It seemed like in the first month of the pandemic that the nation could come together for the public good - we could “stay in and stay safe” and that we could put aside partisanship for the sake of public health and safety. As tensions rose with some of the pandemic restrictions and economic pressures alongside, various fault lines appeared across the country. Some of the most significant divides revealed tensions between public health guidance and political voices. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Anthony Fauci about the tensions between expertise and democratic decision-making during the pandemic, and his advice for navigating apathy and misinformation during the next major public health crisis.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

Germany has a history of being at the center of global debates about democracy. As Europe again finds itself dealing with democracy in crisis, this time with Russia's war against Ukraine, Minister Counselor Markus Teglas asks us to consider Europe again at a crossroads and what Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the rise of right wing populist movements across the continent means for global democracy.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

It feels like free speech has become the number one issue confronting higher education today. Campuses are now hotbeds of discontent. Students are sitting in, protesting questionable speakers on campus. State elected officials are dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programming. So what is being done to address the campus free speech woes? Stephanie King, senior director of strategic initiatives for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and Dannise Brown and Adonis Ortiz, members of the Madison Debate Society at James Madison University provide us with some answers to campus free speech issues.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

March 6-10th is National Civics Education Week and on this episode of Democracy Matters, we're exploring youth civic education. We talk with Dr. Stacie Molnar-Main, research associate in civic education and deliberative pedagogy with the Kettering Foundation, and a school climate consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Education about her research into elementary school's integrating deliberative democracy into the classrooms.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Madison Center for Civic Engagement Democracy Fellow Leia Surovell interviews the new interim Executive Director, Dr. David Kirkpatrick and the new interim Associate Director Dr. Kara Dillard about their vision for the Madison Center and their views for what campus Centers for Civic Engagement should do for higher education.

In this episode of Democracy Matters, we speak with Dr. Laura Edwards, a legal historian and professor at Princeton University to discuss how she became involved in her research focused on the 19th century United States, her contributions to civic engagement, what a historian's role is in presenting issues, and her constitution lecture here on campus September 22.

In this episode, we discuss 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting with co-authors Miles Rapoport, the Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, and E.J. Dionne, Jr. senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, university professor at Georgetown University, and visiting professor at Harvard University.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Ian Simmons, Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, discusses impact investing, universal voting, foreign money in U.S. politics, the so-called wealth tax and more on Democracy Matters.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Aram Han Sifuentes, a fiber and social practice artist, writer, and educator who works to center immigrant and disenfranchised communities.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Oren Baruch Stier, Director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program and Professor of Religious Studies in the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs at Florida International University, about teaching and learning “difficult knowledge” and what the public history of the Holocaust and its memory can teach us about civic engagement and today’s memorial landscape. 

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, panelists from the 12th Annual African, African American and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) Interdisciplinary Conference discuss what friends and advocates of Africa should understand about democratic trends on the continent and what they can do to support democracy.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Dr. Samiullah Nuristani, former Head of Policy & Planning in the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan discusses his journey as a refugee, and his experiences and expertise on governance in Afghanistan. 

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Dr. Gail Christopher, author of the new book RX Racial Healing, joins us to discuss how we can approach addressing the effects of racism and reimagine more just and equitable economies, societies and democracies.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Christy Vines, President and CEO of Ideos institute, joins us to discuss the importance of empathy ahead of the National Day of Dialogue on January 5, 2022.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, David J. Toscano discusses the critical need to bring policymakers and people together to solve pressing public problems, especially on divisive issues.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, Tamara White, a research and project assistant in the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, joins us to discuss the state of democracy in Africa.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode, Drs. Laurie Rice and Kenneth Moffett, Professors of Political Science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, join us on Democracy Matters to discuss their new book, The Political Voices of GenZ.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode, recorded live as part of Global Climate Change Week, we talk with James Madison University professors Dr. Carole Nash (Integrated Science and Technology), Dr. Tobias Gerken (Integrated Science and Technology) and Dr. Greg Wrenn (English) about the urgent changes that need to happen at the systemic level and impactful ways individuals can contribute to addressing climate change.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode, we talk with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, JMU Health Sciences ‘05, about his experiences fighting for democracy on January 6, 2021. “These people were minutes, seconds, feet away from hanging the Vice President. Just sit with that,” says Officer Dunn.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

Despite the erosion of democracy around the world, Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary General of International IDEA, says “the explosion of civic activism globally in traditionally inhospitable places” is good news.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode, Dr. Shah Mahmoud Hanifi, Professor of History at James Madison University, shares his expertise on the history of Afghanistan in order to better understand the present moment.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, David Trouille, an Associate Professor of Sociology at James Madison University, discusses his new book, Futbol in the Park: Immigrants, Soccer, and the Creation of Social Ties.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Carolyn Quilloin Coleman who started her activism work as a teenager protesting segregation in Savannah, Georgia. In April 1969, she organized the NAACP-sponsored Youth Mobilization conference in Washington, D.C. The gathering brought together 2,000 young people from 33 states to lobby Congress in support of youth voting rights.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode we talk with Dr. Jon A. Krosnick from Stanford University about how we can make elections fairer.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee ruling, we are left asking what is a usual or unusual burden to voting and which voting restrictions might be more or less vulnerable to legal challenge. We talk with Michael Burns, the National Director for Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project, about the history of voting rights and the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision on voting access and rights.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

Julio Rank Wright, Deputy Regional Director for Latin America at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), joins us to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis in northern Central America (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) that continues to force thousands of people to flee for safety in neighboring countries and the United States, and durable policy solutions to address the crisis.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

For World Refugee Day, we talk with Jana Mason, Senior External Relations Advisor at the Washington, D.C. office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR—the UN Refugee Agency) about the root causes of forced migration and the global refugee crisis, and what we can do to take action on important issues facing refugees.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Congressman John Sarbanes about what it will take to secure voting rights for every American and restore confidence in elections and government.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode of Democracy Matters, we talk with Jim Acosta, CNN anchor for weekend programming and the network's chief domestic correspondent, about the critical role of a free press as necessary noise in a functioning democracy.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode we talk with Walter Shaub, who leads the Ethics and Accountability Initiative at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), about what elected and other government officials and the public can do to create and implement long-lasting reforms to shore up the barricades against authoritarianism.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

"America is on the move again,” declared President Joe Biden in a joint session of Congress on April 28, 2021 and on the eve of the 100th day of his administration. In this episode, Caitlin Tully, a first-year Finance major in JMU’s College of Business, moderates a discussion with economic policy experts Flint Engelman, Americans for Prosperity, and Ben Ritz, Director of Progressive Policy Institute's Center for Funding America’s Future about the presidential administration’s economic policy priorities and impacts on Americans.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

The theme of Earth Day 2021 is action on Climate Change. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Tobias Gerken, assistant professor in the School of Integrated Sciences and Technology at JMU whose research focuses on environmental and atmospheric science. He explains some of his novel research on land–atmosphere coupling and feedback and with NASA’s project on Atmospheric Carbon & Transport and the Department of Energy’s GreenOcean Amazon project. Dr. Gerken shares how this research impacts our understanding of climate modeling, the extent of environmental destruction from climate change, and advice for policymakers for making informed decisions about climate policy.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

We talk with Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University and Senior Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, about breaking barriers to women’s representation in policy and decisionmaking processes, and the impact of women realizing their full political potential.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Charley Willison, a National Institutes of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Department of Health Care Policy, about the politics and governance of homelessness in the United States and what can be done to address the national homelessness crisis.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kristin Wylie, associate professor of political science at James Madison University, about political violence against women, the state of women’s political representation and participation, and reforms to address structural barriers that prevent women from running and serving in office.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

Dr. Julia Azari, associate professor of political science at Marquette University, joins us to discuss the logic of presidential mandates, achieving policy and legislative agendas, government responsiveness and collective representation.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode, we talk with Ethan Zuckerman, associate professor of public policy, communication and information at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who argues that rather than rebuilding trust in institutions, we should question whether institutions are worthy of our trust. We can either work to make our existing institutions better, or we can recognize that they’re no longer fit for purpose and build new ones in their stead.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In this episode of Democracy Matters, James Madison University History and Political Science faculty experts explain the ongoing insurrection, and help us understand the events of January 6, 2021, the complicity of the president of the United States, and efforts to undermine American elections, and democratic norms and institutions.

Read full episode notes and access episode links here.

In an essay published posthumously, civil rights icon and Member of Congress John Lewis, wrote, “Democracy Is Not A State. It Is An Act.” The team at the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement reflects on 2020 and our nonpartisan efforts to promote informed electoral participation, ensure a complete count in the 2020 Census and create opportunities for people to learn about and take on action on the problems they care about most. The team also shares what more they would do to strengthen democracy. 

2020 Team: Abe Goldberg, Carah Ong Whaley, Logan Zeigler, Angelina Clapp, Diego Salinas, Sarah Gully, Emily Baker, Anna Connole, Charlie Conner, Kyle Ford, Nadia Khaydari, Nikki Oppenheimer, Drew Persinger, Ryan Ritter, Katrina Tilley, Mary Tolentino, Kyel Towler, and Katelyn Waltemyer

Relying on executive authority and issuing 400 executive actions on immigration, the Trump adminsitration implemented policies on a wide range of immigration issues, touching on everything from asylum to deportation policy, refugee resettlement, and admissions from certain majority-Muslim countries.

In this episode, we talk with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Counsel at the American Immigration Council about immigration law and policy and what to expect under the Biden administration. Full episode notes and links: https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2020/12-24-democracy-matters-episode-49.shtml

Dr. Melinda Adams, Associate Dean of JMU's College of Arts and Letters, discusses democratic transitions, what to expect in policy approaches to Africa under the Biden administration, women's political representation globally, and more. Full episode notes and links: https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2020/12-11-democracy-matters-episode-48.shtml

Is the United States a democracy? Is representative government failing the American people?  

In this episode, we talk with former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel about how bringing the people directly into the operations of government as deliberative lawmakers might make the United States more democratic.

How are election-related legal challenges impacting democratic practices and processes? Should we be concerned about how legal challenges made by President Trump’s campaign to challenge results in key states combined with the spread of false information and unfounded claims of fraud might undermine trust in elections and political institutions? Why can efforts to deter fraudulent voters make matters worse? How should we be thinking about rights to give and spend money in connection with elections? And how can so called “culture war” cases be adjudicated in courts?

In this episode, we talk with election legal expert, Dr. Michael Gilbert, the Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for Public Law and Political Economy at the University of Virginia.

How have changes in the media ecosystem impacted knowledge of issues and informed participation in elections? How did media coverage of the 2020 elections compare to 2016? Why is there so much distrust in the news media? How does the current mediascape with the ability to pick and choose from divergent news sources impact the ability of Americans to distinguish credible information from misinformation, disinformation and propaganda? And how has the rise of social media impacted elections? 

In this episode, we talk with JMU Professor of Political Science Dr. David Jones about the implications of the media for democratic participation, practice and governance. Dr. David A. Jones teaches courses and conducts research in U.S. politics, particularly in the areas of elections and media.

• U.S. Media & Elections in Flux: Dynamics and Strategies (Routledge, 2016)
• Managing Chaos: Political Campaigning in the U.S. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020)

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Linda Plitt-Donaldson, Associate Dean of College of Health and Behavioral Studies and Director of the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services at James Madison University, and with Dr. Laura Merrell, Assistant Professor in Health Sciences, about the social determinants of health and why everyone should care about health equity.

What are some of the greatest challenges emanating from federal policy for institutions of higher education? How can institutions of higher education do better to reckon with their own histories of racial inequity and racial injustice? In this episode of Democracy Matters, we talk with Dr. Mildred García, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and with Jonathan Alger, president of James Madison University, about the role of higher education in advancing diversity and democracy, and higher education’s special responsibility to contribute meaningfully to the communities in which they are situated.

Leading up to the 2020 elections, there are over 260 lawsuits in the courts about who can vote, when ballots can be cast and by when they must be counted. In this episode, we talk with SCOTUSblog reporter and Supreme Court expert Amy L. Howe about the litigation arms race, the role of the Supreme Court in voting rights and election law, how trust in political institutions might be undermined by all the legal challenges and their timing this year, how the Supreme Court can ensure that the election litigation process isn’t hijacked for partisan political aims, and how the confirmation Amy Coney Barrett to be the 115th U.S. Supreme Court justice could impact elections. Howe also shares how Zoom has impacted coverage of the Supreme Court.

What does civil discourse mean to students? How can we have hard conversations in such a divisive political climate when the stakes are so high? In this episode, we talk about the politics of civility on campus and beyond with JMU students Wyatt Blevins (Political Science and Public Policy and Administration, '22), Chairman of the College Republicans; Robert Gruberger (History and Political Science, '22), Young Democratic Socialists of America at JMU; and Emily Baker (Political Science and English, '21), Campus Vote Project, Democracy Fellow.

In this episode of Democracy Matters, students in our Elections 2020 class interview Chris Piper, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, about how the pandemic has affected election administration this year; historic levels of absentee and early voting; partnering with federal agencies and other states to combat foreign interference; and how litigation will affect when we know election results.

How should we view the 2020 elections in the broader arc of American political history? What are some key questions we should be considering for governance in the wake of such a divisive election? What role does morality policy play in electoral politics? And what is the state of our political parties? In this episode, we dive into these questions and more with JMU Political Science faculty Dr. Marty Cohen and Dr. Kathleen Ferraiolo.

As part of Global Climate Change Week encouraging academic communities to engage with each other, their communities, and policy makers on climate change action and solutions, we talk with Tom Benevento, co-founder of Vine and Fig about the 50 By 25 campaign working toward a clean, just energy transition in Harrisonburg. Read the full episode notes with links here.

“Always remember—you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.” Dr. Bettye Kearse joins us for a discussion about her new book, The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family.

Full episode notes here.

Are you feeling anxious, fatigued, worried, angry or hopeful about the election? In this episode we talk with Dr. Benjamin Blankenship, assistant professor of Psychology at James Madison University about what drives election emotions and what we can do to cope.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2020/10-08-democracy-matters-episode-36.shtml

This episode features the audio from JMU Civic's virtual town hall with Libertarian Party presidential candidate Dr. Jo Jorgensen. We discuss a range of issues including the size and role of the federal government, military and national defense, healthcare, immigration, COVID-19 pandemic, criminal justice reform, the environment and more.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2020/09-10-democracy-matters-episode-35.shtml

Virginia has historically been one of the worst states for voting access and for voter disenfranchisement. In the late 1940s, the great historian of southern politics V.O. Key said of the Commonwealth: “By contrast, Mississippi is a hotbed of democracy.”

In this episode, we talk with Virginia House of Delegates Representative Schuyler VanValkenburg about civics education, changes in Virginia voting laws, vote-by-mail, redistricting reform on the ballot this November and more.

See the show notes with discussion questions and links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2020/07-28-democracy-matters-episode-31.shtml.

History doesn't always move toward the inclusion of groups. Sometimes rights can be lost as well as gained. Take, for example, the American Revolutionary period, which created opportunities for women to participate in politics. By 1828, however, women's politicization was seen more as a liability than as a strength, and contributed to a divisive political climate that brought the country to the brink of civil war. In this episode, distinguished American historian Dr. Rosemarie Zagarri joins us to discuss her path-breaking research in early American political history and why we need to have a grasp of the past to defend the rights of those who may be vulnerable to disenfranchisement.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/11-12-democracy-matters-episode-13.shtml 

Although there have been many advancements since the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there is much to be done to improve the status of women, including among other things: ending sex-based discrimination, improving maternal mortality rates for black women, ensuring equal pay for equal work, increasing protections for the LGBTQ+ community, and addressing challenges faced by veterans and those who live in poverty. In this episode of Democracy Matters, we play a recording of Constitution Day speaker Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, who discussed the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and answered questions from JMU students. Foy was the first public defender to ever serve in the Virginia General Assembly and now devotes her time as an attorney advocate representing abused and neglected children in court. Additionally, Delegate Foy was one of the first African-American women to graduate from Virginia Military Institute.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/11-06-democracy-matters-episode-12.shtml 

What is inclusion and how can inclusive music contribute to a culture of democratic engagement through authentic experiences of participatory musicking? JMU's Center for Inclusive Music Engagement is facilitating innovative opportunities for all persons-particularly those are often marginalized in institutional music education contexts-to create, perform, respond, and connect with, in, through, and around music in ways they find meaningful. In this episode we talk with Dr. Jesse Rathgeber, an assistant professor of music education at James Madison University and associate director of the Center for Inclusive Music Engagement, and with Emily Veramessa, who graduated from JMU in 2019 with a degree in music education and is now the inaugural Engagement Fellow at the Center. JMU Center for Inclusive Music Engagement JMUke Jesse Rathgeber's scholarship, musicianship and engagement Emily Varamessa's scholarship, musicianship and engagement.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/01-01-democracy-matters-episode-10.shtml

Academic communities can be major drivers of civic engagement and critical thought around major issues. JMU Senior Ethan Gardner talks with Anna Williams and Yeimy Gamez Castillo, two students from the Rutgers-Newark University Honors Living Learning Community who attended the 2019 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Conference. Their conversation covers a variety of important topics on how academics can be infused with civic engagement initiatives. Additionally, they discuss the inspiring specific projects undertaken by Anna, who created a student union to facilitate communication and action in connection with the Student Governing Association, and Yeimi, who put together multiple public art initiatives to provide a platform for community members to share their stories on pressing issues. This episode is moderated and focused on the work of students.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/07-18-democracy-matters-episode-6.shtml 

Dr. Barbara Schaal, Dean of Arts and Sciences and Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor Professor of Biology at the Washington University in St. Louis discusses the importance of a liberal arts education, and of including science and scientific expertise in policy and decision-making processes to strengthen democracy.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/06-24-democracy-matters-episode-2.shtml 

Artists use so many different mediums to comment on their surroundings, some use it as an opportunity to make a statement on current events and government action. Photographer and activist, Pato Hebert, sits down with us to discuss art's undeniable place in the conversation about democracy.

See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://www.jmu.edu/news/civic/2019/06-17-democracy-matters-episode-1.shtml