The second day of our Honors College trip began with a visit to Protect Democracy, a cross-ideological nonprofit founded in 2016 that seeks to check authoritarian attacks on US democracy.

We spoke with two policy strategists at the organization who explained the litigation, legislation, and communication strategies that they use to protect democratic norms. The speakers also shared about the career paths that led them to this field of work. 

We discussed the importance of working across the ideological divide to promote a culture of democracy in the US. Center-right politicians play a key role in holding extremist members of their party accountable by calling out actions that may jeopardize free and fair elections in America. One of the speakers also noted his strong enthusiasm for moving toward proportional representation in states to promote more moderation within the political parties.

Protect Democracy stressed the need to clearly communicate the stakes of maintaining our democracy since authoritarianism could take hold in this country. We also touched on class divisions and the loneliness epidemic — a societal concern that the U.S. Surgeon General highlighted earlier this year — as two major issues to consider when thinking about how to mitigate affective polarization.

Living in the midst of a global democratic recession with widespread mistrust of election processes can often be deeply concerning, but it was encouraging to learn about the practical work that Protect Democracy is pursuing to handle urgent and immediate attacks on democracy while also developing strategies to address long-term structural challenges that have made America susceptible to populism.

~ Adelaide Madary

In thinking about my senior capstone process, I knew I wanted to go through a research process and to write a thesis, but I felt intimidated by the idea of writing independently. I was drawn towards the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law’s program for its cohort focus: writing has always felt more manageable and meaningful to me when it is done with constant feedback from mentors and peers, especially those with a similar academic focus. The Washington D.C. visit was an incredibly meaningful part of the CDDRL Honors experience. Our visits provided a unique opportunity to visualize what a career in D.C. might look like, from think tanks to government to NGOs, and helped me clarify what is important to me in a job search.

One of our most inspiring visits was a meeting with Samantha Power at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). I read her first book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, in a course on Genocide and Humanitarian Intervention; the book scathingly critiques the role of the American government during historic global genocides. I went into the meeting curious to hear about her experience transitioning from being a war correspondent and author critiquing the American government from the outside to working within U.S. government institutions.

While I can’t share details of our discussion with Power, I took away from it a better understanding of USAID's role in delivering development assistance and a more nuanced look at the power of balancing idealistic values and the importance of confronting the challenges of real-world governance.

~ Alex Borthwick

Our last stop of the day was the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Salman Ahmed, the Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, spoke with us about contemporary geopolitical issues and fielded our questions on the state of global democracy, development, and rule of law.

Mr. Ahmed discussed new and emerging technology, our authoritarian adversaries, and the future of our diplomatic relationships with non-aligned partners. We spoke at length about an emerging multipolar world where the U.S. must rebalance and realign to retain our strategic advantages across key domains. His insight was particularly fascinating because many members of our cohort are thinking critically about global trends and American foreign policy for our theses. Mr. Ahmed was also candid in describing his interactions with partner nations and his day-to-day work as a public servant. The Policy Planning staff plays an essential role in the strategic operations of the State Department, and the opportunity to hear from the Director was a very special experience.

Visiting Protect Democracy, USAID, and the U.S. Department of State illustrated the unique and enriching opportunities available to CDDRL honors students and provided a glimpse into potential career pathways in government and the nonprofit realm.

~ Kate Tully