This Giving Season, Nonprofits Should Address the Chill in the Air nonprofitquarterly.org/this-giving-... @protectdemocracy.org

This Giving Season, Nonprofits Should Address the Chill in the Air | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

This holiday season, organizations should talk about the importance of protecting civil society from the chilling effect of anti-democratic government abuses.

nonprofitquarterly.org

Upholding nonviolence is an active effort. People with a mic have to speak up to say violent threats and actions have no place in a healthy democracy. Responsible media should cover the full context & story - including calls for nonviolence. (But they can't cover it if you don't say it.)

Americans are fed up with our political system. The first step to sweeping reform could be "fusion voting" and some states already implement it. @jrdresden.bsky.social explains how fusion parties could revive the pathway to better representation.

A practical path to ending the two-party system

Why allowing multiple nominations is the first step to multiple parties

ifyoucankeepit.org

As New York City voters go to the polls today, their ballots reflect New York's use of fusion voting. What is fusion? Learn more here: protectdemocracy.org/work/fusion-...

Fusion voting, explained

Fusion voting allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate on the ballot, empowering minor parties to unite a cross-ideological coalition behind a single candidate.

protectdemocracy.org

MSNBC Live coverage: @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social interviewing a pink unicorn on live television is giving me life. #NoKings

Fusion voting can be a pathway to proportional representation. Our own @jrdresden.bsky.social joined @msifry.bsky.social at @centerforballotfreedom.org to discuss how: “What fusion would do is create the space and the ability for more minor parties to grow, to flourish, to build skills."

How Could Fusion Voting Create a Path to Proportional Representation?

open.spotify.com

NEW: How fusion voting—an American tradition allowing candidates to appear on multiple party ballot lines—can bolster efforts to reform our broken politics. It's time to revive this pathway to better representation. Summary is threaded plus full report is 🔗: protectdemocracy.org/work/fusion-...

🎧 Just dropped: the latest episode of our podcast #ThisOldDemocracy! @msifry.bsky.social talks to @jrdresden.bsky.social from @protectdemocracy.org about fusion voting and proportional representation. Give it a listen now. centerforballotfreedom.org/this-old-dem...

The next week includes the International Day of Democracy (today), Constitution Day (9/17), and International Day of Peace (9/21). It’s a good week to look for inspiration and hope, so I’ll be setting aside some time to post studies and data that remind us why the work is worth it.

⚠️ A proposed change to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility threatens to politicize the program, targeting those working in areas this admin dislikes, leaving room for weaponization by any future admin. All nonprofits should be worried, read below for details and how to take action: 🧵⬇️

Incendiary rhetoric is dangerous and media needs to cover it with care and context. protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...

My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵

NEW: Are you getting accurate information? With protests unfolding across the country, and more expected this weekend, we put together a guide to help you spot responsible reporting that prioritizes accuracy and context: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/are-report...

Universities can, should, and must stand up for themselves and their missions. Read more👇

Protect Democracy@protectdemocracy.org · last yr.

The Trump administration is at war with higher education in the United States. The question is not “will universities resist or submit” — it is: “will they survive the onslaught?” There’s no negotiating with an annihilation attempt: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/universiti...

The project "How to Make the Case for Democracy" has been funded by @dfg.de! 🎉 This grant supports two positions for exploring innovative strategies to bolster citizen support for democracy in established democracies. (1/6)

Quick reminder - the US electoral system unfairly disadvantages new parties. But if we had proportional representation, new parties like the PANICANs actually could form & appeal to voters who don’t like the idea of risking crashing the economy as part of some quixotic quest.

New op-ed out @goodauth.bsky.social based on our global research w Ken Roberts, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social @jennifermccoy.bsky.social Timely lessons re pressure on institutions and nature of pro-democracy coalitions goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders.

A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

goodauthority.org

History holds lessons for today’s political disruptions. The 19th century anti-slavery movement built power by strategically fusing w/major parties. What if disaffected conservative voters could do the same today? Read @jrdresden.bsky.social & Beau Tremitiere:

Strategic Fusion and the GOP

Whether it's foreign-policy hawks on the right, cultural conservatives on the left, or fiscal conservatives anywhere, the reductive binary of today's electoral options can be deeply frustrating for…

nationalaffairs.com

Fantastic piece on how proportional representation could improve our politics and better represent the American people. If you're not already familiar with PR and its potential benefits (more party choices, better problem solving, less gerrymandering...) start here! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem

Proportional representation could help restore American democracy.

nytimes.com

The House hasn’t grown since 1910, but our population has nearly tripled. Expanding the House is critical to building a more responsive government — and we’ve mapped out how it can be done with modern infrastructure. www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/where-will...

Where will they all sit?

An interactive vision for an expanded, modernized House of Representatives

ifyoucankeepit.org

Ok here’s the State Democracy Index 2.0! Please enjoy democracypolicylab.berkeley.edu/state-democr...

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 2y ago

Super happy to announce that the State Democracy Index 2.0, covering 2000-2023, is done and about to be publicly posted (probably tomorrow). Hope fellow nerds find it useful.

It can be easy to forget that members of Congress actually have a job to do: legislate. But one new study found House members who voted against certification on Jan. 6 later saw drops in multiple measures of their legislative effectiveness. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

If we planned Thanksgiving like we elect Congress, we’d only end up with turkey and stuffing. According to our poll with Citizen Data, Americans are hungry for reform and there are other ways to plan the menu. More on support for proportional representation ⬇️ protectdemocracy.org/work/how-ope...

I created a starter pack of phenomenal scholars who are also super kind people. Necessarily incomplete— Please nominate someone for me to add! go.bsky.app/Hv3iMGV

There's a tendency in public opinion for more folks to support anti-democratic moves when their preferred party's in power. For a data-driven way to ruin Thanksgiving, share this finding and ask your loved ones where they'd draw the line. (j/k, please don't.) academic.oup.com/poq/advance-...

It’s Not Just Trump: Americans of Both Parties Support Liberal Democratic Norm Violations More Under Their Own President

Abstract. There is a growing worry about the health of American democracy, and political scientists and pundits alike are looking for possible explanations

academic.oup.com

There are two kinds of hot takes: the kind nuked in a microwave for 90 seconds and the kind ladled out of a soup pot of expertise that’s been gently simmering on the stove waiting for its moment. If the latter sounds better to you, follow outlets like @goodauth.bsky.social

Hello! I thought a list of women scholars in conflict and security studies could be helpful! Let me know if you want to be added/removed! go.bsky.app/Np3NivX

Hi everyone! Going forward I’ll mostly use this space to highlight research and analysis that non-academics should probably know about - the state of democracy, lessons from global peacebuilding, etc. For academics who want to know what practitioners are writing, I’ll try to share on that too!

The Violence and Democracy Impact Tracker (VDIT)—which we we built alongside the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins—reveals that 51% of experts assess the impact of political violence on elections as indicating significant erosion.