"Why Leaders of the Future Need to Study the Past: The Case For Applied History"

2017 - Patricia Tagliaferri Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series

While most graduate policy programs focus on the quantitative side of public policy, the Pepperdine School of Public Policy has understood from its founding that public leaders needed to consider the array of the social sciences in formulating sustainable public policy. This includes the study of history, and in this timely lecture, Dr. Niall Ferguson will make the compelling argument that policy failures—both domestic and international—have been founded on a misreading, if not complete ignorance of history.

How can leaders "think historically" when making decisions? Should the president have a "Council of Historical Advisers"? We will explore these and other important questions as Ferguson answers whether those who "don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, as well as an author of 14 books. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.