Is the American political system really broken? How can we truly realize the promise of democracy in a time of such intense division and disillusionment? And what, for that matter, does “democracy” really mean?
In his new book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, journalist and Roosevelt Fellow Osita Nwanevu seeks answers to these complicated questions amid mounting threats to our democratic institutions and growing frustration with politics and governance among the public. To counter rising antidemocratic sentiment in the United States, Nwanevu offers a bold new vision for how to turn the American dream from myth to an inclusive reality. Crucially, he argues that it is not just our democratic institutions that need reform, but our economic ones as well.
On August 19, Nwanevu will join the Roosevelt Institute for our Book Club series where he will discuss The Right of the People—a vital contribution to the ongoing work of restoring faith in government, as well as building a truly democratic politics AND economy that works for the many, not just the rich and powerful few.
Speakers
Osita Nwanevu
Democratic Institutions Fellow, Roosevelt Institute and author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American FoundingAs a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, Osita Nwanevu researches democracy and political economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy and local politics.
Osita Nwanevu is a contributing editor at The New Republic and a columnist at the Guardian. He is a former staff writer at The New Republic, the New Yorker, and Slate, and his work has also appeared in the New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, Harper’s Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, and Gawker. His first book, The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, will be published by Random House in August 2025. Nwanevu is a former editor in chief of the South Side Weekly, a Chicago alternative newspaper. He is a graduate of the College at the University of Chicago and the Harris School of Public Policy. He lives in Baltimore.
Lena Bilik
Program Manager, Roosevelt InstituteAs program manager, Lena supports think tank staff and fellows with research and project management.
Lena has experience in policy analysis, advocacy, research, community organizing, and communications in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and academic sectors. She has led policy and advocacy agendas and campaigns and has experience working with state, local, and federal government to promote anti-poverty policies and initiatives.
Prior to joining the Roosevelt Institute, Lena was a senior policy analyst at Innovations Institute at the University of Connecticut, providing technical assistance and research support to state governments looking to improve their child-serving public systems, including child welfare, Medicaid, and juvenile justice. Before that role, Lena was a senior policy analyst at Children’s Aid in NYC, where she advocated and organized for K-12 educational equity, access to childcare and early childhood education, and other anti-poverty issues at all levels of government.
Lena holds a master of public administration (MPA) from the City University of New York, Baruch College and a bachelor of arts (BA) in English from Skidmore College. She is based in the Hudson Valley.