An Open Letter to GWU President Steven Knapp Re: A call to restore the music program at GWU Dear President Knapp: I graduated from GWU in 2005 with a major in history and a minor in music. I held the Presidential Arts Scholarship for cello, a scholarship that allowed me to pursue my love of […]
Read more "Music Education: Proposed Cuts Hurt Students and GWU"The Edward M. Kennedy Institute is slated to open its doors to the public this month. The space—designed as a replica of the U.S. Senate—will be a place for young people to come together to learn about American democracy and to become more informed, engaged citizens. This is an incredible tribute to Senator Kennedy’s lifelong […]
Read more "Congress: Restore Funding for Civics and History"“It’s important, I think, that even as we engage with countries that are less open or less democratic, that we also continue to apply constructive criticism when they fall backwards. Sometimes that’s hard to do.” -Barack Obama, Burma (Myanmar), November 14, 2014 As President Obama delivered remarks in Burma (Myanmar) this week, Freedom House and […]
Read more "Democracy Policy: A Comparison of Nations"Three central themes emerged as part of the “Does Democracy Matter” conference held at the Woodrow Wilson Center today. First, panelists agreed that the United States plays a significant role in democracy assistance and should continue to do so. Yet they also agreed that the messiness and disfunction of our own democracy is inhibiting our […]
Read more "#democracymatters. What now?"This week, young people from across the U.S. participate in an often uncelebrated part of our democracy: informed civil discourse. Students have convened near Washington D.C. to testify about their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and to demonstrate their ability to apply an understanding of history to current-day issues. (Could you and three fellow citizens respond to these questions in four […]
Read more "More than Votes, Informed Discourse"The Department of State and the National Archives offered two independent screenings of Dr. Larry Diamond’s new film A Whisper to a Roar this week. Co-produced and written by Ben Moses, the film is a must-see. It offers a glimpse into pivotal moments of struggle, triumph, and frustration among democracy activists in Egypt, Malaysia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. […]
Read more "Required Watching: A Whisper to a Roar"The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) released a report today entitled “Moving beyond Rhetoric: How Should President Obama Change U.S. Policy in the Middle East?” The report is a series of short essays from experts in the Middle East and North Africa and in the United States. Each essay offers recommendations to the Administration. […]
Read more "POMED’s New Report and Democracy Policy in the Middle East"US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul issued a strong statement today expressing “concerns about efforts by the Russian government to limit civil society’s contact with Americans,” referencing the Duma’s passage of a bill that bars US citizens from adopting Russian children and, as published by the English-version of Russia’s state-run Voice of Russia, “will banish US-funded non-profit political […]
Read more "Russia Clamps Down on Civil Society"The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visited Yida last week, describing the refugee camp in South Sudan as “the most threatening situation I have ever seen in a refugee camp.” Anne C. Richards, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, published an article examining the logistical challenges that plague humanitarian aid missions in South […]
Read more "Linking Logistics with Security and Governance in South Sudan"The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) hosted an event with Wired Magazine today: as described by the organizers, “Open Up! will bring together entrepreneurs (civic and business), government and civil society to galvanise action and increase momentum in the fast-growing field of transparency and open government. This high-level event will show how web and […]
Read more "The US Elections and DFID’s “Open Up” Conference"
Education for Democracy 