American Politics and Political Institutions
AEI is home to several prominent analysts of trends in politics and public opinion, including Michael Barone, Edward Blum, Karlyn Bowman, John C. Fortier, David Frum, Steven F. Hayward, and Norman J. Ornstein.
Messrs. Barone, Fortier, Ornstein, and Ms.
Bowman - AEI's Election Watch team -recently gathered again for a session on the 2009 gubernatorial races, President Obama's standing, and an early look at the 2010 Senate and House races. Over the summer, Ms. Bowman held a second
conference as part of the AEI-Brookings election demographics project to discuss America's changing demographic trends and electoral landscape. She continues to produce the monthly AEI Political Report and recently updated an AEI Public Opinion Studies titled "The State of the American Worker 2009" and "Public Opinion on the Supreme Court." Mr. Barone is coauthoring the new edition of
the biannual Almanac of American Politics, and is conducting a study of
American migrations. Mr. Hayward's newest book, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter Revolution 1964-1980 (CrownForum
Books), was released in August. In the months ahead, AEI scholars will be launching a new program on the many facets of citizenship, including the Constitution and the Founders' ideas of good citizenship; the relationship of citizenship and patriotism; the history, challenges, and opportunities of immigration and assimilation; the importance of healthy governmental institutions, demographics, voting, and other trends to citizenship; and new ways of thinking about civics education.
AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest
The AEI Legal
Center for the Public Interest considers the broad range of legal
issues facing the nation. The program features research by leading
legal and economic experts, including Walter Berns, John R. Bolton, Christopher DeMuth, Michael S. Greve, Peter J. Wallison, and John Yoo.
The Center hosts regular public conferences addressing contemporary
legal issues - last month, the Center provided its annual preview of the upcoming cases and questions before the Supreme Court. Recent conferences on the Vioxx settlement, the future of
federalism, and off-label drug marketing have garnered national
attention. The Center will pursue issues such as the battle over regulatory control of the wireless market in light of recent activity of the Federal Communications Commission; the future of copyright law in the Internet age; the state of bankruptcy as a resolution mechanism following the 2008 credit collapse; and developments in international law that carry implications for domestic policy.
Constitutionalism
Michael S. Greve,
AEI's John G. Searle Scholar, works primarily on constitutional
issues. He is finishing his book on the American constitution and its
true and correct construction. Mr. Greve writes AEI's Constitutional Outlook
- the most recent issue a review of the Supreme Court's 2008-2009 term - and organizes and hosts Legal Center roundtable
discussions. Recent events include a lecture entitled "Commerce,
Competition, and the Court: An Agenda for a Constitutional Revival,"
and a conference last fall entitled "The Future of Federalism," which
brought together legal minds from top universities to discuss the
contemporary role of federalism. In addition, Mr. Greve heads the newly
inaugurated AEI Transatlantic Law Forum (TLF), a U.S.-European
community of scholars, jurists, and practicing lawyers dedicated to
promoting a better understanding of constitutionalism and constitutions
on both sides of the Atlantic. In September, the TLF hosted a
two-day conference in Hamburg, Germany, on "The Business of Law." Leading scholars, practitioners, and judges from Europe and the United States discussed the political, economic, and legal dimensions of international commercial litigation.
Demography
Population trends have long been a cornerstone of social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental concern. Nicholas Eberstadt studies a number of demographic issues; in particular, he is a leading expert on HIV, and has been researching the spread and consequences of the disease in Asia, Russia, and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Mr. Eberstadt studies the strategic impact of Chinese demographic trends, such as aging, mortality, and rising imbalances in birth-sex ratios, and is pursuing a project titled Disinvesting in People: The Political Economy of Putin's Russia, which among other issues, will examine trends and challenges in Russia's demographic environment. Mr. eberstadt coauthored AEI's May Russian Outlook on Russia's depopulation, and the adverse humanitarian social and economic consequences of the country's new demogrpahic patterns.
Culture and Freedom
One of the biggest challenges facing modern societies is maintaining a culture in which virtue flourishes in tandem with freedom and material progress. AEI's W. H. Brady Program in Culture and Freedom addresses this challenge and analyzes modern American social and cultural trends. Christina Hoff Sommers recently edited a book The Science on Women in Science, which will shortly be released by the AEI Press. She is preparing to write a book on the lost history of conservative feminism. Leon R. Kass, a former member of the President's Council on Bioethics, is examining the biblical text of Exodus for its ability to shed light on enduring questions of political philosophy and politics. Dr. Kass was selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities to give its May 2009 Jefferson Lecture, which is the highest honor in the humanities bestowed by the U.S. federal government. Michael Novak is planning two new books--one a collection of some of his essays tentatively titled Social Justice Is Not What You Think It Is; and the second, an intellectual memoir. AEI president Arthur C. Brooks writes about the connections between culture, politics, and economic life in America. In April 2008, Basic Books published his latest book, Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America. Mr. Brooks is currently working on a monograph about capitalism and morality as well as a book, to be published by Basic Books, about the coming culture war over free enterprise.
Social Welfare
AEI's current research on social welfare and welfare policy focuses on state welfare and Medicaid policy reforms under the federal Welfare Reform Act of 1996; the effectiveness of federal nutrition, rehabilitation, and vocational training programs; and efforts to restore the social and economic fabric of inner-city communities. Nicholas Eberstadt is examining the measurement and true definition of poverty by assessing alternative measures of income, consumption, and other indicators of material well-being. Charles Murray, in March the recipient of AEI's Irving Kristol Award, is working on a new book titled The State of White America, examining family structure, children, education, drugs, crime, employment, income, civic engagement, and values. Mr. Eberstadt recently completed an important new monograph entitled, The Poverty of "The Poverty Rate": Measure and Mismeasure of Want in Modern America.
Education
AEI's Education Policy Studies Program, directed by Frederick Hess, conducts original research on key issues that shape education reform, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, school financing and parental choice, educational accountability, curricular standards, teacher collective bargaining, and college financial aid. It also seeks ways to "emancipate" education by encouraging innovation that can develop solutions to the sector's long-term challenges. Mr. Hess recently hosted a major research conference examining Microsoft's "School of the Future," which opened in Philadelphia in 2006. and will publish an edited volume on the subject next year. He held two conferences in June: "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't)"--a working paper by the same title coauthored by Mr. Hess drew much media attention; and "Schoolhouses and Courthouses: Does Court-Driven School Reform Deliver?" In 2010, he will publish Emancipating Education on K-12 reform and Education Unbound on education entrepreneurship. In September, the AEI Press released Mr. Hess's co-edited volume, The Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms. Adjunct fellow Andy Smarick recently published a brief on the K-12 education implications of the federal government's economic stimulus package. AEI's new Education Stimulus Watch project is publishing quarterly reports on the use of this funding and regularly posting on AEI's Enterprise Blog. Lynne V. Cheney contributes to AEI's education program by writing and lecturing on classroom instruction and curricular reform. Last fall, Charles Murray released his provocative book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing American Schools Back to Reality, which takes a critical look at the American educational system and proposes major reform.
National Research Initiative
Launched in 2002, the National Research Initiative (NRI) advances AEI's commitment to limited but energetic government by engaging outside academics and independent scholars on pressing domestic policy issues. Lawrence M. Mead recently completed a visiting fellowship during which he explored the lessons from welfare reform in the 1990s and how they can be applied to future social policy for nonworking men. He is compiling his research into a monograph. Abagail Thernstrom recently published Voting Rights - And Wrongs: THe Elusive Quest for Racially Fair Elections, a book that analyzes the forty-year history of the Voting Rights Act and addresses some of the Act's perverse consequences on racial politics. The NRI also supports a series of monographs on economic well-being and inequality that is directed by visiting scholar Steven J. Davis. The latest release in this series, The Increase in Leisure Inequality, 1965-2005, by Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst, argues that time spent in leisure is crucial to our understanding of American well-being and finds that the leisure time of the average American has risen by about four hours per week since the mid-1960s. Various scholars, including Barry Chiswick, Gordon Hanson, and coauthors Pia Orrenius and Medeline Zavodny, are investigating the impact of both low-skilled and high-skilled immigration on the U.S. economy and offering proposals for comprehensive immigration reform. A complete list of NRI projects can be found at www.aei.org/nri/.
Research Highlights
