I’m excited to announce we are launching The Democracy Project at NYU School of Law. Bob Bauer, Sam Issacharoff, and I will lead The Project. Here’s link to the Project’s website.

Dissatisfaction with democratic government has been pervasive for the last decade throughout the West.  We believe meeting this challenge requires engaging with diverse ideological perspectives, as well as putting the challenges to democracy here in the context of challenges to democracy in the international context.  

We are launching this Project with a series of “100 ideas in 100 days.” An exceptionally rich range of perspectives includes voices from the business community, such as Mark Cuban; former high-ranking elected or appointed government officials, such as Jake Sullivan and Chris Sununu; comparative scholars of democracy and former high-court judges in other countries, including Pratap Mehta, Kim Lane Scheppele, Larry Diamond, and Jonathan Sumption; scholars of Congress, such as Sarah Binder, Molly Reynolds; voices from civil society, including Eboo Patel; and numerous scholars and others on American democracy.

The series begins with three provocative essays:

Frances Lee, who argues we need an honest assessment of the failings of expertise and experts during Covid

Randy Kennedy, who argues against the view that those fighting for democracy should use the means their opponents use.

Nick Bagley, who argues that liberal proceduralism and excessive participatory rights have tied government in knots and caused a loss of faith that democratic governments can do things effectively.

We plan to build on these initial 100 essays over 100 days to address in many ways this era’s challenges to democratic government.