Channel Title: Program on Constitutional Government at Harvard Channel Description: The Program on Constitutional Government is associated with the Center for American Political Studies in the Department of Government at Harvard University. It was founded in 1985 by Harvey Mansfield and William Kristol, and guided since then by Mansfield and R. Shep Melnick of Boston College. The Program promotes the study of the U.S. Constitution and its principles, combining the fields of political theory and American government. It brings visiting professors to Harvard, invites guest speakers, and supports postdoctoral fellowships. It seeks to improve the access of Harvard students to political debate by ensuring that the principle of diversity is not confined to favored classes of Americans but extended to political opinion—since it is the interest of all that both sides be heard. View more videos and additional resources on politics and political philosophy at www.harveymansfield.org. <video> Andre Archie on his book “The Virtue of Colorblindness” Description: Andre Archie, on his book “The Virtue of Colorblindness.” Andre Archie is an associate professor of ancient Greek philosophy Colorado State University and received his Ph.D. from Duquesne University. His latest research focuses on methodological issues, i.e., styles of argumentation in Plato and Aristotle. He has published in various journals such as the Journal of Philosophical Research, Ancient Philosophy, History of Political Thought, and Scholia. Archie is the author of Politics in Socrates' Alcibiades: A Philosophical Account of Plato's Dialogue Alcibiades Major (Springer 2015) as well as The Virtue of Color-Blindness: The Conservative Case for Reclaiming a Noble Racial Tradition. Archie is currently working on a book manuscript that is under contract with The Catholic University of America Press titled: Socratic Conservatism, Socratic Questions: The Right Turn in Plato's Political Dialogues. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on November 17, 2023. </video> <video> Jason Furman on Embracing Tradeoffs in Economic Policymaking Description: Jason Furman, on “Beyond the Liberal and Conservative Vices: Embracing Tradeoffs in Economic Policymaking.” Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is also nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Furman engages in public policy through research, writing and teaching in a wide range of areas including U.S. and international macroeconomics, fiscal policy, labor markets and competition policy. He co-teaches Ec10 “Principles of Economics,” the largest course at Harvard University. Furman served eight years as a top economic adviser to President Obama, including serving as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from August 2013 to January 2017, acting as both President Obama’s chief economist and a member of the cabinet. Furman is a member of numerous organizations including the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to articles in scholarly journals and periodicals, Furman is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Project Syndicate and the editor of two books on economic policy. Furman holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on April 26, 2024 </video> <video> Verlan Lewis on the Myth of Left and Right Description: Verlan Lewis on “The Myth of Left and Right.” Verlan Lewis is the Stirling Professor of Constitutional Studies, and associate professor of political science, at Utah Valley University where he researches, teaches, and writes about the interaction of ideas and institutions in American politics. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Hill, Political Science Quarterly. His first book is Ideas of Power (Cambridge University Press 2019), his second book, which he wrote with his brother Hyrum Lewis, is The Myth of Left and Right (Oxford University Press 2023.) Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on October 19, 2023. </video> <video> Adam White on The Roberts Court and the Administrative State Description: Adam White on "The Roberts Court and the Administrative State – Relearning the Virtues of Steady Administration". Adam White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism, the Supreme Court, and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Adam White previously practiced constitutional and administrative law. He was a research fellow for Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow for the Manhattan Institute. The author of a wide range of essays, book reviews, law review articles, and book chapters, White has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, Commentary, The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a regular contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation’s “Notice and Comment” blog, and for many years he was one of The Weekly Standard’s primary writers on constitutional law and the Supreme Court. He has a JD from Harvard Law School and a bachelor of business administration from the College of Business at the University of Iowa. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on February 24, 2023. </video> <video> Philip Munoz on Natural Rights Republicanism and the American Founding Description: Philip Munoz, on “Natural Rights Republicanism and the American Founding: Why Justice Alito and Most Conservatives are Wrong about the Right of Religious Liberty.” Vincent Phillip Muñoz is the Tocqueville Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He is the Founding Director of ND’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government. Under his leadership the programs have raised over $20,000,000 in grants, gifts, and pledges. Muñoz writes and teaches across the fields of constitutional law, American politics, and political philosophy with a focus on religious liberty and the American Founding. His most recent book is Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses (Chicago University Press, 2022.) Muñoz’s first book God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson (Cambridge University Press, 2009) won the Hubert Morken Award from the American Political Science Association for the best publication on religion and politics in 2009 and 2010. He received his B.A. at Claremont McKenna College, his M.A. at Boston College, and his Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate School. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on March 1, 2024. Aaron Friedberg on "Decline of the West?" </video> <video> Jeannie Suk Gersen on “The End of Affirmative Action” Description: Jeannie Suk Gersen, on “The End of Affirmative Action.” Jeannie Suk Gersen is the John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where she has taught constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, family law, and the law of art, fashion, and the performing arts. Before joining the faculty in 2006, she served as a law clerk to Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court, and to Judge Harry Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. She was educated at Yale (B.A. 1995), at Oxford (D.Phil. 1999), and at Harvard Law School (J.D. 2002). She has written three books and many articles in scholarly journals and general media. Her book, At Home in the Law, was awarded the Law and Society Association’s Herbert Jacob Prize for the best law and society book of the year. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of Harvard Law School’s Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence. She is a Contributing Writer to The New Yorker. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on December 1, 2023. </video> <video> Biennial Post-Election Analysis with Bill Galston and Bill Kristol, joined by Ross Douthat Description: Bill Kristol and Bill Galston met for their seventeenth much-anticipated biennial analysis, offering the perspectives of two reflective political participants and shrewd observers, both of them experts with what might be called partisan objectivity. This year they were joined by Ross Douthat, Opinion columnist for The New York Times. Harvey Mansfield moderated.  Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on November 7, 2024. </video> <video> Christopher Caldwell on the Right in Europe Description: Christopher Caldwell, on “The Right in Europe.” Christopher Caldwell is a contributing editor at the Claremont Review of Books and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. A graduate of Harvard College, his essays, columns, and reviews appear in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review, The Spectator, Financial Times, the Claremont Review of Books, UnHerd, and numerous other publications. He reports on European countries frequently and is the author of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West and The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on November 10, 2023. </video> <video> Neil Rogachevsky on Israel’s Declaration of Independence Description: Neil Rogachevsky on "Israel’s Declaration of Independence: The History and Political Theory of the Nation’s Founding Moment". Neil Rogachevsky is associate director and Assistant Professor at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva director and assistant professor at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, where he teaches and researches Israel studies and the history of political thought. He will speak to us about his recent book, co-authored with Dov Zigler, Israel’s Declaration of Independence. The History and Political Theory of the Nation’s Founding Moment (2023). He writes for Mosaic Magazine, Tablet Magazine, The Jewish Review of Books, among others. He received his PhD in history from the University of Cambridge in 2014. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on April 14, 2023 </video> <video> Mark Mills on The Energy Transition Delusion Description: Mark Mills on "The Energy Transition Delusion". Mark P. Mills is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is also a strategic partner with Montrose Lane (an energy-tech venture fund). Mills is author of the book The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and a Roaring 2020s (2021), and host of the podcast The Last Optimist. He is also author of Digital Cathedrals (2020), and Work in the Age of Robots (2018). His articles have been published widely, including in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, and Real Clear. Mills has appeared as a guest on CNN, Fox, NBC, PBS, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2016, Mills was named “Energy Writer of the Year” by the American Energy Society. Mills served in the White House Science Office under President Reagan. Early in his career, Mills was an experimental physicist and development engineer at Bell Northern Research (Canada’s Bell Labs) and at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Center on microprocessors, fiber optics, missile guidance, earning several patents for his work. He holds a degree in physics from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on March 24, 2023 </video> <video> A Celebration of Harvey Mansfield Description: Oct. 20, 2023 Hosted by the Harvard Government Department, colleagues and former students gathered to discuss and reflect on Harvey Mansfield’s writings and scholarship upon his retirement from teaching. This was not a “new paper” conference, but a celebration, one with intellectual content and discourse that was cogent, if not comprehensive. This event was co-sponsored by the Program on Constitutional Government and the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard. Panel 1: Richard Tuck (Harvard), James Hankins (Harvard), Clifford Orwin (University of Toronto), Susan Shell (Boston College), Rita Kogazon (University of Houston). Moderator: Eric Nelson (Harvard). Panel 2: Steve Ansolabehere (Harvard), Bryan Garsten (Yale), Shep Melnick (Boston College), Russ Muirhead (Dartmouth), Michael Sandel (Harvard). Moderator: Bill Kristol </video> <video> Mark Blitz on “Liberating Conservatism” Description: Mark Blitz on “Liberating Conservatism.” Mark Blitz (‘66, Harvard PhD 1971) is Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. He served during the Reagan administration as Associate Director of the United States Information Agency, where he was the senior United States official in charge of educational and cultural programs abroad, and as a senior professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He has been Vice President of the Hudson Institute, and has taught political philosophy at Harvard University and at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Reason and Politics: The Nature of Political Phenomena; Conserving Liberty; Plato’s Political Philosophy; Duty Bound: Responsibility and American Public Life; Heidegger’s “Being and Time” and the Possibility of Political Philosophy; and is co-editor (with William Kristol) of Educating the Prince. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on September 29, 2023. </video> <video> Aaron Friedberg on "Decline of the West?" Description: Aaron Friedberg, on “Decline of the West?” Aaron L. Friedberg (’78) is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and co- director of the School of Public and International Affairs’ Center for International Security Studies. His most recent book is Getting China Wrong (2022). Friedberg’s articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications. In 2001- 2002 Friedberg was selected as the first occupant of the Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress. He has been a research fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. Friedberg served from June 2003 to June 2005 as Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs and Director of Policy Planning in the office of the Vice President. He has been a consultant to various agencies of the U.S. government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, and the Office of Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Friedberg received his AB in 1978 and his PhD in 1986, both from Harvard University. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on Friday, March 22, 2024. </video> <video> Roland Fryer on the Race and Policing in America Description: Roland Fryer on “Race and Policing in America.” Roland G. Fryer, Jr. is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Fryer’s research combines economic theory, empirical evidence, and randomized experiments to help design more effective government policies. His work on education, inequality, and race has been widely cited in media outlets and Congressional testimony. Fryer was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal given by the American Economic Association to the best American Economist under age 40. Among other honors, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At age 30, he became the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard. His current research focuses on education reform, social interactions, and police use of force. Before coming to Harvard, Fryer worked at McDonald's (drive-thru, not corporate). Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on April 19, 2024 </video> <video> Hal Brands on Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China Description: Hal Brands on "Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China". Hal Brands is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies US foreign policy and defense strategy. Concurrently, he is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Widely published in many journals from Foreign Affairs to the American Interest, he writes a column for Bloomberg Opinion. He will discuss with us his latest book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China (2022), co-written with Michael Beckley, as well as questions regarding the war in Ukraine. His previous books include The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019), co-authored with Charles Edel, COVID-19 and World Order (2019), co-edited with Francis Gavin, American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (2018), Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order (2016), and What Good is Grand Strategy? Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush (2014). Brands served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Strategic Planning from 2015 to 2016. He graduated from Yale University with a PhD, MA, and MPhil in history. He also received a BA in history and political science from Stanford University. Presented by the Program on Constitutional Government on March 3, 2023 </video>

Description

The Program on Constitutional Government is associated with the Center for American Political Studies in the Department of Government at Harvard University. It was founded in 1985 by Harvey Mansfield and William Kristol, and guided since then by Mansfield and R. Shep Melnick of Boston College. The Program promotes the study of the U.S. Constitution and its principles, combining the fields of political theory and American government. It brings visiting professors to Harvard, invites guest speakers, and supports postdoctoral fellowships. It seeks to improve the access of Harvard students to political debate by ensuring that the principle of diversity is not confined to favored classes of Americans but extended to political opinion—since it is the interest of all that both sides be heard. View more videos and additional resources on politics and political philosophy at www.harveymansfield.org.

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