Historian and author Luke Nichter will present on Watergate @ 50: Looking Back and Looking Forward at the next Hoover Institution Library & Archives hybrid event in the Un-Presidented Speaker Series. Fifty years is often sufficient for revisionism to reshape our understanding of even the most complex and controversial subjects. Not so with Watergate. Today the history we have is remarkably similar to what journalists wrote in the 1970s. However, there is hope for a breakthrough in the near future. Join us for this talk by Luke Nichter, American historian, professor of history and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University, and author or editor of eight books, including most recently The Year That Broke Politics. With introduction by Victor Davis Hanson, the Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. About the Speaker Luke A. Nichter is a Professor of History and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus on the "long 1960s" from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. He is a New York Times bestselling author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968 (Yale University Press), which was chosen as a Best Book of 2023 by the Wall Street Journal. About the Un-Presidented Speaker SeriesThe Un-Presidented Speaker Series highlights conversations with historians and experts of the Nixon era, and is presented by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in conjunction with the exhibition Un-Presidented: Watergate and Power in America now on view in the Lou Henry Hoover gallery of Hoover Tower at Stanford University.  

The China Global Sharp Power Project and the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region at the Hoover Institution held the Washington, DC launch of The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan, a new book edited by Matt Pottinger, Hoover Institution Distinguished Visiting Fellow, on Tuesday, June 4th, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET.

The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region held The Boiling Moat event on Thursday, May 30, 2024 from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has openly expressed his intention to annex Taiwan to mainland China, even threatening the use of force. An invasion or blockade of Taiwan by Chinese forces would be catastrophic, with severe consequences for democracies worldwide. In The Boiling Moat, a new book from the Hoover Institution Press, Matt Pottinger and a team of scholars and distinguished military and political leaders urgently outline practical steps for deterrence. The authors stress that preventing a war is more affordable than waging one and emphasize the importance of learning from recent failures in deterrence, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Featuring Matt Pottinger, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and Larry Diamond, William L. Clayton Senior Fellow. Pottinger and Diamond will be joined by contributors to The Boiling Moatproject: Gabriel Collins, Andrew Erickson, Robert Haddick, Isaac Harris, Michael Hunzeker, Ivan Kanapathy, Mark Montgomery, and Grant Newsham.

The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power held Hong Kong After the National Security Law on Tuesday, May 14 from 4-5:30pm PT.  This event presented perspectives on the current political and civic climate in Hong Kong since the passage of the National Security Law on June 30, 2020 and the imposition of Article 23 on March 23, 2024. How have these developments fit into the broader history of the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong? What has changed in Hong Kong’s once vibrant civil society? What is the latest on the trials of pro-democracy activists? How have diasporic advocates constructed a Hong Kong political identity in exile? Four panelists—Ambassador James Cunningham, the Chairman of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong and former Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (2005-2008); Sebastien Lai, a democracy advocate and son of jailed Hong Kong businessman and publisher Jimmy Lai; Sophie Richardson, the former China Director at Human Rights Watch; and Cherie Wong, the former leader of Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK)—will discuss these issues and more in a conversation moderated by Hoover William L. Clayton Senior Fellow Larry Diamond. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ambassador James B. Cunningham retired from government service at the end of 2014.  He is currently a consultant, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, an adjunct faculty member at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and Board Chair of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ambassador to Israel, Consul General in Hong Kong, and Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Ambassador Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society, the National Committee on US-China Relations, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Sebastien Lai leads the international campaign to free his father Jimmy Lai, the pro democracy activist and publisher currently jailed by the Hong Kong government. Having had international calls for his release from multiple states including the US and the UK, Jimmy Lai’s ongoing persecution mirrors the rapid decline of human rights, press freedom and rule of law in the Chinese territory.  Sophie Richardson is a longtime activist and scholar of Chinese politics, human rights, and foreign policy.  From 2006 to 2023, she served as the China Director at Human Rights Watch, where she oversaw the organization’s research and advocacy. She has published extensively on human rights, and testified to the Canadian Parliament, European Parliament, and the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Dr. Richardson is the author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia University Press, Dec. 2009), an in-depth examination of China's foreign policy since 1954's Geneva Conference, including rare interviews with Chinese policy makers. She speaks Mandarin, and received her doctorate from the University of Virginia and her BA from Oberlin College. Her current research focuses on the global implications of democracies’ weak responses to increasingly repressive Chinese governments, and she is advising several China-focused human rights organizations.  Cherie Wong (she/her) is a non-partisan policy analyst and advocate. Her influential leadership at Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK), a grassroots community organization, had garnered international attention for its comprehensive research publications and unwavering advocacy in Canada-China relations. ACHK disbanded in November 2023. Recognized for her nuanced and progressive approach, Cherie is a sought-after authority among decision-makers, academics, journalists, researchers, and policymakers. Cherie frequently appeared in parliamentary committees and Canadian media as an expert commentator, speaking on diverse public policy issues such as international human rights, foreign interference, and transnational repression.  Larry Diamond is the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is also professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology at Stanford. He co-chairs the Hoover Institution’s programs on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region.

The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power, Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies, and Stanford's Department of History held What China Remembers About the Cultural Revolution, and What it Wants to Forget on Friday, May 10, 2024 from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT in the George P. Shultz Building, Shultz Auditorium. The devastating movement unleashed by Mao in 1966, which claimed around two million lives and saw tens of millions hounded, shapes China to this day. Yet in a country where leaders have long seen history as a political tool, the Cultural Revolution is a particularly sensitive subject. How does the Chinese Communist Party control discussion of the topic? And how has an era which turned the nation upside down been used to maintain the political status quo? ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Tania Branigan writes foreign policy editorials for the Guardian and spent seven years as its China correspondent. Her book Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution won the Cundill History Prize 2023 and was shortlisted for the Kirkus non-fiction prize, the Baillie Gifford prize and the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. It was named as one of the Wall Street Journal’s ten best books of 2023 and TIME’s 100 must-read books of 2023. Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover’s project on China’s Global Sharp Power and directs its research portfolio. He also works closely with government and civil society partners around the world to document and build resilience against authoritarian interference with democratic institutions. Most recently, he co-authored Eyes Wide Open: Ethical Risks in Research Collaboration with China (2021).

The Hoover Institution held Strengthening Trust With India: Implications of the 2008 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement on  May 6, 2024 from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm in Hauck Auditorium, David & Joan Traitel Building. The conversation was between key figures who shaped modern US-India relations through the 2008 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, an emblem of strategic US-India partnership and a major innovation in sustainable energy to power India’s future. The engaging dialogue celebrates this important achievement and explores the future of US-India cooperation. ​ FEATURING Condoleezza Rice – Tad and Dianne Taube Director and Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy   66th US Secretary of State (2005-2009)     M.K. Narayanan – National Security Advisor of India (2005-2010)     Shivshankar Menon – Visiting Professor  Ashoka University   David C. Mulford – Distinguished Visiting Fellow  US Ambassador to India (2004-2009)   Nick Burns – US Ambassador to China  Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2009)     Eric Garcetti – US Ambassador to India   MODERATOR Anja Manuel – Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns (2005-2007) ​

Tuesday, April 16, 2024   Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Hoover History Working Group held a seminar on Cliodynamics of End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration with Peter Turchin on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 from 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm PT. The book is available for purchase here. ABOUT THE TALK Social and political turbulence in the United States and Western European countries has been rising over the past decade. Our research, which combines analysis of historical data with the tools of complexity science, has identified the deep structural forces that work to undermine societal stability and resilience to internal and external shocks. Here I look beneath the surface of day-to-day contentious politics and social unrest, and focus on the negative social and economic trends that explain our current “Age of Discord.” One of the most important, but little appreciated, such hidden forces is a perverse “wealth pump” that, under certain conditions, begins to transfer wealth from the “99 percent” to “1 percent.” If allowed to run unchecked, the wealth pump results in both relative impoverishment of most people and increasingly desperate competition among elites. Since the number of positions of real social power remains more or less fixed, the overproduction of elites inevitably leads to frustrated elite aspirants, who harness popular resentment to turn against the established order. In America, the wealth pump has been operating full blast for two generations. In historical terms, our current cycle of elite overproduction and popular immiseration is far along the path to violent political rupture. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Peter Turchin is Project Leader at the Complexity Science Hub–Vienna, Research Associate at University of Oxford, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Connecticut. His research interests lie at the intersection of social and cultural evolution, historical macrosociology, economic history, mathematical modeling of long-term social processes, and the construction and analysis of historical databases. A founder of the field of Cliodynamics, his books include End Times (2023) and Ultrasociety (2016).

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with veterans Jason Galui, Colin Frances Jackson, and Felicia Pinckney and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellow John Moses led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider. Veterans’ experience abroad imparts a deep empathy for the world around them, with significant implications for the local communities to which they return. How does the post 9/11 veteran experience of combat or service abroad, and the profound relationships built between servicemembers and foreign allies and partners, impact how veterans view their responsibility to others when they return home? More specifically, for this generation of veterans, how do relationships built in Iraq and Afghanistan influence veterans’ advocacy with local and federal policies? How does the experience of the post 9/11 all-volunteer force manifest in democratic ideals at home? March 7, 2024 – Chelmsford Unitarian Church, Chelmsford, MA. Featuring Jason Galui | Director for Veterans and Military Families, George W. Bush Institute: USA Veteran Colin Frances Jackson | Chairman, Strategic and Operational Research Department, US Naval War College; USAR John Moses | Hoover Veteran Fellow; Co-Founder, Massachusetts Afghan Alliance; Retired SFC, USA Felicia Pinckney | Program Manager, Network Development for Home Base program, Massachusetts General Hospital; USA veteran Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with veterans Gil Barndollar and Robin Johnson, Veteran Fellowship Program Fellows Matthew Brown and Claudia Flores led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider. One of the greatest challenges for the All Volunteer Force is how to reintegrate a professional, volunteer military back into civilian society.  For many previous generations, this re-integration was supported by veterans organizations, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which created a space for veterans to share experiences as they re-started their civilian life.  However, the post 9/11 veteran generation has new challenges both in re-connecting with civilian life and in creating bonds between post 9/11 veterans that create positive societal impacts.  The rise of social media as well as the diversity and the volunteer nature of this generation means that Vietnam-era structures and institutions designed for veterans may not work for building social bonds between 9/11 veterans and their communities.  How does the post 9/11 veteran build social capital among each other?  How do they connect with their communities?  How can the post 9/11 veteran experience build social cohesion not only between veterans and civilians but also in the broader civil society?   Tuesday, February 20, 2024 – Denver, CO Featuring Gil Barndollar | Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Statesmanship; USMC veteran Matthew Brown | Hoover Veteran Fellow; President and CEO, Chimney Trail; USN Veteran Claudia Flores | Hoover Veteran Fellow; Policy and Planning Director, Virginia Department of Veteran Services; USN Veteran Robin Johnson | CEO, Best Medicine Brigade; President, HEAL*ARIOUS; USA veteran Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion with local veterans Cathy Cohn, Mikhail Venikov, Justin Adney and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellow Michael Wendler led by Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, and featuring a special welcome by the Hon. Jackie Speier and Susan Manheimer, the former San Mateo Chief of Police. The post 9/11 veteran is not defined by one campaign or conflict. That can be something that often divides this generation. However, the remarkable diversity of conflicts and crises in which this generation served created a veteran generation with experience not only in fighting wars, but also building schools, curing diseases, fighting fires, and providing humanitarian assistance in the face of natural and manmade disasters. This means the post 9/11 veteran generation is returning home with extraordinary skills to lead and serve within their local communities. How does the post 9-11 veteran experience translate to public service? What is the role of the guard and the reserve in creating a bridge between military and public service, especially for the post 9-11 veteran generation? Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Elks Lodge, San Mateo, CA Featuring Justin Adney | Firefighter/Engineer, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Marine Reserve Cathy Cohn | Navy Veteran, Science Educator Mikhail Venikov | Army Veteran, Officer, San Mateo Police Department; Founder & CEO, RangerRoad Michael Wendler | Hoover Veteran Fellow, Judge, County of San Mateo Moderated by Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 Veteran, USAFR With special welcome by Susan Manheimer  | Chief of Police (Retired), San Mateo Police Department Jackie Speier | Former US Representative for San Mateo and  South San Francisco

One of the keys to China’s global rise has been its strategy of deploying sovereign wealth on behalf of state power. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, China has doubled down on financial statecraft, making shrewd investments with the sovereign funds it has built up by leveraging its foreign exchange reserves. Sovereign Funds tells the story of how the Communist Party of China (CPC) became a global financier of surpassing ambition. Dr. Liu offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the evolution of China’s sovereign funds, including the China Investment Corporation, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and Central Huijin Investment. Dr. Liu shows how these institutions have become mechanisms not only for transforming low-reward foreign exchange reserves into investment capital but also for power projection. Sovereign funds are essential drivers of the national interest, shaping global markets, advancing the historic Belt and Road Initiative, and funneling state assets into strategic industries such as semiconductors, fintech, and artificial intelligence. In the era of President Xi, state-owned financial institutions have become gatekeepers of the Chinese economy. Political and personal relationships with prestigious sovereign funds have enabled Blackstone to flourish in China and have fueled the ascendance of private tech giants such as Alibaba, Ant Finance, and Didi. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press). Dr. Liu completed her Ph.D at the Edwin Reischauer fellow at School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining CFR, Dr. Liu was an instructional assistant professor at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC, where she taught courses on global economy, economic statecraft, and Chinese foreign policy.

The Hoover Institution held a conversation on What is the Role of Future International Collaboration: Risks and Opportunities on January 22, 2024 from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PT. Dr. Thomas Mason addressed aspects of research openness and the daily need to protect the information that is critically important to universities, National Labs, the federal government, and the private sector. The conversation was followed by a 30 minute Q&A.  As a national security science laboratory Los Alamos National Lab has worked to strike the right balance between openness of research and protection of information for over eighty years. The talk addressed the historic importance of open international collaboration in fostering rapid innovation with economic and national security benefits while still recognizing the need to manage the risks that come with international engagement. SPEAKER Thomas Mason is the President and CEO of Triad National Security, LLC (Triad) and serves as the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Most recently he was the Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at Battelle where he had responsibility for governance and strategy across the six National Laboratories that Battelle manages or co-manages. Prior to joining Battelle, Thom worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for 19 years, including 10 years as the Laboratory Director. Under his leadership, ORNL saw significant growth in programs, new facilities, and hiring while achieving record low safety incident rates. Before becoming Laboratory Director, he was Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for Neutron Sciences, ALD for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), and Director of the Experimental Facilities Division. During his time in Oak Ridge, Thom was active in the community serving as Chair of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation as well as Innovation Valley, the Knoxville-Oak Ridge area regional economic development organization. He moved to ORNL from the University of Toronto where he was a faculty member in the Department of Physics and previously worked as a Senior Scientist at Risø National Laboratory and a Postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories. For the past 30 years, he has been involved in the design and construction of scientific instrumentation and facilities and the application of nuclear, computing, and materials sciences to solve important challenges in energy and national security. Thom has a Ph.D. in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from McMaster University and a BSc in Physics from Dalhousie University. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY Norbert Holtkamp is a Science Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Holtkamp is also a professor of particle physics and astrophysics and of photon science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University BACKGROUND International collaborations and research openness have been enormously beneficial to the United States supporting rapid advances of world leading Science & Technology in our country. They brought a large group of incredibly talented people from around the world to come work with US science and technology industry. In the end, many of them stayed which provided a pipeline for innovation and business growth helping to maintain a standard of “world leading.” The simple fact that others successfully try to copy the process should encourage the US to continue. In a changing world though where the standards of research openness are not shared anymore, managing the risks better than in the past becomes essential. Research openness and specifically international collaboration with friends and opponents always carries the risk of unwanted release of information. Industrial espionage in the private sector does have negative economic impact, can threaten national security, or lose competitive advantages. Over the past few years, there has been a significant rise in the systematic collection of intellectual property on a broad scale within the domains of private, public, and national security sectors. This development has had a profound impact on the global research community. Research openness is commonly understood and shared by much of the World’s science community and led by the US, for long was captured in a quite simple National Security Decision Directive (NSDD-189). Essentially: “It’s open until it’s classified”. While NSDD-189 wasn’t abandoned officially yet, effectively it has been in many instances. New definitions “CUI = Confidential but Unclassified Information,” central control of international collaboration agreements, top down managed travel restrictions of “going to” or “inviting in”, strictly enforced Conflict of Interest agreements are all existing elements in a new world that grapples with the balance between openness and benefit from it versus risk of losing. The US needs a pipeline of trained engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Without inviting a substantial foreign national contingent into our schools and universities from which many will typically stay, it is not clear that US demographics would even allow the US alone to fill this pipeline. Whether it is the academic or private sector: it is essential to understand in more detail how international collaboration provided and can provide in the future economic benefit, intelligence insight, faster scientific discoveries, and sometimes even aiding diplomatic efforts and continue to bring the best and brightest innovators to the US. As part of the project, each of these elements (faster scientific advance – economic benefit – intelligence & insight – demographics & talent recruiting) will be addressed.

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants focus on the alarming lack of trust in US elections among citizens. With over one-third of the nation expressing doubt about the reliability of the electoral process, the participants maintain that there exists a critical need for strengthening confidence to avoid impediments to the nation’s political leadership in governing effectively. Various strategies are discussed to address this crisis in confidence. These include conveying research findings, much of which is conducted by Hoover scholars, to dispel misconceptions that assert US elections are compromised by significant voter fraud or suppression. Additionally, the panelists emphasize the importance of enhancing communication with voters, providing clear information about the safeguards in the electoral system. They also advocate for improvements in the way the media reports election results, aiming to temper the intensity of public discourse, particularly in tightly contested races. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ben Ginsberg, Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution Justin Grimmer, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Lieutenant Governor Deidre M. Henderson, State of Utah Robb Willer, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University Moderator: Sarah Anzia, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Public Policy & Political Science, University of California-Berkeley ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants discuss the dearth of civil discourse at universities. It is suggested that university administrations are struggling to adapt to the pace of the social media environment and political pressures exerted on campuses from outside forces. Participants agree that faculty should focus on research and pedagogy. Instead of shutting down debate to evade controversy, they maintain, leadership in the academy should do a better job of listening and helping foster respectful conversations about society and politics with diverse points of view. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Anna Grzymala-Busse, Senior Fellow (courtesy), Hoover Institution; and Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies, Political Science, Stanford University Jonathan Holloway, President, Rutgers University Josiah Ober, Senior Fellow (courtesy), Hoover Institution; and The Markos & Eleni Kounalakis Chair in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics, Stanford University Keith Whittington, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University Moderator: Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, Political Science, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosted its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants discuss strengthening the American public’s trust in the US military. Despite the military enjoying greater trust compared to other institutions, its current level of 60 percent, as reported by a recent Gallup poll, still represents a recent decline. Participants suggest that rebuilding trust requires addressing the deficit of civics and history education. Further, citizens must understand that one of the pillars of US government is civilian control of the military. Participants also maintain that a component of restoring trust is preserving the warrior ethos and maintaining high standards of excellence among military personnel. The populace, participants maintain, should understand that the military is intended to protect and defend the country, and its mission should not be sidetracked by political agendas. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS The Honorable Joni Ernst, United States Senator for Iowa Peter Feaver, Professor of Political Science, Duke University General Jim Mattis, Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former Secretary of Defense Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former National Security Advisor Moderator: Stephen Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University In this keynote luncheon, David Kennedy, a distinguished visiting fellow at Hoover and a history professor at Stanford, offers a historical perspective on the American primary process. He outlines the effects of rule changes that followed the 1968 election, mandating the transfer of delegates to candidates based on the voters’ will rather than the discretion of party leaders in nominating contests. Kennedy is followed by Davies Family Senior Fellow, Emeritus, David Brady, who presents data demonstrating how primary voters from both major political parties invariably elect congressional candidates on their respective party’s extremes, fostering a political environment with no incentive for compromise. The session concludes with remarks by senior fellow, Stanford political scientist, and pollster Douglas Rivers, who provides an analysis of the 2024 presidential election, describing polling data that demonstrates distinct advantages for Republicans. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS David Brady, Davies Family Senior Fellow, Emeritus, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, Stanford University David Kennedy, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University Douglas Rivers, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Moderator: D. Sunshine Hillygus, Professor of Political Science, Duke University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1. 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosts its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, participants address how the US Congress can more effectively provide representation and regain the confidence of the American people. Panelists trace the decline in bipartisanship, attributing it to hyperpolarization that has grown across the twenty-first century. This polarization has resulted in legislative deadlocks, prompting occupants of the White House to act unilaterally instead of collaborating with Congress. Panelists identify egregious redistricting decisions as a factor contributing to polarization. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Sarah Binder, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution; and Professor of Political Science, George Washington University The Honorable Barbara Comstock, former US Representative (VA-10) The Honorable Dan Lipinski, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and former US Representative (IL-3) Jonathan Rodden, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University Moderator: Brandice Canes-Wrone, Director of the Center for Revitalizing Institutions and Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

December 1. 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) hosted its “State of American Institutions” conference on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1. In this panel, scholars discuss the legitimacy of regulatory agencies in the executive branch. Concerns are raised about the unelected nature of the administrative state and its potential encroachment on the lawmaking authority of elected representatives. Scholars also address how regulatory agencies can bring technical expertise, emphasizing the integral role of presidential leadership and management in assessing the feasibility of agency decisions. It is further advanced that Congress could restrain regulatory agencies by bolstering its own staffing and resources, ensuring relevant expertise for effective oversight of executive branch decision making. For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/state-american-institutions-center-revitalizing-american-institutions ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Philip Hamburger, Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School Michael McConnell, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law, Stanford University Andrew Rudalevige, Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government, Bowdoin College Sharece Thrower, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Associate Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University Moderator: Daniel Kessler, Keith and Jan Hurlbut Senior Fellow and Director of Research, Hoover Institution; and Professor of Management and Law, Stanford University ABOUT THE CENTER FOR REVITALIZING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS (RAI): In an objective, non-partisan spirit, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) draws on the Hoover Institution’s scholarship, government experience, and convening power to study the reasons behind the crisis in trust facing American institutions, analyze how they are operating in practice, and consider policy recommendations to rebuild trust and increase their effectiveness. Learn more: https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/center-revitalizing-american-institutions

November 30, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Governors Wes Moore (D-Maryland) and Christopher Sununu (R-New Hampshire) in conversation with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice offering perspectives on the state of American institutions on Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 4:30 PM PT.  Governors Wes Moore (D-Maryland) and Christopher Sununu (R-New Hampshire) in conversation with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice offering perspectives on the state of American institutions.  In a bipartisanship spirit, the governors and Director Rice shared insights on how trust in and the efficacy of governmental institutions can be improved as well as the challenges of doing so in a polarized environment. Panelists shared their perspectives as chief executives and weighed in on reforms to improve democracy at all levels of government.   ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Governor Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland and is the state’s first Black Governor. Moore earned an Associate’s degree from Valley Forge Military Academy and College and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He earned his Bachelor’s in international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was the university’s first Black Rhodes Scholar. Moore served as a captain in the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan and was the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation. He also worked in finance with Deutsche Bank in London and with Citigroup in New York. He and his wife Dawn Flythe Moore have two children. Governor Christopher Sununu is the 82nd Governor of the State of New Hampshire and is currently serving his fourth term, receiving in 2020 more votes ever than any candidate in state history. With Governor Sununu's leadership, New Hampshire is ranked the #1 state in the country for personal freedoms by Cato Institute. Chris grew up in Salem, NH. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with a BS in Civil/Environmental Engineering. As an environmental engineer, Chris worked for ten years cleaning up hazardous waste sites across the country. Governor Sununu lives in Newfields with his wife, Valerie, and their three children. Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion between Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, LTG (ret) H.R. McMaster, and Veteran Fellowship Program Fellows Megan Andros and Dave Foster. When veterans return home, they are not only supported by society, but also contributors to that society. Significant focus has been placed on the challenge of reintegrating post 9-11 veterans within a community that feels increasingly separated from the military. What is the role of the post 9-11 veteran in their local communities? How can the post 9-11 experience help solve local problems, like homelessness, disabilities, and community project financing? Can we move beyond “reintegration” to decrease the divide between an all-volunteer force and the society from which their members come? Friday, November 10, 2023 – Valley Forge Military Academy and College, Wayne PA Featuring U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan | Pennsylvania's 6th District LTG H.R. McMaster, USA (Ret.) | Hoover Senior Fellow Megan Andros | Hoover Veteran Fellow 2021-2022 Dave Foster | Hoover Veteran Fellow 2022-2023 Moderated by  Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, post-9/11 veteran, USAFR With special welcome by Col. Stuart B. Helgeson, USMCR (Ret.) | President, Valley Forge Military Academy and College 

The Hoover History held a Book Talk with Melvyn P. Leffler - Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq on Friday, October 27, 2023 at 12:00 PM PT. America’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 was highly contentious at the time, and continues to divide opinion severely. In some ways it could be considered the most important foreign policy choice of the so-called post-Cold War era. Melvyn Leffler revisits this episode armed with a unique set of personal interviews with dozens of top officials as well as a wealth of declassified American and British documents. The new documentation is extraordinary, and Leffler vividly recaptures the emotions and anxieties that shaped the thinking of the president after the shock of 9/11 – hubris, yes, but also fear, and responsibility to protect the homeland amid uncertainty. Leffler reminds us that no one should be mistaken about Saddam Hussein's brutality, unpredictability, and intransigence, but subjects Washington’s decision-making to sustained, and judicious, scrutiny. Who made the decision for war? How did the decision take shape? Why did it not turn out the way its initiators intended?  What lessons can we take from the Iraq War and its aftermath? FEATURING Melvyn P. Leffler Professor of American History Emeritus University of Virginia MODERATED BY Stephen Kotkin Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution Director, Hoover History Lab

Monday, October 30, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Matthew Lowenstein. The history of the rise and decline of horse populations provide a framework to understand how humans could initially benefit from AI, only to become obsolete later on, challenging optimistic forecasts about AI's impact. The paper is divided into three main sections: 1) introduction, including a brief summary of the premises of the horse analogy, 2) an account of human and horse interaction over approximately 6,000 years, highlighting how technological advancement led to a rise in horse populations, followed by collapse, and 3) a theoretical exploration of AI existential risk, using the eventual collapse in horse populations as a proof of concept.    By drawing parallels between the human domestication of horses and a potential future dominated by Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), the paper shows specifically why neither Ricardian trade nor competition amongst different ASIs are likely to protect humans from existential calamity. The paper encourages a critical approach to future AI-human dynamics, drawing upon lessons from past human-animal relations. Though the analogy has limitations, it provides insights into any scenario where a more intelligent agent significantly impacts a less intelligent one. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Matthew Lowenstein is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies the economic history of modern China from the late imperial period to the early People’s Republic. His dissertation, which he is currently turning into a book, is a study of northern China’s indigenous financial system from the late Qing to the early Republican period (ca. 1820–1911). Other interests include the history of traditional Chinese accounting, the political economy of warlordism, and the history of central economic planning. Lowenstein received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lowenstein previously worked as a securities analyst in Beijing and New York covering the Chinese financial sector. His nonacademic works have appeared in the Diplomat and Foreign Policy.

Secretary Condoleezza Rice & FBI Director Christopher Wray talk about Emerging Threats, Innovation, and Security with international partners Director-General Mike Burgess, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Director General Ken McCallum, British Security Service (MI5), Director David Vigneault, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and Director-General Andrew Hampton, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at 10:30 AM PT.

Monday, October 16, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University The Year That Broke Politics describes the unknown story of the election that set the tone for today’s fractured politics. The 1968 presidential race was a contentious battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and former Alabama governor George Wallace. The United States was reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and was bitterly divided on the Vietnam War and domestic issues, including civil rights and rising crime. Drawing on previously unexamined archives and numerous interviews, The Year That Broke Politics upends conventional understanding of the crucial campaign, showing how it created a new template and tone for election battles, which still resonates into today’s fractured political climate. The book is the first rigorously researched historical account of the most controversial election in modern U.S. history to have cooperation from all four major sides – Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and George Wallace. Luke interviewed approximately 85 family members and former staffers, in addition to extensive archival research and access to new evidence that dramatically changes our understanding of the election. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Luke A. Nichter is professor of history and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus on the "long 1960s" from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Massachusetts Historical Society, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan's Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Rothermere American Institute, and a Hansard Research Scholar at the London School of Economics. He is the author of eight books, including most recently The Year That Broke Politics, which was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, as well as The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War. He has been interviewed by, or written for, outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fortune, CBS’s “CBS This Morning,” ABC’s “20/20,” National Public Radio’s “Here and Now,” and many more. Luke is also a former founding Executive Producer of C-SPAN's American History TV, launched during January 2011 in 41 million homes. He divides his time between Orange, CA, and Bowling Green, OH.

A Post-9/11 Veteran Town Hall Discussion between Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, Maj. Gen. Angie Salinas, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) Veteran Fellowship Program Fellows Donnie Hasseltine, Trill Paullin, and Adrian Perkins Tuesday, October 10, 2023 - Patriot’s CASA, Texas A&M San Antonio Veterans are both a reflection of and a contributor to our society. How post-9/11 veterans think about this relationship plays a large role in how this generation will leave their mark on American communities and military. Who, then, is the post 9-11 veteran? What relationship do they have with the American society to which they returned? What shared identity defines this generation of veterans? And how will their experiences shape their communities, our societies, our governance, and the force of the future? And what will be their legacy? For more information, visit https://www.hoover.org/events/who-post-911-veteran-defining-generation.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Josiah Ober and Brook Manville, authors of The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives.   ABOUT THE BOOK Is democracy in trouble, perhaps even dying? Pundits say so, and polls show that most Americans believe that their country’s system of governance is being “tested” or is “under attack.” But is the future of democracy necessarily so dire? In The Civic Bargain, Brook Manville and Josiah Ober push back against the prevailing pessimism about the fate of democracy around the world. Instead of an epitaph for democracy, they offer a guide for democratic renewal, calling on citizens to recommit to a “civic bargain” with one another to guarantee civic rights of freedom, equality, and dignity. That bargain also requires them to fulfill the duties of democratic citizenship: governing themselves with no “boss” except one another, embracing compromise, treating each other as civic friends, and investing in civic education for each rising generation. Manville and Ober trace the long progression toward self-government through four key moments in democracy’s history: Classical Athens, Republican Rome, Great Britain’s constitutional monarchy, and America’s founding. Comparing what worked and what failed in each case, they draw out lessons for how modern democracies can survive and thrive. Manville and Ober show that democracy isn’t about getting everything we want; it’s about agreeing on a shared framework for pursuing our often conflicting aims. Crucially, citizens need to be able to compromise, and must not treat one another as political enemies. And we must accept imperfection; democracy is never finished but evolves and renews itself continually. As long as the civic bargain is maintained—through deliberation, bargaining, and compromise—democracy will live. Tuesday, September 19, 2023 | 10:00 am PT / 1:00pm ET 

The Hoover Institution held a Book Talk with Timothy Garton Ash: Homelands: A Personal History of Europe on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM PT.  This in-person-only event featured Condoleezza Rice, Michael McFaul, and Tobias Wolff in conversation with Timothy Garton Ash about his new book Homelands: A Personal History of Europe.  In Homelands, Timothy Garton Ash gives a unique account of the history of Europe since 1945, in which the United States has been a vital actor. This is history illustrated by memoir and reportage. Drawing on his extensive personal notes from 50 years of events witnessed, places visited and history makers encountered (from Margaret Thatcher to Vladimir Putin), Garton Ash charts the rise and then faltering of the quest for a 'Europe whole and free’. In this panel discussion, he was in conversation with two US scholar-practitioners who have played a significant part in that history, one of America's finest writers and a leading Stanford political scientist.  Featuring Timothy Garton Ash, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of European studies at Oxford University, is an internationally acclaimed contemporary historian. He is the author of ten previous books which have chronicled and analyzed the history of Europe over the last half-century. They include The Magic Lantern, his eyewitness account of the velvet revolutions of 1989, The File, his investigation of his own Stasi file, and In Europe's Name: Germany and the Divided Continent. Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.      Michael McFaul is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as a professor of political science, director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also currently works as a news analyst for NBC.  His areas of expertise include international relations, Russian politics, comparative democratization, and American foreign policy. Tobias Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor, Emeritus for Stanford University's Department of English in the School of Humanities and Sciences. A short story writer, memoirist, and novelist, Wolff is most known for his works This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army released in 1989 and 1994, respectively. Moderated By  Anna Grzymala-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor in the Department of Political Science, the director of the Europe Center, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. Her research focuses on religion and politics, authoritarian political parties and their successors, and the historical development of the state.

A Hoover History Lab Discussion between Kleinheinz Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin and Sergei Guriev, provost and professor of economics at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) Many analysts are skeptical about the effects of the sweeping sanctions imposed by the West on Russia – pointing to the Kremlin’s apparent ability to weather and circumvent the harsh measures. They say that Russia’s resilience to this onslaught is due to its geostrategic advantages including the sprawling Eurasian landmass and its relationships with China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and a number of Central Asian countries that declined to join the sanctions regime. These skeptics also highlight perverse and unintended consequences of the sanctions, including driving economic activity underground, spurring criminal forms of commerce, and helping the Putin regime strengthen control over the private sector and oligarchs.  What is the actual story?  What are the facts, consequences, responses, paradoxes, and long-term effects of the sanctions on Russia?  Has Russia become vulnerable economically? This conversation explores these questions and more. For more information on the Hoover History lab, click here - https://www.hoover.org/history-lab.

August 15, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Michael Hartney, a Hoover Fellow and Rick Hess, a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute on Rick's book The Great School Rethink. ABOUT THE AUTHOR  Rick Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on K–12 and higher education issues. The author of Education Week’s popular blog “Rick Hess Straight Up,” Dr. Hess is also an executive editor of Education Next, and a Forbes senior contributor. He is the founder and chairman of AEI’s Conservative Education Reform Network.  ABOUT THE BOOK  An invigorating examination of the potential for meaningful change in education, from one of the nation's most astute observers of schooling and school improvement.  In The Great School Rethink, education policy sentinel Rick Hess offers a pithy and perceptive appraisal of American schooling and finds, in the uncertain period following pandemic disruption, an ideal moment to reimagine US education. Now is the time, he asserts, to ask hard questions about how schools use time and talent, how they work with parents, what they do with digital tools, and how they meet the needs of their communities.  As Hess explains, to rethink is to acknowledge the realities of the education system while opening one’s mind to possibility. With characteristic verve and wit, Hess guides readers through his rethink process, a versatile and easily implemented approach to identifying issues and brainstorming possible responses. He encourages readers to explore what improvements might alleviate current pressures and frustrations, such as teacher shortages and burnout, declining student performance, and compromised learning time. Whether their goal is to achieve better student engagement, increase parent involvement, or implement personalized learning, readers will develop the mindset to ask the right questions, to fully understand the problem that’s being solved, and to evaluate the probable effectiveness of proposed solutions.  Brimming with challenging questions, robust exercises, and eye-opening data, this book is a must-read for education professionals, parent advocates, and anyone passionate about the future of American education.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Matt Pottinger is a distinguished visiting fellow and Sean Mirski a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution on Sean's book We May Dominate The World: Ambition, Anxiety, And The Rise Of The American Colossus. Thursday, July 27, 2023 | 10:00 am PT / 1:00pm ET  ABOUT THE AUTHOR  Sean A. Mirski is a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution. Mirski is a lawyer and U.S. foreign policy scholar who has worked on national security issues across multiple U.S. presidential administrations. A term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he currently practices national security, foreign relations, and appellate law at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. He previously served in the U.S. Department of Defense under both Republican and Democratic administrations as Special Counsel to the General Counsel, where he earned the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. Mirski has written extensively on American history, international relations, law, and politics, including as editor of the book Crux of Asia: China, India, and the Emerging Global Order (CEIP 2013). Earlier in his career, he clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices and served as a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Named one of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30,” he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago. ABOUT THE BOOK  What did it take for the United States to become a global superpower? The answer lies in a missing chapter of American foreign policy with stark lessons for today.  The cutthroat world of international politics has always been dominated by great powers. Yet no great power in the modern era has ever managed to achieve the kind of invulnerability that comes from being completely supreme in its own neighborhood. No great power, that is, except one—the United States.   In We May Dominate the World, Sean A. Mirski tells the riveting story of how the United States became a regional hegemon in the century following the Civil War. By turns reluctant and ruthless, Americans squeezed their European rivals out of the hemisphere while landing forces on their neighbors’ soil with dizzying frequency. Mirski reveals the surprising reasons behind this muscular foreign policy in a narrative full of twists, colorful characters, and original accounts of the palace coups and bloody interventions that turned the fledgling republic into a global superpower.   Today, as China makes its own run at regional hegemony and nations like Russia and Iran grow more menacing, Mirski’s fresh look at the rise of the American colossus offers indispensable lessons for how to meet the challenges of our own century.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism and David Davenport, research fellow emeritus, and co-author of the recently released Hoover Institution Press book Equality of Opportunity: A Century of Debate on Thursday, June 22, 2023 at 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET. ABOUT THE AUTHOR  David Davenport is a research fellow emeritus at the Hoover Institution specializing in constitutional federalism, civic education, modern American conservatism, and international law. Davenport is the former president of Pepperdine University (1985–2000). Under his leadership, the university experienced significant growth in quality and reputation. He is the cofounder of Common Sense California and the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership. He also served on the board of California Forward, a major bipartisan reform group, and was a member of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review Commission. He is a former senior fellow of the Ashbrook Center, where he worked on civic education projects.  With his colleague Gordon Lloyd, Davenport has authored How Public Policy Became War (2019), Rugged Individualism: Dead or Alive? (2017), The New Deal and Modern American Conservatism: A Defining Rivalry (2013); a fourth book, Equality of Opportunity: A Century of Debate, is forthcoming in 2023. These books offer distinctive ways of understanding both historic and current debates between progressives and conservatives in the United States. Davenport is also completing a coauthored book on the civic education crisis. ABOUT THE BOOK  For over one hundred years, Americans have debated what equality of opportunity means and the role of government in ensuring it. Are we born with equality of opportunity, and must we thus preserve our innate legal and political freedoms? Or must it be created through laws and policies that smooth out social or economic inequalities? David Davenport and Gordon Lloyd trace the debate as it has evolved from America’s founding into the twentieth century, when the question took on greater prominence. The authors use original sources and historical reinterpretations to revisit three great debates and their implications for the discussions today. First, they imagine the Founders, especially James Madison, arguing the case against the Progressives, particularly Woodrow Wilson. Next are two conspicuous public dialogues: Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s debate around the latter’s New Deal; and Ronald Reagan’s response to Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society and War on Poverty. The conservative-progressive divide in this discussion has persisted, setting the stage for understanding the differing views about equality of opportunity today. The historical debates offer illuminating background for the question: Where do we go from here?

The Hoover Institution hosts The Siberia Job | A Book Event on Wednesday, June 7, 2022 at 5:00 pm PT in Hauck Auditorium.  Stephen Kotkin in conversation with John Kleinheinz to discuss the new book, The Siberia Job. Introduction by Condoleezza Rice. PARTICIPANT BIOS Stephen Kotkin is a Hoover senior fellow and a Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University. In addition to conducting research in the Hoover Library and Archives for three decades, he is also founder of Princeton’s Global History Initiative. Kotkin’s research and publications encompasses geopolitics and authoritarian regimes in history and in the present, and he has also participated in numerous National Intelligence Council events over the years.   John Kleinheinz is the CEO of Kleinheinz Capital Partners, Inc., the investment advisor for the Global Undervalued Securities Fund, a global-macro themed hedge fund which at its peak managed $4 billion. He returned outside capital to investors in 2013 after a successful 20-year career. John continues to manage the Fund, which is active in a variety of areas including Japan, US energy/technology markets and private equity. He is also a lead investor in efforts to develop high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston. Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. ABOUT THE BOOK A Texas businessman travels to the furthest reaches of post-Soviet Russia in search of the country’s new wealth ― and finds new dangers as well. Based on true events. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the newly-established Russian government privatized its industry by issuing vouchers to all of its citizens, allowing them the chance to be shareholders in the country’s burgeoning businesses. The slips are distributed among the population and auctions are arranged where they can be exchanged for actual shares. For the country’s rural populations living in abject poverty, the vouchers appear to be little more than pieces of paper, totally separated from the far-off concept of potential future fortunes.  But for Texas businessman John Mills and his Czech companion, Petr Kovac, the seemingly-valueless chits suggest a lucrative potential, worth much more than what the current owners are willing to sell them for. They travel to the furthest, coldest reaches of the country to acquire vouchers for the country’s national oil company, Gazneft, roving from town to town with suitcases full of cash. But they quickly learn that the plan has complications ― for example, the fact that the auctions at which these vouchers are traded for actual shares have been planned at the most remote, inaccessible locations possible to deter outsiders from buying in. And when the Russian mafia and the oligarchs in charge of Gazneft catch wind of their successes, the stakes become suddenly more deadly. A thrilling adventure inspired by true events, The Siberia Job charts a course through one of the most impactful periods in recent Russian history, whose reverberations continue to be felt in the present day.

June 1, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism and Bertrand M. Patenaude, a research fellow and author of the recently released Hoover Institution Press book Bread + Medicine: American Famine Relief in Soviet Russia, 1921–1923 on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 10:00 am PT/ 1:00pm ET. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Bertrand M. Patenaude is the author of The Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia in the Famine of 1921 (Stanford University Press, 2002). Joan Nabseth Stevenson received her PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Stanford University. She is the author of Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter and Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. ABOUT THE BOOK  A century ago, the Soviet Union faced a catastrophic famine, brought on by the disruptions of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the Russian Civil War; draconian Soviet economic policies; and a severe drought. As millions of people faced starvation and hunger-related disease, the Russian writer Maxim Gorky issued an appeal for help, asking “all honest European and American people for prompt aid to the Russian people. Give bread and medicine.” One person was uniquely situated to answer the call: Herbert Hoover, chair of the American Relief Administration (ARA), who had achieved worldwide fame as the organizer and administrator of large-scale humanitarian relief operations during and following World War I. American relief helped millions survive the famine of 1921–23. While the role of food aid has been well documented, Bread + Medicine focuses on the lesser-known story of America’s medical intervention, including a large-scale vaccination drive, and treatment of famine-related diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and typhus and hunger-related deficiency diseases, especially among children. The ARA’s medical relief program proved essential to the overall success of its mission. Bread + Medicine, richly illustrated with photographs, posters, and documents from the Hoover Library & Archives, tells that story in vivid detail.

Looking at Russia in 2023, it is now clear that much has remained unchanged from Soviet times. The biggest change is the elimination of communist central planning, which made Russia’s regime stronger despite the initial turmoil of the 1990s. This paper offers a clue as to why the communist economic management system had to go, and why the KGB’s foreign intelligence and trade cadres, many of them based in Leningrad, came out on top of the refurbished new-old system, and did so with a vengeance. Tomasz’s latest paper explores the roots of the Soviet collapse as it unfolded in the port economy of Leningrad, and the critical lessons that a group of local KGB officers drew from that process. These lessons helped them to recover from the setbacks of 1991 and to eventually take the helm of the Russian Federation in the 2000s. It was the KGB-covered smuggling schemes of late communism that provided the model for the Putin regime to spread its crony ways domestically and corrupt Western institutions abroad. Washington Post reporter Kathryn Belton wrote that “What had begun as corruption within the system became a KGB-cultivated petri dish for the future market economy.” This paper expands this apt metaphor with concrete examples of how that mechanism worked in practice amidst the late communist realities of Leningrad's maritime economy. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Tomasz Blusiewicz is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Blusiewicz is a historian of modern Europe and Russia, with emphasis on the intersection of economics, trade, and politics in the Baltic Sea region. He is currently working on his first book manuscript, Return of the Hanseatic League, or How the Baltic Sea Trade Washed Away the Iron Curtain, 1945–1991. In it, he develops a transnational perspective on the Baltic region, from Hamburg in the west to Leningrad in the east, and highlights the role played by Hanseatic port cities such as Rostock, Gdańsk, Kaliningrad, and Riga, all of which served as “windows to the world” linking Communist-controlled Europe with the globalizing world in the Cold War era. Between 2017 and 2022, Blusiewicz worked as a history professor at the University of Tyumen, Russia. He helped to establish the only remaining English-language liberal arts college in Russia, the School of Advanced Studies, in the West Siberian city of Tyumen. There he designed and taught more than ten courses on modern history and international relations until March 2022, when he resigned from his position in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Blusiewicz also designed, launched, and directed a master’s program in Analytics and Consulting in International Relations. This program was taught in English mostly by US-educated scholars and professionals until it was suspended by the authorities in March 2022.

A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Jeremy Friedman. In the first decades after World War II, many newly independent Asian and African countries and established Latin American states pursued a socialist development model. Ripe for Revolution traces the socialist experiment over forty years through the experience of five countries: Indonesia, Chile, Tanzania, Angola, and Iran. These states sought paths to socialism without formal adherence to programs that Soviets, East Germans, Cubans, Chinese, and other outsiders tried to promote. Instead, they attempted to forge ahead through trial and error. All five countries would become Cold War battlegrounds and regional models, as new policies in one shaped evolving conceptions of development in another. Lessons from the collapse of democracy in Indonesia were later applied in Chile, just as the challenge of political Islam in Indonesia informed the policies of the left in Iran. Efforts to build agrarian economies in West Africa influenced Tanzania’s approach to socialism, which in turn influenced the trajectory of the Angolan model. Ripe for Revolution shows socialism as more adaptable and pragmatic than often supposed. When we view it through the prism of a Stalinist orthodoxy, we miss its real effects and legacies, both good and bad. To understand how socialism succeeds and fails, and to grasp its evolution and potential horizons, we must do more than read manifestos. We must attend to history. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Jeremy Friedman is the Marvin Bower associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. Previously, he was associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University. He studies the history of communism, socialism, and revolution over the course of the twentieth century, as revolutionary battlegrounds shifted from the industrialized countries to the developing world in the wake of decolonization. He is the author of Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World (2015), and has published in Cold War History and Modern China Studies, as well as The National Interest, The Diplomat, and The Moscow Times.

April 6, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Sir Paul Tucker. Paul Tucker will be sharing his new book, Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order, which considers the geopolitics and legitimacy of the international economic and legal system. The book develops an analysis of the history and future of the international order from the perspective of incentives-values compatibility, that is, the connection between self-enforcing equilibria and history-dependent legitimation principles. Using this framework, the book identifies vulnerabilities and design flaws in today’s international monetary order, trade system, investment order, and international financial system. April 6, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Sir Paul Tucker. Paul Tucker will be sharing his new book, Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order, which considers the geopolitics and legitimacy of the international economic and legal system. The book develops an analysis of the history and future of the international order from the perspective of incentives-values compatibility, that is, the connection between self-enforcing equilibria and history-dependent legitimation principles. Using this framework, the book identifies vulnerabilities and design flaws in today’s international monetary order, trade system, investment order, and international financial system. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Sir Paul Tucker is a Research Fellow of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. He was formerly the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, sitting on its monetary policy, financial stability, and prudential policy committees. Internationally, he was a member of the G20 Financial Stability Board, chairing its group on resolving too-big-to-fail groups; and a director of the Bank for International Settlements, chairing its Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems. He was knighted in 2014. He is the author of Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State (2018), which charts how the extraordinary power of unelected central bankers and regulators needs to be structured and checked in the interest of democratic legitimacy. His other activities include being a director at Swiss Re, president of the UK’s National Institute for Economic and Social Research, a senior fellow at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard, a member of the advisory board of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, and a governor of the Ditchley Foundation.

March 27, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Luke Nichter, Geoff Shepard, and Dwight Chapin. New evidence has surfaced in the fifty years since President Nixon’s resignation. This seminar gathers together three prominent authorities on Watergate, the biggest political scandal of the 20th century. For 50 years, we were taught a carefully curated history of Watergate. It was the nation’s greatest political scandal: a White House-led cover-up, the only resignation of a sitting president, and the conviction of some two dozen members of Richard Nixon’s administration. However, with the opening of new archival material, a fuller history emerges that prompts us to challenge what was previously known. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Luke A. Nichter is a Professor of History and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus on the "long 1960s" from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. He is a noted expert on Richard Nixon's 3,432 hours of secret White House tapes, and a New York Times bestselling author or editor of seven books, the most recent of which is The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War. Luke’s next book project, under contract with Yale University Press, is tentatively titled The Making of the President, 1968: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, George Wallace, and the Election that Changed America, for which he was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2020-2021. The book draws on interviews with approximately 85 family members and former staffers, in addition to extensive archival research involving first-time access to a number of key collections that will recast our understanding of the 1968 election. Geoff Shepard is an attorney and former official in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He came to Washington in 1969 as a White House Fellow, after graduating from Harvard Law School. He then joined John Ehrlichman’s Domestic Council staff at the Nixon White House, where he served for five years and worked closely with senior officials at the Department of Justice. As a result, he knew and had worked with virtually all of the major Watergate figures. He also worked on President Nixon’s Watergate defense team, where he was principal deputy to the President’s lead lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt. In that capacity, he helped transcribe the White House tapes, ran the document rooms holding the seized files of H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Dean, and staffed White House counselors Bryce Harlow and Dean Birch on Watergate issues and developments. Over the past decade, Geoff has uncovered internal documents within the Watergate Special Prosecution Force that call into question everything we’ve been told about Watergate. His first book, The Secret Plot to Make Ted Kennedy President (2008), focuses on the political intrigue behind the successful exploitation of the Watergate scandal by Kennedy administration loyalists. His second book, The Real Watergate Scandal, Collusion, Conspiracy and the Plot that Brought Nixon Down (2015), focuses on judicial and prosecutorial abuses in the Watergate prosecutions. His third book, The Nixon Conspiracy, Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President (2021), describes prosecutors’ work with the House Judiciary Committee to bring about Nixon’s impeachment. Dwight Chapin worked as the Personal Aide to former Vice President Richard Nixon during his presidential campaign, becoming Special Assistant to the President after Nixon’s election victory. He became Deputy Assistant to the President in 1971, and visited China three times: with Henry Kissinger in October of 1971, with Alexander Haig in January of 1972, and with President Nixon in February of 1972. Chapin served as “Acting Chief of Protocol” for these trips. Chapin remained in his role as Deputy Assistant until he left the White House Staff in March 1973. Chapin was also President and Publisher of Success Magazine for five years, and later served in Asia as Managing Director of Hill and Knowlton Public Relations. In 1988 Chapin established Chapin enterprises, an independent communications consultancy, which he operated for the next thirty years. Chapin published an in-depth memoirs about his time with Nixon, The President’s Man (2022), which relates his memorable experiences and concludes with new insights about the break-in that brought down Nixon’s presidency.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Terry Moe, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University, and Philip K. Howard, author of Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 10:00 am PT/ 1:00pm ET. ABOUT THE AUTHOR  Philip K. Howard. Philip is a leader of government and legal reform in America. He is Chair of Common Good.  In 2002, Philip formed Common Good, a nonpartisan coalition dedicated to simplifying laws so that Americans can use common sense in daily choices. His 2010 TED Talk has been viewed by more than 750,000 people. His 2015 report, “Two Years, Not Ten Years,” exposed the economic and environmental costs of delayed infrastructure approvals, and its proposals have since been incorporated into federal law.   ABOUT THE BOOK  “Elected leaders come and go, but public unions just say no.” Hiding in plain sight is a fatal defect of modern democracy. Public employee unions have a death grip on the operating machinery of government. Schools can’t work, bad cops can’t be fired, and politicians sell their souls for union support. With this searing five-point indictment, Philip K. Howard argues that union controls have disempowered elected executives and should be unconstitutional. Union power in government happened almost by accident in the 1960s, ostensibly to give public unions the same bargaining rights as trade unions. But government bargaining is not about dividing profits, but making political choices about public priorities. Moreover, the political nature of decision-making allowed unions to provide campaign support to friendly officials. Public bargaining became collusive. The unions brag about it: “We elect our own bosses.” Sitting on both sides of the bargaining table has allowed public unions to turn the democratic hierarchy upside down. Elected officials answer to public employees. Basic tools of good government have been eliminated. There’s no accountability, detailed union entitlements make government largely unmanageable and unaffordable, and public policies are driven by what is good for public employees, not what is good for the public. Public unions keep it that way by brute political force—harnessing the huge cohort of public employees into a political force dedicated to preventing the reform of government. The solution, Howard argues, is not political but constitutional. America’s republican form of government requires an executive branch that is empowered to implement public policies, not one shackled to union controls. Public employees have a fiduciary duty to serve the public and should not be allowed to organize politically to harm the public. This short book could unlock a door to fixing a broken democracy.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism and Morris P. Fiorina, a senior fellow and author of the recently released Hoover Institution Press book Who Governs? Emergency Powers in the Time of COVID on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 10:00 am PT/ 1:00pm ET.

Guest Speaker: Matt Ridley Matt Ridley gave a presentation that challenged the conventional wisdom of carbon emissions, arguing that CO2 may provide more benefits than costs to the environment. Ridley outlined several benefits, principally the global greening of land and the oceans. When there is more CO2 in the atmosphere, vegetation can rely less on scarce water supplies. More CO2 would also result in higher yields and longer growing seasons, meaning that more land can be used for nature reserves. He maintained that more CO2 also translates into warmer winters and, in turn, fewer people dying from cold temperatures. ___________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Steven Koonin, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution. Chair: Ronald Bailey, science correspondent, Reason Magazine. Steven Koonin argued that many advocates of sweeping mandates for climate change frequently peddle misinformation, promote extreme scenarios as the consequence of global temperature rises, and smear critics of their arguments as “deniers” and with other detractions. Koonin then presented several examples from his research that provide context for environmental trends that are usually omitted from the prevailing literature on the subject. Niall Ferguson examined the rhetoric of proponents of drastic action against climate change, many of whom assert that, if the policies they favor aren’t adopted, the world will experience a catastrophe involving extraordinarily high temperatures, precipitation, and sea levels. __________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Mark P. Mills, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute; and David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy, University of California–San Diego. Chair: Neil Chatterjee, senior advisor, Hogan Lovells, and former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Mark Mills argued that ambitious goals to achieve zero carbon emissions in the coming decades are delusional. He said that over the past 20 years, after $5 trillion spent worldwide, there hasn’t been any significant movement toward transitions to renewables. Today, global energy derived from wood exceeds that of solar and wind power combined (which make up just 3 percent of all fuels).  Moreover, a rapid transition to these other renewable sources, including batteries, would require a level of mineral extraction never seen in history. In his first of four points, David Victor described the fragmented policy action in countering various pollutants. In replacing carbon, some alternative energies are farther along than others. Meanwhile, some industries face bigger challenges from other pollutants, such as aviation through the emission of contrail clouds from jet engines. These and other segments of the economy have different features that will determine if a market-driven or a mandate-based approach is more effective at mitigating environmental damage. Niall Ferguson examined the rhetoric of proponents of drastic action against climate change, many of whom believe that if the policies they favor aren’t adopted, the world will experience a catastrophe involving extraordinarily high temperatures, precipitation, and sea levels. _______________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Christopher Costello, distinguished professor of resource economics, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California—Santa Barbara; and Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law, Stanford University Law School. Chair: Dominic Parker, Ilene and Morton Harris Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution. During his remarks, Christopher Costello articulated the advantages of markets over regulatory approaches to conservation and mitigation of harms inflicted on the environment. As an example, he described that the coastal waters of Santa Barbara are home not only to one of the most biodiverse maritime habitats in America but also to some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. These circumstances have resulted in large container vessels causing harm to maritime wildlife while traveling to and from the Port of Los Angeles. Buzz Thompson provided another example of the feasibility of markets for environmental protection. Delivery of water from the Colorado River was weakening the flow of its stream and, in turn, endangering its fish population. He explained that limiting water to farmers would have been a daunting challenge. Understanding this reality, authorities instead paid farmers for access to their water rights so that they could strengthen the flow of the river. ___________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences, University of Southern California; and Maria Waldinger, Deputy Director of the Ifo Center for Labor and Demographic Economics. Chair: Terry Anderson, John and Jean DeNault Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution. Maria Waldinger provided a historical analysis of how societies have adapted to climate conditions. The oldest adaptation strategy was migration, she explained, which was more easily achieved when societies were nomadic and there were no political boundaries. More modern societies have adopted various processes to ensure their survival. She explained that crop failures were an omnipresent feature of European societies between the 14th and 19th centuries, a period of regional cooling that has been referred to as the “little ice age.” Matthew Khan outlined to the audience how markets can provide optimal incentives for adaption to climate change and reduce its economic effects. If enough people are facing a challenge, markets are the mechanisms that can empower entrepreneurs to produce and deliver innovations, Kahn maintained. ______________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Sanjai Bhagat, professor of finance at the University of Colorado–Boulder; and John H. Cochrane, Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution. Chair: John Taylor, George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institution. Sanjai Bhagat explained that ESG investing principles and new standards of corporate social responsibility are not based on the fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value. They are primarily centered, he said, on maintaining the well-being of societal stakeholders, including customers, employers, suppliers, and communities, as well as particular objectives such as environmental justice. John Cochrane asserted that the Security and Exchange Commission’s plan to enforce ESG investment practices isn’t based on “saving the planet” but on bending corporations to serve a particular political agenda. Echoing Bhagat, Cochrane said the ESG mandates would not maximize shareholder value. It would instead deny capital to companies, lower their asset prices, and curb returns to investors. ESG mandates would also pervert markets, destroy competition, and encourage some companies to rent-seek from the government. ____________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Presenters: Terry Anderson, John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and Dominic Parker, Ilene and Morton Harris Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution. Terry Anderson began the conference sessions by providing definitions for mandates and markets in their environmental contexts. Mandates (or rules) means that politics and administrations assign environmental objectives and use fixed command-and-control mechanisms to achieve them. On the other hand, markets are based on processes whereby resource owners respond to changing values.  Dominic Parker examined the trade-offs of both market-driven and mandate approaches to environmental policies. He explained that there are cases in which mandates have proved effective, but that their policy outcomes should be analyzed with a nuanced perspective. ______________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

Hoover director Condoleezza Rice introduced the conference by recalling the institution’s long history of researching environmental policy issues. Rice explained how the imitable George P. Shultz was a pioneer in advancing environmental solutions. In partnership with Tom Stephenson, former chair of the Hoover Board of Overseers, the late secretary of state formed a task force dedicated to identifying pragmatic policies aimed at strengthening America’s energy security while providing environmental protection. ___________________________ Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-hosts-conference-evaluating-market-driven-versus-regulatory-approaches

February 14, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Senior Fellow Terry Moe and Hoover Fellow Michael Hartney, author of How Policies Make Interest Groups: Governments, Unions, and American Education on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 10:00 am PT / 1:00pm ET. ABOUT THE AUTHOR  Michael Hartney is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and an assistant professor of political science at Boston College. Hartney’s scholarly expertise is in American politics and public policy with a focus on state and local governments, interest groups, and K–12 education politics and policy. His work has been published in top academic journals such as the American Political Science Review and the American Journal of Political Science and received press coverage in the Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Hartney has also written for popular outlets including City Journal, Education Next, National Review, and the Washington Post.  ABOUT THE BOOK  A critical, revelatory examination of teachers unions' rise and influence in American politics. As most American labor organizations struggle for survival and relevance in the twenty-first century, teachers unions appear to be an exception. Despite being all but nonexistent until the 1960s, these unions are maintaining members, assets—and political influence. As the COVID-19 epidemic has illustrated, today’s teachers unions are something greater than mere labor organizations: they are primary influencers of American education policy. How Policies Make Interest Groups examines the rise of these unions to their current place of influence in American politics. Michael Hartney details how state and local governments adopted a new system of labor relations that subsidized—and in turn, strengthened—the power of teachers unions as interest groups in American politics. In doing so, governments created a force in American politics: an entrenched, subsidized machine for membership recruitment, political fundraising, and electoral mobilization efforts that have informed elections and policymaking ever since. Backed by original quantitative research from across the American educational landscape, Hartney shows how American education policymaking and labor relations have combined to create some of the very voter blocs to which it currently answers. How Policies Make Interest Groups is trenchant, essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why some voices in American politics mean more than others.

February 6, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Beatrice de Graaf. Beatrice de Graaf illuminates how, long before economic considerations set in motion the creation of the European Union, collective European security provided the first impulse for the integration of European norms and institutions.  After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, Europe’s victorious powers sought to forestall the reemergence of war and revolutionary terror by establishing the Allied Council. The Council transformed interstate relations into the first, modern system of collective security in Europe. Drawing on the records of the Council and the correspondence of key figures such as Metternich, Castlereagh, Wellington, and Alexander I, Beatrice de Graaf tells the story of Europe's transition from concluding a war to consolidating a new order.  ABOUT THE SPEAKER Beatrice de Graaf is a historian and a security researcher. She studies the emergence of and threats to European security arrangements from the 19th century until the present. Her book Fighting Terror after Napoleon: How Europe Became Secure after 1815, won the 2022 Arenberg Prize for European History. She is currently working on a translation of her latest book, Radical Redemption: What Terrorists Believe In, which combines testimony, history, psychology, politics and theology to understand how the search for radical personal redemption can lead to violence. Beatrice is a member of The Netherlands Academy of Sciences and of the Academia Europaea. She is the editor of Terrorism and Political Violence, as well as of the Journal of Modern European History. She is also a fellow at the Program on Extremism and the ISIS Files Project at George Washington University. ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Hoover History Working Group aims to conduct and disseminate historical research on issues of national and international concern, and provide concrete recommendations on the basis of research and discussion. The mission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives is to collect, preserve, and make available the most important materials about global political, social, and economic change in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We serve as a platform for a vibrant community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history.

January 27, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Margaret O’Mara. The Hoover History Working Group hosted a seminar on The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America on Friday, January 27, 2023 from 12:00 pm - 1:20 pm PT. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Margaret O’Mara is the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History at the University of Washington. She writes and teaches about the growth of the high-tech economy, the history of American politics, and the connections between the two. Margaret is the author of two acclaimed books on the history of the modern technology industry: The Code (2019) and Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search For The Next Silicon Valley (2005). She also is a historian of the American presidency and author of Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections that Shaped the Twentieth Century (2015), as well as a coauthor of the widely used United States history textbook, The American Pageant. From 1993 to 1997, she served in the Clinton Administration as an economic and social policy aide in the White House and in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ABOUT THE TALK Margaret O’Mara chronicles how entrepreneurship, venture capital, and state and federal funding transformed Silicon Valley into a crucible of American economic dynamism. She explores the rise of each era’s key companies and their products, as well as their changing relationship with government, including the slow evolution of computing capabilities as an issue of national security and economic competitiveness.

A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Jon Davis. Jon Davis puts the recent gyrations in the prime minister’s office in historical perspective, analyzing how various prime ministers since the postwar era have exercised authority. Rather than being entirely autocratic or collective in style, prime ministers continuously adjust their decision-making approach within their cabinets. This framework helps shine a light on the dysfunction that plagued successive British governments after the 2016 Brexit referendum, and that dysfunction's acceleration following the COVID-19 pandemic. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Jon Davis is Director of the Strand Group at King's College London. Before joining King’s, Prof. Davis spent a total of eighteen years at Queen Mary, University of London, and rose to be Director of the Mile End Group (2004-2014), overseeing more than 100 increasingly high-profile events over more than a decade. Major project partnerships included those with No. 10 Downing Street and the Treasury.    Davis worked for five years in investment banking at JP Morgan, Banque Paribas and Hambros Bank, and spent the year 2000 in the Modernising Government Secretariat of the Cabinet Office. ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Hoover History Working Group aims to conduct and disseminate historical research on issues of national and international concern, and provide concrete recommendations on the basis of research and discussion. Click the following link for more information https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/history-working-group The mission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives is to collect, preserve, and make available the most important materials about global political, social, and economic change in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We serve as a platform for a vibrant community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history.

January 25, 2023 Hoover Institution | Stanford University In recognition of National School Choice Week (January 22-28, 2023), the Hoover Institution held an in-person panel discussion on the Past, Present and Future of School Choice on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm PT. The event was moderated by Condoleezza Rice, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution, and featured a virtual interview with Mitch Daniels, the former President of Purdue University and former Governor of Indiana, as well as a school choice research roundtable discussion featuring Paul E. Peterson, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Anna J. Egalite, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, and Patrick J. Wolf, distinguished professor of education policy and endowed chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas. FEATURED SPEAKERS Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. is the former president of Purdue University and the former governor of Indiana. During his tenure as governor, Indiana went from bankruptcy to a AAA credit rating, led the nation in infrastructure building, and passed sweeping education reforms, including the nation’s first statewide school choice voucher program. Prior to becoming governor, Daniels held numerous top management positions in both the private and public sectors. His was CEO of the Hudson Institute and president of Eli Lilly and Company’s North American Pharmaceutical Operations. He also has served as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar, senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. Anna J. Egalite is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development in the College of Education at North Carolina State University and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Arkansas, a masters in elementary education from the University of Notre Dame, and a bachelors in elementary education and history from St. Patrick’s College in Dublin, Ireland. Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University; a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; and the senior editor of Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Chicago. Patrick J. Wolf is a distinguished professor of education policy and endowed chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas. He received his doctorate in government from Harvard University in 1995 and previously taught at Columbia and Georgetown. Wolf has authored or coauthored nearly two hundred scholarly publications on school choice, public finance, public management, special education, and civic values. MODERATED BY Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and its Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is also a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. From 2005 to 2009, Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as assistant to the president for National Security Affairs for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first woman to hold this position.

A Hoover History Working Group Seminar with Nicholas Mulder. Mulder’s first book, The Economic Weapon, is a history of the interwar origins of economic sanctions, arguing that sanctions were a potent but unstable and unpredictable political tool whose importance to the crisis of the 1930s and 1940s is greater than usually assumed. Based on wartime blockade practices, sanctions offered a novel way to prevent war. The practice became embedded in the League of Nations and national state policy, and spurred new economic interventions, as well as anti-liberal bids for autarky. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Nicholas Mulder is assistant professor of history at Cornell University, as well as a Milstein Faculty Fellow. His research focuses on Europe’s political, economic, and intellectual history, with particular attention to the era of the world wars between 1914 and 1945. Most recently, he has also emerged as one of the leading commentators on the use of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Click here to read Nicholas Mulder’s Wall Street Journal article, “Don’t Expect Sanctions to Win the Ukraine War.” ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

The Hoover Institution and The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) host In the Nation’s Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz - A Conversation with Condoleezza Rice and Philip Taubman on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 from 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM PT. ABOUT THE BOOK The definitive biography of a distinguished public servant, who as US Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State, was pivotal in steering the great powers toward the end of the Cold War. Deftly solving critical but intractable national and global problems was the leitmotif of George Pratt Shultz's life. No one at the highest levels of the United States government did it better or with greater consequence in the last half of the 20th century, often against withering resistance. His quiet, effective leadership altered the arc of history. While political, social, and cultural dynamics have changed profoundly since Shultz served at the commanding heights of American power in the 1970s and 1980s, his legacy and the lessons of his career have even greater meaning now that the Shultz brand of conservatism has been almost erased in the modern Republican Party. This book, from longtime New York Times Washington reporter Philip Taubman, restores the modest Shultz to his central place in American history. Taubman reveals Shultz's gift for forging relationships with people and then harnessing the rapport to address national and international challenges, under his motto "trust is the coin of the realm"—as well as his difficulty standing up for his principles, motivated by a powerful sense of loyalty that often trapped him in inaction. Based on exclusive access to Shultz's personal papers, housed in a sealed archive at the Hoover Institution, In the Nation's Service offers a remarkable insider account of the behind-the-scenes struggles of the statesman who played a pivotal role in unwinding the Cold War. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and its Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is also a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.  From 2005 to 2009, Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as assistant to the president for National Security Affairs for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first woman to hold this position. Philip Taubman is a lecturer at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Before joining CISAC, Mr. Taubman worked at the New York Times as a reporter and editor for nearly 30 years, specializing in national security issues and serving as Moscow bureau chief and Washington bureau chief. He is the author of The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb (2012) and Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage (2003). He is a Stanford graduate.

December 20, 2022 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism and Russ Roberts, the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow and author of Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion between Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism and Adele Hayutin who is an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow and author of the Hoover Press Book New Landscapes of Population Change: A Demographic World Tour on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

The modern university was born in Germany. In the twentieth century, the United States leapfrogged Germany to become the global leader in higher education. Will China challenge its position in the twenty-first? Empires of Ideas looks to the past two hundred years for answers, chronicling two revolutions in higher education: the birth of the research university and its integration with the liberal education model. William C. Kirby examines the successes of leading universities―The University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin in Germany; Harvard, Duke, and the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States―to determine how they rose to prominence and what threats they currently face. Kirby draws illuminating comparisons to the trajectories of three Chinese contenders: Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, and the University of Hong Kong, which aim to be world-class institutions that can compete with the best the United States and Europe have to offer. But Chinese institutions also face obstacles. Kirby analyzes the challenges that Chinese academic leaders must confront: reinvesting in undergraduate teaching, developing new models of funding, and navigating a political system that may undermine a true commitment to free inquiry and academic excellence.

In his presentation, Dino Knudsen talks about how elite networks such as the Trilateral Commission relates to global and national governance, including how the Commission influenced the White House and the State Department in the 1970s.

Monday, October 17, 2022 Hoover Institution | Stanford University Hoover Institution (Stanford University) – Before a full crowd of mostly students in the Hoover Institution's Hauck Auditorium, Secretary of State Antony Blinken engaged in a conversation with his predecessor Condoleezza Rice on a broad spectrum of issues impacting the security and prosperity of the United States and like-minded partners, including aggression by Russia and China against the post–Cold War security architecture, and how the free world can best grapple with challenges resulting from the rapid pace of technological innovation.  During the program, which was introduced by former secretary of defense James Mattis, Blinken reflected on the Biden administration's new national security strategy. As Blinken explained, the document underscores the importance of deterring Russian aggression, especially regarding Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine. Blinken said that although the Biden administration had hoped, in the tradition of its predecessors, for a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, President Vladimir Putin has been, and continues to be, a major disruptor in Eastern Europe and more broadly to international security. In response to a question by Secretary Rice as to why Americans should care about wars that occur in faraway lands rather than place one hundred percent focus on matters of more immediate domestic concern, Blinken said that international rules and norms would be seriously undermined if a large country could with impunity redraw borders by force and subjugate a sovereign people against their will. In upholding the liberal order, he argued that, although international institutions are far from perfect, they have been integral to helping prevent global conflict. As an example, he pointed to the UN General Assembly's overwhelming rebuke of Russia's annexations of Ukrainian territory.  "An extraordinary thing happened, 143 countries around the world stood up in opposition to the annexations, a sham referendum that Russia had used as justification," Blinken said. "That in and of itself is a powerful indicator of where the world actually is now on Russian aggression." Blinken also explained how Beijing has challenged the liberal order that emerged at the end of the Cold War, as well as the nature of the Sino-American relationship that was forged half a century ago during rapprochement. He maintained that although there are adversarial features of the relationship that need to be managed, they shouldn't overshadow areas of cooperation in which the two nations can reap benefits for the global commons. These issues include climate change and proliferation of infectious diseases. Of the former, Blinken explained that the United States is only as strong as the world's weakest link. Americans are responsible for 15 percent of global emissions. Using diplomatic tools at its disposal, the US needs to work with China and other major countries throughout the world to do their part in reducing greenhouse gases. Similarly, Blinken said, without singling out any one nation for mishandling their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world depends on a more coordinated public health response between the US and China to mitigate the deadly effects of infectious diseases, which are unconstrained by borders. Blinken is, however, concerned by the detrimental effects of Beijing's aggression toward Taiwan. A conflict over Taiwan would cause an enormous global crisis—not least because of the enormous volume of commercial maritime traffic that passes through the strait, but also because of the disruption it would cause to semiconductor production, which industries and consumers across the world rely on as an essential component for various electronic devices and computing systems. "I hope Beijing will come back to a place where it actually sees the merits in making sure that differences are peacefully resolved [and] that it doesn't try to force things through coercion, [or] even worse, through force," Blinken said. Blinken described how the United States is present in international consortiums that establish norms that govern technology. He said that for the State Department, being at the table means that US leadership, in partnership with nations with a shared commitment to peace and prosperity, can help formulate technology policies that respect privacy, protect human rights, and bolster security. To this end, he says, Foggy Bottom has been active in the US-EU Trade and Technology Council to ensure the two major economic powers are closely aligned on areas ranging from export controls and investments made by foreign actors in industries impacting national security, to the fortification of critical supply chains, including the development of semiconductors. Blinken maintains that these and other frameworks in which the US is actively involved are intended not only to increase technological competitiveness, but to do so in a manner that isn't to the detriment of any one nation, or to workforces, the natural environment, or ownership of intellectual property. "Competition, when it's fair and it's a race to the top, is good. That's what our own system is all about," Blinken said. In support of American competitiveness, Blinken also emphasized the importance of increasing America's capacity for innovation on the home front. He hailed the recent passage of the CHIPS Act, which facilitated funds for research and development as well as manufacturing to overcome the scarcity of the much-coveted semiconductor technology. He also praised investments made in green innovation under the Inflation Reduction Act. Blinken explained that this year, in a matter of six months, the State Department established a bureau of cyber and digital policy under the leadership of former tech executive Nathaniel Fick, who was present at the Hoover event today. Blinken also maintained that Washington and Silicon Valley needed to continue to engage effectively. In an appeal to his Stanford audience, Blinken said that the diplomatic community needed more talent to better understand technology and to support ways that it can be used to foster peace and prosperity. "I am here to proselytize too," Blinken said, amusingly. "We want you. We need you at the department. This is an opportunity to pursue so many of the things you've been studying, working on, or are passionate about, but to do so, for those of you that are American, for your country." In addition to the conversation with Secretary Rice, Secretary Blinken also visited SLAC, and attended a Stanford student recruitment event with Ambassador-at-Large Fick, hosted by Stanford Law School (SLS) Dean Jenny Martinez on behalf of the Cyber Policy Center, a collaboration between SLS and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. The event included approximately 100 students for a conversation about STEM career opportunities at the U.S. State Department.

The Hoover Institution hosted The Avoidable US-China War – A Conversation with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Kevin Rudd on Thursday, October 6, 2022 from 4:30 - 5:30PM PT. A war between China and the US would be catastrophic, deadly, and destructive. Unfortunately, it is no longer unthinkable.  Join the Hoover Institution and Asia Society Northern California for a special conversation with former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd on Thursday, October 6 at 4:00pm Pacific. At his only Northern California-based event, Rudd talks with Dr. Rice who heads Hoover Institution about his new book ‘The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the U.S. and Xi Jinping’s China.’ The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. It rests on a seismic fault—of cultural misunderstanding, historical grievance, and ideological incompatibility. No other nations are so quick to offend and be offended. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily.  The Avoidable War demystifies the actions of both sides, explaining and translating them for the benefit of the other. Geopolitical disaster is still avoidable, but only if these two giants can find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests through what Rudd calls “managed strategic competition.” Should they fail, down that path lies the possibility of a war that could rewrite the future of both countries, and the world.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In our latest installment, we will feature a discussion between former Senator Phil Gramm, John Early and John B. Taylor the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution on Senator Gramm's and Mr. Early's latest book The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate co-authored by Robert Ekelund.  ABOUT THE AUTHORS Senator Phil Gramm is an economist by training and has had a long and distinguished career in public service, academia and the private sector. Senator Gramm was the vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank, where he provided strategic economic, political and policy advice to important corporate and institutional clients. He served in the US Congress representing Texas for more than two decades, first as the 6th congressional district representative to the US House of Representatives, then later as senator. His legislative record includes landmark bills like the Gramm-Latta Budget – which reduced federal spending, rebuilt national defense and mandated the Reagan tax cut – and the Gramm-Rudman Act, which placed the first binding constraints on federal spending. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Gramm steered legislation modernizing banking, insurance and securities laws. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act amended the 70-year-old Glass-Steagall Act,  allowing banks, security companies and insurance companies to affiliate through a financial services holding company.  Sen. Gramm taught economics at Texas A&M University for 12 years before becoming a member of Congress. He has published numerous articles and books on subjects ranging from private property, monetary theory and policy to the economics of mineral extraction. As a visiting scholar at AEI, he will be working on a comprehensive plan to fix the US economy through reform of the tax code and entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. John F. Early is a mathematical economist, president of the consultancy Vital Few, LLC, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Early has also served twice as assistant commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics where he directed the statistical design, economic analysis, and survey operations for the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), Point of Purchase Survey (POPS), and estimates of pre‐retail price changes. ABOUT THE BOOK Everything you know about income inequality, poverty, and other measures of economic well-being in America is wrong. In this provocative book, a former United States senator, eminent economist, and a former senior leader at the Bureau of Labor Statistics challenge the prevailing consensus that income inequality is a growing threat to American society. By taking readers on a deep dive into the way government measures economic well-being, they demonstrate that our official statistics dramatically overstate inequality. Getting the facts straight reveals that the key measures of well-being are greater than the official statistics of the country would lead us to believe. Income inequality is lower today than at any time in post- World War II America. The facts reveal a very different and better America than the one that is currently described by policy advocates across much of the political spectrum. The Myth of American Inequality provides clear and convincing evidence that the American Dream is alive and well. 

Watch a discussion between Barry Strauss, the Corliss Page Dean Visiting Fellow and Victor Davis Hanson the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow on Barry's latest book The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Barry Strauss is the Corliss Page Dean Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Strauss (Cornell University) is a military historian with a focus on ancient Greece and Rome. His Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece—and Western Civilization was named one of the best books of 2004 by the Washington Post. His books have been translated into ten languages. ABOUT THE BOOK A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire. Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this “superbly recounted” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Hauck Auditorium | Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution hosts India's Opportunities in the 2020s on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 from 6:00PM – 7:00PM PT in Hauck Auditorium at the David & Joan Traitel Building at the Hoover Institution. You are cordially invited to a special event marking the launch of the Hoover Institution's new program on Strengthening US-India Relations India's Opportunities in the 2020s A Dialogue between Condoleezza Rice Tad and Dianne Taube Director,  Hoover Institution, and N. Chandrasekaran Chairman, Tata Sons, with questions to follow. SPEAKERS Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States (2005-2009) and as President George W. Bush’s national security adviser (2001 to 2005). Natarajan Chandrasekaran is Chairman of the Board at Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of all Tata Group companies. Chandra joined the Board of Tata Sons in October 2016 and was appointed Chairman in January 2017. He also chairs the Boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Air India, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Indian Hotel Company and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – of which he was Chief Executive from 2009-17.

Hoover Institution, Stanford University July 21, 2022  This chapter examines the Chinese private paper money from the Qing into the early Republic. I argue that both state and civil institutions were crucial for the integrity of China’s paper notes. The state did not actively support paper notes, but nonetheless upheld a legal regime that honored the sanctity of contracts. For their part, business associations acted as gatekeepers, allowing only financially sound firms to issue notes. These privately issued notes thus circulated through the rural marketing system, stitching together neighboring agrarian and commercial economies far better than unwieldy copper coins.  ABOUT THE SPEAKER Matthew Lowenstein studies the economic history of modern China from the late imperial period to the early People’s Republic. His dissertation, which he is currently turning into a book, is a study of northern China’s indigenous financial system from the late Qing to the early Republican period (1820–1911). He received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Lowenstein previously worked as a securities analyst in Beijing and New York covering the Chinese financial sector. His nonacademic works have appeared in the Diplomat and Foreign Policy.  ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Thursday, July 7, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution Library & Archives presents the Fanning the Flames Speaker Series. This twelfth and final session is moderated by Kaoru (Kay) Ueda, Curator of the Japanese Diaspora Collection. The event will feature a video screening of “A Virtual Exhibition Tour of Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan.” For the first time we will reveal to our virtual audience a view of the physical exhibition, located in the Lou Henry Hoover gallery at Hoover Tower, Stanford University. Dr. Ueda will also be joined by Library & Archives colleagues to talk about the processes involved with developing exhibitions like Fanning the Flames. Join us on July 7, 2022 (Thursday) at 4:00 pm PDT | 7:00 pm EDT (60 minutes). To learn more about the accompanying book (edited by Kay Ueda, curator of the Japanese Diaspora Collection at Hoover) and to see past events, videos, and highlights, please visit our interactive online exhibition website, Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan. Please also visit our exhibition, now open through July 15, in Hoover Tower at Stanford University.  For complete details please visit our exhibition web page. PARTICIPANT BIO Kaoru (Kay) Ueda is the curator of the Japanese Diaspora Collection at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. She curated many of the materials used in the Fanning the Flames book and exhibition. Ueda manages the Japanese Diaspora Initiative, endowed by an anonymous gift to promote the study of overseas Japanese history during the Empire of Japan period. She is the editor of On a Collision Course: The Dawn of Japanese Migration in the Nineteenth Century (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2020).

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts a Fireside Chat with Secretary DeVos  and Secretary Rice on Tuesday, June 28 from 5:15 - 6:00PM PT. In this timely discussion, DeVos will provide her candid thoughts about serving as Secretary of Education, her battles to put students first, the urgent need to transform America’s approach to education to meet the realities of the 21st century, and the dangers of "woke" ideology being force-fed to our kids. She will explain why she believes we are on the verge of finally shifting the balance of power in education in America to expand parental authority and put the unique needs of each individual student first. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. From January 2005 to 2009, Rice served as the sixty-sixth Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001 to January 2005, the first woman to hold the position. Betsy DeVos is a leader, an innovator, a disruptor, and a champion for freedom. She is the nation’s leading advocate for education freedom for students of all ages, having served as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education from 2017-2021. For more than three decades, she has been tireless in her pursuit of public policy reforms that get government out of the way and allow all students the freedom, flexibility, resources and support they need to choose where, when and how they learn. Her advocacy has helped create new educational choices for K-12 students in more than 25 states and the District of Columbia and expanded post-high school education options for students and adult learners alike. Betsy is also an accomplished business leader. She served as Chairman of The Windquest Group, a privately held investment and management firm based in Michigan. She is the former chair of the American Federation for Children, The Philanthropy Roundtable, and the Michigan Republican Party. Betsy is a graduate of Calvin College and is married to entrepreneur, philanthropist and community activist Dick DeVos. Together, they have four children and ten grandchildren. Long before she was tapped by President Trump to serve as secretary of education, DeVos established herself as one of the country’s most influential advocates for education reform, from school choice and charter schools to protecting free speech on campus. She’s unflinching in standing up to the powerful interests who control and benefit from the status quo in education – which is why the unions, the media, and the radical left made her public enemy number one. Now, DeVos is ready to tell her side of the story after years of being vilified by the radical left for championing common-sense, conservative reforms in America’s schools.   In Hostages No More, DeVos unleashes her candid thoughts about working in the Trump administration, recounts her battles over the decades to put students first, hits back at “woke” curricula in our schools, and details the reforms America must pursue to fix its long and badly broken education system. And she has stories to tell: DeVos offers blunt insights on the people and politics that stand in the way of fixing our schools. For students, families and concerned citizens, DeVos shares a roadmap for reclaiming education and securing the futures of our kids – and America.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 Virtual Meeting   The Hoover Institution Economic Policy Working Group invites you to a panel discussion, California Homelessness: New Policies to Address an Intractable Problem, with Lee Ohanian, Kevin Kiley, and Michael Shellenberger. This virtual event brings together three experts on California’s homelessness crisis to focus on understanding why this problem continues to worsen, despite spending record amounts every year, and on how alternative policies will reduce homelessness and more broadly improve the quality-of-life for all Californians. The event will be structured as a panel discussion, moderated by Hoover Senior Fellow Lee E. Ohanian, who writes frequently about California homelessness in his weekly Hoover column, “California on Your Mind”. His columns focus on understanding why the more we spend, the more homeless we have, and how we must change policies, ranging from opioid abuse tolerance to affordable housing business costs, to make progress. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R, Rocklin) is one of our panelists, and who is one of the state legislators who created the Republican Legislative Caucus’s plan consisting of 15 new bills to address homelessness. These ideas range from conducting data analytics to understand just who the homeless are, where they live, and how many have mental health and substance abuse problems, to reforming existing state laws to reduce the cost of building new housing, which currently exceeds $1,000 per square foot for cookie-cutter studio apartment units. Kevin is one of the young leaders within the Republican party. He has fought continuously to reverse AB 5, which makes it illegal for some Californians to work as an independent contractor, and he has written several commonsense Assembly bills to reduce living costs in the state, including suspending the State’s gasoline tax to address our extremely high gasoline prices. Gubernatorial candidate and author Michael Shellenberger is our other panelist. Michael’s recent book San Fransicko: Why Progessives Ruin Cities has been on the bestseller list since its publication last year. The book powerfully and persuasively describes how well-intentioned policies, such as San Francisco’s willingness to tolerate illegal drug use and its refusal to prosecute drug-related crimes is damaging the city beyond recognition. A review summarized the book’s theme as follows: Progressives have embraced 'victimology,' a belief system wherein society’s downtrodden are subject to no rules or consequences for their actions. This ideology, cultivated in cities like San Francisco for decades and widely adopted over the past two years, is the key to understanding, and thus solving, our crises of homelessness, drug overdoses and crime. This unique event will highlight how and why California has gone off track in addressing one of California’s most important issues and will show how California can constructively and humanely address this issue with new ideas. The first hour will be devoted to the panel discussion, followed by 15-20 minutes of Q&A.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion with Terry Anderson who is the John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A discussion with Terry Anderson on his latest book, Renewing Indigenous Economies moderated by Bill Whalen at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Terry L. Anderson has been a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1998 and is currently the John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow. He is the past president of the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, MT, and a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University where he won many teaching awards during his 25-year career. ABOUT THE BOOK The history of Indigenous economies in the Americas presents a puzzle: When Europeans first encountered Indigenous peoples, they discovered societies with high standards of living, vast trading networks, and flourishing markets. But colonizers changed the rules of the game, and by the twentieth century, most Indians had been forced onto reservations and saddled with institutions inimical to their customs and cultures, and incompatible with wealth creation. As a result of being wrapped in the federal government’s “white tape,” these once thriving societies are today impoverished and dependent. This volume charts a course for reversing the decline in Indigenous economies and establishing a path to prosperity based on secure tribal property rights, clear jurisdiction and governance, and fiscal and financial power. It explains how the rules of the game promote or hinder the development of wealth; gives an overview of institutional conditions in Indian Country today; and identifies improvements with significant potential to renew Indian economies. Both data and contemporary stories of success and failure illustrate how revitalizing institutional frameworks can restart the engine of economic growth to generate business and employment, raise living standards in Indian communities, and, most importantly, restore the dignity Native Americans once had and still deserve.

Juneteenth celebration focusing on the themes of education, celebration, and strengthening relationships.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 On behalf of Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, and its National Security Task Force the Hoover Institution invites you to Taiwanese at the UN: The Use and Abuse of UN Resolution 2758​ on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 from 11:30am-12:45pm PDT.  In 1971, UN Resolution 2758 granted the seat occupied by the Republic of China in the General Assembly and the Security Council to the People's Republic of China (PRC). In recent years, the PRC has attempted to reinterpret this resolution as an endorsement of its "One China Principle," and it has promoted the fallacy that UN member states came to a determination that Taiwan was a part of the PRC. Yet, as the historical official records show, member states made no such determination about Taiwan's international status. This effort around Resolution 2758 is part of a broader campaign by the PRC to expand its influence in UN-affiliated bodies. Taiwan remains the foremost target of this campaign. Since 2016, at Beijing's behest, Taiwanese representatives have been blocked from participating even as observers in international organizations such as the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The PRC has institutionalized and normalized its stance on Taiwan within these organizations by signing secret agreements, restricting the access of Taiwan nationals to the UN and its facilities, and embedding PRC nationals across various levels of UN staff. The UN and its specialized agencies have not made the texts of these agreements available to the public or to any entity beyond the main signatories, though leaked guidance memos provide insights into the scope of MOU contents. In this event, Jessica Drun will discuss Beijing’s efforts to “internationalize” its “One China Principle" and to conflate it with UN Resolution 2758. Her remarks will draw on a recent report, co-authored with Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund, that documents Beijing’s expanding influence in UN-linked organizations. She will be joined by Chih-Fu Yeh, a PhD candidate in biology at Stanford University, who in December 2020 was improperly barred from joining a UNESCO-backed winter school session because of his Taiwanese nationality. Mr. Yeh will describe his own experience and highlight how overly strict interpretations of UN regulations and guidelines continue to impose real costs on Taiwanese citizens. SPEAKER BIOS Jessica Drun is a Nonresident Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. She has also held positions in the defense contracting space and the National Bureau of Asian Research. Ms. Drun specializes in cross-Strait relations, Taiwan politics, and U.S.-Taiwan relations and regularly provides commentary on these issues. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Chih-Fu Yeh is a PhD candidate studying microbial community ecology and evolution in Department of Biology at Stanford University. He was born and raised in Taiwan. In Winter 2020, Chih-Fu applied to a ICTP/UNESCO winter school session on quantitative systems biology, and was denied permission to attend the event because of his Taiwanese nationality. Kharis Templeman is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and part of the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific. Templeman is a political scientist (Ph.D. 2012, Michigan) with research interests in Taiwan politics, democratization, elections and election management, party system development, dominant party systems, and politics and security issues in Pacific Asia, among other topics.

Thursday, May 26, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Dan Sullivan in conversation with Condoleezza Rice on Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 2:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Dan Sullivan serves on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Armed Services Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He previously served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. He also served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He is currently a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.  Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. From January 2005 to 2009, Rice served as the sixty-sixth Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001 to January 2005, the first woman to hold the position.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Hauck Auditorium | Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts India's Opportunities in the 2020s on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 from 6:00PM – 7:00PM PT in Hauck Auditorium at the David & Joan Traitel Building at the Hoover Institution. You are cordially invited to a special event marking the launch of the Hoover Institution's new program on Strengthening US-India Relations India's Opportunities in the 2020s A Dialogue between Condoleezza Rice Tad and Dianne Taube Director,  Hoover Institution, and N. Chandrasekaran Chairman, Tata Sons, with questions to follow. SPEAKERS  Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States (2005-2009) and as President George W. Bush’s national security adviser (2001 to 2005). Natarajan Chandrasekaran is Chairman of the Board at Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of all Tata Group companies. Chandra joined the Board of Tata Sons in October 2016 and was appointed Chairman in January 2017. He also chairs the Boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Air India, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Indian Hotel Company and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – of which he was Chief Executive from 2009-17.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts Book Talk: Hitler’s American Gamble on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at 11 am PDT. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives and History Working Group invite you to a book talk with co-authors, Brendan Simms, director of the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge and Charlie Laderman, Hoover research fellow and senior lecturer at King’s College, London. Simms and Laderman will discuss their book, Hitler's American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany's March to Global War (Hachette Book Group, 2021). This event will be moderated by Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. PARTICIPANT BIOS Dr. Charlie Laderman is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and senior lecturer in international history at the War Studies Department, King’s College, London (KCL). His first monograph, Sharing the Burden (Oxford University Press, 2019), explored the American and British response to the Armenian Genocide. It was awarded the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era’s H. Wayne Morgan Prize in political history. Brendan Simms is the director of the Centre for Geopolitics and professor of the History of European International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He is an expert on European geopolitics, past and present, and his principal interests are the German Question, Britain and Europe, Humanitarian Intervention and state construction. He teaches at both undergraduate and graduate level in the Department of Politics and International Studies and the Faculty of History.  Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization, and Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize.

Thursday, April 28, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In our latest installment, watch a discussion with Hoover National Fellow Shiran Victoria Shen, author of The Political Regulation Wave: A Case of How Local Incentives Systematically Shape Air Quality in China, moderated by Bill Whalen on Thursday, April 28 at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Ro Khanna, Buno Pati, and John Villasenor  in conversation on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Congressman Ro Khanna represents California’s 17th Congressional District, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Rep. Khanna sits on the House Agriculture, Armed Services, and Oversight and Reform committees, where he chairs the Environmental Subcommittee and is the Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, serves as an Assistant Whip for the Democratic Caucus, and is the Democratic Vice Chair of the House Caucus on India and Indian Americans.  Buno Pati is CEO of Infoworks.io. The company’s software solutions are enabling enterprise organizations to fully leverage their data assets and realize faster time-to-value in the cloud. Prior to assuming the role of CEO in 2019, Pati held Executive Chairman and Chairman roles at the company from its inception in 2014. Pati brings over 20 years of experience as a CEO, entrepreneur, board member, and investor in technology companies. Pati is also a partner at Centerview Capital. John Villasenor is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and is also on the faculty at UCLA, where he is a professor of electrical engineering, public policy, law, and management. Villasenor’s work considers the technology, policy, and legal issues arising from key technology trends, including the growth of artificial intelligence and the increasing complexity and interdependence of today’s networks and systems.  

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In our latest installment, watch a discussion with Bruce Caldwell, editor of Mont Pèlerin 1947: Transcripts of the Founding Meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society, published by the Hoover Institution Press and John B. Taylor the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution.  The discussion is moderated by Bill Whalen, the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism, and a Hoover Institution research fellow. ABOUT THE EDITOR Bruce Caldwell was a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. A historian of economic thought, he is a research professor of Economics and the founder and director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. His latest works is as the editor of Mont Pèlerin 1947: Transcripts of the Founding Meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society, published by the Hoover Institution Press. ABOUT THR BOOK Marking the 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society, in 1947, this volume presents for the first time the original transcripts from this landmark event. The society was created by Friedrich Hayek as a forum for leading economists and intellectuals to discuss and debate classical liberal values in the face of a rapidly changing world and political trends toward socialism. Bruce Caldwell, a major scholar of Hayek, provides an informative introduction and explanatory notes to the source documents, drawn from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, where they have been available to scholars. Now accessible to all, the transcripts reveal what was said on a wide range of topics, including free markets, monetary reform, wage policy, taxation, agricultural policy, the future of Germany, Christianity, and liberalism, and more. They provide insights into the thinking of men such as Hayek, Milton Friedman, Aaron Director, Frank Knight, Walter Eucken, Karl Popper, and other leading figures in the classical liberalism movement, illuminating not only their ideas but also their distinctive personalities. A photo section shows rarely seen images from the meeting.

Hoover Fellow Jackie Schneider follows up on your questions about the danger of cyberattacks from her PolicyEd video. 1. In your video you point out that cyberattacks haven’t yet led to physical harm, but is that always going to be the case? We’re moving to a world with the “internet of things.” What sort of vulnerabilities might occur in the future that could lead to actual harm? 2. Can you paint a picture for us on what active cyber warfare would look like from both civilian and military perspectives? If we were to enter a conflict with state actors like Russia, China or Iran, what would their cyberattacks look like? 3. How can the public recognize foreign interference in cyberspace, especially misinformation campaigns? And do you have advice for how people can better protect themselves? 4. Should we be worried about the government collaborating with private companies on the issue of cybersecurity? Are there privacy concerns that outweigh potential benefits? 5. In your video, you mention “pre-emptively degrading” the capabilities of our adversaries in cyberspace. Why isn’t that treated as an act of war or at least a source of conflict in international relations? And what does that look like? Click to watch the original video, “How Dangerous Are Cyberattacks?”

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution and Japan Society of Northern California host US Japan Global Dialogue on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 from 12:30pm - 7:30pm PT. In a rapidly changing Indo-Pacific region, Japan remains America’s core ally, Asia’s most stable democracy, and the world’s third-largest economy. The US-Japan alliance is poised to enter a new era and expand its focus to cooperate on next-generation technology, development issues, civil society development, and maintenance of security. The Hoover Institution’s US-Japan Global Dialogue explores the future of this critical relationship. The dialogue launched on March 22, 2022 (United States) / March 23, 2022 (Japan) with a private, one-day hybrid conference hosted by the Hoover Institution. Attendees included both US and Japanese senior government officials, eminent scholars, and leading private-sector actors. The conference began with a lunch hosted by the Hoover Institution and the Japan Society of Northern California followed by a panel discussion with Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Japanese ambassador to the United States Koji Tomita, and former US ambassador to Japan John Roos in discussion with LTG (ret.) H. R. McMaster, moderated by Dr. Michael Auslin. It also included a Hoover Institution Library & Archives exhibit Histories Connect: Special Exhibitions of Japanese and Japanese American Collections with Dr. Kaoru (Kay) Ueda, Curator of the Japanese Diaspora Collection. Later in the day, a closed hybrid conference covered the following topics: 1) improving security cooperation between the United States and Japan and with other partners; 2) deepening economic and financial cooperation; 3) deepening cooperation in the development and application of new technologies; and 4) protecting liberal values and democratic sovereignty in Asia and beyond. At the conference, one American and one Japanese expert each presented short papers on each topic. PARTICIPANT BIOS H.E. Tomita, Koji Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States of America Ambassador Tomita’s diplomatic career in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spans 40 years. Most recently, he served as Japan’s Ambassador to Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Personal Representative for the G20 Summit in Osaka, and Ambassador to Israel. His relationship with the United States began when he studied in North Carolina for a year in college. Since he entered MOFA, he has also held leadership positions in U.S.-Japan relations, including Director-General of MOFA’s North American Affairs Bureau and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Tomita graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law and joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. United States Senator Bill Hagerty Senator Hagerty was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and is currently serving his first term representing the state of Tennessee. His committee assignments include: U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs; U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; and the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Hagerty served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, the world’s third largest economy and America’s closest ally in the region. Hagerty is a life-long businessman. He started his business career with the Boston Consulting Group, where his work took him to five continents, including three years based in Tokyo, Japan. Ambassador John V. Roos  John V. Roos is the Founding Partner at Geodesic Capital, a venture capital firm that bridges Japan and Silicon Valley by investing in growth-stage technology companies and helping them with market entry, strategy, and overall operational support in Japan. Previously, Ambassador Roos served as Chief Executive Officer and Senior Partner at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati, the leading law firm in the United States in the representation of technology, life sciences, and emerging growth companies. From 2014-2020 Ambassador Roos served on the Board of Sony Corporation  From 2009-2013 Ambassador Roos served as the United States Ambassador to Japan. Ambassador Roos received his A.B. with honors in Political Science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. LTG (ret.) H.R. McMaster H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.  He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.  He serves as the Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute and Chairman of the Center for Political and Military Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy.  He was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years after graduation from West Point.  He holds a PhD in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World and Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam.  He is host of the podcast Battlegrounds: International Perspectives on Crucial Challenges to Security and Prosperity. Michael Auslin Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian by training, he specializes in US policy in Asia and geopolitical issues in the Indo-Pacific region. Auslin is the author of six books, including Asia’s New Geopolitics: Essays on Reshaping the Indo-Pacific and is a longtime contributor to the Wall Street Journal and National Review. Auslin also cohosts the podcast The Pacific Century. Previously, Auslin was an associate professor of history at Yale University, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the senior advisor for Asia at the Halifax International Security Forum, a senior fellow at London’s Policy Exchange, and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Among his honors are being named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Fulbright Scholar, and a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow. He serves on the board of the Wilton Park USA Foundation. 

Friday, March 18, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   In his latest book, Roger Lowenstein investigates not only how Lincoln and his secretary of Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, funded the Civil War. He also explores how Lincoln’s financial strategy catalyzed a long-lasting political and economic transformation of the United States. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Roger Lowenstein is a financial historian, the author of NYT bestsellers such as Buffett, When Genius Failed, and The End of Wall Street, and the critically acclaimed Origins of the Crash, While America Aged, and America’s Bank. He previously reported for The Wall Street Journal for more than a decade, and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, the Washington Post, Fortune, Atlantic, the New York Review of Books, and other publications. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Wednesday, March 16, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power invites you to "Cadre Country: How China became the Chinese Communist Party" on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, at 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT. China’s communist party regards itself as engaged in a global information war. In his new book, Cadre Country, historian John Fitzgerald probes some of the key stories the party tells to advance its cause. In this talk, he focuses on one story that resonates in China and internationally, China’s ‘Century of Humiliation.’ Where does this term come from, when it is deployed, and why? SPEAKER John Fitzgerald is an Emeritus Professor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. He served for five years as China Representative of The Ford Foundation in Beijing (2008-2013) before heading the Asia-Pacific philanthropy studies program at Swinburne University. His books include Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia, awarded the Ernest Scott Prize of the Australian Historical Association, and Awakening China: Politics, Culture and Class in the Nationalist Revolution, awarded the Joseph Levenson Prize of the US Association for Asian Studies. His latest book is Cadre Country: How China became the Chinese Communist Party (2022). MODERATOR Glenn Tiffert is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs the Hoover project on China’s Global Sharp Power and works closely with government and civil society partners to document and build resilience against authoritarian interference with democratic institutions. Most recently, he co-authored and edited Global Engagement: Rethinking Risk in the Research Enterprise (2020).

Wednesday, March 16, 2022   The Hoover Institution hosts Wargaming: Its History, Application, and Future Use on February 16, February 23, and March 16, 2022. The March 16 session discusses how wargames impact national security and defense decision making and whether social science methods can inform these kinds of games. SPEAKERS Mr. Bob Work was the thirty-second Deputy Secretary of Defense, serving alongside three Secretaries of Defense from May 2014 to July 2017. Dr. Micah Zenko is the Director of Research and Learning, McChrystal Group. Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn a Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

Tuesday, March 15, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution Program on Strengthening US-India Relations invites you to a virtual panel discussion on The Strategic Value of India on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 from 9:00AM – 10:00AM PT. How should the US approach India? For much of the twentieth century, the relationship between the US and India could best be described as uneasy. Over the past two decades the countries have worked together to strengthen this relationship, mostly along cultural and economic lines. In this event, three leading experts make the case that the US must also recognize the strategic importance of India. Deeper relations between the two countries—and possibly even preferential treatment from the US side—could advance prosperity and peace.  SPEAKERS David C. Mulford is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as the twenty-first U.S. ambassador to the Republic of India from 2004–2009. After completing his post in India, Mulford served as the vice chairman international at Credit Suisse where he worked with a range of clients across the integrated bank with a particular focus on governments, as well as corporate clients, across the globe. Mulford was undersecretary and assistant secretary of the US Treasury for International Affairs from 1984 to 1992. He served as the senior international economic policy official at the Treasury under Secretaries Regan, Baker, and Brady where he was the US deputy for coordination of economic policies with other G-7 industrial nations and took part in the administration’s international debt strategy, and the development and implementation of the Baker / Brady Plans, and President Bush’s Enterprise Initiative for the Americas.  Kenneth I. Juster is a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has over forty years of experience as a senior government official, senior business executive, and senior law partner. He recently completed service as the twenty-fifth U.S. ambassador to the Republic of India from 2017–2021. Juster previously served in the U.S. government as deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs, on both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, undersecretary of commerce, counselor (acting) of the State Department, and deputy and senior advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.   MODERATED BY Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is also professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology at Stanford. He leads the Hoover Institution’s programs on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region.  At FSI, he leads the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, based at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, which he directed for more than six years.  He also coleads (with Eileen Donahoe) the Global Digital Policy Incubator based at FSI’s Cyber Policy Center.  

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   To celebrate International Women’s Day, please join us for a conversation with Katharine Beamer, Jendayi Frazer, Condoleezza Rice, and Kiron Skinner on March 8 from 3:00 - 4:30PM PT. Moderated by Jacquelyn Schneider, the group will discuss their experiences when working at the State Department and their roles in affecting change in America’s foreign policy through diplomacy and advocacy on the national and global stage. We celebrate the women who increasingly influence and shape the priorities, rules, and assessments of U.S. foreign policymaking.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. A discussion with Tim Kane on his latest book, The Immigrant Superpower moderated by Bill Whalen on Tuesday, March 8 at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

Friday, March 4, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   It should come as no surprise that history is at the heart of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladmir Putin in July of last year argued as much in his essay, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” But few if any Ukrainian or Western historians regard Putin’s argument as anything other than propaganda. Join us for a Historical Conversation with two distinguished scholars as we explore the end of the Cold War, NATO expansion, the rise of Vladmir Putin, and the events leading to today’s conflict. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Mary Sarotte is the Kravis Distinguished Professor at Hopkins-SAIS, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a visiting faculty fellow at Harvard’s Center for European Studies. She is the author of Not One Inch, which uses new evidence and interviews to show how, in the decade that culminated in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the United States and Russia undermined a potentially lasting partnership. Chris Miller is Assistant Professor of international history at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and co-director of the school's Russia and Eurasia Program. His upcoming book, Chip War, explores how Soviet shortcomings in microchip production helped usher the end of the Cold War. He is author of We Shall Be Masters: Russia's Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin (2021), Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia(2018) and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy (2016). ABOUT THE MODERATOR Niall Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of sixteen books, including Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. He is a renowned historian of finance, war, and international relations, having written The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization, and Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Thursday, March 3, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group invites you to a virtual discussion on Antitrust & the Future of Big Tech on Thursday, March 3, 2022 from 9:00 am - 10:00 am Pacific. It’s no secret that the Biden administration and 117th Congress are targeting Big Tech. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pursuing legislation that targets the market power amassed by companies including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Leaders at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division–key enforcement agencies–are also aligned against Big Tech; the FTC is actively prosecuting a lawsuit against Facebook for monopoly behavior.  Joe Lonsdale, Managing Partner at 8VC and Co-Founder of Palantir, joins us virtually to discuss how antitrust law may impact high-tech firms’ size and sway. He recently proposed in a February 7, 2022 Wall Street Journal article that Amazon should be split into two businesses – AWS and Amazon.com – not because big is “bad,” but because Amazon’s ability to undercut its competitors with below-cost prices may stifle the scope and speed of innovation in areas like logistics. We hope you will join us to learn more about what antitrust advocates are getting right, what they are getting wrong, and the potential impact of breaking up Big Tech. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Joe Lonsdale is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He is the managing partner at 8VC, a US-based venture capital firm that manages several billion dollars in committed capital. He was an early institutional investor in many notable technology start-ups including Oculus (acq.FB), Guardant Health (NASDAQ: GH), Oscar (NYSE: OSCR), Illumio, Anduril, Wish (NASDAQ: WISH), JoyTunes, Blend (NASDAQ: BLND), Flexport, Joby Aviation (NASDAQ: JOBY), Cityblock, Orca Bio, Qualia, Synthego, RelateIQ (acq.CRM), and many others. Joe has been on the Forbes 100 Midas List since 2016 and was the youngest member included in 2016 and 2017, and ranked 18th in the world last year. Before focusing on institutional investing, Joe co-founded Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) a global software company known for its work in defense and other industries, as well as for providing the platform to run the COVID-19 common operating picture for key decision makers in over 35 countries. After Palantir, he founded and remains as Chairman of both Addepar, which has over $3 trillion USD managed on its wealth management technology platform, and OpenGov, which provides software for over 2,000 municipalities and state agencies. More recently, he is also a co-founder of Affinity, Epirus, Resilience Bio, and other mission-driven technology companies, which he continues to create with his team out of the 8VC Build program. Joe began his career as an early executive at Clarium Capital, which he helped grow into a large global macro hedge fund. He also worked with PayPal while he attended Stanford. PARTICIPANTS Bradley Body, Mark Brilliant, Tom Gilligan, Taylor McLamb, Max Meyer, Elena Pastorino, Meghana Reddy, Manny Rincon-Cruz, Marie-Christine Slakey, John Taylor, Amy Zegart  

Freedom Isn’t Free takes an analytical look at political, economic, social and moral trade-offs in a world in flux. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2022 The Hoover Institution hosts Wargaming: Its History, Application, and Future Use on February 16, February 23, and March 16, 2022. The February 23 session focuses on a discussion about wargame design and analysis and the role of social science and experimental research in wargame development. The Hoover Institution invites you to join leading historians, political scientists, and national security decision-makers as they discuss the role that wargames that have played in international relations, how social science can help guide wargame design and analysis, and the future applications of wargames for policy problems and academic research. Based off the recently published article, "Wargaming for International Relations," the series is moderated by authors, Dr. Jackie Schneider, Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution, Dr. Reid Pauly, Brown University, and Dr. Erik Lin-Greenberg, MIT.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: A Conversation with Amy Zegart and Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday, February 22 from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. PT.  Please join us for a conversation with Amy Zegart as part of her tour with her new book Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence. The conversation will be moderated by Director Condoleezza Rice with an introduction by Michael McFaul. “Today we face a critical juncture for American spy agencies, as big as 9/11 — only most people don’t know it,” says Amy B. Zegart, one of the country’s leading experts on intelligence and a professor at Stanford University. “New dangers come from tech, not terrorists. Emerging technologies like AI and social media are weakening the strong and empowering the weak, fundamentally changing dynamics of international conflict. To be blunt: The U.S. is losing its intelligence advantage.” To help us better understand these looming threats, Zegart has written Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (Princeton University Press; February 1, 2022). It’s the first comprehensive book on the past, present, and future of American intelligence—and outlines what’s urgently needed to protect our nation today. The book draws on over thirty years of research (including new research just for this book) and hundreds of interviews with current and former intelligence officials.  Weak intelligence makes us more vulnerable to attacks on our power grids, water supply, elections, corporate network servers, and nuclear weapons. Helping the American public better understand these evolving threats is crucial. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. She is also a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Chair of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence and International Security Steering Committee, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She specializes in U.S. intelligence, emerging technologies and national security, grand strategy, and global political risk management. The author of five books, Zegart’s award-winning research includes the leading academic study of intelligence failures before 9/11 — Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11 (Princeton 2007). Her forthcoming book, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms (Princeton 2022) examines technological challenges to American intelligence. Zegart’s research has been published in The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. She has served on the NSC staff, advised senior officials about intelligence and foreign policy, and most recently served as a commissioner on the 2020 CSIS Technology and Intelligence Task Force. She received an A.B. in East Asian studies magna cum laude from Harvard University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and its Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is also a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. Rice currently serves on the board of online-storage technology company Dropbox, energy software company C3, and Makena Capital, a private endowment firm; and is a member of the boards of the George W. Bush Institute, the Commonwealth Club, the Aspen Institute, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Previously, Rice served on various additional boards, including those of KiOR Inc., the Chevron Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, the Transamerica Corporation, the Hewlett-Packard Company, the University of Notre Dame, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,and the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors. From 2005 to 2009, Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as assistant to the president for National Security Affairs for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first woman to hold this position. Michael A. McFaul is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as a professor of political science, director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also currently works as a news analyst for NBC.  His areas of expertise include international relations, Russian politics, comparative democratization, and American foreign policy.  From January 2012 to February 2014, he served as the US ambassador to the Russian Federation.  Before becoming ambassador, he served for three years as a special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. 

Thursday, February 17, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Peter Meijer in conversation with Michael McFaul on Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 1:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Peter Meijer represents Michigan’s Third Congressional District. He served in the Army Reserves and was deployed to Iraq as a non-commissioned officer conducting intelligence operations to protect American and allied forces. In Congress, Meijer serves on the Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, and Space, Science & Technology Committees. Michael A. McFaul is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as a professor of political science, director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. From January 2012 to February 2014, he served as the US ambassador to the Russian Federation.  Before that, he served for three years as a special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council.

Monday, February 7, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts Talking about Trade: Prospects and Challenges in U.S.-Taiwan Economic Ties on Monday, February 7, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. PT. U.S.-Taiwan economic ties are at a crossroads. In 2020, President Tsai Ing-wen lifted a ban on U.S. pork imports containing the feed additive ractopamine, removing a long-standing irritant in trade relations with the United States. Last summer, the Biden administration held bilateral talks with their Taiwan counterparts under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) for the first time since 2016. In more recent months, the two sides have begun additional discussions about strengthening the resilience of global supply chains, including the supply of one of Taiwan’s most strategically important exports: semiconductors. In this discussion, Wendy Cutler of the Asia Society will comment on these developments and the prospects for deepening U.S.-Taiwan economic relations in a moderated conversation with Hoover Research Fellow Kharis Templeman.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. A discussion with Amy B. Zegart on her latest book, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms moderated by Bill Whalen on Tuesday, February 1st at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

Monday, January 31, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power invites you to China on the Eve of the Winter Olympics: Hard Choices for the World’s Democracies on Monday, January 31, 2022 from 10:00 am - 11:30 am PT. As China prepares to host the Winter Olympics, its economy is slowing, its real estate sector is in crisis, and its push for regional dominance is alarming its neighbors. At the 20th Party Congress this October, Xi Jinping is expected to win a third term as China’s ruler. What do these developments portend for China and the world, and how should the United States respond? SPEAKERS George Soros is the founder of Soros Fund Management and the founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations. He began his philanthropic work in 1979 with scholarships for Black African university students in South Africa and for East European dissidents to study in the West. He has given away more than $32bn to advance rights and justice across the world. Matt Pottinger is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Pottinger served the White House for four years in senior roles on the National Security Council staff, including as deputy national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. In that role, he coordinated the full spectrum of national security policy. He previously served as senior director for Asia, where he led the administration’s work on the Indo-Pacific region, in particular its shift on China policy. Oriana Skylar Mastro is a center fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, war termination, and coercive diplomacy. She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Skylar Mastro continues to serve in the United States Air Force Reserve for which she works as a strategic planner at INDOPACOM. She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. MODERATOR Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, ​Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He co-chairs the Hoover Institution’s programs on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. INTRODUCTION Glenn Tiffert is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs the Hoover project on China’s Global Sharp Power and works closely with government and civil society partners to document and build resilience against authoritarian interference with democratic institutions. Most recently, he co-authored and edited Global Engagement: Rethinking Risk in the Research Enterprise (2020). WITH PARTICIPATION FROM Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society and former dean and professor at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Schell is the author of ten books about China, including most recently Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century (2013).

Friday, January 21, 2022 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Diem Coup, in November 1963, resulted in the overthrow and assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. The coup caused great instability and led to the deployment of the first U.S. Marines to the beaches of Danang in March 1965, paving the way for full-blown American military involvement in Vietnam. The history of the coup, including the leading role of U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., was established through the dramatic leak of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. After more than 50 interviews with Lodge’s former colleagues, Luke Nichter began to challenge the coup’s conventional history, ultimately uncovering a secret recording of Kennedy and Lodge from August 15, 1963, transcribed and made public for the first time, which shifts our understanding of the coup’s origin. Luke A. Nichter is a Professor of History and James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus on the "long 1960s" from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. He is a noted expert on Richard Nixon's 3,432 hours of secret White House tapes, and a New York Times bestselling author or editor of seven books, the most recent of which is The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War.  Luke’s next book project, under contract with Yale University Press, is tentatively titled The Making of the President, 1968: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, George Wallace, and the Election that Changed America, for which he was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2020-2021. The book draws on interviews with approximately 85 family members and former staffers, in addition to extensive archival research involving first-time access to a number of key collections that will recast our understanding of the 1968 election. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Monday, December 6, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges.  In our latest installment, watch a discussion with Stephen Haber who is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and an editor of The Battle over Patents: History and Politics of Innovation.  Stephen is joined by contributors; Alexander Galetovic (Hoover Research Fellow) and Gerardo Con Diaz (former Hoover National Fellow). A discussion with Stephen Haber on his latest book, The Battle over Patents: History and Politics of Innovation moderated by Bill Whalen on Monday, December 6 at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET.

Friday, December 3, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Michael Douma will be sharing a chapter from his new book on the cultural and economic history of Dutch slavery in New York. There is a long-established view that slavery in New York was neither efficient nor profitable, or perhaps only marginally profitable in its early years. And yet for two hundred years New Yorkers paid to acquire slaves to be put to labor for profit, not just to serve as household decoration. There were some 22,000 slaves in New York across the 18th century who could speak Dutch. Using novel archeological, bills of sale, newspaper, and probate records, the chapter demonstrates that slavery was a long-term investment in New York and that the prices of slaves remained stable over the long run. Michael Douma is assistant research professor at Georgetown University, where he serves as the Director of the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets and Ethics. His research focuses on 19th century US history, the Dutch world, and the philosophy and methods of history. He is the author of The Colonization of Freed African Americans in Suriname, Veneklasen Brick: The Liberal Approach to the Past, and Creative Historical Writing. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Hauck Auditorium | Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM PT in Hauck Auditorium, at the Hoover Institution. Please join the Hoover Institution's Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict for a talk with Andrew Roberts, author of The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III. The discussion is hosted by Hoover Senior Fellow, Victor Davis Hanson. Please RSVP by November 29, 2021. Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon: a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities (picture the preening, spitting, and pompous version in Hamilton). But in 2017, the Queen of England put 200,000 pages of the Georgian kings’ private papers online, about half of which related to George III, and these papers have forced a full-scale reinterpretation of the king’s life and reign. Roberts, an award-winning investigative historian (Churchill, Napoleon), had unprecedented access to these archives. The result is the first biography of King George III in fifty years, and the definitive one for our generation. The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III will reverse this maligned monarch’s reputation, showing that George III was in fact a wise, humane, and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers, and disastrous luck. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew Roberts is the bestselling author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny; Leadership in War The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War; Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945; Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Gamble; and Napoleon: A Life, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and a finalist for the Plutarch Award. He has won many other prizes, including the Wolfson History Prize and the British Army Military Book of the Year. He is the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a Lehrman Institute Distinguished Fellow at the New-York Historical Society, and a visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College, London. Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is classics and military history. Hanson was a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California (1992–93), a visiting professor of classics at Stanford University (1991–92), the annual Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Visiting Fellow in History at Hillsdale College (2004–), the Visiting Shifron Professor of Military History at the US Naval Academy (2002–3),and the William Simon Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University (2010).

Thursday, November 18, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Senator Joni Ernst in conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Senator Joni Ernst is the first woman to serve in federal elected office from the State of Iowa and is also the first female combat veteran elected to serve in the United States Senate. Having served 23 years in the military, Senator Ernst has dedicated her life to her state and country and is known for her independent leadership. Senator Ernst is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and founder of the AHA Foundation. She served as a Member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006. While in Parliament, she focused on furthering the integration of non-Western immigrants into Dutch society, and on defending the rights of Muslim women. Her latest book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights, is available on Amazon.

Thursday, November 18, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In the second meeting, watch a discussion with Hoover Fellow Herbert Lin on his latest book, Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons, moderated by Bill Whalen on Thursday, November 18th at 10AM PT/1:00PM ET. Please join us at the Hoover DC office or watch our Livestream.

Thursday, October 7, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In this first meeting, watch a discussion with Hoover Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson on his latest book, The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America, moderated by Bill Whalen on Thursday, October 7th at 10AM PT.

Friday, November 12, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Not one inch. With these words, Secretary of State James Baker proposed a hypothetical bargain to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after the fall of the Berlin Wall: if you give up your part of Germany, NATO will “not shift one inch eastward.” Controversy erupted almost immediately over this 1990 exchange—but more important was the decade to come, when the words took on new meaning. Gorbachev let his Germany go, but Washington rethought the bargain, not least after the Soviet Union’s own collapse in December 1991. Washington realized it could not just win big but win bigger. Their new approach: Not one inch of territory need be off limits to NATO.  On the thirtieth anniversary of the Soviet collapse, Sarotte uses new evidence and interviews to show how, in the decade that culminated in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the United States and Russia undermined a potentially lasting partnership. Not One Inchshows what went wrong.  Please click here to read the introduction to Prof. Sarotte's new book. An expert in the history of international relations, Mary Sarotte is the Kravis Distinguished Professor at Hopkins-SAIS, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and visiting faculty at Harvard’s Center for European Studies.  She is the author, among other books, of The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall and 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe, both of which were selected as Financial Times Books of the Year, among other distinctions and awards. In the past, she has worked as a journalist at The Economist and Die Zeit, served as a White House Fellow, and held fellowships with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton.    Norman Naimark is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Robert and Florence McDonnell professor of East European History at Stanford. His current research focuses on Soviet policies and actions in Europe after World War II and on genocide and ethnic cleansing in the twentieth century. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Monday, October 25, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   In The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Porwancher debunks a string of myths about the origins of this founding father to arrive at a startling conclusion: Hamilton, in all likelihood, was born and raised Jewish. For more than two centuries, his youth in the Caribbean has remained shrouded in mystery. Hamilton himself wanted it that way, and most biographers have simply assumed he had a Christian boyhood. With a detective’s persistence and a historian’s rigor, Porwancher upends that assumption and explores the revolutionary implications of his findings for making sense of the American founding. Andrew Porwancher serves as the Wick Cary Associate Professor of Constitutional Studies at the University of Oklahoma and an Ernest May Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. His most recent book is The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton. His prior books include The Devil Himself: A Tale of Honor, Insanity, and the Birth of Modern America, which was adapted for the stage in Dublin.  He previously served as the Horne Fellow at Oxford and the Garwood Fellow at Princeton. ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   One of the earliest casualties of the COVID-related school closures was school accountability for academic results, and many education leaders want it to stay that way.  How do we assure families, students and communities that their schools are fully serving their role?  What options are possible and which are politically infeasible? The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) hosts Has school accountability outlived its shelf life? on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Michael Kirst, Stanford University, Panelist: Dr. Kirst is Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration (by courtesy) at Stanford.  He is the longest-serving President of California’s State Board of Education, having served four terms from 1975 to 1982 and again from 2011 to 2019. Checker Finn, Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI), Panelist: Dr. Finn is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and member of HESI’s Steering Committee.  He is President Emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and served as a member of the Maryland State Board of Education. Secretary James Peyser, State of Massachusetts, Panelist: Secretary Peyser directs the Executive Office of Education in Massachusetts, which oversees early childhood education, K-12, and higher education.  He is Governor Charlie Baker’s most senior education advisor.  He chaired the MA Board of Education from 1999 to 2006. MODERATED BY Melanie Barton, Office of Governor McMaster, Moderator: Melanie Barton is senior educator advisor to the Governor of South Carolina.  Previously, she served as Executive Director of the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, an independent nonpartisan committee comprised of education, civic, and business leaders. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) focuses on providing state leaders with sound research-based recommendations to improve education in America.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021   Sir Nick Clegg joined Facebook in October 2018 as Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications after almost two decades in British and European public life. Prior to being elected to the UK Parliament in 2005 he worked in the European Commission and served for five years as a Member of the European Parliament. He became leader of the Liberal Democrat party in 2007 and served as Deputy Prime Minister in the UK’s first Coalition Government since the war from 2010 to 2015. He has written two best-selling books: Politics: Between the Extremes and How To Stop Brexit (and make Britain great again). Nick currently lives in California with his wife, Miriam, and three sons. Topic: A Conversation with Nick Clegg on Global Regulation, Internet Governance, and Oversight  Start Time : Oct 19, 2021 10:30 AM PT

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Until now, education insiders haven't needed a program to identify the players.  After school closures, remote learning, hybrid models and other adaptations, COVID has raised awareness of the challenges of US K-12 education as never before.  New stakeholders are on the scene and plan to remain. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) hosts Who needs to be “in the room where it happens?” to improve US K-12 schools? on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Margie Vandeven was appointed commissioner of elementary and secondary education by the Missouri State Board of Education in December 2014 and served in that capacity until December 2017. She was reappointed in January 2019. She has over 30 years experience as an educator, administrator, and builder of effective partnerships. Derrell Bradford is the President of 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now, and the executive director of its New York branch, NYCAN. In his role, Derrell trains and recruits local leaders across the country to serve as executive directors of state CANs, advocacy fellows, and citizen advocates. Christina Laster serves as the Director of Policy and Legislation with National Parents Union (NPU).  Previously she worked in the San Diego Unified School District-Early Childhood and Special Education Program Offices.  She formerly served as Statewide Community Organizer for the California Policy Center and as local NAACP Education Chair.  MODERATED BY Margaret “Macke” Raymond is the Program Director for Education at the Hoover Institution, guiding the expansion of education research, policy analysis and engagement at the institution.  She is also the founder and director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University, which studies efforts to improve student results in US K-12 education. 

Friday, October 8, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Carter Malkasian will discuss how the American War in Afghanistan turned out the way it did. Based on his new history, The American War in Afghanistan, he will examine the overarching strategic questions of the war: how the United States failed in Afghanistan, what opportunities existed to reach a better outcome, and why the United States simply did not leave. His new book is a timely history, which has been praised as landmark and authoritative. It covers the different aspects and sides of the war, with detailed descriptions of Afghan (including Taliban) perspectives. Carter Malkasian is a leading academic authority on Afghanistan, a former senior advisor to the US military commander in Afghanistan and then to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. He has extensive experience working in conflict zones, especially Afghanistan and Iraq, and has published several books. The highlight of his work in conflict zones was nearly two years in Garmser district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, as a State Department political officer. He speaks Pashto. In addition to The American War in Afghanistan, he is the author of War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier, and Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State.

Nearly three decades have been spent promoting school choice as a vehicle for improved academics and equity. COVID introduced new urgency into the need for options to meet the needs of students. Can school choice carry the day? The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) hosts Can we choose our way to better schools? on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Starlee Coleman is the CEO of the Texas Charter Schools Association. She has 20 years of experience turning public policy ideas into laws. Through strategic public affairs and PR campaigns, grassroots engagement, and coalition development, Starlee has contributed to the passage of dozens of bills in state legislatures, Congress, and at the ballot box.   Before joining the Texas Charter Schools Association, she co-founded SchoolForward, a strategic public affairs firm to advance school choice and education reform nationwide. Paul E. Peterson, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Panelist:   Paul E. Peterson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Hoover Education Success Initiative, and founding editor of Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research. He is also the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University. Robert Enlow, EdChoice, Panelist: Robert Enlow is the President and CEO of EdChoice, which he has been involved with since 1996.  He served as a fundraiser, projects coordinator, vice president and executive director before assuming his current roles in 2009. MODERATED BY Wayne Lewis, Houghton College, Moderator: Dr. Lewis was recently named the sixth President of Houghton College.  He was recently the inaugural Dean of Belmont University’s School of Education.  He served as Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) focuses on providing state leaders with sound research-based recommendations to improve education in America.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The general media is the primary source of information about efforts to improve public education in the U.S.  Can they serve a critical role in the recovery of public education from COVID?  Do we need to watch the watchdogs? The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) hosts, Fourth estate or fifth wheel?  The role of the media in education reform, on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Hanna Skandera, Daniels Fund, Panelist: Hanna Skandera currently serves as CEO of the Daniels Fund.  She previously served as New Mexico’s Secretary of Education under Governor Susana Martinez for six years.  Recently, she was Editor-in-Chief of The Line, an online education magazine. Senator Manny Diaz, Jr.,  Panelist: Senator Manny Diaz represents Florida State Senate District 36 in Miami-Dade County.  He currently serves as Chair of the Senate Education Committee.  He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2012, and is a former teacher and school administrator. Mike Cohen, CentrePoint, Panelist: Mike Cohen was President of Achieve from 2003 through 2020.  During the Clinton Administration he served as Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Special Assistant to President for Education Policy, and Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. MODERATED BY Jenn Vranek, Education First, Moderator: Jenn Vranek is a Founding & Managing Partner at Education First.  She founded the organization in 2006 and has worked with K-12 and post-secondary educators, policymakers and philanthropists in more than 30 states. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) focuses on providing state leaders with sound research-based recommendations to improve education in America.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Every student who has ever watched the clock during class knows that seat time does not equal learning.  The impact of COVID on student academic progress makes it more important than ever to refocus on how well students master the learning standards.  The good work of several educators show us how this can be done.  Join the Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) as we host a panel that asks, Can We Stop The Clock? Replacing Seat Time With Mastery on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Chad Gestson, Superintendent, Phoenix Union High School District, Panelist:  Dr. Chad E. Gestson has served as superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District since fall 2015. Under his leadership, Phoenix Union has launched six new schools, including a Gifted and Talented Academy, a Digital Academy, and the Phoenix Coding Academy. Phoenix Union has seen tremendous increases in graduation rates, scholarship totals, and college matriculation rates since 2015. Don Shalvey, CEO, San Joaquin A+, Panelist:  Don Shalvey is the founding CEO of San Joaquin A+ and former deputy director for K–12 Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.   In 1992, as superintendent of the San Carlos School District, Shalvey sponsored the first charter school in California. Widely recognized as a leader in public education and the charter school sector, he was the founder and CEO of Aspire Public Schools. Margaret “Macke” Raymond, Program Director for Education, Hoover Institution, Panelist:  Margaret “Macke” Raymond is the Program Director for Education at the Hoover Institution, guiding the expansion of education research, policy analysis and engagement at the institution.  She is also the founder and director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University, which studies efforts to improve student results in US K-12 education.  MODERATED BY Stephen Bowen, Council of Chief State School Officers, Moderator:  Stephen Bowen serves as the deputy executive director for state leadership at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). In his role, he directs the activities of the membership services, leadership academy, and data and information services teams. Bowen oversees the development and implementation of programs and services designed to support the leaders and staff of state education agencies. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) focuses on providing state leaders with sound research-based recommendations to improve education in America.

Thursday, September 16, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Governor Kristi Noem in conversation with Scott Atlas on Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 2:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Governor Kristi Noem was elected as the first-ever female governor of South Dakota in 2018 after serving 8 years as South Dakota’s at-large member in the U.S. House of Representatives. During her time in Congress, Governor Noem helped pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which put $2,400 back in the pockets of the average South Dakota family. Governor Noem is a proud wife, mother, lifelong rancher, farmer, and small business owner. Scott Atlas, M.D., is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution. Dr. Atlas researches the role of government and the private sector in access, quality, and pricing of health care. He advises leaders in government and the private sector, and has served as Senior Advisor in Health Policy for several presidential candidates, members of Congress and key Administration officials.  Dr. Atlas served as Special Advisor to the President and a was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from August through November, 2020.  Before joining Hoover full-time, Dr. Atlas served as Professor and Chief of Neuroradiology at the Stanford University Medical Center for 14 years.  His latest books include A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America published by Post Hill Press and available in November, and Restoring Quality Health Care: A Six‐Point Plan for Comprehensive Reform at Lower Cost.

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Momentum is growing for significant increases to teachers' salaries. Can we be certain in the post-COVID world that the plan would lead to positive outcomes? The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) hosts a discussion asking Will Increasing Teacher Pay Harm Students? on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 1PM PT. FEATURED PANELISTS Holly Boffy, District 7 Representative, Louisiana Board of Elementary & Secondary Education: Holly Boffy is serving her third term as a member of BESE.  She is the founder of EdTalents, a human capital development organization, and previously worked for six years at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).  A middle school teacher for over a decade, she was Louisiana’s State Teacher of the Year in 2010. Kent McGuire, Program Director, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Education: Kent McGuire leads investments for teaching and learning and open education resources strategies at the Hewlett Foundation.  Previously he served as President and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation and as the Dean of the College of Education at Temple University.  He was Assistant Secretary at the USDOE during the Clinton administration. Eric Hanushek, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution: Eric Hanushek is Chair of the Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) and the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  He pioneered measuring teacher quality on the basis of student achievement and his work on school efficiency is central to debates about school finance adequacy and equity across America today. MODERATED BY Christopher N. Ruszkowski, Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI): Christopher Ruszkowski is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he has helped establish HESI.  He served as Secretary of Education for the State of New Mexico under Governor Susana Martinez, Associate Secretary of Education for the State of Delaware under Governor Jack Markell and now serves as CEO of Meeting Street Schools. The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) focuses on providing state leaders with sound research-based recommendations to improve education in America.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Projects on China’s Global Sharp Power and Strengthening US-India Relations invites you to The Fractured Himalaya: How the Past Shadows the Present in India-China Relations on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.   In this lecture based on her forthcoming book, Secretary Rao will trace how the origins of the dispute between India and China form part of a living history that shapes their fractious relationship today. Understanding this complex panorama yields lessons for all of us who seek a wider perspective on China and its profile in the Indo-Pacific. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Nirupama Rao was Foreign Secretary in the Government of India (2009-2011) and earlier served as Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka and Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. She was Ambassador of India to the United States from 2011 to 2013. On retirement, Rao was a Fellow at Brown University and also taught there from 2015-16. She was George Ball Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in Fall, 2018. In 2019 she was a Pacific Leadership Fellow at UC San Diego. She is a Global Fellow of The Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, a Member of the Board of Governors of IIM, Bangalore, ICRIER, New Delhi and the Board of the U.S India Business Council. She holds a degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) from Pondicherry University and is a recipient of the Vanitha Ratna Award of the Government of Kerala. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he leads the projects on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. He is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. His most recent book is Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (2019). David Mulford is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. As US ambassador to India (2004-2009), he played a key role in fostering the growing partnership between New Delhi and Washington. Amb. Mulford has also served as chairman international at Credit Suisse, assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs (1984-1992), and senior investment advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (1974-1983). He has a DPhil from Oxford University.

Friday, September 10, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts Reflecting on September 11th: 20 Years Later on Friday, September 10, 2021. Please join a conversation with special guests Condoleezza Rice, General Jim Mattis, John B. Taylor and Karen Hughes as they recount their personal experiences, each from a different vantage point, on where they were during the deadliest terror attack on American soil in history. They will discuss what that day meant for America, how it changed us as a nation, and how we would move forward in the world in its aftermath. They will share their thoughts on the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan and what it means for our national security. FEATURING PANELISTS Secretary Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice was serving as National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush and was at the White House in her office when the plane hit the first tower. General Jim Mattis, US Marine Corps (Ret.), is the Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, after having served as the nation’s 26th Secretary of Defense in the administration. In December of 2016, President Donald J. Trump nominated Mattis for Secretary of Defense. He commanded at multiple levels in his forty-three year career as an infantry Marine. On 9/11, Mattis was serving in uniform as Brigadier General in the Marines at Camp Pendleton and heard of the attack on his car radio. Within 50 days, he would be leading an expeditionary brigade in Afghanistan. Under Secretary John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He chairs Hoover’s Working Group on Economic Policy and is director of Stanford’s Introductory Economics Center. Taylor was serving as Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and was on a diplomatic mission to Japan on 9/11. He returned to America via military transport and began his work on the financial war on terror. Ambassador Karen Hughes served as Counselor to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002 and was at the White House on September 11, 2001. She was also Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs where she led the U.S. State Department’s effort to communicate America’s values abroad and is currently the Worldwide Vice Chair at Burson Cohn & Wolfe. MODERATED BY Peter M. Robinson is the Murdoch Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he hosts Uncommon Knowledge. Robinson spent six years in the White House, serving as chief speechwriter to Vice President George Bush and as special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Congressman Mark E. Green, M.D. discusses with H.R. McMaster combating Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere on Wednesday, August 18 at 2:00 PM ET. For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Hoover Institution research fellow David Henderson answers your most pressing questions about good and bad inequality from his video "The Inequality We Should Worry About."   Questions:   1. What is the difference between good and bad inequality? How can some inequality be good? 2. Do you have any estimate of how much inequality in the United States is good or bad? And how would you go about figuring that out? 3. Is it possible or likely that new advances to technology can occur at similar rates to what we have now without increasing the wealth gap? 4. Is there a better way to measure inequality than with income? Would it make identifying good and bad inequality easier? 5. Many people believe it is impossible to get extremely wealthy without exploiting workers or bending the rules in your favor. How true do you think that is?

Wednesday, June 30, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Yll Bajraktari and Anshu Roy in conversation with Amy Zegart on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 2:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she directs the Robert and Marion Oster National Security Affairs Fellows program. She is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies (FSI) and Chair of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence and International Security Steering Committee. She has been featured by National Journal as one of the ten most influential experts in intelligence reform. Most recently, she served as commissioner on the 2020 CSIS Technology and Intelligence Task Force and has advised the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Her forthcoming book is Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (Princeton 2022). Yll Bajraktari is the Executive Director of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Prior to joining NSCAI, he served as Chief of Staff to the National Security Advisor LTG H.R. McMaster, held a variety of leadership roles for former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, and served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey. Originally joining the Department of Defense in 2010, he served in the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy as a country director for Afghanistan, and later India. He is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal – the highest award given to career DoD civilian employees. Anshu Roy, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Rhombus, a NASA Research Park startup. Rhombus is purposefully transforming the nation’s defense and national security enterprises with Guardian, its Artificial Intelligence platform for strategic, operational and tactical decision-making at the speed of relevance. Before starting Rhombus, he teamed up with Nobel Laureate Prof. Alan Heeger to set a world record in solar cell efficiency. He earned his PhD from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) at the intersection of Materials, Complex Systems, High Performance Computing and Turbulence. He also invented Mercury™ – Rhombus' patented platform for solid-state subatomic particle detection. For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Monday, June 28, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution Press presents a discussion of the recent publication Unshackled: Freeing America’s K–12 Education System with authors Clint Bolick and Kate J. Hardiman, joined by Hoover Senior Fellow Chester E. Finn, Jr., on Monday, June 28, 2021 at 1:00 pm PT | 4:00 pm ET. Unshackled explores how to leverage decentralization, school choice, and technology to further freedom and flexibility in education—issues that are more pressing than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this conversation, Bolick, Hardiman, and Finn discuss proposals to bring K–12 education into the 21st century. PARTICIPANT BIOS Clint Bolick is a justice on the Arizona Supreme Court and research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is a lifelong champion of educational opportunity. Kate J. Hardiman is a legal fellow, law student, and former teacher who has experienced how school choice changes lives. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of her coauthor and mentor by litigating for educational change. Chester E. Finn, Jr., is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a distinguished senior fellow and president emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He previously served as assistant secretary for research and improvement, and counselor to the cabinet secretary at the US Department of Education; and as legislative director for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan.

Monday, June 14, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Philip Zelikow discusses his new book, The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917, which seeks to explain how it is that the First World War did not end midway through, but instead widened to embroil the United States and tip much of Eurasia into general catastrophe. The book has been described in the Times Literary Supplement as “enthralling … a masterpiece … a page-turning narrative based on meticulous archival scholarship yet a pleasure to read, the characters deftly drawn, the locations vividly realized … an instant classic of diplomatic history.” Philip Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.  A former career diplomat, he was the executive director of the 9/11 Commission and has worked on international policy in each of the five administrations from Reagan through Obama.  His scholarship focuses on critical episodes in American and world history.  ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Hoover Institution senior fellow H.R. McMaster answers the most frequently asked questions from his video series “The Fight to Defend the Free World.” 1. If the United States is interested in peace, why does our military remain engaged abroad? And why do we continue to build up our military? 2. What do you say to those who categorize any American involvement overseas as a form of imperialism or colonialism? 3. Can you explain the relationship that Shia Iran and Sunni Hamas have in the Greater Middle East? What is Hamas trying to accomplish and how does Iran fit into that? 4. In the video series and in your book you talk about the strategy of convincing North Korea’s Kim family regime that it would be more secure in its position without nuclear weapons than with them. Considering reports that they have tested nuclear weapons, is that still a viable strategy? 5. Is it possible that China’s Xi Jinping is overplaying his hand by acting too aggressively with his foreign policy agenda?

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 to Thursday, June 10, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution Library & Archives and Hoover Institution Press Present the Fanning the Flames Speaker Series in Celebration of the Publication Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan edited by Kay Ueda. Japan’s Meiji Restoration brought swift changes through Japanese adoption of Western-style modernization and imperial expansion. Fanning the Flames brings together a range of scholarly essays and collected materials from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives detailing how Japanese propaganda played an active role in fostering national identity and mobilizing grassroots participation in the country’s transformation and wartime activities, from with the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) to the end of World War II. The Fanning the Flames Speaker Series highlights conversations with leading scholars of modern East Asian history, art, and propaganda and is presented in conjunction with the book and upcoming online and physical exhibitions.  UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE SERIES Anchors of History: The Long Shadow of Japanese Imperial Propaganda Tuesday June 1, 12:00 pm PDT Speaker: Barak Kushner, professor of East Asian History, University of Cambridge Moderator: Michael R. Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution “War Fever” as Fueled by the Media and Popular Culture: The Path Taken by Meiji Japan's Policies of “Enrich the Country” and “Strengthen the Armed Forces” Thursday June 10, 4:00 pm PDT Speaker: Toshihiko Kishi, professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University Moderator: Kay Ueda, curator of the Japanese Diaspora Collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Additional Lectures in the Series Featured Speakers: Yuma Totani, professor of Japan, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Alice Tseng, Professor of Art History, Boston University Dates and titles to be announced PARTICIPANT BIOS Barak Kushner is professor of East Asian history and the chair of Japanese Studies in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He has edited numerous books and written several monographs, including the award-winning Men to Devils, Devils to Men: Japanese War Crimes and Chinese Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015). In 2020 he hosted several episodes of a major Chinese documentary on Japanese war crimes and is currently writing a book titled The Construction of Injustice in East Asia: Japan versus Its Neighbors. Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian by training, he specializes in US policy in Asia and geopolitical issues in the Indo-Pacific region. His publications include Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004) and Asia’s New Geopolitics: Essays on Reshaping the Indo-Pacific (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2020). Auslin was an associate professor of history at Yale University, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo.

Thursday, May 27, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, and the National Security Task Force the Hoover Institution hosts a conversation on Watch This Space: Beijing’s Push to Close Off Taiwan’s International Space and the U.S. Response on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 4:30 PM PT. As the World Health Assembly convenes amidst the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, it does so again without Taiwan’s participation. That the WHA would exclude Taiwan—whose democracy has deployed perhaps the world’s most effective response to COVID-19—puts into sharp relief the costs for populations around the globe of China’s broader attempt to close off Taiwan’s international space. On the occasion of the 74th WHA, it’s worth examining the impetus behind China’s campaign to isolate Taiwan, the threat that campaign poses to the stability fostered by the U.S. One China policy, and how the United States can respond to bolster Taiwan’s international space and maintain balance in the cross-Strait situation. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Alex Wong, an expert in East Asia & the Pacific National Security International Relations at Hudson Institute, a think tank and research center dedicated to nonpartisan analysis of US and international economic, security, and political issues. Alex Wong is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, with a focus U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and the future of the Korean Peninsula. Kharis Templeman is a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he manages the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific, and a lecturer at Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies. His areas of expertise include democratic transitions and consolidations, comparative parties and elections, and the politics of Taiwan. He is the editor (with Larry Diamond and Yun-han Chu) of Taiwan’s Democracy Challenged: The Chen Shui-bian Years (2016) and Dynamics of Democracy in Taiwan: The Ma Ying-jeou Years (2020). His other peer-reviewed research has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Ethnopolitics, The Taiwan Journal of Democracy, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, and The APSA Annals of Comparative Democratization, along with several book chapters. Click the following link for more information about the Hoover Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/hoover-institution-project-taiwan-indo-pacific-region   

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Senator Jack Reed in conversation with Kevin Hassett on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 4:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Kevin Hassett is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and Vice President and Managing Director of the Lindsey Group. He served as the 29th Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2017 to 2019, and returned to the White House in 2020 as a Senior Advisor to the President to manage the economic policy response to the pandemic. He served as Director of Research for the American Enterprise Institute for almost two decades, and prior to that was Senior Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University.  U.S. Senator Jack Reed is Rhode Island’s senior senator and the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee.  He is also a member of the Appropriations Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and an ex-officio member of the Intelligence Committee.  A leader on national defense, housing, unemployment, and consumer protection issues, Senator Reed was part of the bipartisan working group that drafted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and successfully led efforts to create the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund to help states combat COVID-19.  Reed graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1971 and served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves until 1991, when he retired with the rank of Major.  Reed also earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a law degree from Harvard Law School.  He served on the faculty at West Point, teaching cadets about economics and international relations as an Associate Professor within the Department of Social Sciences, and also worked in private practice as an attorney for Edwards & Angell, where he specialized in banking and securities law. For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Monday, May 24, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The USSR had thrived during the nuclear revolution of the 1950s, matching America's ability to produce powerful missiles and destructive warheads. But accuracy eluded the USSR. Precision strike was produced by miniaturizing computing power, so it was limited by the capacity of the computer chips crammed into the nose of each missile. The Soviets faced fundamental challenges in their ability to fabricate tiny circuits. Their guidance systems were therefore always substantially less accurate. In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter had authorized multiple new highly accurate weapons systems taking advantage of Silicon Valley's most advanced integrated circuits. By the 1980s, when these systems began to be deployed, the USSR had no response. Soviet defense officials feared that a precision conventional strike from the U.S. might even disable the USSR's nuclear forces. Ronald Reagan inherited a Soviet leadership convinced that it had already lost the arms race because it could not produce the computational power needed for precision weaponry. Chris Miller is assistant professor of international history at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and co-director of the school's Russia and Eurasia Program. He is author of We Shall Be Masters: Russia's Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin (2021), Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia (2018) and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy (2016).  He has previously served as the associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale, a lecturer at the New Economic School in Moscow, a visiting researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research associate at the Brookings Institution, and as a fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Transatlantic Academy. ABOUT THE PROGRAM https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/history-working-group    This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Monday, May 24, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution and the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society hosts Toward a Democratic China: What Role Can Outsiders Play? on Monday, May 24 from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. PDT. Is there an appetite for democracy in China? Is the regime’s monopoly on political power invincible? Can and should outsiders help Chinese reformers achieve democracy? If so, how? Is regime change possible, anytime soon? Will it lead to democracy or chaos? Featuring: Roger Garside Former British diplomat, Teng Biao Pozen Visiting Professor, University of Chicago Grove Human Rights Scholar, Hunter College, CUN, Elizabeth Economy Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, Orville Schell Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations Asia Society, and Glenn Tiffert Research Fellow, Hoover Institution ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Robert Garside served as a British diplomat in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution and again in 1976-9, when Mao died and Deng launched the Reform Era. His new book China Coup: The Great Leap to Freedom (University of California Press, 2021) challenges readers to rethink China’s political future.  Teng Biao is an academic lawyer, currently Grove Human Rights Scholar at Hunter College, and Pozen Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. He is the founder and president of China Against the Death Penalty.  Elizabeth Economy is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. HOSTS:  Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.- China Relations at the Asia Society, New York City. He is a former professor and dean at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Glenn Tiffert is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He manages the Hoover project on China’s Global Sharp Power.

Thursday, May 20, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The Hoover Institution along with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Europe Center host Security in the Age of Liberal Democratic Erosion​ on Thursday, May 13 and Thursday, May 20. Cosponsored by the Hoover Institution, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the Europe Center, the virtual two-part panel series Security in the Age of Liberal Democratic Erosion will focus on the critical security challenges facing liberal democracies and examine the threats of external adversaries and how democracies can respond.  Liberal democracy rests on the rule of law and common trust in fundamental institutions such as elections, courts, legislatures, and the executive branches of government. Yet both in the United States and elsewhere, trust in these institutions has eroded as charges of fake news, electoral fraud, biased courts, and increased authoritarianism have taken hold. On May 13, 2021, the discussion will focus on Adversaries: how foreign actors such as Russia, China, and Iran interact with domestic threats to institutions and the functioning of liberal democracy. Panelists will examine dangers of sharp and soft power, misinformation, and attacks on sensitive electoral and physical infrastructure. The featured experts will be Elizabeth Economy, Michael McFaul, Abbas Milani, and Kate Starbird.  On May 20, 2021, the discussion will focus on appropriate Responses, and whether and how liberal democracies should respond to these threats. Panelists will address the tools and policies available to combat such hazards, as well as their limitations. The featured experts will be Rose Gottemoeller, H. R. McMaster, Jacquelyn Schneider, and Amy Zegart.  Both panel discussions will be moderated by Anna Grzymala-Busse and held at 10:00–11:15 am PDT via Zoom and are open to the public. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Rose Gottemoeller is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She also serves as the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and its Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).  H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michele Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and was the twenty-sixth assistant to the president for national security affairs. He served as a commissioned officer in the US Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a lieutenant general in June 2018. He is author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World (2020). Jacquelyn Schneider is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  Her research focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and political psychology with a special interest in cybersecurity, unmanned technologies, and Northeast Asia.  She is a non-resident fellow at the Naval War College's Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute and a senior policy advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. She is also a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Chair of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence and International Security Steering Committee, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She specializes in U.S. intelligence, emerging technologies and national security, grand strategy, and global political risk management. ABOUT THE MODERATOR Anna Grzymala-Busse is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Grzymala-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor in the Department of Political Science, the director of the Europe Center, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. Her research focuses on religion and politics, authoritarian political parties and their successors, and the historical development of the state.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Senator Rob Portman in conversation with Lanhee Chen on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 3:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Senator Rob Portman is a United States Senator from the state of Ohio. During his time in the Senate, he has introduced more than 240 bills, including 200 bipartisan bills, and more than 150 of his legislative priorities have been signed into law. Senator Portman began his government career in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993, serving the Second District in southern Ohio for 12 years. In 2005, he left Congress to serve as the United States Trade Representative. Following his accomplishments in this role, he was asked to serve another Cabinet post, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Lanhee Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, and Director of Domestic Policy Studies in the Public Policy Program at Stanford. In 2012, he was policy director of the Romney-Ryan campaign and advised Senator Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential bid.  He was a member of the Social Security Advisory Board and served as a senior appointee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush Administration.    For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Thursday, May 13, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts Russia: Empire, War, and Revolution on Thursday, May 13, 2021, at 10am PDT. Join the Hoover Institution Press for a discussion of two recent publications based on the acclaimed Russian collections held at the Hoover Library & Archives, moderated by Russian historian Robert Service.  Russia in War and Revolution: The Memoirs of Fyodor Sergeyevich Olferieff features the previously unpublished memoirs of a Russian military officer who participated in key transformative historical events, including World War I and the Russian Revolution. Gary Hamburg, volume editor and author of the book’s introduction and companion essay; and the subject’s granddaughter Tanya Alexandra Cameron, who translated his memoirs, will participate in the discussion. Next, author Anatol Shmelev will discuss his book the Wake of Empire: Anti-Bolshevik Russia in International Affairs, 1917–1920, which examines Russia’s place in international affairs in the years after the fall of the Russian Empire, when the anti-Bolshevik “Whites” fought to maintain a “Great, United Russia.” ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Robert Service, a noted Russian historian and political commentator, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford. Gary Hamburg is Otho M. Behr Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College and author or editor of more than seventy works, including Russia's Path toward Enlightenment: Faith, Politics, and Reason, 1500–1801. Tanya Alexandra Cameron is the granddaughter of Fyodor Sergeyevich Olferieff. She learned Russian and Russian history and traveled extensively to the Soviet Union in order to translate his memoirs. Anatol Shmelev is a research fellow and Robert Conquest Curator for Russia and Eurasia at the Hoover Institution. His area of specialization is the Russian Civil War, 1917–22.

Thursday, May 13, 2021 to Thursday, May 20, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution along with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Europe Center host Security in the Age of Liberal Democratic Erosion​ on Thursday, May 13 and Thursday, May 20. Cosponsored by the Hoover Institution, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the Europe Center, the virtual two-part panel series Security in the Age of Liberal Democratic Erosion will focus on the critical security challenges facing liberal democracies and examine the threats of external adversaries and how democracies can respond.  Liberal democracy rests on the rule of law and common trust in fundamental institutions such as elections, courts, legislatures, and the executive branches of government. Yet both in the United States and elsewhere, trust in these institutions has eroded as charges of fake news, electoral fraud, biased courts, and increased authoritarianism have taken hold. On May 13, 2021, the discussion will focus on Adversaries: how foreign actors such as Russia, China, and Iran interact with domestic threats to institutions and the functioning of liberal democracy. Panelists will examine dangers of sharp and soft power, misinformation, and attacks on sensitive electoral and physical infrastructure. The featured experts will be Elizabeth Economy, Michael McFaul, Abbas Milani, and Kate Starbird.  On May 20, 2021, the discussion will focus on appropriate Responses, and whether and how liberal democracies should respond to these threats. Panelists will address the tools and policies available to combat such hazards, as well as their limitations. The featured experts will be Rose Gottemoeller, H. R. McMaster, Jacquelyn Schneider, and Amy Zegart.  Both panel discussions will be moderated by Anna Grzymala-Busse and held at 10:00–11:15 am PDT via Zoom and are open to the public. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Elizabeth Economy is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2020, she was awarded the Richard C. Holbrooke Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin. An expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, Economy is the author of several books, most recently The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State (2018). Michael A. McFaul is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as a professor of political science, director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also currently works as a news analyst for NBC.  His areas of expertise include international relations, Russian politics, comparative democratization, and American foreign policy.  From January 2012 to February 2014, he served as the US ambassador to the Russian Federation.  Before becoming ambassador, he served for three years as a special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. Abbas Milani is a research fellow and codirector of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution. In addition, Milani is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University. His expertise is US/Iran relations and Iranian cultural, political, and security issues. Kate Starbird is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Cyber Policy Center and Associate Professor at the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington (UW). Starbird’s research is situated within human-computer interaction (HCI) and the emerging field of crisis informatics—the study of the how information-communication technologies (ICTs) are used during crisis events. She is a co-founder and executive council member of the UW Center for an Informed Public. ABOUT THE MODERATOR Anna Grzymala-Busse is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Grzymala-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor in the Department of Political Science, the director of the Europe Center, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. Her research focuses on religion and politics, authoritarian political parties and their successors, and the historical development of the state.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts More Than Sharp Power: How the CCP Penetrates Taiwan and Hong Kong on Tuesday, May 11 from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. PDT. Called “canaries in the coal mine,” Hong Kong and Taiwan have been at the forefront of the CCP's sharp power play. But Beijing’s influence operations within and toward both territories also go beyond sharp power as the term is commonly understood. This panel will discuss Beijing’s influence mechanisms and the pushbacks that the authors discovered in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries and discuss the most recent news about the CCP’s crackdown on Hong Kong and its impact and response from Hongkongers. Featuring: Andrew J. Nathan Professor of Political Science Columbia University, Wu Jieh-min Research Fellow Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, Ma Ngok, Associate Professor Chinese University of Hong Kong. Followed by conversation with: Glenn Tiffert, Research Fellow Hoover Institution. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. Nathan’s books include Chinese Democracy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985); The Tiananmen Papers, co-edited with Perry Link (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001); China’s Search for Security, co-authored with Andrew Scobell (Columbia University Press, 2012); and Will China Democratize?, co-edited with Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Nathan has served at Columbia as director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, 1991-1995, chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2002-2003, and chair of the Department of Political Science, 2003-2006. He is currently chair of the Morningside Institutional Review Board (IRB). Off campus, he is the regular Asia and Pacific book reviewer for Foreign Affairs, a member of the steering committee of the Asian Barometer Survey, and a board member of Human Rights in China. He is a former member of the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch.  Wu Jieh-min is a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, and served as a director at the Center for Contemporary China, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. He is on the advisory committee of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and a former board member of the Straits Exchange Foundation. His research interests include political economy, political sociology, social movement, democratization, and civil society. His articles have been published in Chinese-language, English, and Japanese journals and edited volumes. His books include Rent-Seeking Developmental State in China: Taishang, Guangdong Model and Global Capitalism (NTU Press, 2019; English and Japanese editions in progress), China’s influence in the Centre-periphery Tug of War in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific (co-edited with Brian C.H. Fong and Andrew J. Nathan eds., Routledge, 2021), Anaconda in the Chandelier: Mechanisms of Influence and Resistance in the “China Factor” (co-edited with Tsai Hung-jeng and Cheng Tsu-bang, Rive Gauche, 2017; Japanese edition forthcoming by Hakusuisha), Third View of China (Rive Gauche, 2012), The Era of Significant Changes: Taiwan 1990-2010 (co-edited with Fan Yun and Thomas Hung-chi Kuo, Rive Gauche, 2010/2014), and The Double Helix of Power and Capital: A Taiwanese Perspective of China/Cross-Strait Studies (editor, Rive Gauche, 2013). He co-produced a documentary film Taiwanese Compatriots (Taibao) (Alleys Studio, 1993). Ma Ngok is an Associate Professor at the Department of Government and Public Administration, Chinese University of Hong Kong. He writes extensively on elections, party politics, democratization, and social movements of Hong Kong. He is the author of Political Development in Hong Kong: State, Political Society and CIvil Society, and more than 20 journal articles on Hong Kong politics.  

Monday, May 10, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Everyone comes from somewhere. From the doctor’s office to the passport office, from whom we've descended affects the biological, legal, and cultural identities of just about everybody in the world today. How did ancestry come to play such a critical role in defining status, and what are the implications of this history for the politics of lineage in the genomic age? Maya Jasanoff is the X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences and Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University. She is the author of the prize-winning books Edge of Empire, Liberty’s Exiles, and most recently The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World, winner of the 2018 Cundill Prize in History. Jasanoff is a frequent contributor to publications including The New Yorker and The Guardian, and is chair of judges for the 2021 Booker Prize. ABOUT THE PROGRAM https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/history-working-group   This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Thursday, May 6, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University The project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, and the National Security Task Force the Hoover Institution hosts a conversation on, What’s Next for U.S.-Taiwan Economic Relations?, on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 4:00 PM PT. Innovation has been a source of comparative advantage for Taiwan—and an important basis for American firms, investors, and government to support Taiwan’s development while expanding mutually beneficial linkages. Yet Taiwan’s innovation advantage is eroding in the face of technological change and strategic risk. What should the next phase of U.S.-Taiwan economic cooperation look like? And how can the new U.S. administration work with Taiwan not just to build on legacy advantages, like in semiconductors, but also to invest in the emerging fields that are rapidly reshaping the future of work, industry, service delivery, and defense? Featuring Dr. Evan Feigenbaum Vice President for Studies Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Followed by conversation with Kharis Ali Templeman Hoover Research Fellow. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Evan A. Feigenbaum is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was also the 2019-20 James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, where he is now a practitioner senior fellow. Initially an academic, with a PhD in Chinese politics from Stanford University, his career has spanned government service, think tanks, the private sector, and three regions of Asia. During the George W. Bush Administration, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia, and Member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific. Kharis Templeman is Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he manages the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific, and a lecturer at Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies. His areas of expertise include democratic transitions and consolidations, comparative parties and elections, and the politics of Taiwan. He is the editor (with Larry Diamond and Yun-han Chu) of Taiwan’s Democracy Challenged: The Chen Shui-bian Years (2016) and Dynamics of Democracy in Taiwan: The Ma Ying-jeou Years (2020). His other peer-reviewed research has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Ethnopolitics, The Taiwan Journal of Democracy, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, and The APSA Annals of Comparative Democratization, along with several book chapters. Click the following link for more information about the Hoover Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/hoover-institution-project-taiwan-indo-pacific-region 

Friday, April 30, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   Forestry was important to state-building efforts in the early modern world. Timber and fuel were strategic goods needed for shipbuilding, civil engineering, urban construction, iron smelting, and coin minting. States with forest endowments, including France, Venice, many German states, Japan, and Korea, developed rules and institutions to better control domestic supplies. States without substantial domestic woodlands, including England, Holland, and Genoa, turned to imports. Because it had neither a large forestry bureaucracy nor chartered merchant companies, China was often assumed to lack an effective forestry system entirely. In fact, states in China had long relied on a third strategy: a domestic forest market dominated by small-scale, private producers. As early as 1150, and with growing prevalence after 1500, landowners began to invest in planting timber. They registered their property with the government, creating a de facto private property regime. And they used private litigation–formally illegal–as they developed simple land deeds and tenancy contracts into timber securities. In the short term, this forestry market looked arguably more modern than its contemporaries; in the long-run, it may have short-circuited the development of land oversight, environmental science, and long-distance trade. Please click here to read the the foreword to Fir and Empire. Ian M. Miller is Assistant Professor of History at St. John’s University in New York. He is the author of Fir and Empire: The Transformation of Forests in Early Modern China(University of Washington Press, 2020). His current research is on the role of lineage organizations in regulating village environments, provisionally titled “Ancestral Shade: Kinship and Ecology in South China.” ABOUT THE PROGRAM This talk is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Senator Rick Scott in conversation with Niall Ferguson on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 12:00 PM ET. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Niall Ferguson MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies, Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. His next book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, will be released on May 4, 2021. Rick Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is currently serving his first term representing the state of Florida. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Rick Scott served two terms as the 45th Governor of Florida, working every day to turn around Florida’s economy and secure the state’s future as the best place for families and businesses to succeed. For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Thursday, April 15, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University   The Hoover Institution hosts The United States, China, and Taiwan—A Strategy to Prevent War on Thursday, April 15 from 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. PT. On behalf of its projects on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, and its National Security Task Force, the Hoover Institution invites you to The United States, China, and Taiwan—A Strategy to Prevent War. Robert Blackwill and Philip Zelikow introduce their recent report on the growing danger of war between China and the United States over Taiwan and propose a new US strategy to prevent it. Following their presentation, Hoover Institution fellows General James Mattis (ret.) and Admiral James Ellis (ret.) will offer remarks. The program will conclude with audience questions. Featuring Robert D. Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations, and Philip D. Zelikow, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and White Burkett Miller Professor of History and J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance, Miller Center, University of Virginia. Followed by remarks from Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. (ret), Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, and General James Mattis (ret), Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution. Moderated by Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Robert D. Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. His current work focuses on US foreign policy writ large as well as on China, Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and geoeconomics. As deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush, Blackwill was responsible for governmentwide policy planning to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of US foreign policy. He also served as presidential envoy to Iraq. Blackwill went to the National Security Council after serving as the US ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003. He is the recipient of the 2007 Bridge-Builder Award for his role in transforming US-India relations. In 2016 he became the first US ambassador to India since John Kenneth Galbraith to receive the Padma Bhushan Award from the government of India for distinguished service of a high order. Philip Zelikow is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the White Burkett Miller Professor of History and J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the Miller Center, both University of Virginia, where he has also served as dean of the graduate school and director of the Miller Center. His scholarly work has focused on critical episodes in American and world history. He was a trial and appellate lawyer and then a career diplomat before taking academic positions at Harvard, then Virginia. Before and during his academic career, he has served at all levels of American government. His federal service during five administrations has included positions in the White House, State Department, and the Pentagon. His last full-time government position was as counselor of the Department of State, a deputy to Secretary Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Zelikow is one of the few individuals ever to serve on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board under presidents of both major parties, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He has also been a member of the Defense Policy Board for Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and a member of the board of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2020, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. James O. Ellis Jr. is an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, focusing on energy and national security policies. In 2004, Admiral Ellis completed his 39-year US Navy career as commander of US Strategic Command. His service included carrier-based tours with three fighter squadrons and command of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. He has two graduate engineering degrees, is a graduate of the Navy Nuclear Power Training Program, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. From 2005 to 2012, he led the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, during the Fukushima response. General James Mattis, US Marine Corps (ret.), is the Hoover Institution's Davies Family Distinguished Fellow, after having served as the nation’s 26th Secretary of Defense. He served for over 40 years in the US Marine Corps as an infantry officer, plus duty in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as NATO supreme allied commander, and as commander of US Central Command, directing 250,000 US and allied troops in combat across the Middle East and South Asia. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He chairs the Hoover Institution's projects on China’s Global Sharp Power and on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. He has authored or edited more than fifty books on democracy, including his recent Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency. During 2017–18, he cochaired, with Orville Schell, a Hoover Institution–Asia Society working group, which produced the report China’s Influence and American Interests: Promoting Constructive Vigilance.

Thursday, April 15, 2021 Hoover Institution, Stanford University Senior Chancellor Eric Hall and Education Commissioner Michael Johnson in conversation with Caroline Hoxby on Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 2:00 PM ET. For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations