Experts in the News | Miller Center

Democracy Initiative Embarks on ‘Moon Shot,’ Building Bridges Through Conversation

Moderated by Melody Barnes, executive director of UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy and the W.L. Lyons Brown Family Director for Policy and Public Engagement of the Democracy Initiative, the Carr’s Hill event featured a discussion between StoryCorps founder and president Dave Isay and UVA President Jim Ryan and a conversation with the first two UVA students to record a conversation for the program. In a departure from StoryCorps’ original format, which records conversations and stories shared by people who know each other, One Small Step invites people who may hold opposing views on a variety of topics and who aren’t in each other’s daily lives to get to know each other in conversation.

Melody Barnes

Erasing the Leverage Deficit: How to Keep Tehran from the Bomb

If it is not already, Iran is on course to soon become a nuclear threshold state, with a potentially undetectable capacity to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks. It has reached this dangerous tipping point at the exact same time as the future of Biden administration efforts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are most uncertain. After months of stalling, Iran claims it might return to negotiations at some undeclared time, perhaps in November. Meanwhile, administration officials have suggested their patience is running out and that, should diplomacy fail, a “Plan B” might be required—without specifying either the timing or nature of their backup strategy.

Eric Edelman

Biden's push for unity collides with entrenched partisanship

Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, attributed today’s divisions to a confluence of factors: the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn, Trump’s tendency toward sowing division, 24/7 news coverage and social media. She described the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol as the type of “violent disunity” last seen during the Civil War era.

Barbara Perry

Remembering Gen. Ray Odierno, a Key Leader of the Iraq Surge

Raymond Odierno, former chief of staff of the United States Army and commanding general in Iraq, died of cancer on Friday, October 8. Several obituarists have commented on his striking physical presence. His height—he was 6 foot 5—and shaved head as well as his military bearing gave him a distinctive aura of authority that could be quite intimidating. I was surprised, therefore, in my first dealings with him to note how soft-spoken he was in policy deliberations.

Eric Edelman

‘The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush’s Post Presidency’

Jean Becker discusses her new book, The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush’s Post Presidency, with Miller Center senior fellow and former Bush speechwriter Mary Kate Cary. The book tells the story of how, after his devastating loss to Bill Clinton in 1992, President George H.W. Bush rebuilt his life, found a way to make a difference, and how, by the time he died in November 2018, he was revered by his country and the world.

Mary Kate Cary

What blockbuster? China spurns Hollywood's advances

"If I was an investor, I would be very concerned about a strategy at this point that depended on access to the Chinese market and the good graces of Chinese film regulators," said Aynne Kokas, the author of "Hollywood Made in China" and a media studies professor at the University of Virginia. "To make very expensive films in anticipation of being able to deliver them to the Chinese market and then not being certain that's possible is actually a much more financially irresponsible strategy from my perspective."

Aynne Kokas