Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) – The Hoover Institution hosted its annual summer board meeting July 11–13, convening overseers for two days of committee sessions and presentations by fellows on their latest research.
The Stanford Emerging Tech Review
Tad and Dianne Taube Director Condoleezza Rice provided a briefing of the fellowship’s recent activities. She said that Hoover was hard at work on its institutional priorities, notably The Stanford Emerging Tech Review, a new project set to be launched this fall.
As Rice explained, the Review encompasses a collaboration between Hoover scholars and Stanford science and technology experts to assess the national security, economic, and social implications of frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence and synthetic biology.
Cochaired by Director Rice, senior fellows John Taylor and Amy Zegart, and Jennifer Widom, dean of Stanford’s school of engineering, the Review will produce an annual report, as well as a regular stream of programming and engagement efforts to demystify the complexities of these technologies for the attentive public and policy leaders, and to provide recommendations on how to govern their use in accordance with the values of American democracy.
Hoover History Lab
Rice highlighted other priorities, including the goals of the newly created Hoover History Lab, which aims to inspire greater interest in historical study in academia, K–12 education, and practitioner spaces in the private and public sectors. Among practitioners especially, there is large demand for historical resources on consequential topics including technology, economics, diplomacy, and geopolitics.
Hoover Visit to India
Rice described leading a delegation of Hoover fellows last February to New Delhi, where they copresented a symposium with conglomerate Tata Sons. The purpose of the symposium was to explore ways in which significant bilateral progress can be made between the United States and India on a number of shared issues, including building strategic alliances; expanding access to critical technologies, minerals, and clean energy resources; boosting security cooperation, especially in space; and enhancing the resilience of global supply chains.
Recognition of Fellows’ Research
In her remarks, Rice recognized the scholarship of Hoover fellows, including Distinguished Research Fellow Macke Raymond, whose extensive study on charter school performance was featured in a June 15 Wall Street Journal editorial; and Senior Fellow Steven Koonin, who brought science and rationality to counter claims of a climate catastrophe in a July 6 Wall Street Journal op-ed. Further, Rice noted a July 12 New York Times essay, which cited prominently the research of Senior Fellow Justin Grimmer, who found that contemporary election reforms have had minimal influence on voter turnout and negligible effects on partisan advantages. Rice also announced the appointment of new Hoover fellows, Steven J. Davis, Ross Levine, and Valerie Ramey, economists all and leading scholars in their respective subfields.
Library & Archives
Rice urged guests to visit the Library & Archives’ new special exhibition in Hoover Tower, Dynamic Design: Transforming Posters at Hoover, which displays a selection from Hoover’s rare and exceptional collection of original posters that depict wartime and political perspectives from around the world throughout the twentieth century.
Tribute to John Raisian
At the conclusion of her remarks, Rice read a resolution passed by the overseers in tribute to the late Hoover Institution director John Raisian. The resolution lauded Raisian for his inspiring leadership and organizational talent in cultivating a generation of scholars, launching seminal research initiatives, growing the institution’s endowment, and expanding the reach of its influence.
Center on Revitalizing American Institutions
Following opening remarks, Director Rice interviewed Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow Brandice Canes-Wrone, who described the objectives and initial work of Hoover’s first center, the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI), of which she is founding director. Canes-Wrone said that the mission of RAI is to 1) evaluate the reasons for the decline in confidence and trust in American democratic institutions; 2) assess how these institutions are currently operating; 3) analyze existing proposals for reform; and 4) propose reforms where appropriate. She said that RAI aims to create an environment where rising generations of scholars nationwide can enjoy academic freedom and convene to discuss and debate difficult issues concerning American democracy. To formulate and disseminate research about the proper role of governing institutions, she plans to recruit scholars in the areas of constitutional and administrative law, American history, and political science, in particular the subfield of state and local politics. RAI hosted a private academic conference in May. The center will making its public launch with a conference in the fall.
Canes-Wrone was joined on stage by Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow and nationally recognized election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, who discussed efforts he is leading to shore up confidence in US voting processes. According to Pew Research Center, 35 percent of Americans don’t have faith in the credibility in elections. This trust deficit poses a potentially enormous challenge for a democratic government, which has a duty to implement and sustain policies in the interest of its citizens, whom it is constitutionally bound to serve and represent. At Hoover, Ginsberg is hosting a series of conferences featuring election officials and scholars to consider best practices on improving voting processes and how information about current election safeguards—which have largely been successful in preventing fraud, tampering, and other illicit activities—can be communicated to the public at large.
The Silicon Triangle
Following presentations by Canes-Wrone and Ginsberg, Hoover fellows Larry Diamond, Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. (USN, Ret.), and Glenn Tiffert discussed Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security, a new study conducted in partnership with the Asia Society that was officially launched at Hoover’s Washington, DC, center the following week. The timely and comprehensive report, the culmination of an eighteen-month multidisciplinary working group effort, describes how semiconductors link the security, economic prosperity, and technological competitiveness of the United States, Taiwan, and China. Contributing authors provide a broad set of solutions intended to mitigate risks to the US in the global semiconductor supply chain and to do so in a way that doesn’t threaten engagement with Taiwan and heighten that democracy’s exposure to an assault from China. The report also seeks ways in which the US can work with allies and partners to reduce potential vulnerabilities from China’s state-directed ambitions in semiconductor production.
Presentations by Fellows at Board Meeting
The 2023 summer board meeting featured keynote dinner programs with high-profile speakers including a special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge in which host Peter Robinson interviewed Kleinheinz Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin about the latest developments in the Ukraine war; and a conversation between Condoleezza Rice and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson on issues of national concern, among them the US-Mexico border, K–12 education, competition with China, and rebuilding confidence in American democratic institutions.
Throughout the two days, the Hoover Institution also hosted policy discussions, including Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow Stephen Haber on the academic freedom debates at Stanford University; Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson and Corliss Page Dean Visiting Fellow Barry Strauss on how study of the classics and history can help us better understand the problems of the modern world; Hoover fellow Erin Baggott Carter on Chinese citizens’ opinions of the ruling Communist Party and the implications of their views for Western policy leaders; and senior fellows Amit Seru and Ross Levine on the causes of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and what lessons can be drawn from this event and other recent banking crises for the future of bank regulation.
In addition to attending committee meetings and policy discussions, Hoover overseers were also given an update on the George P. Shultz Building, currently under construction and scheduled to open at the winter board meeting in February 2024.
