We live in a time of deep, seemingly intractable divisions in which the search for common ground proves elusive. Rising from the age of Enlightenment philosophers, democracies were intended to encourage the coexistence of diverse points of view and provide mechanisms for negotiating our differences. The ideal of democracy now faces an existential crisis as even routine government business has been interrupted by partisan disagreements. For example, over the past 30 years, the U.S. has experienced five government shutdowns, the nation’s longest ever occurring in FY 2019 and lasting 35 days. Our democracy’s envisioned culture of negotiation has given way to a new mode of operation: increased reliance on continuing resolutions to fund the federal government. Additionally, issues such as housing, education, healthcare, abortion, social security, the federal debt, and many others continue to be mired in partisan rancor. According to national polling as of July 2024, Americans have record low confidence levels in their federal institutions – only 7% expressed confidence in Congress, 23% expressed confidence in the Presidency, and 16% expressed confidence in the Supreme Court. Are these institutions broken? Why do Americans appear more deeply divided than at any time previously? How do we emerge from this moment a stronger democracy? How can a new generation of democratic leaders emerge to correct course?
This course is designed to give students opportunities to learn and practice navigating ideological differences. Students will examine case studies organized around the following five themes of democratic leadership: listening, personal expression, relationship building, navigating public sentiment and party orthodoxy and delivering results across differences. The course will largely focus on specific public policy challenges and will frequently be informed by insights from the arts and culture. Students will be expected to prepare for active class discussions on substantive issues and to regularly articulate a point-of-view. A substantial part of each class will involve hearing directly from practitioners who have attempted, sometimes successfully, negotiated profound ideological differences. As a culmination of the course, pairs of students will choose a policy topic on which they disagree, attempt to negotiate a resolution, and write a paper discussing their learnings.
