Governance scholar and University of Pittsburgh professor Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Ph.D. on the forces that decide whether conflicted nations unify or unravel.

In "We the People," Harvard historian Jill Lepore examines how the U.S. Constitution became unamendable and its implications for the health of the democracy.

Duke sociologist Dr. Christopher Bail on the tech’s potential to foster empathy in an age of division.

An atheist's case for why American democracy needs a more Christlike Christianity.

"The more uncertain and scary things get in the world, the more we as humans are drawn to simple dichotomies."

"These days, no national news network is trusted by more than half of American adults. And that's a problem."

Americans have gone through three historic junctures like what we're witnessing today — and they happen on an uncanny 80-year cycle.

How much can you know about someone from a single belief?

"I think we need a truly open-ended conversation with 8 billion strangers, and what makes that hard to do increasingly is a level of political fragmentation and extremism and partisanship born of our engagement with these new technologies."

"The evolution of digital media makes stricter regulation of online behavior not only feasible but inevitable," writes media ecologist Andrey Mir.

“Most of us aren't sure what to think about everything, but we don't really see that modeled anywhere, right? You're supposed to know for sure, and there's very little intellectual humility on social media or on TV.”

“The problem with conspiracy theories is they're not just telling you a story, they're telling you a really good story. There's a hidden cabal behind everything that's happening, there's a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”

The electoral reform also known as instant-runoff voting promises bridge-building and broad appeal instead of culture war and gridlock.

In today’s political climate, how can we come together and seek some common ground or understanding? What are the mechanics of doing that? Is there some script or set of […]

"We’re acting more like fans of a football team going to a game than a banker carefully choosing investments."

In "Not Born Yesterday," author and cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier makes the case that misinformation is overrated — and other human foibles are underrated.

Throughout the world, traditional political organizations are increasingly seen as dysfunctional. But can democracies live without them?

Most counties in the U.S. have only one local newspaper, often one that publishes weekly instead of daily.

With great genius comes great rigidity. Professor Barabara Oakley on how to stay mentally agile — and get smarter as a result:

The outrage machine is fueled by toxicity. But there are practical steps that we can take to recapture control over our emotions.

There are three barriers we need to overcome to have better, more productive arguments.

Steven Pinker explains how to cultivate greater rationality in today's complex world.

Social media has made yelling past each other all the easier.

Washington University professor John Inazu tells us how we can make peace inside a raging culture war.

Rogue Putin is the biggest risk of 2023. Here are the other nine, explained by global political expert Ian Bremmer.

“There’s a sense of crisis today that we did not have in the 1980’s or 90’s” — economist Tyler Cowen on progress in America.

Climate change. War. Civil unrest. Is it responsible to have kids today?

Our impulse to seek out agreement is stifling us, says world debate champion Bo Seo.

We asked our experts where they see the biggest blockers right now for more progress. Essentially, from their various areas of focus, what did they see as the largest impediments to driving progress forward around the world and how they would prioritize the necessary interventions? The answers were appropriately varied from the philosophical to the political to the technological.

It actually furthers the partisan divide.