What's Next for American Democracy

Can the U.S. continue to conduct free and fair elections? Richard Hasen, the Gary T. Schwartz Endowed Chair in Law and Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law and Jennifer Morrell, partner at the Elections Group, aim to answer this question. 

SSN Founder and Director Theda Skocpol received the James Madison Award from the American Political Science Association in 2023. In her acceptance speech at APSA 2024, Skocpol addressed the historical and contemporary roots of the rising threats to U.S. democracy and offers insights into potential responses. 

Minneapolis-St. Paul SSN hosts Dialogue across Difference, a public event series with elected officials, academic thinkers, and public leaders that brings multiple perspectives to the fore, providing a space for conversation on key issues of the day and a chance to listen and learn from our differences.

By Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson

"As the 2024 elections approach, few questions are more fundamental than whether Democrats can build and hold together a broad multiracial and cross-class coalition."

Published in Boston Review

By Ray Block, Andrene Wright, and Mia Angelica Powell

"[D]espite widespread fears over the future of democracy, many people are also hopeful, and that hope translated into “voting for democracy” by shunning election result deniers at the polls."

Published in The Conversation 

By Jennifer McCoy 

"The United States stands out among Western democracies for its extreme partisan political polarization. It has reached the level of 'pernicious polarization,' by which I mean a division of society into two mutually distrustful political camps that harms democracy."

Published in Democracy 

Does American democracy face dire ongoing challenges that threaten honest elections and effective government responsive to the majority? Watch this lively conversation on the future of American democracy with speakers Theda Skocpol, Keith Whittington, Chloe Thurston, and Larry Jacobs.

By Donald Moynihan

"If Mr. Trump has a chance to implement his various plans, expect a weaker American government, worse public services and the dismantling of limits on presidential power."

Published in The New York Times