern Europe, living in Hungary and Russia for extended periods and studied the way that new constitutions were being enacted and entrenched. After the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, she has studied the way that democracies have come under stress, focusing on the rise of new autocrats, particularly those who are elected on populist political platforms and who then use the law to undermine constitutional institutions. Now, she concentrates in particular on changes within the European Union – exploring the way that the EU has had difficulty holding its own against national popular movements that brought about Brexit and the rise of illiberal autocracies among the member states. Additional resources on this topic: "How Viktor Orbán Loses [https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/how-viktor-orban-loses/]" by Kim Lane Scheppele (Journal of Democracy)  About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu [info@ash.harvard.edu].    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney.  Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy.  In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.”  In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.”  In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times.  And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation [https://ash.harvard.edu/], a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group