A few years ago, Dr. Michael Neblo, Professor of Political Science, sought to create an institute at Ohio State that would focus on making American democracy more representative. In 2021, Neblo founded the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA). IDEA’s three focus areas include generating knowledge about American political institutions, studying and fostering high quality political dialogue and deliberation, and furthering Ohio State’s mission: “education for citizenship.” In the following interview, Neblo discusses the founding of IDEA and promising projects.
Can you walk me through how you got IDEA started at Ohio State? What was the process to get IDEA off the ground, how long did it take, etc.?
About five years ago the dean was looking for someone to take over coordinating a somewhat informal research group called “Democracy Studies.” The group drew on faculty primarily from political science, history, and law. I expressed interest but wanted to expand beyond being just a research group into student and public facing activities, as well as expanding to draw in people from all over the university. So it seemed like rebranding was in order given the size of the changes I was planning.
We were a pretty small operation at first but grew steadily. Then about a year and half ago I began conversations with our deans and new provost about substantially expanding the institute. They were very supportive (as was President Johnson) and so we have been ramping things up since. I hope to have us at full capacity by next year.
Why is "education by citizenship," the motto of Ohio State, important for students? What do you say to students that are discouraged and overwhelmed by politics and polarization?
Most of today’s students are already enfranchised citizens (either here or in their home countries if they come from abroad). Soon enough they will be leading our institutions. Learning to use the power invested in them responsibly is important as something we owe each other. But it is also in their self-interest rightly understood both because we all have an interest in good government and because civic life well practiced can enrich life in general. An education for citizenship tailored to the needs of today’s students has to address that sense of powerlessness, confusion, and frustration head on. That’s the whole point of Shop Class for Democracy, which is about re-envisioning a more applied, hands-on collegiate civic education where the students can build efficacy and experience political engagement beyond polarized blood sport.
One of IDEA's flagship programs is the Connecting Classrooms to Congress program. (Connecting Classrooms to Congress (CC2C) is a web-based platform that allows high school students to study a political issue and discuss that issue with their Member of Congress). Can you tell me how many students have gone through this and what results, even pre-emptive, you are seeing from students participating in the program?
Connecting Classrooms to Congress is a really exciting combination of IDEA’s research and student-centered work. So far, we have studied the effects on adults of Deliberative Town Halls. But to really make the kind of difference our country needs, we need to reach more people and earlier in their civic lives, giving them a different sense of what politics should be and motivating them to stay engaged. That’s the goal of the CC2C project -- to teach students the skills to deliberate with each other, and then with their Member of Congress.
We’re just now beginning year 2 of the study, and after this spring we’ll have a lot more data to look at, but what we want to know is if participating in this civic module and the Deliberative Town Hall with their Member of Congress, if they have more of a sense of agency as a citizen and are more likely to get and stay politically engaged. The teachers and students are very enthusiastic so far, so we are optimistic that the project will bear fruit as it expands.
In the (website’s) overview of IDEA, there is a discussion of a seed grant competition to sponsor research. What research projects have IDEA sponsored from this competition?
Oh goodness, there are too many to list. But I will try to remember a few of those that I think turned out particularly well. We funded:
-- A study of whether the organization Braver Angels could effectively combat affective polarization among Republicans and Democrats in the US.
-- A study of what determined whether development funds allocated by members of the Tanzanian parliament were used effectively and fairly or for political patronage.
-- A study of the effects of mental health disorders on democratic participation in the US.
-- A pilot project to develop and validate a scale measuring “inter-personal political curiosity” (whether someone was even interested in understanding people who disagreed with them).
-- A study of the winners and losers in various direct democratic marijuana reform initiatives.
-- A study of how traditional leadership positions (e.g., tribal chiefs) interacted with the formal governmental institutions of modern African democracies.
-- A study of whether serving in a state legislature before going to Congress increased the member’s “legislative effectiveness scores”.
-- A study of how new social communication technologies (e.g., Twitter) affects political representation in the US
-- We also provided partial support for some initiatives in the Glenn School [of Public Affairs at Ohio State], Moritz [School of Law], and the School of Public Health.
What has been the most successful event IDEA has put on? Why do you think that is?
Actually, two of most successful events were just this past November. The first was a Deliberative Town Hall, not for an individual Member of Congress, but for the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. We recruited a nationally representative sample of 1400 citizens asking questions and weighing in how they thought Congress could work better for the American people. The SCMC cited the event as a best practice in their final report and spent two pages detailing out feedback to their colleagues. The other was an “International Legislators Forum” where we brought together Members of Parliament from nine countries with twelve Members of the U.S. Congress so that they could share their experiences doing deliberative and participatory engagement in their own countries and ask questions of each other, peer to peer. This kind of direct exchange is very effective for educating and engaging lawmakers.
What upcoming events are on the horizon for IDEA?
We’re planning two Deliberative Town Halls this spring for select committees of the U.K. House of Commons, one on Northern Ireland and another on policing reform. We’re continuing to build out our Shop Class for Democracy program here at OSU and hope to start leading a consortium of other colleges and universities doing similar initiatives so we can pool our learning. We’re planning to hold six Deliberative Town Halls with Members of Congress and high school seniors in the Connecting Classrooms to Congress initiative. And we are also continuing to contribute to an EU scientific advisory panel evaluating the many deliberative efforts taking place in Europe, which will take me back to the University of Siena this summer.
What is the biggest takeaway you want people to have about IDEA's work?
Many university centers and institutes try to help government, usually by having their faculty deploy their expertise to develop policy solutions they believe are in the best interest of the country. That work is important, but IDEA’s approach is very different. We focus on using our expertise in deliberative democracy to create opportunities for citizens themselves to deliberate on these issues and develop those policy solutions, or at least to assess the ones on offer directly. We connect regular people and policymakers that can generate better policy but also better relationships, as well as earned trust and confidence in our democracy.
What is a book or other resource you recommend to people interested in learning more about democratic engagement?
For democratic engagement in more of a mode of social movements and protest, I really recommend a new book called Prisms of the People, and the other work of one of its co-authors, Hahrie Han. Though it’s a bit awkward, I guess I would also recommend my book, Politics with the People, which articulates the vision behind IDEA in much more detail, along with the evidence for how it works.