
The Civic Discourse Project
The Civic Discourse Project invites bold speakers to tackle big ideas and bring people together through robust civil discourse.

LATEST The Civic Discourse Project
Is there a Conservative Cancel Culture in American Politics?
Oct. 27
Delve into conservative cancel culture and foreign policy in politics with Matthew Continetti, from the American Enterprise Institute.
The Civic Discourse ProjectOct. 20
Purposeful Pluralism: The Future of the University in the American Democracy
The Civic Discourse Project
The Civic Discourse Project invites the top minds – civic leaders, academics and public intellectuals – engaged in thinking through the big ideas and challenges facing American society, to discuss and explore them with our community.
Designed to bring people together through robust civil discourse, the series includes speakers from across the intellectual spectrum.
Led by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, the series is co-sponsored by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
New installments in The Civic Discourse Project stream on YouTube.
Find upcoming events and watch past conversations below.
Explore previous seasons below or on the PBS app:
- 2017-18: Free Speech: Challenge of Our Times
- 2018-19: Polarization: A Civic Crisis
- 2019-20: Citizenship and Civic Leadership in America
- The Civic Discourse Project on the PBS app
Read more:
‘The Civic Discourse Project’ works to build bridges
Companion podcast:
Paul Carrese
Paul Carrese is the founding director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. For nearly two decades, he was a professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy and co-founded a new honors program blending liberal arts education and leadership education.
Carrese is author of The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism, and co-editor of three other books – on George Washington, constitutionalism and American grand strategy. His most recent book is Democracy in Moderation: Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Sustainable Liberalism.
He has held fellowships at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar; Harvard University; the University of Delhi (as a Fulbright fellow); and the James Madison Program, Politics Department, Princeton University. He served on the founding advisory board of the Program on Public Discourse at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and co-led a national study funded by the NEH and U.S. Department of Education, Educating for American Democracy, on improving American history and civics education in K-12 schools with partners from Harvard, Tufts Universities and iCivics (released in 2021).