Mercatus’ Program on Pluralism & Civil Exchange Announces Third Cohort of Grant Recipients, Two New Visiting Fellows

Arlington, VA—The Mercatus Center’s Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange is pleased to announce its third cohort of grant recipients and two new Visiting Fellows.

After issuing a call for project proposals in January, the Program has chosen six additional projects to support with its initial investment, joining the 12 projects announced in February and the 7 projects announced in March. Details on the recipients and their projects are below.

In addition to the grant recipients, the Program also recently named two additional Visiting Fellows to join the 11 current visiting fellows and will be part of ongoing conversations about the core values necessary to build a free, pluralistic, and open society, as well as the challenges to maintaining such a society.

Grants

Scholarly and humanitarian support for Ukrainian scholars

The Center for Governance and Markets (CGM) at the University of Pittsburgh is applying expertise gained in working in Afghanistan to foster collaborative work that will support Ukrainian scholars.  Through the Ukrainian Global University, a recently launched scholarly and humanitarian initiative made up of organizations around the world, CGM will provide research stipends to support a variety of ongoing or ready to launch projects in Ukraine, including wartime research and activities.

A new platform to mitigate polarization with short, visual content

The Narratives Project, founded by Shaun Cammack, helps news consumers better understand themselves and those they disagree with by creating short, accessible, and thorough breakdowns of divisive news stories that people can use to support healthy conversations and supplement their normal news diet.

An exploration of Latino identity

Luis Parrales will research and write a long-form essay focusing on Mexicans/Mexican Americans on both sides of the US Mexico border to synthesize cultural commentary, public opinion data, and on-the-ground reporting offering an account of Latino identity for this subset of the Latino population. Exploring the content of Latino identity could help all Americans consider a different approach towards race and identity and might offer a constructive vocabulary about identity for our increasingly multi-ethnic nation.

A Conservation Innovation Lab for cooperative environmental solutions to conservation challenges

The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana, will create a Conservation Innovation Lab to develop and implement environmental solutions that foster cooperation instead of conflict between competing groups that address specific conservation challenges. PERC will work with environmental organizations or landowners to implement those solutions on the ground.

A manuscript on applied political ethics

Thomas D. Howes, a lecturer in politics at Princeton University, is working on a manuscript on applied political ethics that defends the foundations of a classically liberal constitutional order and a robust civil society. The work draws heavily from contemporary natural law theory to defend a free civil society.

An online video series for law students discussing leading cases from diverse viewpoints

Justin “Gus” Hurwitz, through The International Center for Law & Economics, will produce a video series, "1 L to Another” a library of sophisticated discussions of first year legal concepts, explored from a range of perspectives. Each episode will feature a leading law professor in conversation with Gus, anchored by a discussion of a leading case that first year law students commonly discuss. A particular emphasis will be placed on exposing students and the general audience to perspectives that are underrepresented in contemporary legal classrooms and public debates.

Visiting Fellows

Lawrence M. Mead III will complete a book on deservingness – the general problem of deservingness in American politics and the qualities of virtue and trustworthiness that earn the support of others.

Kevin Vallier will conduct research and complete a book on religious anti-liberalisms including Catholic integralism to advance a reorientation of integralist thinking towards pluralism and liberal values.

To learn more about the Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange, please visit our website. For media inquiries, please contact Matthew Boyer at 703-993-8094 or [email protected].