Terms of Engagement

From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it. Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.

Terms of Engagement is a education podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 50 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Terms of Engagement, a education show with 50 episodes published.

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  Episode #50

  Amanda Carpenter on Democracy and Trump’s Golden Age of Corruption

  Aug 19, 202653 min

  In this episode of Terms of Engagement, Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to examine how political corruption undermines democratic institutions and public trust, distorts policymaking, and makes citizens increasingly cynical about the democratic process. Carpenter, a former journalist and Capitol Hill staffer, alleges that President Donald Trump has turned the presidency into a vehicle for personal enrichment, including a pay-for-pardons scheme between lobbyists and the White House. She argues that the U.S. should be preparing an anti-corruption infrastructure now to investigate the Trump administration, including civil forfeiture and other asset-recovery tools to claw back any ill-gotten gains. Carpenter says such measures—which would be pardon-proof—could act as a deterrent to public corruption in the future. About our Guest: Amanda Carpenter is a writer and editor at Protect Democracy , a cross-ideological nonprofit dedicated to combatting authoritarianism, who works with the group’s advocates and experts to promote its mission, ideas, and key priorities. Before joining Protect Democracy, she was a writer for The Bulwark and CNN Contributor. Prior to that, she worked on Capitol Hill as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s communications director and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint’s speechwriter. She brings over 15 years of political and media experience with her to Protect Democracy. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu .    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney. Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy. In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.” In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.” In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times. And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation , a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

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  Episode #49

  How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

  Aug 12, 202658 min

  What does it take to stand up for what you believe in when your personal safety, security and even liberty are at stake? Ami Fields-Meyer, a political strategist and former senior policy advisor in the Biden-Harris White House, who spent the last two years crisscrossing the globe interviewing more than a hundred dissidents, organizers, and everyday people who chose to speak out despite real risk. That reporting became his new book, co-written with journalist Julia Angwin, “On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear,” which distills those stories into practical lessons anyone can use. From authoritarian drift to cancel culture to corporate retaliation, Fields-Meyer joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss the psychology, mechanics and practicalities of speaking out in tumultuous times. About our Guest Ami Fields-Meyer is a New York Times bestselling author, political strategist, and former White House senior policy advisor. His first book, “On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear,” co-authored with Julia Angwin, is a deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world. From 2021 to 2024, Fields-Meyer served as a senior policy advisor in the White House, where he led U.S. policy on civil rights, consumer protection, and technology. He has advised political candidates, leaders of top civil rights groups and major philanthropic foundations, and high-profile public officials. A former senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, his writing on democracy and public policy has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu .    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney. Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy. In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.” In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.” In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times. And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation , a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

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  Episode #48

  Thomas Hicks on the Gutting of the US Election Assistance Commission

  Aug 6, 202654 min

  Thomas Hicks was in the middle of booking his travel to an election conference when he received an email from the White House saying was no longer a commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission—the agency he had served for eleven years and chaired. Hicks’ firing is the first in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter , which gave the president power to dismiss independent agency heads. The same email went to his colleague Benjamin Hovland, while the lone Republican on the commission, Christy McCormick, was allowed to resign. Now for the first time since 2014, the agency Congress created after the Florida recount to help America run its elections has nobody at the top at all. Hicks joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss what breaks down when the EAC has no quorum, what worries him about who might fill its four seats before 2028, and to explain what the EAC does—including certifying voting machines, moving federal money to states, and maintaining the national voter registration form. About our Guest: Thomas Hicks is an attorney who spent more than a decade as one of the four people responsible for the federal government’s role in American elections. He was nominated by President Obama, confirmed unanimously by the Senate in December 2014, and sworn in as a commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in January 2015. He went on to chair the EAC three separate times, including in the run-up to the 2020 election and again beginning in February of this year. At the EAC, his signature work was on accessibility, including a pocket voter card in Braille and large print, election security, and recruiting young people and veterans as poll workers. During his career he has also worked as senior elections counsel on the Committee on House Administration—focusing on campaign finance, election reform, contested elections, and oversight of the EAC and the FEC—and as a policy analyst at Common Cause. He earned his bachelor’s in political science and government at Clark University and his JD at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu .    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney. Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy. In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.” In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.” In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times. And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation , a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

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  Episode #47

  Kakistocracy, populism, and elites

  Jul 30, 202655 min

  Richard Hanania spent a decade as an influential voice on the online right — first pseudonymously in the alt-right, later as what New York magazine called "an intellectual muse of the Silicon Valley right." Then he watched his own ideas take power and, in his words, "was horrified at what I had helped create." His new book Kakistocracy is an argument that populism does not fail by accident but for structural reasons, that the cause is not elite failure but communications technology, and that the solution is not more democracy but better elites. He joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to talk about populism, elites, and who should wield power in American politics. About our Guest: Richard Hanania is a writer, commentator, and president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, a think tank he founded to study how ideology shapes policy and institutions. He holds a PhD in political science from UCLA and a JD from the University of Chicago. He's the author of the books “Kakistocracy” and "The Origins of Woke," and his writing has appeared in outlets ranging from The New York Times to The Atlantic to The Washington Post. He is a prominent voice in online political commentary, publishing frequently on his Substack and known for provocative takes that draw both fans and detractors across the political spectrum. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu .    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney. Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy. In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.” In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.” In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times. And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation , a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

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  Episode #46

  Mapping Risks to the 2026 Elections

  Jul 23, 202650 min

  The 2026 midterms are still months away, but a new tool shows where the trouble is most likely to erupt. Samantha Tarazi, co-founder and CEO of the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab (VRL), joins Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to walk through VRL's new Election Risk Heat Map, which scores every state and county in the country on "Election Risk Index" measured from 1 to 100. This episode examines what the map actually measures, assesses whether its risk factors are appropriate, and considers some of the difficult communications challenges in the space, including: How can we inform people about real threats to election administration without scaring them away from the ballot box? In light of President Trump’s recent primetime address on "election integrity," we explore whether the threats he described are real, the role he may play in the broader risk environment, and where 2026 sits on the danger scale. About our Guest: Samantha Tarazi is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2017 that tracks and works to strengthen voting laws across all fifty states. As founder and former chief operating officer, she built VRL's signature Election Policy Tracker—now a tool used daily by journalists, lawmakers, and advocates to monitor voting legislation in real time nationwide—and led the organization's move into grassroots advocacy and cross-partisan democratic engagement. Her newest project is the 2026 Election Risk Heat Map, which VRL released this month. Before VRL, Tarazi was the inaugural chief engagement officer at Everytown for Gun Safety, where she helped grow Moms Demand Action from a small online group into a national volunteer network of more than 55,000 leaders. She's been described as a "serial social-impact entrepreneur and seasoned community organizer," with expertise spanning election administration, voter participation, mis- and disinformation, and the role of social media and AI in elections. She also serves with the National Task Force on Election Crises. About Terms of Engagement  From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.  Join Harvard Ash Center's Archon Fung and Stephen Richer for a weekly conversation about the latest developments in American politics. Blending perspectives from both the political right and left, Terms of Engagement addresses breaking news, providing insights from research and practice to deliver a unique perspective you won’t hear anywhere else.   Contact Us Send questions, ideas, and feedback to us at info@ash.harvard.edu .    About the Hosts Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. His research explores policies, practices, and institutional designs that deepen the quality of democratic governance with a focus on public participation, deliberation, and transparency. He has authored five books, four edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in professional journals. He received two S.B.s — in philosophy and physics — and his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Stephen Richer is the former elected Maricopa County Recorder, responsible for voter registration, early voting administration, and public recordings in Maricopa County, Arizona, the fourth largest county in the United States. Prior to being an elected official, Stephen worked at several public policy think tanks and as a business transactions attorney. Stephen received his J.D. and M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from Tulane University. Stephen has been broadly recognized for his work in elections and American Democracy. In 2021, the Arizona Republic named Stephen “Arizonan of the Year.” In 2022, the Maricopa Bar Association awarded Stephen “Public Law Attorney of the Year.” In 2023, Stephen won “Leader of the Year” from the Arizona Capitol Times. And in 2024, Time Magazine named Stephen a “Defender of Democracy.”   About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation , a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, is Harvard’s hub for the study, discussion, and analysis of democracy. The Ash Center’s mission is to develop ideas and foster practices for equal and inclusive, multi-racial and multi-ethnic democracy and self-government.   Music Credit: Straight to the Point, Music Media Group

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