Liberal Democracy and Place
Liberal democracies are faced with crises of confidence and commitment in many places across the map. We take an expansive view of “the heartland,” seeking to assess and defend the quality of liberal democratic life from Long Island to the Mississippi Delta; Birmingham to the Highlands; the Paris suburbs to Provence; and so on.
Project: Place-based Democracy
Much of the contemporary literature and data on freedom and democracy in the world focuses on the national level. However, both in the United States and abroad there are numerous challenges to the quality of democratic government and the rights and dignities of local populations. In many places, party competition is weak to non-existent, local institutions are hostile to certain minority rights, and public opinion may be out of step with the national level guarantees of rights and dignities. Moreover, in many countries, municipal, state, regional, and even transnational forces overlap and undercut one another in complex ways. At Pulaski, we are determined to help build better, measurable information about the realities of freedom and democracy where people live.
Blog Series: 50 Takes on Democracy
Experts from around America report on the state of democracy in their home states.
