Matters of Policy & Politics

Tom Gilligan on Ideas Defining a Free Society

After a particularly contentious June, America settles into the 4^th of July holiday – and with it, an opportunity to reflect on the privileges of living in a free society. Thomas Gilligan, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution, discusses the individual, economic and political freedoms that are quintessentially American – and Hoover’s mission as the Stanford-based think tank approaches its centennial anniversary.

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A Blue Wave in the November 2018 Election?

Will we see a big “blue wave” this November that puts Democrats back in control of the US House of Representatives or a more modest action the hurts Republicans but doesn’t end their majority status? David Brady, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Senior Fellow and a Stanford political scientist, assesses the current state of the electorate – and what the recent vote in California says about the odds of the House flipping for a third time in a little over a decade.

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The 2018 summit featuring President Trump and Kim Jong-un

The Road To Singapore, not the 1940 film starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, but the 2018 summit featuring President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Michael Auslin, the Hoover Institution’s Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, explains the historical significance of this first such meeting between the two nations’ heads of state, what steps might come next, and the ricochet effect across the Pacific Rim.

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The US Navy - Ready for Anything

What all’s involved in training today’s warriors for combat? CDR  Michael Nordeen, a Hoover Institution National Security Affairs fellow and decorated naval aviator, discusses the tools and technology necessary to keep the US Navy at a state of readiness. With the filming of the “Top Gun” sequel underway, he also speculates on the career path of Lt. Pete Mitchell (aka, Tom Cruise) and the automation and human skills needed to pilot an F-18 jet.   

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Anticipating Global Insecurity with Amy Zegart

In a world complicated by terrorism, cyber threats and political instability, the private sector has to prepare for the unexpected. Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Family Senior Fellow and co-author (along with Condoleezza Rice) of Political Risk: How Businesses And Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity, explains lessons learned in keeping cargo planes moving, hotel guests protected – and possibly coffee customers better served.  

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The 2018 Election – A Second Quarter Update

In basketball parlance, the fourth and decisive quarter of this year’s election doesn’t commence until after Labor Day. But that doesn’t mean important trends haven’t developed. Hoover senior fellow and renowned pollster Doug Rivers explains what current survey data suggests about the political fortunes of President Trump, Republicans and Democrats.

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Iran Nuclear Deal – The Aftermath of Withdrawing

Now that President Trump has made good on a major campaign promise – pulling the U.S. out of the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal – the debate has begun whether it was the right move. Abbas Milani, a Hoover research fellow and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, offers his opinion and explains how the change affects both the politics of Iran and the Middle East region.  

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Unleashing the Economy With John Cochrane

Four of the Dow Jones’ greatest single-day swings occurred in a one-week stretch in February. Was it an aberration, or the new normal in the Trump economy? John Cochrane, the Hoover Institution’s Jack and Rose-Marie Anderson Senior Fellow and purveyor of The Grumpy Economist blog, assesses the health of the financial markets and other economic bellwethers worth watching.                                                     

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North Korea – No Nukes?

As North and South Korean leaders meet to discuss a possible peace agreement and an end to decades of hostility, is President Trump’s next move a one-on-one summit with the “honorable” Kim Jong-un? Hoover senior fellow Thomas Henriksen assesses the stakes on the Korean peninsula and what Trump could and should not do to avoid the frustration experienced by recent American presidents.

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Melania - Citizen and Friend of the World

First Lady Melania Trump has championed cyber-bullying as a cause, but Hoover visiting fellow Markos Kounalakis thinks she should broaden her horizons – to include a little diplomacy in her native Central Europe. It’s a portion of the world that’s drifted into angry nationalism, economic uncertainty and civil unrest, with one country (Poland) displaying troubling anti-Semitic tendencies. Kounalakis talks about all of that, plus he discusses Vladimir Putin’s Russia playing a meddling role around the world.

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