Talks from the Hoover Institution

December 1. 2023

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

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

Moderated by 

With special welcome by

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

MODERATED BY

Monday, October 30, 2023

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

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

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.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 | 10:00 am PT / 1:00pm ET