Research

California voters went back to the future in 2010, picking Jerry Brown as their governor more than 35 years after they first elected him to the office. Brown's election to a third term capped an extraordinary career and life-son of a political dynasty, boy-wonder governor, three-time presidential candidate, volunteer for Mother Teresa, student of Zen Buddhism, radio talk-show host, big-city mayor, and then back to governor for another tenure, this time in his seventies.

Brown's victory also followed an extraordinary campaign. With a shoestring budget and a skeleton staff, the aging...

Once regarded as a national model of policymaking, in recent decades, California’s reputation has deteriorated to a state more commonly associated with dysfunction. At the heart of this demise has been the state’s inability to manage its budget—a core function of any effective government. Historically, California, like other states, has been subject to boom-and-bust budget cycles that produce huge swings in revenue during periods of economic growth and precipitous revenue drops when recessions occur. However, these cycles became more severe in the 1980s and culminated in the crisis...

Change from the Inside: My Life, the Chicano Movement, and the Story of an Era is the memoir of former Assemblymember and L.A. City Councilmember Richard Alatorre, chronicling his extraordinary role as a pioneering activist and political figure in the momentous events that advanced Latino empowerment from the 1960s through the 1990s—events that presaged the ascendency of contemporary Latino social and political influence.

Alatorre played a pivotal role across the length and breadth of the Chicano movement, so his story is more than a reflection on one person’s life....

Dr. John Nagl is currently the ninth headmaster of The Haverford School. Prior to his assuming the role of headmaster in 2013, Nagl was the inaugural Minerva Research Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. Previously, Nagl was the president of the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C., and he remains a nonresident senior fellow at CNAS. He was also a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, [update?] a visiting professor in the War Studies Department at Kings College of London, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and...