Talks from the Hoover Institution

America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

 

Recounting the actors and events of U.S. foreign policy, Robert B. Zoellick identifies five traditions that have emerged from America's encounters with the world: the importance of North America; the special roles trading, transnational, and technological relations play in defining ties with others; changing attitudes toward alliances and ways of ordering connections among states; the need for public support, especially through Congress; and the belief that American policy should serve a larger purpose. These traditions frame a closing review of post-Cold War presidencies, which Zoellick foresees serving as guideposts for the future.

Robert B. Zoellick is Senior Counselor at Brunswick Geopolitical, an advisory service of Brunswick Group, and a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center. In addition, Zoellick serves on the boards of Temasek and Twitter, chairs the International Advisory Council of Standard Chartered Bank, and is on the Advisory Board of Swiss Re. Zoellick was the President of the World Bank Group from 2007-12, U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005, and Deputy Secretary of State from 2005 to 2006. From 1985 to 1993, Zoellick served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury and Under Secretary of State, as well as White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

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.

Executive Power Under The U.S. Constitution

Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Senator Mike Lee in conversation with Michael McConnell on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 3:00 PM ET.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Senator Mike Lee was elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator. He has spent his career defending the basic liberties of all Americans and advocating for our founding constitutional principles.

Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early in life while watching his father, Rex Lee, serve as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique understanding of government up close.

Lee graduated from Brigham Young University Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

Michael McConnell is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law and the director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School.  

During his many years of government service, McConnell served as a circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and as an assistant to Solicitor General Rex Lee at the Department of Justice.

Over his career he has argued fifteen cases in the U.S Supreme Court. His teaching focuses on constitutional law, constitutional history, the First Amendment, and interpretive theory. His most recent book is The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power under the Constitution published in November 2020; his next book will be released in 2021 the Establishment of Religion: Neutrality, Accommodation, and Separation.  

For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Cyberspace and Strategy: Deterrence, Escalation, and the New Administration

Friday, March 26, 2021

The Hoover Institution hosts A Decade Of US Cyber Strategy: A Hoover Chat Series With Cyber Experts And Defense Leaders on January 29, February 12, February 26, March 12, March 19, and March 26, 2020.

The March 26 session focuses on how deterrence and escalation factor into US cyber strategy and have shaped the evolution of US cyber strategy with a concluding look to the future and cyber strategy under the Biden Administration.

This series of discussions will look at the evolution of US cyber strategy over the last decade. Join scholars and defense cyber leaders as they discuss chapters from the recently published book, Ten Years In: Implementing Strategic Approaches to Cyberspace, all with an eye towards the future of US cyber strategy.

The series features authors from the volume, including both academics and Department of Defense cyber leaders, as well as Hoover experts that discuss the history of cyber strategy, cyber warfare, cyberspace talent, and public-private innovation in cyberspace and will be moderated by Dr. Jackie Schneider, Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution.

For more information visit https://www.hoover.org/events/ten-years-us-cyber-strategy-chat-series 

U.S. Foreign Policy Strategy in the Indo-Pacific

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

 

Bill Hagerty and Peter Berkowitz discuss U.S. Foreign Policy Strategy in the Indo-Pacific on Wednesday, March 24 at 3:30 PM Eastern.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Senator Bill Hagerty was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, serving his first term representing Tennessee. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Bill served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. A life-long businessman he started his career with Boston Consulting Group, and later became a private equity investor. In 2011- 2014 he served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

 

Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior. From 2019-2021, he served as Director of State Department Policy Planning Staff in the office of the Secretary. His research and writing have focused on, constitutional government, conservatism and progressivism in the United States, liberal education, national security and law, and Middle East politics.

 

For more information go to: https://www.hoover.org/publications/capital-conversations 

Office Hours: Macke Raymond Talks "Summer Slide" and the Learning Losses from Covid-19

Hoover Institution distinguished research fellow Macke Raymond answers the most frequently asked questions from her video "An Endless Summer: How COVID Has Reversed Academic Achievement."

 

1. (0:38) How do you measure learning loss?

2. (2:44) Do you have a best guess as to how much learning loss will have occurred by next fall for the average student? What will the distribution of learning loss look like?

3. (4:36) What would new approaches to classroom-based instruction look like? Who is preventing new approaches from being adopted?

4. (7:02) Estimates of learning loss come from standardized tests, but many people are skeptical of their ability to accurately measure learning gains. Are there other kinds of assessments that are helpful?

5. (10:33) How long do you think it will take to get education and academic achievement back on track once schools safely re-open?

6. (12:14) The news is full of stories of districts that are facing challenges getting schools up and running. What are the options for families in those situations?

 

Watch the original video here.

Cyberspace and Public-Private Innovation

Friday, March 19, 2021

The Hoover Institution hosts A Decade Of US Cyber Strategy: A Hoover Chat Series With Cyber Experts And Defense Leaders on January 29, February 12, February 26, March 12, and March 19, 2020.

The March 19 session focuses on the role of public-private partnerships and innovation in defense cyber strategy.

This series of discussions will look at the evolution of US cyber strategy over the last decade. Join scholars and defense cyber leaders as they discuss chapters from the recently published book, Ten Years In: Implementing Strategic Approaches to Cyberspace, all with an eye towards the future of US cyber strategy.

The series features authors from the volume, including both academics and Department of Defense cyber leaders, as well as Hoover experts that discuss the history of cyber strategy, cyber warfare, cyberspace talent, and public-private innovation in cyberspace and will be moderated by Dr. Jackie Schneider, Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution.

For more information visit https://www.hoover.org/events/ten-years-us-cyber-strategy-chat-series 

Defending Media Freedom In Taiwan

Thursday, March 18, 2021

The Hoover Institution hosts Defending Media Freedom in Taiwan on Thursday, March 18, 2021 from 4:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. PDT.

In December 2020, Taiwan’s National Communications Commission voted to deny a broadcast license to CTiTV, a pro-China news channel that had been highly critical of the Taiwanese government and ruling party, the DPP. This decision marks the first time a TV channel has been forced off the air for violation of the terms of its license since Taiwan became a democracy. CTiTV is part of the Want Want China Times group, a media conglomerate owned and run by the pro-unification snack foods magnate Tsai Eng-meng, and it has been accused of coordinating its reporting with the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing. However, until being forced off the air, it was also a popular source of news among supporters of the opposition KMT and an important voice in Taiwan’s diverse and critical TV landscape.

In this moderated discussion, three panelists from Taiwan consider the complex issues this decision raises and debate when -- and if -- it is ever appropriate for government to regulate media content and limit access to the broadcast spectrum in a liberal democracy.

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

The Syrian Requiem: The Civil War And Its Aftermath

The Hoover Institution’s Working Group on the Middle East and the Islamic World held a discussion on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 from 8:30-9:30am PST with Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich, Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University and Dr Carmit Valensi, Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

The crisis in Syria has festered for ten years now. The addition of Russian and Iranian support in 2016 has kept the Asad regime in power but has never been enough to win the country. As the impasse lingers, instability locally and internationally is exacerbated, and another humanitarian catastrophe may be around the corner. Both the Obama and Trump administrations, reluctant to be drawn into yet another military conflict in the Middle East, were hard put to formulate an effective policy in Syria. The Biden administration must now confront the challenge of coming up with an effective strategy.

Followed by conversation with Russell Berman, Senior Fellow, Co-Chair of Working Group on the Middle East and Islamic World and H.R. McMaster, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Russell A. Berman is the Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University, professor of German studies and comparative literature, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and cochair of its Working Group on the Middle East and the Islamic World. He served as senior advisor in policy planning at the Department of State and has written widely on topics concerning Germany, transatlantic relations, and Islamism. His books include Freedom or Terror: Europe Faces Jihad and Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem.

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 was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

Itamar Rabinovich is Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Vice Chair of the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and Distinguished non-resident Foreign Policy Fellow at Brookings Institution. He was Israel’s ambassador in Washington, chief negotiator with Syria and President of Tel Aviv University. He is the author among other books of Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman, The View from Damascus: State, Political Community and Foreign Relations in Twentieth-Century Syria and Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy.

Dr. Carmit Valensi, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), the director of Syria research program and editor of "Strategic Assessment" specializes in contemporary Middle East, strategic studies, military concepts, and terrorism. She completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on "hybrid actors" such as Hamas, Hizbollah, and FARC. She holds a B.A. in Middle East history and political science, and an M.A. in diplomacy studies from Tel Aviv University. In 2010-2011 she was a research fellow within the Fox Fellowship program in regional and international studies at Yale University.

Cyberspace and Talent

Cyberspace and Talent

 

Friday, March 12, 2021

 

The Hoover Institution hosts A Decade Of US Cyber Strategy: A Hoover Chat Series With Cyber Experts And Defense Leaders on January 29, February 12, February 26, March 12, and March 19, 2020.

The March 12 session focuses on how cyber strategy can be used to recruit, retain, and best employ cybersecurity talent for the Department of Defense.

PANELISTS
Dr. Jacquelyn Schneider | Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Raj Shah | Shield Capital; Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Dr. Chaitra Hardison | RAND Behavioral Scientist

Tim Booher | HSBC Bank’s Global Chief Technology Officer for Cybersecurity For more information visit

https://www.hoover.org/events/ten-years-us-cyber-strategy-chat-series 

Reflections on U.S.-China Relations

Reflections on U.S.-China Relations

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

 

The Hoover Institution hosts Reflections on U.S.-China Relations on Wednesday, March 10 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST.

A discussion about the great-power competition between the United States and China, the rising risks for Western businesses in China, and the strategic pitfalls the West must avoid. 

After his remarks, Matt Pottinger will join Hoover Institution Fellows Elizabeth Economy and H.R. McMaster in conversation.

Matt Pottinger is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Matt served at 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, Matt coordinated the full spectrum of national security policy. Before that he served as senior director for Asia, where he led the administration’s work on the Indo-Pacific region, and in particular its shift on China policy.

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).

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).