Vibrant human connection is central to our health as individuals, our efficacy as organizations, and our collective wellbeing as a society. Across disciplines, studies show that we are wired with an instinctive drive to mirror and coordinate, build relationships, and help and support one another. These findings are echoed and enriched by wisdom teachings and cultural practices going back thousands of years. Relationships are at the heart of what makes life worth living.

Though we long for connection, too often our relationships take a backseat to other demands and priorities. Elsewhere, our differences are exploited and connections severed, fueling toxic polarization. In the midst of a mental health crisis, social conflict, and a global pandemic, how do we cultivate a culture of connection?

Relationships are not just a means to an end. They are ends in themselves, and they are vital to enhancing most every aspect of our lives and society. This is the relational truth at the heart of everything we do.

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The Freedom in the World report is composed of numerical ratings and supporting descriptive texts for 195 countries and 15 territories. External analysts assess 210 countries and territories, using a combination of on-the-ground research, consultations with local contacts, and information from news articles, nongovernmental organizations, governments, and a variety of other sources. Expert advisers and regional specialists then vet the analysts’ conclusions. The final product represents the consensus of the analysts, advisers, and Freedom House staff.

For each country and territory, Freedom in the World analyzes the electoral process, political pluralism and participation, the functioning of the government, freedom of expression and of belief, associational and organizational rights, the rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights.

Are internet technologies doing more harm than good to our democracy? And what – if anything – should lawmakers do about it?

Because these questions are critical to U.S. elections, democracy and public health, Gallup and Knight Foundation sought American views on the way forward. 

Surprisingly, Americans’ opinions did not always follow party lines when it comes to Internet regulation. In fact, half of Americans occupy a diverse middle ground, a new Gallup/Knight survey of 10,000 adults found, offering a new lens on the national conversation on free expression online.

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The Repub­lican Party’s trans­form­a­tion under Donald Trump may have seemed sudden, but it was decades in the making. From acclaimed New York Times polit­ical reporter Jeremy Peters, Insur­gency: How Repub­lic­ans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted, is a compel­ling look at the frac­tur­ing of the GOP and how party lead­ers misun­der­stood their own voters. Peters argues that by abandon­ing long-held pillars like small-govern­ment and fiscal respons­ib­il­ity, the party’s embrace of Trump­ism, along with its imper­vi­ous­ness to moder­at­ing forces, has exten­ded the life of the Amer­ican Far Right well into the next century.

Join us for a live conver­sa­tion between MSNBC polit­ical contrib­utor Yamiche Alcindor and Peters, as they discuss how ideo­logy and aggres­sion came to take hold of the Repub­lican party, and changed the course of Amer­ican polit­ics.

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The rise of an “us versus them” mindset and political identity in American sociopolitical life is evident in everything from the rise of highly partisan media to the decline in Americans’ willingness to marry someone from the opposing political party. Even more concerningly, these dynamics are contributing directly to a steep rise in political violence. Polarization has already brought on serious problems—what more lies ahead? Are insights on this critical question available from the experience of other polarized democracies?

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America’s authoritarian faction is both more extreme and more successful than similar movements in other advanced democracies. Yet despite its ascendency, this faction does not enjoy broad-based support. So what explains its outsized success?

In Advantaging Authoritarianism: The U.S. Electoral System & Antidemocratic Extremism, Protect Democracy examines the links between escalating antidemocratic extremism and the U.S. electoral system: “one uniquely translating limited factional support into outsized political influence.” In particular, it interrogates how specific features of the U.S. electoral system may be structurally favoring political extremism, such as by exaggerating one party’s electoral wins over the other, diluting minority voting power, weakening competition between the major parties, preventing an electorally viable new center-right party, and rewarding extreme factions at the ballot box, among other effects.

As political scientist Robert Dahl once observed, the U.S. system, “natural as it may seem to us, is of a species rare to the vanishing point among the advanced democracies.” Advantaging Authoritarianism examines its anomalous features; the ways in which those features are aggravating extremism; and how various reforms could help to turn the tide. While the authoritarian threat confronting the U.S. is a near-term crisis, successfully confronting it will also require long-term, structural solutions.

Here at IP, we’ve been thinking a lot about democracy funding lately. We marked the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection last week, and it’s the start of another election year (hooray!). But that’s only part of it. Over the longer term, the heated debate around our imperiled democracy is unraveling closely held preconceptions about nonprofit funding, sending civil society into terra incognita.

As the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection arrives, voices including academics, retired generals and community leaders are warning of a heightened risk of civil conflict. It’s time for philanthropy to understand political violence as a central trend in American public life, and join the diverse Americans mobilizing to address it.

A reader’s guide to The Atlantic’s coverage of a worsening democratic crisis. READ MORE>

This working paper for philanthropy, written by New America, Over Zero, and Thought Partnerships, briefly summarizes current trends that, in light of global experience, suggest heightened risks of violence. Against this worrisome backdrop, they propose six funding strategies and specific recommendations to integrate violence prevention and mitigation into existing strands of work on polarization, institutions, or justice issues READ MORE>

Earlier this year, Citizen began comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the modern American Right, examining attitudes towards Authoritarianism, QAnon, Voting & Elections, COVID-19, and Climate Change. 

This report summarizes our findings and affirms our initial hypothesis that while political polarization puts our democracy at increasing risk, opportunities exist for Citizen partners to reach pragmatic voters on the Right and engage them in efforts to strengthen democracy and address other pressing national issues. READ MORE>

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels on why universities have a key role to play in civic education. READ MORE>

The federal workforce includes about 4,000 political appointees who are selected by the president, 1,200 of whom require Senate approval. Despite presidential interest in filling positions across government to advance political and policy objectives, the number of Senate-confirmed positions, along with the complexity of the appointment process, has resulted in a slowdown of confirmations and an increase in vacancies. This situation limits agency operations and reduces the president’s capacity to govern and the Senate’s power to hold officials accountable. This new report from the Partnership for Public Service offers seven potential approaches to streamline the political appointment process for positions requiring Senate confirmation. READ MORE>

National service is having a civic moment. People across the political spectrum are calling for expanded national service as a means to unify a polarized nation and tackle problems such as climate change. This piece by Laura Lauder and Stanley McChrystal explores how we can to harness the current moment of support for national service from a diverse cross-section of advocates. READ MORE>

The Endless Sea aims to find a new narrative for a positive future. Imagining a Story of Tomorrow, from More in Common’s Senior fellow Giuliano da Empoli, is the initial investigation into the groups, individuals, and movements who have managed the ‘big switch’ from negative to positive, from small scale to wider recognition, without losing energy. Harnessing this energy is vital to our narrative shift towards an optimistic vision of the future. READ MORE>

Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder aims to identify and prioritize the most critical sources and causes of information disorder and deliver a set of short-term actions and longer-term goals to help government, the private sector, and civil society respond to this modern-day crisis of faith in key institutions. The Commission has identified three priorities for which it will develop recommendations in the second stage of its work: (1) reducing harms, (2) increasing transparency and understanding, and (3) building trust. This document is The Commission’s Interim Report for 2021. READ MORE>

The mission of the National Task Force on Election Crises is to prevent election crises whenever possible, and to prepare to respond to and mitigate crises when they do occur. That mission remains as critical today as it was during the 2020 presidential election. In fact, the Task Force considers the risk of crises threatening future elections in this country to be dangerously high. This July 2021 report highlights some of the most concerning trends that have developed in recent months and the critical reforms that are needed to protect our elections in 2022 and after. READ MORE>