The Context

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, but millions of its citizens live in poverty. What prevents poor, low-wage, and low-wealth Americans from using democratic government to fight for a fairer distribution of resources? And how can they overcome the structures set against them? The answer is counterintuitive, but it's worked on other social issues in the past.  Rev. Dr. William...

Why do so many Americans think tax breaks for the uber-wealthy will help the average person? According to Jeffrey Winters, the answer is simple: oligarchy. Today Winters breaks down how massive wealth distorts politics, and what can be done to combat it. Winters is professor of political science and director of the Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS) program at Northwestern Unive...

The separation of church and state is a foundational principle of American democracy, but that doesn’t mean that religion hasn’t played an important role in American politics. Throughout American history, varied political movements have claimed religious motivations and scriptural justifications, sometimes in contradictory ways (e.g. both to support and oppose systems of racial hierarchy). Today,...

This special episode of The Context includes voices from three previous guests on the show: James Comey, Stacey Abrams, and David Pepper. All three have had significant careers in public service, and all three have also written multiple novels. In these short excerpts, they all also argue that their creative writing is a method to communicate some of their knowledge and insights about democracy an...

“Administrative burdens” is a term for the frictions people experience when interacting with government—learning how a program works, taking the time to fill out paperwork, and experiencing the frustrations and shame that can come from the process. Sometimes this is accidental—just the result of a bureaucracy failing to think through how it interacts with citizens. But it can also be purposeful—a...

In 2015, Crossroads Church, a majority-White evangelical megachurch based in Cincinnati, Ohio, launched a new program to address racial division and racism. In this episode, Hahrie Han discusses her new book Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church, which tells the story of this program and its participants, many of whom changed their thinking, behavior, and relationships a...

Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States. He will enter the White House with his party in control of both the House and Senate and with a Supreme Court mostly composed of Republican appointments. This election will have real impacts on American policy, which will not only change the lives of Americans, but also reverberate around the world, from Ukraine to Israel to Ta...

Argentina’s constitution is among the oldest democratic constitutions in the world, and in significant respects it was modeled after the constitution of the United States. But Argentine democracy hasn’t always been stable. Between the 1930s and 1970s, the government was overturned by military coups six times. Even when there have been free and fair elections, some elected leaders have governed as...

Project 2025 is a transition plan for a second Trump administration created by the Heritage Foundation, along with other conservative organizations. Heritage has created similar documents for presidential transitions every four years since 1980. One aspect of Project 2025, which is distinct from these previous iterations, is a focus on personnel policy. Near the end of the first Trump administrati...

For 49 years, from 1973 until 2022, the Supreme Court declared that the US Constitution protected abortion rights. With this precedent overturned, decision making about reproductive rights now resides with state governments. But the court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization relied on a partial and inaccurate understanding of American history, and its claims to be a pro-...

Latinos are the fastest growing demographic group in the United States and are now the second-largest ethnic group in the country. Growing diversity shouldn’t be a challenge to democracy—no race or culture holds a monopoly on self-government. But Latinos are disproportionately young, and like other young voters, they often vote at lower rates and can benefit from being explicitly invited to partic...

For democracy to endure, democratic institutions and values must be passed from one generation to the next. And there’s plenty of good news about how Gen Z—the youngest and most diverse generation of voters—is engaging in politics. Young people are participating and voting at levels at least equal to previous generations. But there are reasons for concern too: Many Americans are growing up in civi...

In a democracy, we resolve political disagreements through elections rather than through physical force. Political violence is a threat to democratic societies – but it can also be connected to a complex range of other political and social problems, including corruption, polarization, social division, and limitations on free speech. These are not easy problems to solve, but the United States can l...

Democracy should work for everyone. Christine Todd Whitman explains how political parties are more concerned with maintaining power than solving problems for everyday people. She discusses the factors underlying American political dysfunction, including the growth of political parties, noncompetitive districts, and money in politics. Christine Todd Whitman is president of Whitman Strategy Group. S...

American history is a story about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Stacey Abrams discusses why Americans should embrace and defend DEI as democratic values. She explains how DEI benefits all Americans, expanding participation in our democracy and access to the American dream. Stacey Abrams is a political leader, lawyer, voting rights activist, and bestselling author. Abrams served in the Ge...

American democracy relies on nonpartisan civil servants to detect and combat corruption. Alexander Vindman was one such civil servant when he reported abuses of power by former President Trump, resulting in Vindman being fired from the federal government and retiring from the armed forces. Vindman discusses what a second Trump administration and Project 2025 would mean not only for democracy in th...

The Supreme Court does not belong in the crosshairs of the American political debate. Neal Katyal discusses how the court’s rush to decide social controversies and overturn foundational precedents is damaging its legitimacy. Katyal addresses the court’s recent decisions concerning presidential immunity and regulatory agencies and their implications for American democracy. Neal Katyal is the Paul a...

What if the January 6 attack on the US Capitol had been successful? Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan explore just that in their graphic novel series, entitled 1/6: The Graphic Novel. They also discuss how the events of January 6, 2021, diverge from democratic principles, such as free speech and the right to protest. Alan Jenkins is a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. His previous positions in...

The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans for the first time in 2023. In state houses across the country, we are seeing legislation that targets the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people. Kelley Robinson discusses how these attacks are part of a broader antidemocratic movement in the US and why it is important to develop a more inclusive culture for our democracy....

American voters have never been more dissatisfied. Unlike in business, where more competition promotes accountability and innovation, our political system only allows for two competitors. For most voters, America’s two-party system makes elections more about defeating the other side than solving problems and delivering. Katherine Gehl proposes Final-Five Voting, where five candidates advance from...

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Matthew Delmont discusses the symbolic and practical significance of the landmark decision. Although it deemed legal segregation unconstitutional, Brown v. Board did not result in meaningful school integration right away. In fact, the decision represents the long history of civil rights, in which activists had to outfl...

Citizenship is a perpetual debate in America. Martha S. Jones discusses how the exclusion of women and people of color from the early Republic led them to develop their own political cultures and collective institutions. As a result, marginalized people, particularly Black women, reframed politics in a way that was more aligned with America’s democratic ideals than any other political vision at th...

In 2015, the US Census Bureau released a report projecting that the US would become a majority minority nation by 2044. Justin Gest asserts that the US reached this milestone a long time ago. Gest discusses America’s immense diversity and immigrant roots, which can be sources of unity, rather than division. He interrogates the use of categories and labels that ultimately divide us, calling for a m...

American democracy is under attack, and much of the damage is done in statehouses. David Pepper explains how Americans’ hyper-fixation on national politics opens the door for corruption and anti-democratic actions at the state level. In Ohio, state legislators have undermined democracy by manipulating election policies and drawing unfair legislative districts. Pepper discusses how all Americans, r...

A devoted public servant, Maureen O’Connor discusses the importance of efficiency, fairness, and nonpartisanship in government. After years of witnessing and ruling against partisan gerrymandering on the Ohio Supreme Court, O’Connor is working toward an Ohio constitutional amendment to create an independent redistricting commission that empowers citizens, not politicians, to create district lines....