Framing ethical perspectives
Democracy is a form of government in which political control is given to the people, whether directly or through the election of governing officials. Currently, large numbers of people have lost faith in this form of government and some elected officials have been working to dismantle democratic institutions. Our programs, events, and experts strive to better understand this development.
Featured Democracy Resources
State of global democracy, U.S. global engagement, and more
FEB 6, 2026 • Article
Trump and the Gaslighting of American Realism
APR 9, 2026 • Article
Realism vs. Pragmatism: Understanding America’s New Rhetorical Landscape
Amid Trump's fiery rhetoric and debates over "realism," Professor Jason Ralph writes that "pragmatism" may offer a better alternative for the American public.
SEP 11, 2025 • Video
Post-Liberal American Power
In the first event in our "Values & Interests" series, an expert panel examines the question: Has Trump 2.0 ushered in an era of post-liberal American power?
Related Initiatives
Ethics & International Affairs Journal
Ethics & International Affairs is the quarterly journal of Carnegie Council. It aims to close the gap between the theory and practice of ethics.
Explore Our Democracy Resources
NOV 16, 2017 • Podcast
The Rohingya Crisis: "Myanmar's Enemy Within" with Francis Wade
Francis Wade, author of "The Enemy Within," a new book on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, explains the historical background to the persecution of the ...
NOV 9, 2017 • Podcast
The Rise of Duterte in the Philippines, with Richard Heydarian
Duterte is part of an arc of populism in emerging market democracies such as Turkey and India, says author Haydarian, but unlike populist movements in ...
OCT 31, 2017 • Podcast
Democracy and Its Crisis, with A. C. Grayling
Representative democracy in the UK has been corrupted by the three B's, says Grayling: blackmail, bullying, and bribery. There are similar problems in the United ...
OCT 30, 2017 • Podcast
False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East, with Steven A. Cook
Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of ...
OCT 3, 2017 • Podcast
Fake News and Google with Daniel Sieberg
How much of a threat is fake news to the average citizen? What is Google doing to counteract its spread? Learn more with this conversation ...
OCT 2, 2017 • Podcast
After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order with Amitav Acharya
The liberal order was never truly a global order, and we're not entering a multipolar era either, says Amitav Acharya. It's more accurate to call ...
SEP 29, 2017 • Podcast
The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World
To mark Carnegie Council's Centennial, Michael Ignatieff and team set out to discover what moral values people hold in common across nations. What he found ...
SEP 22, 2017 • Podcast
Russian Media and Politics from Soviet Times to Putin, with Jonathan Sanders
Jonathan Sanders lived in Russia for a total of roughly 20 years, both as an academic researcher and as a journalist for CBS News, and has ...
SEP 21, 2017 • Podcast
The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics with Mark Lilla
"Democrats/liberals need to understand how we lost our grip on the American imagination. Why is it that we are unable to project an image ...
SEP 20, 2017 • Podcast
An Uncertain Ally: Turkey Under Erdoğan's Dictatorship with David L. Phillips
"We need to face the fact that Turkey under Erdoğan has become a rogue regime," declares David L. Phillips. It's a corrupt, repressive, Islamist ...