Jud Mathews, Penn State Law associate professor of law and affiliate professor in the School of International Affairs, has spent his career studying the U.S. Constitution. He discussed what a constitutional crisis is and how close the U.S. is to one right now on the latest episode of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s Democracy Works podcast.

What does it mean for democracy when a company steps in where the government normally would? Forrest Briscoe, professor of management and organization in the Smeal College of Business, discusses the increasing intersections between business, government and civic life on the latest episode of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s Democracy Works podcast.

We’ve all been there: A family dinner or other event where the conversation turns toward a topic will lead to disagreement. Maybe it’s politics, or perhaps it’s something else entirely. Either way, it seems like it’s not even worth trying to have a conversation. Laurie Mulvey, executive director of Penn State’s World in Conversation project, offered insight into how to handle those situations — and why it’s important to do so — on the latest episode of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s Democracy Works podcast.

The Public Mapping Project has developed District Builder, an open-source software redistricting application designed to give the public transparent, accessible and easy-to-use online mapping tools. The goal is for all citizens to have access to the same information that legislators use when drawing congressional maps — and use that data to create maps of their own.

Findings suggest a partisan divide on how all levels of the FBI are perceived and stand in contrast to historical perceptions of the agency.