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The guardrails of American democracy are under threat. Political suppression and subversion, hyper-polarization, disinformation, racial-ethnic conflict, and public mistrust are present and worsening. Domestic and international actors are sabotaging key election infrastructure, promoting political violence, and weakening the promises of justice enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Free speech and civil liberties are under attack in state houses and in the public sphere. Meanwhile, public trust is plummeting, as is support for public institutions and democracy itself. Once again, marginalized communities are on the front lines.
The Democracy Policy Initiative from UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy organizes research and practices focused on helping California become a model of inclusive, representative, and multiracial democracy for its residents and the nation. The initiative is led by DPI's Chief Vision Officer, Professor Angela Glover Blackwell (founder-in-residence of PolicyLink), in collaboration with other faculty experts from the Goldman School and throughout UC Berkeley.
The Democracy Policy Initiative is made possible with generous support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, the Levi Strauss Foundation, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the Peter E. Haas, Jr. Fund.
Evaluation and innovation work are critical for strengthening democracy.
It is not enough to protest and win reforms—we must also do the work of understanding, including:
- which policies are effective in practice and for whom
- how policy issues intersect
- how to scale successes
- how to promote evidence-based knowledge sharing and best practices
- how to defend against anti-democratic forces, and
- how to design new policy interventions to fill remaining gaps
The need for actionable and evidence-based policy solutions that strengthen democracy has never been greater—to ensure fair and trustworthy elections, to support free political expression and robust civic engagement, to promote racial justice, and to create equitable representation. Academic expertise is an important complement to the critical power building, grassroots organizing, thought leadership, inclusion, investment, and barrier busting that many on-the-ground organizations are already engaged in, and has the potential to magnify and deepen their impact. GSPP proposes to become the R&D partner for these groups, working together to co-design, test, and scale innovative and effective democracy interventions.
This work needs a home in higher education: Democracy Policy.
Public policy is what public officials within government, and by extension the citizens, organizations, and institutions they represent and oversee, choose to do about public problems. including legislation, rulemaking, pronouncements, research, process management, and organizing, that require constant review and evaluation in order to assess whether they work effectively and equitably. Thus, democracy policy refers to the courses of action taken by public leaders, government, or institutional agencies that aim to improve and reform representative democracy.
Democracy policy includes those areas of individual, procedural, and structural reform that strengthen the U.S. political system and policies that give everyone an equal voice in the democratic process. The Berkeley model of Democracy Policy aims to increase and equalize participation in elections; create voting practices and systems that are transparent and accountable; ensure and protect free speech and expression, human, civil, and procedural rights, and due process; expand and equalize citizenship; minimize the detriments of mis- and dis information; and establish a multiracial and multiethnic representative democracy by understanding the roots of conflict and repairing past injustices. The Berkeley model differs from current references to democracy policy which tend to focus on America’s influence abroad, and seeks to strengthen democracy in our own backyard. Berkeley’s democracy policy will not be exclusively domestic; however, it will start with ensuring America’s principles and practices are sound.
Currently, there is no scholarly field of democracy policy, and this leaves students, researchers, and practitioners without a foundation for connecting public courses of action to public problems. At present, questions surrounding how to improve democracy are addressed primarily in social science academic departments like sociology and political science.
The discussions within these academic fields tend to be theoretical and offer limited tools for practical problem-solving and analysis. GSPP has the advantage of having established tools for policy analysis that can be applied to any policy area. GSPP has strong relationships with different campus units that bring complementary skills and knowledge that are critical to strengthening democracy policy, including journalism, data science, law, tech policy, security, education, and human behavior.
With existing and growing subject matter expertise, analytic tools, and graduate-level students, GSPP’s reputation, and desire to lead in this area have the promise of tremendous impact. We propose a new field of applied research focused on the individual, systemic, and structural reforms needed to strengthen democracy in practice: democracy policy.
Through the Democracy Policy Initiative, GSPP will serve as a leader and conduit to connect and channel UC Berkeley’s vast academic expertise to support those beyond the campus walls–the true “public”–working to create a just society.
Core activities will fall into four large, overlapping areas.
Collaborative Research
Working directly with advocacy groups, impacted communities, policymakers, government officials, and across academic silos, we will identify pressing needs, source ideas from broad stakeholders, and co-design ways to analyze and evaluate pro-democracy policies and promising innovations. Reshape the role of the university to lend support and complementary expertise, not to simply “lead.” Learn from best practices in other advanced democracies. Co-organize convenings and collaborate on effective means of outreach to get answers into the hands of policymakers and the public. Drive the broader democracy agenda towards the most critical policy questions and orient it around justice and equity.
Teaching and Curriculum Development
Codify new methods and approaches drawing upon expertise from disparate disciplines, the voices of underserved communities, and innovations from recent policy challenges. Train students on current democracy policy challenges and engage them in experiential learning that involves humility and multi-stakeholder co-created research. Work with other professional schools at UC Berkeley to foster democracy policy topics in our joint offerings.
Public Messaging and Trust Building
Build on our existing expertise to help elected officials, government leaders, media outlets, and social platforms accurately gauge public opinion and provide effective information to promote public understanding, trust, and increased participation in democratic institutions and civic life. Identify key drivers of misinformation and disinformation and successful counterstrategies. Develop and test narratives/messages that resonate with different constituent groups. Promote scholarly consensus in support of specific reforms and policies.
Changemaker Engagement
Build and support a network of pro-democracy actors committed to improving civil society through evidence-based public policy interventions. Train leaders on best practices and the latest tools and innovations. Organize roundtables to bring stakeholders from multiple sectors and interests together. Connect people across government, academic, advocacy silos, and community groups to drive better communication and coordination around democracy policy development, research, and implementation. Help match policy makers and leaders with academic research partners for real-time evaluation and analysis.
The Democracy Policy Initiative builds upon GSPP’s three core strengths.
- Our principles–our deeply held belief in policy solutions for creating a just, equitable world;
- Our methods—our rigorous, evidence-based and data-driven approach to innovation, analysis, and problem solving; and
- Our talent–our cross-cutting network of experts, advisors, and leaders, drawn from multiple disciplines, institutions, and sectors.
The Initiative aims to considerably expand our research capability and force-multiply our impact in several ways:
- create the infrastructure and coordinating function to connect external pro-democracy partners to each other and to UC Berkeley;
- convene experts from all over UC Berkeley and across the state to collaborate on democracy policy projects and learn from one another;
- conduct the important work of translation to ensure that the knowledge, tools, experiences, and innovations co-generated through the initiative get into the hands of the people who need them and are in formats that are accessible and useful; and
- develop new partnerships with organizations, practitioners, and other academic partners working to strengthen elections, civil society, and representative democracy.
Faculty Expertise
GSPP has existing faculty and research centers focused on improving government and society that will form the core of this initiative:
In addition to our own faculty and research centers, GSPP has established collaborative working relationships with other UC Berkeley units, and we welcome other collaborators. Join us!
To learn more about the Democracy Policy Initiative, please contact democracy-initiative@berkeley.edu.