The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country’s democracy delivers on its promise.

The seventh session will discuss Building Strategic Competence: An Urgent Priority for Government and the Academy with H.R. McMaster and Stephen Kotkin on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, from 10:00 - 11:00 am PT.

We might define strategic competence as the ability to integrate all elements of national power and efforts of like-minded partners to advance US interests. The nation needs leaders who can think in real time and understand what it takes to implement ideas and strategies on the ground. The academy has an important role in educating leaders to compete effectively in war and in competitions short of war. A reinvigoration of history in higher-level education is particularly important, as many courses in diplomatic and military history have been displaced by theory-based international relations courses, which tend to mask the complex causality of events and obscure the cultural, psychological, social, and economic elements that distinguish cases from one another. Some theories risk sapping students of strategic empathy and encourage them to reduce complex problem sets into frameworks that create only the illusion of understanding. A growing interest in applied history in some universities is a promising development.

WATCH THE WEBINAR

Building Strategic Competence: An Urgent Priority for Government and the Academy

Upcoming Events

Thursday, April 3, 2025
Banks and Beyond
Banks and Beyond
The Hoover Institution hosts Banks and Beyond on April 3-4, 2025.  Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Taiwan
Trump And Taiwan: A Big, Beautiful Relationship Or The Deal Maker’s Ultimate Bargaining Chip?
Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region hosting Trump and Taiwan: A Big, Beautiful Relationship or the Deal Maker’s Ultimate Bargaining Chip? on Tuesday,… Shultz Auditorium, George P. Shultz Building
Thursday, April 10, 2025 12:00 PM PT
Black and white photograph of a US Navy Seabee exploring a monument on Okinawa durring WWII
Sightseeing At Wars End: WWII Okinawa As Seen In The Bellantoni Papers
A gallery talk about the photographs of US Navy Seabee Natale Bellantoni, taken on Okinawa at the end of WWII, will be presented free to the public… Lou Henry Hoover Gallery, Hoover Tower
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