Let's make democracy work.
Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been on faculty at the Kennedy School since 1999. He directs the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
His research examines how citizen engagement, deliberative processes, and government openness can strengthen contemporary governance. He studies the efforts of citizens and officials to enhance public education, law enforcement, public services, and environmental conditions through innovative democratic practices.
He is a co-founder of Participedia, a wiki-project to open up the process of building knowledge around democratic innovation.
Beyond academic work, Archon occasionally consults for organizations and receives compensation for speaking and writing. He sees three justifications for this engagement:
First, learning perspectives from practitioners that are unavailable in academia. Second, making scholarship relevant to real-world challenges. Third, supporting organizations advancing democratic quality.
He stresses maintaining independence: "My job is not to cheer-lead, but to offer constructive and critical insight."
Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT (1999). B.S. in Physics and B.S. in Philosophy, both from MIT (1990).
Evelyn Reyes
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 495-5598
Email: evelynreyes@hks.harvard.edu