Politics

What Rudy Did for the GOP
Working on a book about the Republican Party, last year Hoover fellow Peter Robinson spent some time with Rudolph Giuliani. Although Giuliani is no longer running for the Senate, Robinson argues that Giuliani’s accomplishments as mayor of New York City set an example for Republican candidates just the same. A portrait of a brilliant politician—and a great public servant.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Initiative?
This November, citizens in California and 23 other states will vote on dozens of ballot initiatives. Although ballot initiatives are often maligned in the press and the academy alike, Hoover fellow Bill Whalen stands up for them, arguing that they allow voters to speak out on issues about which elected officials will only whisper.

Education

When Fairness Is Unjust
In an attempt to "level the playing field," education bureaucrats are lowering standards for minority students. The result? The bureaucrats are dooming minority students to lives of missed opportunities. By Hoover fellow Thomas Sowell.

Why the Federal Government Should Be Sent Out of the Classroom
What is the best thing the federal government could do for America’s schoolchildren? Get out of the classroom altogether. By Hoover fellow Herbert J. Walberg.

New Hope for Public Schools
For years, our public schools were all but the exclusive domain of government bureaucrats and self-interested teachers’ unions. But now education initiatives—undertaken by private corporations and individuals, not the government or the unions—are springing up across the country. Hoover fellow Paul Hill on the hopeful new trends.

Taxes

The Best Argument for Tax Reform: The IRS*
The IRS is out of control. The best—indeed, the only—way to rein it in? The flat tax. By Hoover media fellow Amity Shlaes.

Why Cyberspace Should Be Tax Free
The Internet revolution has enriched our lives in many ways. Now it may be about to give us something even more valuable than e-mail or online shopping: smaller government. Hoover fellow Gary S. Becker explains.

Technology

e-Privacy?
Imagine going to a shopping mall in which researchers follow you from store to store, taking notes on every product you examine or buy. Would you shop in such a place? Chances are, you already do. Welcome to the Internet. By Mary J. Cronin.

Big Brother in the Workplace
Hoover fellow Charles J. Sykes explains why "employee privacy" is a contradiction in terms.

Health Care

Regulatory Overdose
Gene therapy offers enormous potential for the treatment of serious illness. What is the government doing about it? Thwarting researchers. By Hoover fellow Henry I. Miller.

Environment

Another Fine Mess
Claiming to promote cleaner air, in the early 1990s the Environmental Protection Agency began requiring the nation’s oil refiners to blend oxygenated additives into their gasoline, and a substance called MTBE soon became the dominant additive at gas pumps. Now we’re learning that MTBE, which is seeping into much of the nation’s water supply, is itself a dangerous pollutant. Hoover media fellow Deroy Murdock on another fine mess the EPA has gotten us into.

Endangering Species
The Endangered Species Act often threatens the very animals it is intended to protect. By Hoover fellow Terry L. Anderson.

International Relations

The Secretary Testifies
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently asked Hoover fellow and former secretary of state George P. Shultz to grade the performance of the International Monetary Fund. He gave it an F.

A Report Card on Democracy
There have never been more democracies in the world, and the average level of human freedom is now the highest ever recorded. Reasons to celebrate? Yes—and no. By Hoover fellow Larry Diamond.

Imperial Understretch
Although at the height of its power and influence, the United States is pursuing a foreign policy both timid and aimless. Richard N. Haass outlines the bold foreign policy we ought to be pursuing instead.

Negotiations Lite
Attempting to produce a string of triumphant Rose Garden signing ceremonies, the Clinton administration has blundered into one disastrously flawed peace agreement after another. Hoover fellow Charles Hill explains why short-term diplomatic "successes" so often turn into long-term disasters.

Foreign Policy by Autopilot
The United States emerged from the Cold War with a triumphant ideology, unequaled military might, and a booming economy. If there was ever an opportunity to couple power with vision, this was it. We squandered it. Why? By Hoover fellow John Lewis Gaddis.

The American Age
Capitalism and democracy unleash creativity and human potential, but they can also be destructive, eroding old orders. Are we ready for what Hoover media fellow Fareed Zakaria calls "the wild ride of tomorrow"?

Russia

Indifferent to Democracy
For years we assumed that the threat to Russian democracy would come from outside the Russian state. Now we can see that the real threat comes from within the Russian state. By Hoover fellow Michael McFaul.

A Tsar Is Born
What can the West expect from Vladimir Putin? Trouble. By Hoover fellow Richard F. Staar.

Asia

The Ugly Beauty of Backwardness
Hoover fellow Timothy Garton Ash reports from Burma, one of the most repressive and isolated states in the world. He finds a country straight out of the pages of Rudyard Kipling—and George Orwell.

Japan

Japan and the Demand-Side Lie*
In an effort to revive its economy, the Japanese government went on a 10-year spending spree, devoting vast sums to unneeded public works. The result? The Japanese economy continues to languish. Hoover fellow Melvyn Krauss and Lee R. Thomas offer a genuine solution to the Japanese problem.

Korea

The Cold War’s Final Act
Forty-seven years after the last bullet was fired in the Korean War, the border separating the two Koreas remains the site of the greatest massing of hostile troops on the planet. Hoover media fellow Edward Neilan reports on the chances that peace might come to the Korean peninsula at last.

Cuba

End the Embargo Now
Who is the biggest beneficiary of the U.S. embargo against Cuba? Hint: His first name is Fidel. Hoover fellow William Ratliff and Roger Fontaine explain why the time has come to bring the embargo to an end.

Interview: Milton Friedma

Listen Up, Mr. President
With the presidential election season heating up, Hoover fellow Peter Robinson asked Hoover fellow Milton Friedman what advice Friedman would offer the next occupant of the Oval Office. The Nobel laureate had plenty of wisdom to dispense.

Profile: Hayek

The Hayek Century
Economist and Hoover honorary fellow Friedrich Hayek spent seven decades extolling the supremacy of capitalism over socialism. For most of those decades, Hayek was a voice in the wilderness. Yet as John Cassidy argues, by the end of his life Hayek was vindicated to such an extent that "it is hardly an exaggeration to refer to the twentieth century as the Hayek century."

The Courage of Friedrich Hayek
William F. Buckley Jr. reflects on Friedrich Hayek’s invaluable contributions to the fight against socialism—a fight that was still very much under way when Buckley delivered these remarks a quarter of a century ago.