About Nurture Democracy:

Nurture Democracy intends to focus on the core principles and foundational ideas of Democracy.  While many organizations/sites advocate for Democracy in various ways, there is often an explicit or implicit “cause” or “end” with the “means” being Democratic principles or practices as tools or mechanisms.  This “applied” Democracy is a central, essential, and practical terrain for the working out of what Democracy means for various issues and around the world. In contrast, the motivating premise for Nurture Democracy is that more knowledge of Democratic principles and ideas and even the “emotion” of Democracy needs to be more fully attended to and understood before or at least alongside, the tempting “jump” to practical advocacy and what can be termed, “Issues Democracy”.  There is real power and sometimes unavoidable urgency in various Democratic movements around the world.  This is crucial energy and a wonderful source of innovation and change.  Nurture Democracy seeks to undergird and help sustain this urgency with knowledge, wisdom, and ideas, often those of the founding thinkers of Democracy and their intellectual descendants.  Further, the hope is that this will provide a place where those who disagree can first find some conceptual common ground that could lead to practical common ground, something rarely seen in our polarized world.

David Mead-Fox:

I have a long-standing and deep interest in Democracy and Democratic Theory.  While I have been reading widely about Democracy for 50 years, I began formal study in 1979 when I attended a Doctoral Program entitled the Social Economy and Social Policy program at Boston College.  The key focus of the program was applied and academic work on how to adapt and apply principles and practices of Democracy to areas outside of the political sphere - businesses, unions, higher education, and communities. Prior to and after completing my Ph.D., my career over more than forty years covered three areas: non-profit management, management consulting, and executive recruiting in higher education. Throughout this time, I continued to read and think about Democracy and to apply its principles in my professional capacities. When I retired in 2016, I started Nurture Democracy to continue my work and interest in Democracy, with a focus on how to grow and sustain it. 

Nurture Democracy - by David Mead-Fox, Ph.D.