Penn State Gives Money to Study Democracy Around the World

The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University gives research grants to professors and students who study how democracy works. Since 2019, they have supported over 50 researchers. In 2025, they gave money to 16 different projects. These studies look at many topics like how people vote, political violence, social media and politics, and democracy in different countries like Japan, China, and Hong Kong. Some researchers study how artificial intelligence affects democracy. Others look at how different groups of people participate in politics. The grants help scholars understand threats to democracy and how to make it stronger. Students and professors from many departments get these grants, including political science, history, sociology, and communication. The research covers both historical and modern democracy issues. This work helps us learn about challenges facing democratic governments and citizen participation around the world.

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