The AEI Events Podcast

More than 20,000 youth age out of the foster care system every year. Independent research and government statistics reveal stark outcomes for these young adults, including disproportionately high rates of incarceration. Some experts now claim there exists a “foster care-to-prison pipeline,” calling into question the efficacy of removing children from their homes and decrying the lack of supports offered to transitioning foster youth.

Foster youth face serious trauma, but there is nothing inevitable about their trajectories. Indeed, the interactions between child welfare and law enforcement agencies may be creating more problems than they are solving. Please join AEI’s Naomi Schaefer Riley as she leads a distinguished panel of experts on the challenges facing former and current foster youth and their intersection with the criminal justice system.

If you’ve enjoyed the content of this event, check out Naomi’s newest podcast addressing child welfare, Are You Kidding Me?, on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Please note this audio has been edited for time; it first appeared at an AEI event held on March 2, 2020, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

In his new book, “Trade Is Not a Four Letter Word: How Six Everyday Products Make the Case for Trade” (Avid Reader Press, 2020), Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2009 to 2017, presents an enjoyable and insightful defense of free trade. Drawing on the history of American trade policy and the contemporary reality of intertwined supply chains and taco salads, he explains why and how the current populist turn toward protectionism threatens the welfare of consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs and undermines US foreign policy goals.

Join AEI’s conversation about Mr. Hochberg’s new book and the politics, economics, and everyday glory of international trade.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on February 26, 2020, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

Americans are living through a social crisis. In our politics, it expresses itself in polarization and division. In our culture, it looks like alienation, anger, and despair.

While social analysts blame factors such as rising inequality or liberalism’s collapse, these explanations are incomplete. The missing ingredient, argues AEI’s Yuval Levin, is the dissolution of our institutions and a transformation of what we expect of them. In “A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream” (Basic Books, 2020), Dr. Levin explains how institutions have devolved from molds to platforms, fueling cynicism and resentment that leads citizens to rally around firebrands who promise to further shatter these systems.

Join the discussion between AEI’s Timothy P. Carney and Dr. Levin on rejecting the impulse to dismantle institutions in favor of demanding better of those we have.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on January 21, 2020, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

Research suggests that childhood poverty impedes children’s healthy growth and success in adulthood. In 2015, Congress asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study of child poverty in the US and identify evidence-based policies to reduce it. The recently released report, “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty,” describes two packages of federal policies that would cut US child poverty by half within a decade.

But what would it take to turn report proposals into congressional authorization for new federal spending? Do key stakeholders agree that reducing child poverty is a priority for federal policy? And if authorized, how much would new federal spending really help poor children?

Join AEI for a presentation on the report, followed by a panel discussion on the realistic prospects for the report’s proposals to improve children’s lives.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on July 17, 2019, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

Europe’s political landscape is becoming much more challenging, as evidenced by the strong showing of populist parties in the recent European parliamentary elections and by the deepening Brexit crisis. The question remains: how serious are these challenges are to the European economic outlook? What economic policies can meet these challenges?

MORE RESOURCES: – Italy (Lorenzo Forni) – Economic Policies after the European parliamentary elections (Vitor Gaspar) – Economic challanges (Desmond Lachman)

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on June 4, 2019, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

Both political parties frequently argue that the American dream is in peril. They say hard work does not pay off, wages have been stagnant for decades, the middle class is shrinking, the US is no longer upwardly mobile. In their minds, the game is rigged, but not by them. Instead, populist frustration says some “other” — the elites, the rich, immigrants, or China — is to blame for today’s economic outcomes.

In “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)” (Templeton Press, 2020), AEI’s Michael R. Strain argues against this assessment. He uses persuasive, under-reported evidence to prove that the American dream is alive and well.

Join AEI’s discussion with Dr. Strain on the economic evidence in favor of the American dream and why we must reject populist rhetoric.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on February 27, 2020, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

President Trump has drastically shaken up America’s foreign policy establishment, from how the US treats its allies to its approach toward sovereignty and global institutions. The Taliban peace deal to withdraw US forces while releasing thousands of Taliban prisoners is just one example. But where does Trump’s foreign policy fit into American history and, in particular, the conservative tradition?

In “Age of Iron: On Conservative Nationalism” (Oxford University Press, 2019), Colin Dueck tells the story of Republican foreign policy since the 20th century. He describes the shifting coalitions and priorities that have shaped policy, arguing that conservative nationalism is actually the oldest democratic tradition in US foreign relations.

Join his discussion with AEI’s Hal Brands on Trump’s place in this history and the outlook on conservative foreign policy in the era of renewed great-power competition.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on September 25, 2019, at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

While there is no shortage of discussion about how war between the US and China could break out, few have asked how such a war might end. During crisis or conflict, how can we draw China to the negotiating table? How has China historically ended its wars, and how might this inform how the US approaches China diplomatically in peacetime, crisis, and war?

In her new book, “The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime” (Cornell University Press, 2019), Oriana Skylar Mastro asks: How can we get from fighting to talking? Join Dr. Mastro, Susan Thornton, and Tom Christensen as they discuss US diplomacy with China in an era of great-power competition.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on May 23, 2019 at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

Related Material:

The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in WartimeOriana Skylar Mastro | Cornell University Press | March 15, 2019

Negotiating with North Korea, competing with China, and another Trump-Kim summit: A conversation with Oriana Skylar Mastro“Banter” | February 26, 2019

In recent months, protests rocked the Middle East. Prime ministers have resigned in Iraq and Lebanon. Hundreds of protesters were gunned down in Iran. Libya continues to boil.

For decades, US foreign policy in the region has been on autopilot: seek Arab-Israeli peace, fight terrorism, and futilely urge regimes to respect human rights. Every US administration puts its own spin on these initiatives, but none has successfully resolved the region’s fundamental problems.

Please join AEI for the release of Michael Rubin and Brian Katulis’ new edited volume, “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019). They and the book’s authors tackle the core drivers of conflict and instability in this vital part of the world.

This audio first appeared at an AEI event held on January 8, 2020 at AEI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Watch the full event here.

As the Coronavirus spreads through East Asia and dominates news cycles, we reflect on the lessons learned from the world’s last major outbreak: Ebola. Listen to this audio from AEI’s June 26, 2019 event with discussing the threat and methods of containment and treatment.

Since last August, history’s second-deadliest Ebola outbreak has left over 1,400 dead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The outbreak is in conflict-plagued eastern DRC, where frequent militia attacks and human displacement have frustrated efforts to contain it. The rate of infection is accelerating, and the epidemic threatens to spill into neighboring countries. Governments, health officials, and international organizations face tremendous obstacles in containing the disease.

Join the discussion with Admiral (Ret.) Tim Ziemer, Ramsey Day, Tomas Cihlar, Ken Isaacs, and AEI’s Paul Wolfowitz, as they discuss the Ebola outbreak in the DRC, its regional implications, and policy options to confront it.

Watch the full event here.