POLITICAL SCIENCE / RESEARCH IN PLAY

Research you
can step into.

Audit a democracy warning. Question an AI’s claim to speak for the public. Follow published research into fictional cases where you decide which explanation holds up.

Four research simulations. Six reading partners. The simulations introduce their sources, with reading guides for a deeper look. Take an investigation across several sittings.

INSIDE THE CIVIC MACHINEAI, democracy & public voice

FOLLOW A SUBJECT

More subjects

Showing Democracy. Clear subject filter →

TAKE A POSITION. TEST IT AGAINST THE EVIDENCE.

Research simulations.

No student account. Save on this device.
For class, export a readable research brief.

Democracy Regimes & backsliding Research methods

The Democracy Alarm

When should a democracy warning sound?

The election dashboard and the democracy report tell different stories. Audit the warning, choose your indicators, and decide which evidence should count.

PS: Political Science & Politics

Explore the investigation

CONTINUE AN INVESTIGATION

Familiar titles.
More of the research behind them.

The Overloaded State

Follow implementation burden, administrative capacity and a constrained reform into the underlying studies.

Open the activity & research guide →

Everyone Says Democracy

Compare democratic support, competing understandings of democracy and the consequences of a measurement choice.

Open the activity & research guide →

READ CLOSELY. ASK A BETTER QUESTION.

Reading partners.

Guided conversations in ChatGPT or Gemini.
Start with the source. Develop your own interpretation.

AI, representation & accountability

The Democracy Repair Shop

Democracy AI & democracy Accountability

The ballots are counted. What else has to work? Use research on AI and democracy to diagnose problems of representation, accountability and trust, then defend a repair.

Reading partner · Gemini · preparation requiredReading, access & a starting question →

Regimes & democratic erosion

Competitive Authoritarianism Learning Companion

Regimes & backsliding Democracy Institutions

Investigate regimes where electoral competition is real but unfair. Ask why leaders tilt the playing field instead of eliminating the game.

Reading partner · ChatGPT · preparation requiredReading, access & a starting question →

Teaching a Frontiers inquiry

Set a reading or an initial simulation endpoint. Read the source-access notes before assigning it.
Ask students to preserve an initial claim, identify a credible rival and predict a separating observation.
Compare the later record with the prediction. A changed mind needs reasons; so does retaining the first account.
Assess the research brief and the limits of the inference. A local record or bot conversation is not an authenticated completion receipt.

Assessment guidance → · Permissions & directory information → · Find your bearings before the case → · Main activity collection →