The Obama Administration and the War on Terror

James Q. Wilson
Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy,
School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University

Wednesday, January 27, 2010
11 AM
Reception to follow
Drescher Graduate Campus Auditorium
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California

Wilson’s lecture will address and answer questions on the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, its view of terrorism, and the problems of mobilizing antiterrorist organizations in the U.S.

James Q. Wilson is the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine and holds the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.He has enjoyed an extraordinary career, including 25 years at Harvard University where he was the Shattuck Professor of Government. He was the James Collins Professor of Management and Public Policy at UCLA for a decade before his appointment at Pepperdine. The author or coauthor of more than 15 books including, The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families (Harper Collins, 2002), Moral Judgment (Perseus, 1997), andThe Moral Sense (Free Press, 1993). Others cover a wide variety of policy topics including urban problems, government regulation and bureaucracy, crime prevention, and delinquency among children.

Wilson has chaired and served on a number of national commissions including the White House Task Force on Crime, the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention, the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and the President's Council on Bioethics.

In addition, Wilson has served as president of the American Political Science Association, which presented him with several prestigious awards honoring his lifetime of service. Professor Wilson was honored by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation as a recipient of the 2007 Bradley Prize.

The Davenport Institute for Public Policy, founded in 1996, is the primary platform from which the School of Public Policy engages in the current marketplace of ideas. Through its fellows, conferences, publications, and distinguished lecture series the Davenport Institute draws on the unique spirit of the academic program to advance and elevate current policy debates.