Top Down Democratic Decline vs. Bottom Up Civic Renewal: Eight Working Hypotheses

civic renewal will hinge in the end on whether a critical mass of citizens come to recognize that they can best serve their own interests by associating with others to realize shared goals.

One common denominator across these myriad settings is that people participating in them have opportunities to set agendas, make plans, take risks, lead and follow, look out for, and give and take with each other. In doing so, they can better understand their own self interests, how they correspond with those of others in the group, and how best to... See more

Beginning the work of civic renewal in localities rather than at the national level is an easier lift in part because Americans have more trust in democracy the closer it is to them. Sixty-six percent of respondents in a 2022 Pew survey reported a favorable view of their local government, and 54 percent did of their state government, compared to on... See more

“Our towns are where civic culture is created, for better or worse. As this polarized moment in our national politics has shown, civic culture can be poisoned from the top down. But it can be healed and unpolluted from the bottom up and the inside out. How the residents of Tulsa choose to make a civic culture will of course be different from how th... See more