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Tom G. Palmer

Senior Fellow and Director of Cato University

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Tom G. Palmer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and director of Cato University, the Institute's educational arm. Palmer is also the executive vice president for international programs at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and is responsible for establishing operating programs in 14 languages and managing programs for a worldwide network of think tanks. Before joining Cato he was an H. B. Earhart Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford University, and a vice president of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. He frequently lectures in North America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Latin America, India, China and throughout Asia, and the Middle East on political science, public choice, civil society, and the moral, legal, and historical foundations of individual rights. He has published reviews and articles on politics and morality in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Ethics, Critical Review, and Constitutional Political Economy, as well as in publications such as Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Die Welt, Caixing, Al Hayat, the Washington Post, and The Spectator of London. He is the author of Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice, published in 2009, and the editor of The Morality of Capitalism, published in 2011. Palmer received his B.A. in liberal arts from St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland, his M.A. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and his doctorate in politics from Oxford University.


Media Contact: 202-789-5200
To Book a Speaking Engagement: 202-789-5226
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Books and Book Chapters

Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice, (2009).

"Limited Government and the Rule of Law," Chapter 2 of the Cato Handbook for Policymakers, 7th edition.

"No Exit: Framing the Problem of Justice" in Ordered Anarchy: Jasay and His Surroundings, ed. by Hartmut Kliemt and Hardy Bouillon (London: Ashgate, 2008).

"Are Patents and Copyrights Morally Justified?" in Copy Fights: The Future of Intellectual Property in the Information Age, ed by Adam Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2002).

"Madison and Multiculturalism: Group Representation, Group Rights, and Constitutionalism," in James Madison and the Future of Limited Government, ed by John Samples (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2002)

[View more Books and Book Chapters]

Cato Studies

"Lessons of Election 2000," by John Samples, Tom G. Palmer and Patrick Basham, Briefing Paper no. 59, January 2, 2001.

Articles and Newsletters

"Realizing Freedom," Cato's Letter, vol. 8, no. 2, Spring 2010.

"Democracy and the Contest for Liberty," Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 102, No. 1 (2008).

Opinion and Commentary

"Ali Hussein Sibat Must Not Be Executed," by Raja M. Kamal and Tom G. Palmer, Daily Star (Lebanon), December 30, 2009

"Arab Education Displays its Discontents," by Raja M. Kamal and Tom G. Palmer, Lebanon Daily Star, April 27, 2009

"Open Societies, Global Markets, and the Bourgeois Virtues," Cato.org, March 29, 2007

"Getting Kareem Freed," National Review, March 29, 2007

"The 'Crime' of Blogging In Egypt," by Raja M. Kamal and Tom G. Palmer, Cato.org, February 21, 2007

[View more Opinion and Commentary]

Cato @ Liberty Blog Posts

"Free Market Capitalism vs. Cronyism in Russia," September 21, 2011

"The Morality of Business Enterprise," August 24, 2011

"John Hospers, R.I.P.," June 14, 2011

"Broken Windows All Over," June 6, 2011

"Libertarians and the Arab Spring," April 22, 2011

[View more Cato @ Liberty Blog Posts]

Legal Briefs

Parker v. District of Columbia, March 1, 2004 (PDF, 48 KB)

Events

"Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice," December 1, 2009 [Book Forum]

"Cato University," July 26-31, 2009 [Conference]

"What Should Be a Culture of Enterprise in an Age of Globalization?," March 29, 2007 [Conference]

"Freedom, Commerce and Peace: A Regional Agenda," October 25, 2006 [Conference]

"Building Foundations for Freedom, Commerce, and Peace in the Middle East," May 4, 2006 [Capitol Hill Briefing]

[View more Events]

Speeches and Testimony

"Freedom Properly Understood." An address presented before the Liberal Thinkers' Conference "The Future of Freedom," Hamburg, Saturday, 17 November 2007.

"The Role of Institutions and Law in Economic Development." Prepared for "A Liberal Agenda for the New Century: A Global Perspective," a Conference cosponsored by the Cato Institute, the Institute of Economic Analysis and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, April 8-9, 2004, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Presentations

Byrne Project Report: Freedom and Jihad [PDF | Powerpoint]

Constitutional Democracy and the New Iraq (English) [PDF | Powerpoint]

Constitutional Democracy and the New Iraq (Arabic) [PDF | Powerpoint]




Multimedia

Media Highlights - Radio Tom G. Palmer discusses his book The Morality of Capitalism on WJR's The Frank Beckmann Show (December 1, 2011) [Media Highlights - Radio, 09:30]

Media Highlights - TV Tom G. Palmer discusses the Arab Spring on Reason TV (October 28, 2011) [Media Highlights - TV, 09:15]

Media Highlights - TV Tom G. Palmer gives a speech on The Morality of Capitalism at the John Locke Foundation (October 17, 2011) [Media Highlights - TV, 01:03:34]

Daily Podcast The Morality of Capitalism (August 10, 2011) [Daily Podcast, 11:15]

Media Highlights - TV Tom Palmer on Egypt since the Mubarack's resignation on Freedom Watch w/ Judge Napolitano (April 15, 2011) [Media Highlights - TV, 03:52]

[View more Multimedia]