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Global Lessons, Local Tools: Democracy at Home and Abroad

Global Lessons, Local Tools: Democracy at Home and Abroad

Welcome to the latest edition of The Expand Democracy 5 from Rob Richie and Eveline Dowling. This week they delve into: (1) Deep Dive - Inviting 21st century political association; (2) Australian elections show how fairer voting matter; (3) International election assistance on the chopping block; (4) Checks and balances and the US presidency; and (5) The week’s timely links.

In keeping with The Fulcrum’s mission to share ideas that help to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives, we intend to publish The Expand Democracy 5 in The Fulcrum each Friday.

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Project 2025: Impact on the State Department

Business people standing together in front of a world globe.

Getty Images, Abu Hanifah

Project 2025: Impact on the State Department

Last spring and summer, The Fulcrum published a 30-part series on Project 2025. Now that Donald Trump’s second term has started, Part 2 of the series has commenced.

The Trump administration is already implementing and planning historic changes to the U.S. Department of State, many of which were influenced by Project 2025. Its chapter on the State Department, authored by Kiron K. Skinner, outlines a vision for restructuring the agency to better align with the president’s foreign policy agenda—assuming a Republican victory in the 2024 election. These proposed reforms are already shaping discussions on the future of U.S. diplomacy.

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Democracy Is Not a Given—It’s a Daily Fight

People with their fights raised.

Getty Images, LeoPatrizi

Democracy Is Not a Given—It’s a Daily Fight

Since the start of this semester, I’ve seen a disturbing rise in authoritarian behavior across the country. At the university where I teach, the signs have become impossible to ignore. The government has already cut a huge part of the Department of Education’s funding and power, pulling millions from important research.

This isn’t how most people imagine authoritarianism—it doesn’t usually show up with tanks in the street. It creeps in quietly: at school board meetings, through late-night signing of laws, and in political speeches that disguise repression as patriotism.

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Guatemalan workers farming tomatoes using tools provided by the UVG Climate Smart Agriculture Project.

Guatemalan workers farming tomatoes using tools provided by the UVG Climate Smart Agriculture Project.

Rolando Cifuentes Velásquez.

Seeds of Abandonment: How USAID Cuts Left Thousands of Farmers in Guatemala Struggling

Maria Lopez was thriving.

Her tomato farm in rural Guatemala was flourishing since a worker from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) came in to show her climate-smart agricultural practices in her drought-stricken community.

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