A democracy which speaks with one voice, which elevates citizen duties over citizen rights, which privileges obedience over freedom, which uses fear to instil ideological uniformity, which weakens checks on executive power, is a contradiction in terms.

Ashutosh Varshney weighs in during this NDTV segment.

Eric Patashnik stressed that Democrats’ main concern should be making “good public policy” rather than legislating only with short-term electoral consequences in mind.

Wendy Schiller: "It is not acceptable to have no leadership at the top in a time of crisis."

James Morone: “Will he get pushback from Progressives? Not much. That's because Biden has stuck to his guns on a $1.9 trillion bailout despite calls for pairing it down from the likes of Larry Summers."

The book African American Political Thought: A Collected History, Edited by Melvin L. Rogers and Jack Turner is published by University of Chicago Press.

Wendy Schiller: "If a corporation were to offer him a speaking appearance, the social media backlash would be swift and severe, with possible boycotts of their products."

Opinion by Mark Blyth: Recurrent, direct payments should be a permanent part of the U.S. recession-fighting arsenal.

Jeffrey Robbins writes about voter suppression for Creators.com

Richard Arenberg: "In theory, the former president could be convicted without any Republican votes—as few as 34 [votes in favor]."

Wendy Schiller: "Jen Psaki has become must-see TV. I think many people are glued to these press conferences."

Richard Arenberg: "The filibuster is fundamental to the protection of the minority’s right to debate and offer amendments. It fosters negotiation, moderation and compromise."

Party switching among legislative candidates has important implications for accountability and representation in democratizing countries. We argue that party switching is influenced by campaign costs tied to the clientelistic politics that persist in many such countries.

Jeffrey Robins writes about the Republican Party for Creators.com

Jeff Colgan in the Financial Times

Guest post from Jeff Colgan

Rose McDermott: "The specific issue, whether it's taxes or welfare, can change over time and from country to country. But the underlying issues remain: How do we decide who gets what within our community; how do we decide who's allowed into our community; how do we decide who we're going to fight against?"

Isaac Herzog says that the Agency is focused on three major challenges.

Eric Patashnik: Let’s look closely at what words [McConnell] used to blame the former president for provoking the Capitol attack

James Morone writes about Trump for the History News Network

Robbins writes about the Trump impeachment for Creators.com

Jeffrey Robbins writes about Trump supporters for Creators.com

Corey Brettschneider: "Ginsburg’s view of liberty does not involve being race- or gender- blind, but taking active steps to ensure ... stereotypes and outright discrimination do not prevent marginalized groups from full participation in society.”

Ashutosh Varshney writes: When the history of this period is written, America’s courts might be singled out as the institution that protected the nation’s election integrity.

Rose McDermott: The 25th Amendment question is especially tricky, since a majority of White House Cabinet members need to sign off, in addition to the vice president. With staffers resigning, that makes that option harder.

Georgia Senate victories, which surprised some business groups, could ease way for Biden cabinet picks, lead to increased oversight of financial, oil industries.

Who were the protesters that broke into buildings on Capitol Hill after attending a rally in support of Donald Trump?

Wendy Schiller is a guest speaker on today's show.

James Morone: Why we can't ignore the underlying problems driving the post-election battle

Wendy Schiller: "In terms of what we need out of a governor taking over mid-term, McKee has the portfolio and experience, at least economically, to get us through this very difficult crisis."

Corey Brettschneider: Congress has the power and precedent to do so. Otherwise what happened on Wednesday may be a dress rehearsal for future attacks on rule of law.

Corey Brettschneider: “One of the defining features of impeachment is that there is no due process requirement, no oversight from the court."

Wendy Schiller: "If the two senate seats go Democrat then our Rhode Island senators become more powerful in their committee positions."

Wendy Schiller: "If Gina Raimondo is chosen as Commerce Secretary nominee, it shows that Rhode Island is doing something right."

Richard A. Arenberg writes for The Hill

Democracy is in crisis. Washington is failing. Government is broken. On these counts many politicians, policy experts, and citizens agree. What is less clear is why—and what to do about it. These questions are at the heart of Dynamics of American Democracy, which goes beneath the surface of current events to explore the forces reshaping democratic politics in the United States and around the world.

Asia Beyond the Headlines Seminar Series, Fall 2020 - a panel discussion held via zoom on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

Recent commentary has noted that countries run by women have done a markedly better job at containing the COVID-19 pandemic than countries run by men. Previous commentary has also suggested that the public tends to think that female leaders do a better job on issues related to health and education. But the COVID-19 pandemic is not simply a health issue; it also presents major challenges in international relations, which begs the question: how does gender influence international relations?

The COVID-19 recession has prompted states to offer vast amounts of financial support to firms and households. When combined with steps that central banks have taken in response to the financial crisis of 2008, the bailout is so large that it has ushered in what Sebastian Mallaby, writing in the July/August 2020 issue of Foreign Affairs, calls “the age of magic money.” The combination of negative interest rates and low inflation, Mallaby writes, has created a world in which “don’t tax, just spend” makes for a surprisingly sustainable fiscal policy.

A Q&A with Bonnie Honig

Jeff Colgan provided commentary in this article, which also cites the Climate Solutions Lab at Watson: "There's so much that a federal government can do on climate change across the various agencies, not just at the state department, or the Treasury or the Environmental Protection Agency, or the Federal Reserve, at all of them...We should not forget how powerful the president can be."

A social scientist at Brown is calling on research institutions, leading scientific journals and national professional associations to establish new ethical standards that protect human subjects from emotional, financial and political manipulation.

This Pembroke Center panel discussion focuses on Black women's political engagement and activism, including efforts to secure and protect voting rights, from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The impending election has the potential to bring about a tectonic shift in power in America if more Black leaders are elected to represent areas dominated by white voters. And the growing number of Black candidates in majority white areas looks like neither an accident nor a fluke to political scientists who have been watching the past few decades, said Katherine Tate, a professor of political science and author of "Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress."

Poll by Brown University Assistant Professor Jonathan Collins and Northwestern University Professor Sally Nuamah shows support for teaching about racism.

Stream A Climate Agenda for the Next US President by Trending Globally: Politics & Policy on desktop and mobile. Play over 265 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.

Nandeeni Patel CMC '21 interviewed Dr. Prerna Singh on October 5, 2020.

An eerily similar era gave way to social progress in the United States—will it happen again?