Documents
Oligarchy in America (Various)
Though Donald Trump attracted more support than ever from working-class voters in the 2024 US presidential election, he has long embraced an agenda that benefits the wealthiest Americans above all. During his second term, however, Trump seems committed not just to serving America’s ultra-rich, but to letting them wield state power themselves. The Big Picture …
Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson)
A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear: progress depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity. Today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence threaten jobs and democracy through …
Daron Acemoglu on freedom, democracy, growth, and The Narrow Corridor
Scholars and policymakers from around the world present their research and analysis on international development and the relationship between freedom and prosperity. Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor of Economics, MIT Watch the Video
Will Iran and Russia’s Growing Partnership Go Nuclear?: How Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” Could Push Tehran and Moscow Even Closer
Nicole Grajewski and Or Rabinowitz In July 2015, General Qasem Soleimani, former commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, secretly traveled to Moscow to discuss an emergency plan to rescue the Assad regime in Syria, which had lost control of roughly 80 percent of Syrian territory in four years of civil war. Russia had just helped …
Trump and the New Age of Nationalism: A Dangerous Combination for America and the World (Michael Brenes and Van Jackson)
As it did in 2016, Donald Trump’s presidency has prompted commentators in and outside Washington to reflect on the direction of U.S. foreign policy. Questions abound over how Trump will deal with China and Russia, as well as India and emerging powers in the global South. U.S. foreign policy is headed into a period of …
Israel, Trump, and the Gaza Deal: Can Netanyahu Survive Without War? (Amos Harel)
In the days since the January 19 cease-fire in Gaza, many Israelis have found themselves in an emotional storm almost as powerful as the shock of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre. The difference, of course, is that this time the storm is driven not by sorrow and unspeakable horror but by joy and—for the first …
The Price of Trump’s Power Politics: Why China and Russia Stand to Win in a Might-Makes-Right World (Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay)
Pax Americana is gone. Born with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S.-led international rules-based order died with the second inauguration of Donald J. Trump. The president has long maintained that this order disadvantages the United States by saddling it with the burden of policing the globe and enabling its …
The Limits of the Madman Theory: How Trump’s Unpredictability Could Hurt His Foreign Policy (Roseanne McManus)
Even though they have already witnessed four years of a Donald Trump presidency, analysts have little certainty about how Trump plans to approach most countries in his second term. That’s exactly how he likes it. Since first running for president in 2016, Trump has positioned himself as an unpredictable leader and argued that doing so …
HOOVER DIGEST: RESEARCH + COMMENTARY ON PUBLIC POLICY (Hoover 2025 Winter Digest)
The Hoover Digest explores politics, economics, and history, guided by the scholars and researchers of the Hoover Institution, the public policy research center at Stanford University. The opinions expressed in the Hoover Digest are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, or their supporters. As …