The Functioning of Democracy: Insights from Michigan’s local leaders

The Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) has launched a project on the functioning of democracy at the local level that provides unique resources for U-M’s theme semester on Democracy and Debate. The CLOSUP resources provide insights into how American democracy is functioning at the local level, based on a decade of surveys of Michigan’s local government leaders, through the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS). Topics include citizen engagement, local officials’ trust in other levels of government and in their citizens, relationships and communication between the state government and its local jurisdictions, relationships between local officials themselves, and between local governments and their citizens, civil civic discourse, election administration, police-community relations, and more. CLOSUP staff are available to help faculty and students make use of these resources in theme semester courses and activities. Contact closup by email to closup@umich.edu, or see the project website:

https://closup.umich.edu/research-projects/functioning-democracy-insights-michigans-local-leaders