AshCast

With Georgia passing legislation to dramatically restrict voting access, and with similar legislation pending in other states, fundamental issues of voting and democracy are now front and center in Congress. A sweeping set of election reforms recently passed the House as H.R. 1 and are now before the Senate. The fate of these efforts, and the future of fundamental Senate procedures such as the leg...

In the third episode of Data-Smart City Pod, Professor Steve Goldsmith interviews Maryland’s Geographic Information Officer ​Julia Fischer, and Maureen Regan, a deputy director at Maryland's Department of Health. In this podcast, they discuss how a centralized GIS system prepared the state to handle the dynamic and rapidly changing COVID-19 pandemic in order to best protect Marylanders, and how im...

On Wednesday, March 24th, the Ash Center and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) hosted a discussion of  Our Common Purpose , a report issued by the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. The Commission, which was launched by AAAS, spent two years engaging with communities all over the U.S. to explore how best to respond to the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our poli...

Jack Ma has become the global face of Chinese entrepreneurship and represents the growing influence of private business and capital in China. Yet the decision by Chinese regulators to halt the IPO of his latest venture, the Ant Group, as well as subsequent investigations into the company has raised questions about why Beijing seems to have suddenly tried to exert greater control over the fintech g...

In the second episode of Data-Smart City Pod, Professor Steve Goldsmith interviews Elana Needle, the director of the Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative at the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS. The Anchor Collaborative is a collection of national, multi-racial organizations that advances equity by visualizing, tracking, and sharing data on issues like census responses, voter suppression, a...

The last several years have seen the growing and successful use of citizen-initiated ballot initiatives to win major election reforms. Some of the most successful, well-funded, and engaging campaigns have had unlikely initiators: small groups of everyday Americans fed up with waiting for someone else to take on an issue and deciding to do it themselves. On Thursday, March 4th, the Ash Center hoste...

Support for populist right-wing parties and candidates has increased considerably across the globe in recent years. In addition to this overall rise in support, receptiveness towards the exclusionary, reactionary rhetoric and policies of Bolsonaro, Trump, Modi or their European counterparts all have their own distinct electoral geographies.  On Tuesday, February 23rd, Ash Center Democracy Postdoct...

The February 1st coup launched by Myanmar's military effectively put an end to the country's tentative transition to democracy as civilian political leaders were imprisoned and the results of the 2020 elections annulled. On Friday, February 19th, the Ash Center hosted a discussion titled Myanmar After the Coup . Joining the Center to discuss these recent events in Myanmar and what they portend for...

In the first episode of Data-Smart City Pod, Professor Steve Goldsmith talks with Rex Richardson and Darin Chidsey, respectively the president and chief operating officer of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). They discuss SCAG’s regional data platform, one of the most interesting models in the country of using multi-jurisdictional GIS and data to improve quality of life for...

The 2020 elections hinged, in dramatic ways, on widely varying state laws and state election procedures. Major changes were made in light of the pandemic, to expand options for mail-in and early voting and to Election Day itself. These changes engendered strong support and strong opposition, and were one reason for the record turnout of 160 million voters. Now, state legislatures are in session al...

The January 6 Capitol insurrection shows that the United States is facing exceptional challenges to our democracy. Lee Drutman, Senior Fellow in the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation, thinks that our two-party system is a root cause of that dysfunction. Although we have had a two-party system in name for many decades, there were divisions and overlaps between parties that crea...

New from the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Data-Smart City Pod brings on top innovators and leading industry, academic, and government officials to discuss data, innovation, and government. This podcast serves as a central resource for cities and individuals interested in the intersection of government and innovations, the adoption of data projects on the local governmen...

Most Americans pay little attention to the massive number of elections that occur at the state level every year. Yet cumulatively, a party's success in state-level races across the country can produce major shifts in policymaking and governance. That is precisely what has happened in the US since 2010. In a wave election that year, the Republican Party began their ascendancy in state-level electio...

In recent years, Buenos Aires City Government has set out to become a more inclusive and sustainable city, with a priority of serving the city's most vulnerable populations. The Housing Authority of the City of Buenos Aires has designed an innovative Socio-Urban Integration Plan which makes focus in the process by seeking to involve the relevant actors in the decision making of the slum upgrading...

On Thursday, November 21st, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, and the Harvard Kennedy School Black Student Union hosted a discussion about the results from the 6th annual "Power of the Sister Vote” survey and how the priorities of Black women voters may shape key dimensions of the 2020 presidential race. Panelists...

From 'I Like Ike' to MAGA hats, branding and politics have gone hand in hand, selling ideas, ideals and candidates. Political Brands, the new book from Ciara (Chara) Torres-Spelliscy, is a unique exploration of the legal framework for the use of commercial branding and advertising techniques in presidential political campaigns, as well as the impact of politics on commercial brands. On October 30,...

Institutional Anti-racism and Accountability (IARA) Project's Erica Licht, HKS MPA Candidate, sat down with Justin Freitas and Addys Castillo from People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) after the 2019 Truth and Transformation conference to talk about PISAB’s innovative approach to structural inequality and anti-racism training.  About IARA The Institutional Antiracism and Accountabilit...