Foundation Programs
Kettering’s research is focused on six interrelated program areas:
CITIZENS AND PUBLIC CHOICE
Citizens can’t gain a greater degree of control over their collective future unless they can make decisions about what they should do and what policies are best for themselves and their communities. Public deliberation increases the chances that decisions will be sound.
COMMUNITY POLITICS
Citizens sense that they need to come together as a community to act on persistent, or “wicked,” problems that threaten their community. These problems can’t be solved without public action and work. The Foundation studies how citizens go about doing the work they must do to rule themselves, and how they build capacity to do this work.
“PUBLIC” PUBLIC EDUCATION
Citizens want greater control over their collective future, and nothing is more crucial than the future of their children. Unfortunately, people do not necessarily feel they have ownership of their public schools, and school ties to their community may be weak. The Kettering Foundation supports efforts by citizens to realize and act upon opportunities for the coproduction of education.
PUBLIC-GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP
In a democracy, citizens rule themselves, but government institutions must often act on their behalf. The Foundation helps people work through their concerns about special interest groups and other impediments to getting the work of democracy done.
INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONS IN THE PUBLIC REALM
Kettering studies the role in a democracy of specialized, highly skilled, often very technical professionals and of the institutions and organizations in which they function.
MULTINATIONAL RESEARCH
Democracy is not confined to the United States, and the notion that it can be exported from one country to another is problematic. Kettering seeks to learn from experiments in deliberative self-rule around the globe, including learning about the way democracies can respond to the threat of violent conflict.