Summer Fellowship

Hudson Institute Political Studies offers a fellowship in political theory and practice to outstanding undergraduates and recent graduates that will broaden and deepen their understanding of public policy and American political principles. It combines the rigorous study of politics and political thought in a seminar setting, with policy workshops led by think tank scholars and experienced government officials, and also a distinguished speaker series of exemplary figures from public life.

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Program Overview

This program includes four components:

Rigorous seminars led by master teachers on topics in political theory and public policy.

A series of policy workshops led by policy analysts and experienced government officials.

A distinguished speaker series where national leaders from government, business, journalism, the military, and the academy provide unmatched insight into the true nature of public service and the country’s most pressing issues.

A series of outings and events, where students travel to places of national and historical interest in order to view politics through other lenses.

Seminars Workshops Speakers Events

Workshops

Meeting once per week during the fellowship

Policy workshops are led by think tank experts and experienced government officials who provide academic and practical explanations of their topics, before leading students in a collaborative policy simulation. Students prepare for the discussion and the following simulation by reading assigned, topical material in advance of the meeting. These interactive workshops allow students to actively engage in the policy making process, and wrestle with the policy problems of our day. Students complete 1-2 policy workshops per week. Each policy workshop is different, and the topics range from foreign policy and military decision making, to bioethics legislation and criminal justice reform. Below, you will find example workshops from the 2022 Summer Fellowship.

Criminal Justice Reform

Man in the Age of Technology

Crisis in the Taiwan Strait

This workshop, conducted during the fifth week of the 2021 Fellowship, brought diplomatic history to bear on perhaps the most ominous potential flashpoint in contemporary geopolitics. Students prepared for the crisis simulation with two three-hour seminars — in the first they discussed three Joint Communiques of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China (1972, 1979, 1982) as well as significant domestic legislation from both countries; in the second, discussion shifted to strategists’ reflections and contemporary analyses of cross-Strait relations. During the simulation, groups were assigned countries party to the conflict. Responsible for acting as their country would in a time of crisis, students learn about the dictates of necessity and the limited options available to government officials of every country as they pursue their state interest. As they reflected on the development of grand strategy in the region, students learned about how diplomacy, trade, and military affairs factor into decision-making at the highest levels of government.

The Supreme Court in our Federal Republic

In the first policy workshop of the program, students take on roles of petitioners, respondents, and Justices in arguing two recent Supreme Court cases. In 2021, students relitigated District of Columbia v. Heller, a landmark 5-4 vote from 2008 regarding the Second Amendment, and National Labor Relations Board vs Noel Canning, a unanimous decision from 2014 that delimited the President’s recess appointment authority. In each case, fellows read through the briefs of petitioner and respondent, as well as other relevant documents such as Federalist Papers. In oral arguments the Fellows were guided by Jeremy Rozansky, J.D., University of Chicago Law School. As the three groups learned about how cases are tried at the summit of the United States legal system, the students came to understand how various interpretations of our nation's law must sometimes be resolved by the judicial authority.