Zócalo Public Square

Within weeks of winning the presidential election, Barack Obama has begun to assemble his administration, starting with those charged with addressing the economic crisis and national security. But he still has several key appointments to go. Three former Clinton administratoin officials -- former Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy deLeon, former Deputy Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste, and former Deputy Assistant to the President John Emerson -- join moderator Eric Garcetti at Zócalo to discuss the decisions Obama has made so far, what difficult choices await, and how his transition signals what sort of president he will be.

We can be forgiven for thinking of Dashiell Hammett as a San Francisco writer. The Maltese Falcon takes place in Northern California, where Hammett somehow transformed himself from a tubercular detective for the Pinkerton Agency into a novelist for the ages. But Hammett’s roots in Los Angeles run deep. Here, in the 30s, he worked on several pictures while under contract to the studios. Here he began his lifelong affair with Lillian Hellman. And here he returned frequently over the years to visit his beloved daughters. Zócalo and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs brought together a panel of writers, family members, and scholars to culminate L.A.’s month-long celebration of this great California novelist. Among the mysteries discussed, if not solved: Why did Hammett fall creatively silent for the last three decades of his life? Why is there no movie version of ‘The Red Harvest’? How did he influence the L.A. Noir scene? And the ultimate, unanswerable question: Hammett or Chandler?

Since the attacks of September 11th, the United States has tried to build new border defenses to keep out terrorists without stifling the flow of people and ideas from abroad, which have always contributed to our country’s dynamism. But have these new measures cut America off from the world and discouraged the globe’s best and the brightest from coming here? Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Edward Alden visited Zócalo to assess the real effects heightened national security measures have had on both Americans and the world at large. Author of The Closing of the American Border, a book James Fallows has called “outstanding and important,” Alden chronicled the tragic stories of many innocent immigrants who have been upended by post-9/11 restrictions, and the offered a more sensible middle road for preserving American security and American ideals.

Since the attacks of September 11th, the United States has tried to build new border defenses to keep out terrorists without stifling the flow of people and ideas from abroad, which have always contributed to our country’s dynamism. But have these new measures cut America off from the world and discouraged the globe’s best and the brightest from coming here? Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Edward Alden visited Zócalo to assess the real effects heightened national security measures have had on both Americans and the world at large. Author of The Closing of the American Border, a book James Fallows has called “outstanding and important,” Alden chronicled the tragic stories of many innocent immigrants who have been upended by post-9/11 restrictions, and the offered a more sensible middle road for preserving American security and American ideals.

Europe has received a wave of immigration from the global south in recent decades, similar in scope to the US—but very different in its results. Many immigrant and second-generation communities, particularly those hailing from the Muslim world, have astronomical unemployment rates and a thin connection to European identity. Some have produced riots and terrorism. If Europe has an Islam problem, whose fault is it? Is Islamic belief and culture incompatible with Western institutions? Or is there such a thing as “Islamophobia,” poisoning immigrants’ efforts to integrate on European terms? Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Weekly Standard, visits Zócalo to talk about themes from his upcoming book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.

Thanks to medical advances, we now live longer, but living longer doesn’t necessarily make death any easier when it comes. Forget the good life, what in this world makes a good death? How does culture affect our choices? Palliative care offers some relief to suffering, yet it is our uncertainty about the end of life that keeps our dread alive. Experts visit Zócalo to share first-hand accounts and clinical insight: Dr. Susan Stone, the Director of Palliative Care at the Los Angeles County Medical Center; Dr. Betty Ferrell of the City of Hope National Medical Center; and moderator Dr. Michael Wilkes, Vice Dean for Medical Education at UC Davis, join us for an evening of big questions that demand courage, compassion, and a dash of wit. (This event is made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.)

The Republican Party is facing extinction. Movement conservatism is intellectually exhausted, the evangelical right feels ignored if not betrayed, and younger voters have embraced the Democrats as the party of the future. How can the GOP get back in tune with the aspirations of American voters? Reihan Salam, associate editor at The Atlantic and co-author of Grand New Party: How Conservatives Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, visited Zócalo to explain how and why the Republicans must break out of their demographic box.

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, most of Africa remains as desperate today as it was half a century ago. That's because much of that aid is lost to the grabbing hands of corrupt governments and destroyed through clashing warlords and civil strife. Edward Miguel, U.C. Berkeley economist and co-author of Economic Gangster: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations, visited Zócalo to explain how the twin evils of violence and corruption keep nations in poverty. He argues that before we can help poor nations, we must first understand the violent, lawless thugs who have wrought havoc throughout the developing world. And to understand these gangsters, he says, we must first get inside their heads.

The bubble has burst; the era of sunny-side up capitalism is over. Washington may resuscitate the credit market, but will U.S. politics ever be the same? Paul Krugman, author, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, and New York Times columnist, visited Zócalo to explore the impact of what he has called, "the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression" on politics, parties, and people. Will the drive for tighter regulation dissuade Ronald Reagan's faithful believers?

The bubble has burst; the era of sunny-side up capitalism is over. Washington may resuscitate the credit market, but will U.S. politics ever be the same? Paul Krugman, author, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, and New York Times columnist, visited Zócalo to explore the impact of what he has called, "the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression" on politics, parties, and people. Will the drive for tighter regulation dissuade Ronald Reagan's faithful believers?