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Throughout January 2026, the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy is spotlighting its work under the theme “Public Policy in Democracy.” We will be featuring Sanford research, events, student experiences, and community engagement that explore how policy is shaped and practiced in democratic societies.
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All Tech Policy Month Instagram story highlights
Democracy & Leadership
The Laidlaw Scholars Research and Leadership Program is a prestigious 24-month leadership development sequence for undergraduates, focused on cultivating ethical leaders across disciplines and sectors. As part of their program experience, Laidlaw Scholars Kate Westlake T’28, Lizeth Rocha Rocha T’27 and Tyler Rogers T’28 spent six weeks last summer in Capetown, South Africa, engaging in a research project led by Prof. Catherine Admay.
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Democracy & Local Journalism
Local journalism is shrinking. At Duke Sanford, students are helping fill the gap. The 9th Street Journal gives students hands-on experience reporting on Durham’s neighborhoods, schools, and local government. They learn journalism by practicing it, often covering stories no one else is telling.
Read how the Journal, which is based at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Sanford, turns learning into action.
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democracy & leadership Library
Did you know the Duke Hart Leadership Program has its own library?
Located in Sanford Building 116, the Hart Leadership Library features a curated collection spanning leadership, sustainability, elections, current politics, and more.|
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Student Voting Rights Lab
Did you know that Duke Sanford has a Student Voting Rights Lab? Started by Professor Gunther Peck, students participate in individual and group research projects investigating barriers to youth voting as well as solutions to those challenges.
For example, in the 2024 election, 792 Duke voters found their ballots challenged by the Jefferson Griffin campaign. (Griffin was running for North Carolina Supreme Court, and he challenged over 60,000 voters’ ballots.) As a part of the lab, Duke students partnered with peers at North Carolina Central University to uncover and document the targeting of youth voters in the Griffin challenge.
“My participation in the lab has truly made my Sanford experience,” Sofia Dib-Gomez says. (Through the lab, Dib-Gomez found out that her own vote had been challenged by the Griffin campaign.) “Without the lab, I would still have my passion for registering voters and making voting more accessible on campus, but I wouldn’t have found an outlet to explore this passion academically and professionally. I believe that it is imperative for Sanford to continue offering projects related to democracy, like the voting rights lab. In North Carolina, where the voting space and laws are constantly changing, this lab is a crucial entity that is committed to protecting students' voting rights in a climate that doesn't always prioritize them.”
This is public policy.
Learn more about the lab and the students' work.
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Governing social media & AI
What can the failures of social media governance teach us about regulating generative AI? Duke Sanford faculty member Philip Napoli and Sanford alumna Suher Adi MPP'24 examine how the “move fast and break things” approach shaped social media, and why repeating that model for generative AI could carry even higher stakes. Their research draws clear lessons for AI governance, including the limits of self-regulation, the risks of prioritizing innovation over public interest, and the need for dedicated regulatory institutions. More about the research.
Uncivil Democracy
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Duke public policy professor Mallory SoRelle has co-authored a new book that opens with a powerful story. Josephine has lived in the same New York City building for decades. After her husband died, the building started going downhill in horrifying ways. From rats to bubbling sewage in the toilets to broken elevators, Josephine, a grandmother in her 50s, had to carry her disabled grandchild (and wheelchair) up and down the stairs. Josephine “mobilized legal resources, organized her neighbors, and fought back against the degradation of her housing and her humanity,” the authors write.
The book, "Uncivil Democracy: How Access to Justice Shapes Political Power," not only details Josephine’s story – but also explores what her story reveals about society. The authors argue that traditional levers of power “often fail to address the most pressing problems.” They say individual court cases can help somewhat, but “through the lens of Josephine’s experiences, we grasp the transformative possibilities that emerge when individuals organize – acting collectively to oppose and alter the daunting realities of an unjust political economy.”
The authors say that the lessons in Josphine’s story “have implications for the prospect of a just and equitable democracy in the United States.”
Virtual book launch: Jan. 28, 3:30-5 p.m.
Conversation includes Professor SoRelle, co-author Jamila Michener (Cornell University), political scientist and MacArthur Fellow Hahrie Han, and housing advocate Tara Raghuveer, who has been recognized by TIME for her innovative work in tenants unions.
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pluralistic democracy
In honor of Sanford’s “Public Policy in Democracy” month, John Hillen Duke Polis Distinguished Resident Fellow and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State of Political-Military Affairs, reflects on the meaning of pluralistic democracy, the importance of civil discourse, and his course on navigating disagreement in an age of political polarization.
He notes: “In a free society, deep disagreement is inevitable; pluralism provides the framework to view those differences not as existential threats, but as a feature of our democracy that prevents tyranny.” Read the Q&A.
what makes Creating Policy in a Democracy challenging?
Many of our faculty members knows about creating policy in a democracy firsthand. For example, David Price helped start Duke’s public policy program. Then he became Congressman Price, representing North Carolina’s Fourth District, the Research Triangle region, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987-94 and 1997-2022. He is now a Professor Emeritus at Duke and is also a Distinguished Fellow with Polis, Duke’s Center for Politics. We asked him a simple question: What makes creating policy in a democracy challenging?
the importance of Leadership in a democracy
Bruce Jentleson, the William Preston Few Professor of Public Policy, literally wrote the book on leadership. His book is called “The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship." All this week, as a part of Duke Sanford’s focus on public policy in democracy, he’s sharing insights about leadership on Instagram.
democracy month podcast: former IRS Commissioner
Danny Werfel, Duke Master of Public Policy alumnus, Polis Distinguished Fellow, and former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, recently joined interim Dean Manoj Mohanan on Sanford's Policy 360 podcast to talk about leadership, organizational change, and how a broader understanding of what the government does – and gets right – could have a profound impact on political polarization and democracy itself.
Subscribe to Policy 360 and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.
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Alumni Story - International democracy
Bautista Logioco MIDP'04 has spent much of his career working at the intersection of peacebuilding, conflict analysis, and public policy. He currently serves as a senior peacebuilding consultant with the United Nations, advising on conflict prevention and peacebuilding across Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Central Asia. Simultaneously, he has built a career in theater and acting in Argentina, exploring how art can create space for dialogue, reflection, and community.
Read Bautista's story.
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Democracy Expertise
When journalists need policy expertise, they call Duke Sanford. Our faculty regularly contribute insight on the issues shaping today’s headlines, from economics and health to democracy and global affairs. Their work helps news organizations add context, evidence, and clarity to complex stories.
Explore our latest media coverage.
This is Public Policy.
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Duke in DC
A cohort of Duke students is spending this semester in Washington, D.C., through Sanford’s Duke in DC program. The students will be diving into the complexities of federal policymaking and learning about our democracy’s politics and policy while interning with government offices, advocacy organizations, nonprofits, and other institutions shaping public policy.
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Strategic Plan: NC Department of Public Instruction
Duke Sanford students worked with NC Public Schools on a visionary mission: to make North Carolina’s public schools the nation’s best by 2030. Professor Jenni Owen’s public policy students collaborated with NC Superintendent of Public Instruction Maurice “Mo” Green, his team, and other partners throughout the fall semester to advance the NC Department of Public Instruction’s Achieving Educational Excellence strategic plan.
Not just an academic group project, this was a collaborative opportunity to solicit input, conduct policy analysis, and generate recommendations for a state government agency that is striving to improve the lives of children across N.C. One Sanford student reflected that “this course showed me that thoughtful teamwork is not just an academic requirement but a core professional skill.”
“It was an honor to work with Duke University Master of Public Policy students on their research projects to support Achieving Educational Excellence, the strategic plan for North Carolina’s public schools to be the best in the nation by 2030. The learning went both ways—the students identified valuable potential policies and initiatives and peer-reviewed research to support the action items in the plan, while they learned how their efforts can directly inform our state’s education agency decision-making,” said Maurice “Mo” Green.
Read more about the project and student reflections.
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HBCUs and Democracy
As Duke Sanford highlights the role of institutions and public policy in democracy, read (or re-read!) Dr. Deondra Rose’s 2024 book, “The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy” — a powerful and revealing history of institutions which have been essential for empowering Black citizens and for the ongoing fight for democracy in the U.S.
This is public policy.
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Welcome to Democracy Month
Kicking off the U.S. 250th by showcasing what drives public policy innovation at Duke Sanford. Here we're highlighting the research, scholarship, events, alumni networks, and student experiences that sharpen the skills needed to navigate the dynamic interplay of media, institutions, leadership, and the public in shaping effective policy.