Centennial Banner

Repression and authoritarianism are not merely phenomena of the historical past. Today, we are engaged in a fundamental battle of free and open societies against repressive, closed systems. This panel will address the nature of such threats and discuss the identities of freedom’s adversaries, their goals and strategies, and what can be done to defeat these threats across government, the private sector, academia, and civil society.

TICKETS

To see the full line up of the speaker series click here


WATCH THE LIVESTREAM


PANELISTS

june_2007_diamond_cropped190px.jpg

 

 

Larry Diamond
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. For more than six years, he directed FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.

 

 

 

ayaan-hirsi-ali-190px.jpg

 

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow with the Hoover Institution and a fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at The Harvard Kennedy School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

 

 

 

hrmcmaster_190px.jpg

 

 

H. R. McMaster
H. R. McMaster was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

 

 

 

MODERATOR

niall_ferguson_2017_cropped190px.png

 

 

Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies, Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History.

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Comparative Civics: Beyond Western Civ
The Alliance for Civics in the Academy hosts "Comparative Civics: Beyond Western Civ" with Dongxian Jiang, Shadi Bartsch, Simon Sihang Luo, and Peter… Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Immigration Conference 2026
Immigration Policy and the Economics of Innovation
This conference will explore the critical intersection of immigration policy and technological innovation in the United States, with a particular…
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Kay Udea leading a discussion during the Second international workshop on Japanese diaspora 2022
Fourth International Workshop on Japanese Diaspora
The call for papers is now open. Submissions are due May 18, 2026. Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
overlay image