The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) and Penn Law’s Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) have formed an alliance to promote and strengthen the rule of law in democratic institutions, the University of Pennsylvania public policy centers announced March 12.

The collaboration draws on the strengths of each center to advance thought, research and public policy–making in US democratic governance and national security: It combines CERL’s expertise in national security and the rule of law with APPC’s nationally recognized work in policy making and communication scholarship to enhance the institutions of democracy.

CERL will maintain its affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School but be based at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

“It is an honor for CERL to partner with Kathleen Hall Jamieson and APPC,” said Claire Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at Penn Law and CERL’s founder and faculty director. “CERL’s resources and affiliated experts and APPC’s public policy foothold are a natural fit for educating policy makers and citizens on the necessity of maintaining and strengthening our deep-rooted ideals and institutions, including the rule of law,” added Dr. Finkelstein, who is also a distinguished research fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

“I am delighted that APPC and Claire Finkelstein’s fine center at the Penn Law are launching this important partnership,” said Dr. Jamieson, director and founder of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication. “By focusing the complementary strengths of CERL and APPC on issues of concern to both centers—from climate communication to protecting democratic institutions from cyberthreats—we hope to leverage each center’s talents to magnify our joint impact.”

The centers will collaborate on two major conferences annually as well as on joint publications, CERL’s summer internship program and special projects. The first two conferences that CERL and APPC are collaborating on are Left of Launch: Communication and Threat Escalation in a Nuclear Age, and Circling the Arctic: Security and the Rule of Law in a Changing North.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, health and science issues at the local, state and federal levels.

The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law is a nonpartisan interdisciplinary center dedicated to preserving and promoting the rule of law in national security, warfare and US governance. CERL draws from the study of law, philosophy and ethics to educate and guide policymakers, academia, the private sector and the general public.