Pepperdine School of Public Policy to Explore Decline in Active Civic Participation
Pepperdine School of Public Policy will present “How Decadence and the Administrative
State Weaken Community,” the second session in the Quest for Community: A Future for American Conservatism webinar series on the Zoom platform on Tuesday, July 28, at 10 AM PDT. Pete Peterson
(MPP ’07), Braun Family Dean’s Chair at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, will
moderate the session.
The panel will feature:
- Christopher Caldwell
- Heather Mac Donald
- Ted McAllister
Caldwell is a Senior Fellow and contributing editor of the Claremont Review of Books. Caldwell’s bylines appear regularly in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He is also the author of Reflections on the Revolution In Europe, an acclaimed study of the impact of the mass immigration of Muslims to Europe in the 20th century.
Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing
editor of City Journal, and a New York Times best-selling author. A recipient of the 2005 Bradley Prize, Mac Donald's work at
City Journal has covered a range of topics, including higher education, immigration, policing,
homelessness, and homeless advocacy, criminal justice reform, and race relations.
Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, and the New Criterion. Her newest book, The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine
Our Culture, argues that toxic ideas first spread by higher education have undermined humanistic
values, fueled intolerance, and widened divisions in the larger culture.
McAllister, an intellectual historian, brings a historical imagination to the public
policy curriculum, a perspective not typical of such programs. He is the Edward L.
Gaylord Chair and associate professor of Public Policy at the Pepperdine School of
Public Policy. A recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation's Charlotte W. Newcombe
Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, he also received the Leland Sage Fellowship as well
as several additional grants including one from the Earhart Foundation. The author
of a volume entitled Revolt Against Modernity: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Search for a Postliberal
Order, he has completed a new textbook on American history entitled The Promise of Freedom: A History of the United States. Among his other publications, he has authored the chapter “Reagan and the Transformation
of American Conservatism” in The Reagan Presidency. McAllister has lectured frequently on the nature and future of American conservatism,
including recent presentations at Oxford University in the UK and at Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
in Germany. In addition to his research into conservative philosophy, he is currently
working on a history of the baby boomer generation.
Originally planned as a summer 2020 conference at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus, Quest for Community: A Future for American Conservatism has now transitioned to a series of webinars with leading thinkers, activists, and policy makers exploring the implications of renewing our appreciation for this long-standing tradition in conservative thought and policy. Deriving the title from the late sociologist Robert Nisbet’s foundational book, The Quest for Community, this series explores the present-day implications of this work, and what it means for today’s policy and politics.
For additional information about this event, and to register to attend, visit the School of Public Policy website.