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Category: Politics

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The Challenges and Promise of the US Presidency

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

On August 19, the John W. Kluge Center held the second event in the Pillars of Democracy series, looking at the US presidency. The full event is available here. In the words of Kluge Center Director John Haskell, who introduced the event, the intention of the series is to provide “a full picture of the …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Pillars of Democracy: Rebuilding America’s Trust in the Presidency

Posted by: John Haskell

For decades America’s civic and governmental institutions have lost the trust of the people, and sometimes even come under direct attack. Commentators offer various explanations for what has happened. Many point to a loss of faith in authority figures beginning with the Vietnam War and the corruption of Watergate, and the movement in the 1960s …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Watch Now to Learn About the Movements Shaping American Democracy

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

The John W. Kluge Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University are proud to release Social Movements and American Democracy in the 21st Century, a discussion moderated by Theda Skocpol and featuring panelists Hahrie Han, Dana Fisher, and Leah Wright Rigueur. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Kluge Center Co-Sponsors Examination of American Institutions with Pillars of Democracy Series

Posted by: John Haskell

For decades America’s civic and governmental institutions have lost the trust of the people, and sometimes even come under direct attack. Commentators offer various explanations for what has happened. Many point to a loss of faith in authority figures beginning with the Vietnam War and the corruption of Watergate. A movement in the 1960s and …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Our Common Purpose: The Complete Collection

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

In June 2020, the Kluge Center announced Danielle Allen as the winner of the Kluge Prize, launching the Our Common Purpose Campaign for Civic Strength at the Library of Congress. Allen hosted a series of exciting conversations at the Library to explore the nation’s civic life and ways that people from all political beliefs and …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

What Makes Americans American? Why Origin Stories Require Negotiation

Posted by: Dan Turello

Origin stories are never simple, and this is as true for countries as it is for individuals, ideas, and cultures. That the term “nation-state,” which designates one of the primary building blocks of modern geopolitical order, is a compound word speaks to this complexity, and there are many reasons why scholars are unable to fully …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Our Common Purpose: Second Event Looks at Reforming Electoral Institutions

Posted by: John Haskell

At any point in time we might look at our political institutions – Congress, the presidency, the courts, elections, etc. – and see them as static, impervious to change in the larger social or cultural environment. In fact, that perception is wrong. Our political institutions evolve just as the larger culture does. As the nation’s …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Part 2 – Sarah Binder Weighs In: Institutional Hardball – in Congress and the White House – and the legislative road ahead

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is part two of  a guest post by Janna Deitz, Kluge Center Program Specialist in Outreach and Partnerships. Find the first post here. Sarah Binder is the most recent Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance, Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, and senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. …