Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, “left” and “right” have been used routinely to describe conflicting political ideologies, notwithstanding their notorious ambiguity and—a fact too often forgotten—a shared utopian root. The dream of a perfect world has inspired each generation; that hope is universal. The vision of a demigod-superman who destroys all evil, thereby inaugurating a utopia of perfection and bliss, is at least as old as the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. But behind that apocalyptic vision lies a fatal conceit, to borrow a phrase from Hayek, which the Greeks called hubris. It reemerged in some sects of early Christianity and again in medieval millenarianism, Jacobinism, Marxism, Fascism, antisemitism, modern-day Salafi Islamism, and even “liberal” collectivism. In an age of rampant skepticism, religious and quasi-religious ideologies bent on the vilification and destruction of entire communities confront and undermine a confused, guilt-ridden, materialistic, often nihilistic Western society. In this book, political philosopher Juliana Geran Pilon argues that a strong defense of freedom and pluralism, which form the basis of constitutional democracy, is necessary for survival.

Donald Trump’s presidency has triggered a growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic about the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. policy regarding the alliance. In NATO: The Dangerous Dinosaur, Ted Galen Carpenter outlines how NATO in its current form has outlived its purpose, and burden sharing is only part of the problem. Continuing to expand NATO eastward, encroaching on Russia, will only endanger the alliance. Join us as the author offers his insights on the problems with the trans-Atlantic alliance and how to approach it going forward.

Daniel Ellsberg. Edward Snowden. Elin Baklid-Kunz. Lynn Stout. Diane Roark. Franz Gayl. They and others like them come from all across the country. Some worked for the federal government; others worked in the private sector. All have one thing in common: in the organizations for which they worked, they saw things they knew were morally and legally wrong. Each made a life-altering decision to do something about it.

In his new book, Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud, journalist Tom Mueller takes us into the world of the whistleblower. What makes them different? Why did they elect to act when others would not? Do the pathologies in large organizations — whether in government or the private sector — inevitably produce whistleblowers? Is Congress serious about protecting whistleblowers? How do protections for federal whistleblowers differ from agency to agency and from the private sector? Are new federal “insider threat” programs just a bureaucrat smokescreen for cracking down on internal dissent?

Join us as an expert panel talks with Mueller about his book and the state of government and corporate whistleblowing in the Trump era.