Talks from the Hoover Institution

The Alliance for Civics in the Academy hosts "Historical Thinking and Democratic Citizenship" with Mary Clark, Suzanne Marchand, Jeffrey Collins, and Jonathan Gienapp on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, from 9:00–10:00 a.m. PT.

Where does history fit within broader efforts to renew civic education in higher education? What can the historical method contribute to the development of civic competencies? And in an era of polarized historical memory, how can colleges and universities teach history in ways that strengthen democratic culture? This session examines the distinctive contributions of historical study in cultivating informed and engaged citizens. Panelists will consider how history departments and civic initiatives can collaborate to better align curricular goals and advance a shared vision for civic learning.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026  
Hoover Institution, Stanford University

The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country’s democracy delivers on its promise.

On April 1, 2026, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. PT., the Hoover Institution's Center for Revitalizing American Institutions, in partnership with the Hoover Technology Policy Accelerator, hosted an engaging conversation, In Science We Trust? Understanding Americans’ Confidence in Science, Scientists, and Scientific Institutions with Russ Altman, Mark Horowitz, Arthur Lupia, and Amy Zegart.                

This webinar examines how Americans think about and trust science in an era of rapid technological change, political polarization, and misinformation. Through data-driven analysis and discussion, panelists explore trends in public confidence toward scientists, the institutions that produce scientific knowledge, and the social and cultural factors that shape these attitudes. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of what strengthens or undermines trust in science—and what that means for policymaking, education, and the health of American democracy.

Thursday, March 26, 2026
Hoover Institution | Stanford University

The Hoover History Lab hosted Rural Banditry and Boko Haram: Governance, Security, and International Engagement in Nigeria on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

FEATURING

Ebenezer Obadare
Senior Fellow for Africa Studies | Council on Foreign Relations

Ugochi Daniels 
Deputy Director for General Operations | International Organization for Migration 

Robin Renee Sanders
Former US Ambassador to Nigeria 

The Hoover Institution invites you to a virtual presentation of Wargaming the Pacific: Lessons from the Naval War College's Interwar Games on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, from 12:00-2:00 pm PT. 

This webinar examines the interwar wargames conducted at the U.S. Naval War College before World War II and their foundational role in shaping U.S. naval doctrine and strategic planning. We explore how these games contributed to America’s success in the Pacific Theater, their enduring impact on U.S. military effectiveness, and the remarkable archival materials preserved by the Naval War College.

Margaret Hoover moderated a conversation with General Jim Mattis, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Ryan Holiday, bestselling author and modern interpreter of Stoic philosophy, on the character that sustains a republic. Drawing on experience in military command, classical philosophy, and the enduring example of America’s founding generation, including their shared admiration for George Washington, the discussion explored the virtues that have defined American leadership at its best: discipline, moral courage, humility in the exercise of power, and a profound sense of duty.

This live episode of Firing Line considered how those principles continue to define the American idea, and what they require of leaders and citizens alike in the decades ahead.

The Alliance for Civics in the Academy hosts "Building Civic Unity in a Religiously Diverse Democracy" with Eboo Patel, Robert George, Fr. Francisco Nahoe, and Josh Ober on March 18, 2026, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT.

Religious diversity is a defining feature of contemporary American democracy, yet it raises persistent questions about how civic unity is cultivated in shared public life. How can institutions of higher education prepare students to engage constructively across religious difference while sustaining common democratic commitments? This webinar explores the role of civic education in a religiously diverse democracy, examining pedagogical approaches, institutional frameworks, and normative principles that support civic unity without erasing pluralism.

The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country’s democracy delivers on its promise.

The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) held a webinar—co-sponsored by the Stanford Constitutional Law Center—about Judicial Importance, Independence, and Legitimacy in Polarized Times with Michael McConnell, Tom Clark, Genevieve Lakier, and Eugene Volokh on March 4, 2026, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. PT.

Have federal courts been too permissive—or too obstructive—of President Trump’s agenda? The answer often depends on one’s political perspective. Yet across the spectrum, there’s broad agreement that the courts have come under intense pressure and scrutiny in recent years. As the country has grown more politically sorted, the judiciary’s role in our system of self-governance has evolved and, for some, grown more contested.

Join us for a timely and thought-provoking webinar featuring scholars with diverse viewpoints who explore how the federal courts are functioning—and perceived—amid today’s polarized political landscape. Panelists examine questions such as: What is the judiciary’s role in safeguarding democracy? How can courts maintain legitimacy in a divided society? And how should we interpret recent high-profile rulings in the broader context of American constitutionalism?                                        

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Hoover Institution | Stanford University

Hoover Institution fellow Niall Ferguson and Andrew Preston discuss Preston's latest book Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security.

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Hoover Institution | Stanford University

The Hoover Applied History Working Group held Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security on Wednesday, March 11, 2026.

ABOUT THE TALK 

National security may seem like a timeless notion. States have always sought to fortify themselves, and the modern state derives its legitimacy from protecting its population. Yet national security in fact has a very particular, very American, history—and a surprising one at that.

The concept of national security originates in the 1930s, as part of a White House campaign in response to the rise of fascism. Before then, national self-defense was defined in terms of protecting sovereign territory from invasion. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his circle worried that the US public, comforted by two vast oceans, did not take seriously the long-term risks posed by hypermilitarization abroad. New Dealers developed the doctrine of national security, Andrew Preston argues, to supplant the old idea of self-defense: now even geographically and temporally remote threats were to be understood as harms to be combated, while ideological competitors were perilous to the “American way of life.”
 
Total Defense shows it was no coincidence that a liberal like Roosevelt promoted this vision. National security, no less than social security, was a New Deal promise: the state was obliged to safeguard Americans as much from the guns and warships of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan as from unemployment and poverty in old age. The resulting shift in threat perception—among policymakers and ordinary citizens alike—transformed the United States, spearheading massive government expansion and placing the country on a permanent war footing.

The Alliance for Civics in the Academy hosted "How Can Universities Strengthen Civic Education in K–12 Schools?" with Jennifer McNabb, Joshua Dunn, and Jenna Storey on March 4, 2026, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT.

Universities are increasingly reexamining their role as incubators of effective citizenship. An essential yet often overlooked part of this work is strengthening K–12 civic education. This webinar explores how efforts within higher education can support civic learning in K–12 schools, with particular emphasis on the academy’s role in training the next generation of educators.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Meira Levinson is a political theorist/philosopher of education who is working to start a global field of educational ethics that is philosophically rigorous, disciplinarily and experientially inclusive, and both relevant to and informed by educational policy and practice. In doing so, she draws upon scholarship from multiple disciplines as well as her eight years of experience teaching middle school humanities, civics, history, and English in the Atlanta and Boston Public Schools. 

Meira has written or co-edited nine books, including Civic Contestation in Global Education and Educational Equity in a Global Context (both 2024, with Ellis Reid, Tatiana Geron, and Sara O’Brien), Instructional Moves for Powerful Teaching in Higher Education (2023, co-authored with Jeremy Murphy), Democratic Discord in Schools (2019, with Jacob Fay), winner of the 2020 AERA Moral Development and Education SIG Outstanding Book Award, and Dilemmas of Educational Ethics (2016, with Jacob Fay). Her book No Citizen Left Behind (2012) won awards in political science, philosophy, social studies, and education and has been translated into Chinese and Japanese. Meira shares educational ethics resources on JusticeinSchools.org, materials to support K-12 educators working in politically charged environments at Educational Values in Action, and resources for youth activists and teacher allies at YouthinFront.org. Each of these projects reflects Levinson's commitment to achieving productive cross-fertilization — without loss of rigor — among scholarship, policy, and practice.

Meira earned a B.A. in philosophy from Yale and a D.Phil. in politics from Nuffield College, Oxford University. Her work has been supported by fellowships from Guggenheim, the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and the National Academy of Education. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, Meira taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jennifer McNabb is Professor and Head of the Department of History at the University of Northern Iowa, where she teaches courses on early modern European history and the history of England. She was Co-Chair of UNI's Civic Education Task Force, which created UNI's Center for Civic Education, and she was Co-PI for a National Endowment for the Humanities Connections Grant that developed UNI's first civic education curriculum: "Civic Literacy, Engagement and the Humanities." McNabb is also a Co-PI of a national grant that will establish the Iowa Civic Educators Institute, providing professional development opportunities for in-service and pre-service social studies and history teachers throughout the state. McNabb has received several awards for her teaching and has completed four courses for The Teaching Company’s The Great Courses on the Renaissance, witchcraft, sex, and marriage. She currently serves as a Councilor in the Professional Division of the American Historical Association and as president of the Midwest Conference on British Studies.

Joshua Dunn (PhD, University of Virginia) serves as Executive Director of the Institute of American Civics at the Howard H. Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research and teaching focus on constitutional law and history, education policy, federalism, and freedom of speech and religion. His books include Complex Justice: The Case of Missouri v. Jenkins (University of North Carolina Press), From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary’s Role in American Education (Brookings Institution Press) and Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University (Oxford University Press). 

Moderator

Jenna Silber Storey is the Ravenel Curry Chair in Civic Thought in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies Division of the American Enterprise Institute, and Co-Director of AEI’s Center for the Future of the American University.  She is also an SNF Agora Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and a Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.  She previously taught political philosophy at Furman University, where she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs, and Executive Director of Furman’s Tocqueville Program.  Her writing has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, First Things, and The National Endowment for the Humanities flagship journal, Humanities.  Dr. Storey is the co-author, with her husband Ben, of Why We Are Restless:  On the Modern Quest for Contentment (Princeton University Press, 2021).  They are currently working on a book titled The Art of Choosing: How Liberal Education Should Prepare You for Life.