News & Events
The Moynihan Center will host Steven B. Smith and Nancy Rosenblum for a discussion of Smith's recent book, On Statesmanship.
Save the Date
Event Date: November 2, 2026
Location: North Academic Center (NAC) Flex Space
Time: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Follow the Moynihan Center on LinkedIn for updates
About the Event
In On Statesmanship, Smith examines the distinctive role of the statesman. As Yale University Press puts it, On Statesmanship offers a vision of leadership rooted in the ability to “take people where they need to go while hardly seeming to lead them at all,” with an emphasis on using power responsibly rather than simply amassing it. Rather than a demagogue or technocrat, Smith argues, a statesman is an educator who shapes civic understanding.
About the Speakers
Steven B. Smith
Steven B. Smith is the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He is the author of several books, including Modernity and Its Discontents and Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes. His most recent book, On Statesmanship, was published by Yale University Press. A Chicagoan by birth but a New Yorker by inclination, Smith is also a die-hard Yankees fan.
Nancy Rosenblum
Nancy Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Emerita at Harvard University. She chaired Harvard’s Department of Government from 2004 to 2011. Her research spans historical and contemporary political thought, with a focus on liberalism and pluralism.
Her recent books include Good Neighbors (2016) and, with Russell Muirhead, Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos (2024) and A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy (2019), all published by Princeton University Press.