In Nevada, a secretary of state struggles against election denialism, political apathy and threats against poll workers. A legal scholar in Virginia, meanwhile, says the surest way to address political and economic inequality in America is by making it easier for poor people to vote.

Evgeniya Chirikova got a knock at the door of her home in Moscow from the FSB, Russia’s national security service. They wanted to take her children away. It only supercharged her activism. And, in Ukraine, a teenager struggles to stay sane and do her part for her country.

Fraught as it is, democracy is still America’s best bet for a good society, says author and legal scholar Jed Purdy. But that means people need to roll up their sleeves and get involved in the messy business of politics: to become framers themselves.

In a tattered corner of rural Kentucky, Eduardo Porter came upon a puzzle. The New York Times journalist saw that while Harlan County was benefiting more than most places from federal tax dollars, its overwhelmingly white residents distrusted the government and feared minorities. Why?