Cato Events Podcast

By Cato InstituteNews Government News Commentary Politics

Cato Events Podcast episodes

June 24, 2008 The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom
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42 min
June 19, 2008 Botswana and Mauritius: African Success Stories
On a continent scarred by political repression and economic underdevelopment, Botswana and Mauritius stand out. In 2007, Freedom House certified both countries as free, and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World report found that Botswana and Mauritius had the two freest economies in Africa. According to the World Bank, the two also have—along with Seychelles—Africa’s highest per capita incomes. What explains that success? Why did the institutions of freedom take root in Botswana and Mauritius, while failing to do so in most other African countries? How do the two countries intend to maintain high growth in an increasingly globalized world? Please join us to hear our speakers elaborate on the past successes and future challenges facing Botswana and Mauritius.
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1 hr 27 min
June 18, 2008 Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders
In a provocative new book, Jason Riley makes the case for welcoming more legal immigrants to the United States. Drawing on history, scholarly studies and first-hand reporting, Riley argues that today’s newcomers are fueling America’s prosperity and dynamism. He challenges the prevailing views on talk radio and cable TV that immigrants are overpopulating the country, stealing jobs, depressing wages, bankrupting social services, filling prisons, resisting assimilation and promoting big government. Comments will be provided by one of the nation’s leading political analysts.
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1 hr 16 min
June 17, 2008 Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America
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1 hr 11 min
June 12, 2008 The Psychology of Evil: The Lucifer Effect in Action
Prof. Philip Zimbardo, the conductor of the infamous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, has become a leading authority on the psychology of evil: How is it that people are induced to commit evil, even when they consider themselves “good” people? What social dynamics encourage—or discourage—cruelty toward other human beings? The Lucifer Effect offers a full reconstruction of the 1971 experiment based on archival video, subject diaries, exit interviews, and other contemporary material. It then gives an introduction to the psychology of social morality as it has developed over the years. The book culminates with an examination of the prisoner abuse scandals of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere, challenging accounts that would hold individual soldiers solely responsible for their actions, and indicting the chain of command for knowingly creating conditions that would lead to degrading treatment and torture.
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1 hr 41 min
June 12, 2008 America: Our Next Chapter
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1 hr 12 min
June 06, 2008 Globalization and the World's Rising Living Standards
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44 min
May 30, 2008 China's Rise: Is Conflict Unavoidable?
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28 min
May 29, 2008 Occupational Hazards: Success and Failure in Military Occupation
What makes military occupations more or less likely to succeed? Drawing on 26 cases since 1815 where outside powers have seized territory without a claim to its sovereignty, David Edelstein attempts to determine why some occupations succeed and why so many seem doomed to failure.
Edelstein combines detailed case studies with a theoretical approach and concludes that occupations face a paradox: Success requires a long-term and massive commitment of resources and attention; however, such large-scale occupations can elicit nationalist responses from the occupied populace. Further, as the occupier faces difficulty, discontent grows at home, and pressure builds to remove occupying forces. Examining the history of occupation as a component of grand strategy, Edelstein offers warnings for today’s policymakers, who seem tempted to include military occupations as part of the approach to countering terrorism.
Please join the author and our distinguished commentators for a discussion of this timely and pathbreaking book.
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1 hr 18 min
May 27, 2008 Relief from Gridlock: Surface Transportation Reauthorization in 2009
In reauthorizing the federal gas tax and surface transportation funding, the next Congress can continue historic trends of dictating thousands of earmarks and other mandates that reduce our transportation efficiency and, like recent ethanol programs, have huge unintended consequences. Or it can streamline federal transportation programs to make urban and other surface transport systems run smoothly, efficiently, and with minimal waste of energy and greenhouse gas emissions. This policy forum will present a variety of proposals for breaking out of the transportation gridlock we currently suffer.
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1 hr 44 min

About Cato Events Podcast

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The Cato Events Podcast brings you live recordings from the Cato Institute's events, where leading scholars, policymakers, journalists, and experts come together each week to discuss the ideas and…