The Institution’s financial and intellectual resources are allocated to activities consistent with its overarching programs and specific themes while complementing Hoover fellows’ individual research agendas. Hoover fellows work on individual research agendas, and in some cases via a collective approach through organized research initiatives. Hoover's research initiatives, oftentimes multi-year projects, are structured in a variety of ways that include Hoover fellows and scholars from within Stanford as well as other universities, research organizations, and businesses. The team approach to research has created a leveraging effect on the convening power of the group and an increase in output in the form of books, essays, articles and opinion pieces.

Hoover fellows focus their research and writing on a breadth of topics that includes individual freedom and the rule of law, democratic capitalism and economic/political collectivism, American individualism and societal values, and national priorities and international rivalries/global cooperation.

Explore Research Teams

Arctic Security Initiative

The Arctic Security Initiative addresses the strategic and security implications of increased Arctic activity and identifies opportunities for shaping a safe, secure, and prosperous Arctic.

Economic Policy Working Group

The Working Group on Economic Policy brings together experts on economic and financial policy to study key developments in the US and global economies, examine their interactions, and develop specific policy proposals.

Energy Policy Task Force

The Task Force on Energy Policy addresses energy policy in the United States and its effects on our domestic and international political priorities, particularly our national security.

Working Group on Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy

The Working Group on Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy explores an array of foreign policy topics to develop orienting principles about the most important policy challenges that face the United States.

Health Care Policy Working Group

The Working Group on Health Care Policy devises public policies that enable more Americans to get better value for their health care dollar and foster appropriate innovations that will extend and improve life.

Immigration Reform Initiative

The Conte Initiative on Immigration Reform aims to improve immigration law by providing innovative ideas and clear improvements to every part of the system, from border security to green cards to temporary work visas.

Working Group on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Prosperity

Hoover IP² is reviewing the premises of the US patent system to address questions of scope, specification, duration, and economic impact of that system.

Working Group on Islamism and the International Order

The Working Group on Islamism and the International Order seeks to reverse Islamic radicalism through reforming and strengthening the legitimate role of the state across the entire Muslim world.

K-12 Education Task Force

The K–12 Education Task Force focuses on education policy as it relates to government provision and oversight versus private solutions (both within and outside the public school system) that stress choice, accountability, and transparency.

Working Group on the Role of Military History and Contemporary Conflict

The Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict examines how knowledge of past military operations can influence contemporary public policy decisions concerning current conflicts.

National Security and Law Task Force

The National Security and Law Task Force examines the rule of law, the laws of war, and US constitutional law to make proposals that strike an optimal balance between individual freedom and the vigorous defense of the nation against terrorists both abroad and at home.

Property Rights, Freedom and Prosperity Task Force

The Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force explored the philosophical, historical, legal, and economic foundations of property rights through scholarship and collaborative research among an interdisciplinary group of scholars that included economists and legal experts. [INACTIVE]

Virtues of a Free Society Task Force

The Virtues of a Free Society Task Force examined the evolution of America’s core values, how they are threatened, and what can be done to preserve them. [INACTIVE]