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HOOVER INSTITUTION
Seeking to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind.
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The Perils Of Isolationism
In times of uncertainty, people reach for historical analogies. After 9/11, George W. Bush administration officials invoked Pearl Harbor as a standard comparison in processing the intelligence failure that led to the attack. Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to Imperial Japan’s attack in making the case that Washington should deliver an ultimatum to the Taliban, saying, “Decent countries don’t launch surprise attacks.”
via Foreign Affairs
The Crumbling Foundations Of American Strength
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appeared imminent in early 2022, U.S. intelligence officials were so confident that Russian tanks would roll quickly to victory that staff evacuated the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. Based on traditional measures of power, the intelligence assessment made sense. In 2021, Russia ranked fifth in the world in defense spending, whereas Ukraine was a distant 36th, behind Thailand and Belgium. Yet more than two years later, Russia and Ukraine are still fighting their brutal war to a standstill.
via Foreign Affairs
Human Vs. Machine: Behavioral Differences Between Expert Humans And Language Models In Wargame Simulations
What is MyHoover?
MyHoover delivers a personalized experience at Hoover.org. In a few easy steps, create an account and receive the most recent analysis from Hoover fellows tailored to your specific policy interests.
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2025 Hoover Fellowship Programs
Applications are now open for the 2025 Hoover Fellowship Programs with opportunities for early-career scholars. For more information on the Hoover Fellows program and National Fellows program, click the links below.
Issues Affecting American Democracy | Elections 2024
To help inform citizens as they gear up for the 2024 elections, the Hoover Institution is offering "Issues Affecting American Democracy," a non-partisan compendium of fellows' insights into key policy issues. A few recent highlights are featured below. Click the button below to explore more content.
Matt Pottinger: “We Are Now In The Foothills Of A Great-Power Hot War”
There has been a tortuous debate in Washington foreign policy circles for several years now about whether to call the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China a “new cold war”.
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Israel And The Next US Administration
According to an oft-repeated Israeli story from the 1960s, when an aide mentioned a drought, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol worriedly asked, “Where? “In the Negev,” explained the aide. “Thank God it’s not in the US, then I’d be really concerned,” said Eshkol.
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The Antigrowth Agendas Of Harris And Trump
[Subscription Required] Both candidates are running on economic platforms filled with destructive nonsense.
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Confronting Another Axis? History, Humility, And Wishful Thinking
Drawing on his extensive experience as a historian and diplomat, Philip Zelikow warns that the United States faces an exceptionally volatile time in global politics and that the period of maximum danger might be in the next one to three years.
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Mike Petrilli: What Vance And Harris Mean For Federal Education Policy, With Dale Chu
Hoover Institution fellow Mike Petrilli and Fordham Institute associate director of research David Griffith talk with Dale Chu, a senior visiting fellow at the Fordham Institute, about how Biden passing the torch and Trump picking J.D. Vance could affect US school policy.
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A Republic, If We Can Teach It: Fixing America's Civic Education Crisis
The Civic Education Crisis: How We Got Here, What We Must Do is a call to action, an effort to save our republic through better civic education. America faces a crisis in civic education that imperils the long-term health of the country.
Learn moreCommentary on the News
Through The Political Looking Glass
With so many voters suffering financially and showing an eagerness to “throw the bums out,” delivering higher living standards appears to be a necessary condition for restoring political stability…
via Project Syndicate
Core Institutional Priorities
Featured Fellows
Robert Service
Senior Fellow (adjunct)
Arun Majumdar
Senior Fellow (courtesy)
Justin Grimmer
Senior Fellow
Featured Work:
Amid Biden Foreign Policy Stumbles, Ukraine And Israel Act Independently
Two recent developments in the current hot wars have highlighted the failures of Biden administration foreign policy: Ukraine’s invasion of Russia in the Kursk campaign, and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, presumably carried out by Israel which however has not claimed responsibility.
August 24, 2024
Russell A. Berman
Featured Work:
Robert Service on Lenin, Trotsky & Stalin
The great historian of Russian history compares and contrasts the three monsters of the Russian Revolution.
August 13, 2024
interview Andrew Roberts
Featured Work:
Getting Educated On A Clean Energy Future: Arun Majumdar
Hoover Institution fellow Arun Majumdar discusses emerging technologies and energy policy and how higher education can adapt to provide the knowledge and skills needed in the clean energy economy.
August 13, 2024
interview Arun Majumdar
Featured Work:
At War With Ourselves
A revealing account of National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster’s turbulent and consequential thirteen months in the Trump White House.
August 27, 2024
H.R. McMaster
Featured Work:
How Much Do Election Law Changes Affect Voter Turnout? Featuring Justin Grimmer
Justin Grimmer explains how much voting laws, like voter ID or no-excuse absentee voting, affect voter turnout.
July 18, 2024
interview Justin Grimmer
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Strategika
An online journal that analyzes ongoing issues of national security in light of conflicts of the past.
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The Caravan
The Caravan is a quarterly publication on the contemporary dilemmas of the Greater Middle East
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California on Your Mind
Analysis, politics, and the economics of the Golden State
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More Videos & Podcasts
H.R. McMaster On Why The Trump Administration Was “At War With Ourselves”
General (ret.) H.R. McMaster, returns to discuss his latest book, At War with Ourselves, in which he candidly recounts his experiences as former national security advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018.
So It Goes: Niall Ferguson On Good Books, Bad Screens, A 1968 Redux, And Hobbits
In a topsy-turvy election year, does America’s 2024 presidential contest summon ghosts from 1968 — or, is a late-breaking 1980-style landslide in the cards?
Bob Litterman (Kepos Capital) On Quantitative Investing, Liquidity Risk And Climate Policy
Jon Hartley and Bob Litterman discuss the history of quantitative finance at Goldman Sachs, the 2024 liquidity crisis, climate policy, and Bob’s carbon pricing model and support for carbon taxes.
Markets For The People
Steven Davis and Glenn Hubbard critique industrial policy as practiced under Presidents Trump and Biden and discuss Hubbard’s vision of how to harness "Markets for the People" to advance prosperity and liberty for all Americans.
Library & Archives
A World-Class Library & Archives
Founded by Herbert Hoover in 1919, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives is home to some of the world's most renowned collections documenting war, revolution, peace, and political, economic, and social change in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Free and open to all, discover how to search the collections, arrange a research visit, or explore exhibitions by clicking below.
Exhibitions | Now On View
The exhibitions Un-Presidented: Watergate and Power in America (February 12–August 11, 2024) and Hoover@100: Ideas Defining A Century (ongoing) are open and free to all visitors to Hoover Tower, at the heart of Stanford University campus.
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Research Services
Planning an onsite visit to the reading room? Conducting your research from afar? Staff are ready to connect you with the most relevant materials through reference consultations, assisting with registration and material requests, digitization, and more.
Learn MoreThe Collections
Acquiring, preserving, and making accessible collections of enduring value, including more than one million library volumes and over six thousand archival collections.
Digital First Initiative
Our aim is to make full archival collections accessible to researchers around the world through the digitization of textual, graphical, sound, and moving-image materials.
Engagement & Outreach
Building connections to our collections by sparking curiosity in audiences interested in the meaning and role of history through exhibitions, classes, tours, and special programing.
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