Democracy

In remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host a virtual discussion, “9/11: Two Decades Later,” on Friday, Sept. 10, at noon CT. The event will feature faculty historians and legal scholars Jon Meacham, Samar Ali and Ganesh Sitaraman. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt's Latin American Public Opinion Project Lab have found that when faced with the COVID-19 health crisis, Haitians rallied around their president, despite his struggle to maintain order and support prior to the pandemic. Read More

Divisive party politics continue to dominate attitudes among Tennessee residents on key social issues, including the state’s response to COVID-19, willingness to get vaccinated and questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” according to the latest Vanderbilt University poll. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy and Vanderbilt Divinity School will present a discussion on the role that religious faith plays in politics as explored in "Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square," a new book by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. The virtual event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25, from noon to 1 p.m. CT. Read More

Presidential rhetoric expert Vanessa Beasley presents the history of the U.S. president's annual address to Congress—and what to expect in tonight's address. Read More

Davidson County voters have slightly less confidence in their elected officials and core institutions compared to last year; however, a majority of Nashville residents still think the city is “generally headed in the right direction,” according to the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Nashville. Read More

Legislative effectiveness scores are at the core of the research conducted at the Center for Effective Lawmaking, co-directed by Vanderbilt‘s Alan Wiseman. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., along with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and retired Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., were the most effective Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the recently completed 116th Congress, according to new research from the center. Read More

A panel of Vanderbilt political science faculty explored the factors that led to the Jan. 6 riot in a virtual event, “Dissent, Disorder and Democracy: What Led to the U.S. Capitol Insurrection.” Hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the panel also engaged with the event’s serious implications for the strength of the nation's democracy. Read More

On the heels of the launch of The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, several Vanderbilt University faculty have been tapped for their expertise relevant to the Biden administration’s transition, the presidential inaugural address and the predominant theme of unity in America. Read More

Former Vice President Al Gore and the 66th Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each will provide timely conversations with Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and biographer, on Thursday, Jan. 14, to support the debut of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Read More

After months of exploring how higher education could play a meaningful and active role in bridging longstanding partisan fissures, Vanderbilt University today launched the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, which aims to strengthen the nation’s democratic institutions by advancing evidence-based research in the national discourse on unity. Read More

Many Nigerians feel democracy has failed them. History professor Moses Ochonu proposes three changes in order to save the nation's political framework. Read More

In remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy are hosting a virtual discussion of “9/11: Two Decades Later” with Vanderbilt historians and scholars. The panel of experts will examine how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, altered the course of foreign… Read More

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons has created a new lecture series that aims to connect Vanderbilt to a growing dialogue around the world about relationships between art, democracy and justice. Read More

Five free public events are part of the Summer Institute presented by Vanderbilt's Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative June 4-8. Read More

Vanderbilt Debate hosted three top debaters from University College Dublin for a spirited exhibition debate at the First Amendment Center on whether social media enhances or undermines democracy. Read More

New data gathered by the Latin American Political Opinion Project (LAPOP) include some upticks but also discouraging news about the state of democracy in the Americas. Read More

Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman: "Our Constitution wasn’t designed for a country with significant economic inequality." Read More

Too many safe seats, partisan voters and "wave" elections all influence how polarized a legislature is. Read More

Election outcomes depend far less on voters' opinions on policy and the incumbents than we thought. What does matter? Weather. Read More