Mission and Vision
Confronting the precarious condition of democracy in the US and around the world, The McCourtney Institute for Democracy promotes scholarship and practical innovations in order to preserve and advance democracy.
Through teaching, research, and public outreach, the Institute leverages the resources of Penn State to defend democratic practices and foster democratic citizenship.
We achieve our mission through interdisciplinary scholarship. The Institute operates through two centers—the Center for Democratic Deliberation (CDD) and the Center for Research on Democratic Resilience (CRDR). The CDD attends to the communication practices that make democratic deliberation possible; the CRDR examines how political orders around the world emerge, endure, and adapt.
History
The McCourtney Institute for Democracy began as the Democracy Institute in 2012. In 2014, Tracy and Ted McCourtney gave a transformative $3 million gift to secure the Institute’s future.
John Gastil served as the Institute’s founding director from 2012-2016. Mark Major served as associate director. Christopher Beem was hired as managing director in 2015 and Michael Berkman became director in 2016.
The Center for Democratic Deliberation was founded in 2006 as nonpartisan, interdisciplinary center for research on issues of rhetorical education, democratic deliberation, and forms of dissent.
The Center for American Political Responsiveness was founded in 2011 as an interdisciplinary academic center that investigates questions of democratic governance and public policy.
The Center for Research on Democratic Resilience was founded in 2026 to advanced comparative research on democratic resilience in the United States and around the world.