Today, Josiah Ober receives a 2025 Balzan Foundation prize for his work connecting the attributes of ancient Athenian democracy to the present day. Eugene Volokh chronicles a courtroom loss for former New York congressman George Santos, who became the subject of a late-night talk show host’s prank. And Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., Arzan Tarapore, and coauthors explore how the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue can evolve to meet the challenge of a rising China.
Revitalizing American Institutions
Senior Fellow Josiah Ober has won a 2025 Balzan Prize for his work connecting the characteristics of ancient Athenian democracy to the present day. The International Balzan Prize Foundation of Italy and Switzerland announced that its board of academics selected Ober, along with three other scholars, for honors earlier this week. “I am humbled and profoundly honored by the award of one of the four 2025 Balzan Prizes,” Ober said. “It is especially gratifying that the Prize Committee chose ‘Athenian Democracy Revisited’ for one of this year’s categories. My own scholarship in this area would have been impossible without the groundwork laid by previous generations of fine Greek historians.” Read more here.
Over on his blog at Reason.com, Senior Fellow Eugene Volokh writes about the ruling by Second Circuit judges against disgraced former congressman George Santos in his lawsuit against late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and ABC. Santos sued after Kimmel used fake names to hire Santos on the Cameo platform, an app that allows people to hire celebrities and public figures to offer personalized video messages, often containing well wishes or other testimonials. Kimmel paid Santos to say strange, “absurd,” and embarrassing things, and then aired the messages on his show in a segment called “Will Santos Say It?” He did. Judges Raymond Lohier, José Cabranes, and Richard Sullivan ruled that Kimmel’s actions are protected by the fair use defense provided in the Copyright Act. Read more here.
Determining America’s Role in the World
In a new video for Policy Stories, Senior Fellow Russell A. Berman argues that for too long, the powers to declare war and initiate peace treaties have drifted away from Congress, where they were intended to reside and into the hands of the presidency. Berman says this shift “ended diplomatic traditions, reduced political accountability, and blurred the separation of powers.” Berman explains why this shift has taken place, citing the rise of nuclear weapons and international law as possible factors. Berman says a return to congressional declarations of war and ratification of peace treaties would better justify use of military force, communicate objectives in a conflict to the public, and guarantee democratic oversight of use of military force. Watch the video here.
In a new paper for Hoover’s Global Policy and Strategy Initiative, fellows Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., Arzan Tarapore and four coauthors assess the current strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific and how the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) of India, Japan, Australia, and the United States can better work together to deter conflict with China. They write that China continues to modernize, expand its military, and engage in provocative actions that could trigger a major conflict. Meanwhile, they write that US policy in the region is “opaque and volatile, prompting many regional countries to question the fundamental precepts of their security policies.” In this situation, they write that the Quad must evolve to meet the challenge posed by China. Read more here.
Reforming K–12 Education
On the latest episode of The Education Exchange podcast, Senior Fellow Paul E. Peterson speaks with Martin R. West, member of the National Assessment of Educational Progress governing board, about the continued slide in English and math scores of graduating high school seniors in the US. West tells Peterson the most troubling finding of NAEP’s survey: that the largest decline in achievement occurs among students who were already in the bottom quarter of the achievement pyramid. And the pandemic can’t be blamed for everything—West points out that reading scores among elementary and secondary schools has been essentially constant between 2015 and today. West says widespread smartphone adoption by youth, and social media use, should be examined as possible causes for declines in achievement. Listen to their conversation here.
Related Commentary