AFRICA
May 10, 2009
Geospatial Science & Technology for Sustainable Development in Africa: Partnerships and Applications
Announcement
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The conference brings together members of public and private donor organizations with those from institutions and industry engaged in the application of geospatial science and technology to assess development needs, formulate responses to those needs, and successfully implement sustainable development programs in Africa.
Co-sponsored by the Association of American Geographers and the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, Harvard Kennedy School
Courtesy of OLPC
January 12, 2009
Technological Innovation and Economic Development in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities for International Cooperation
Announcement
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The lecture will explore the role that emerging technologies can play in fostering economic growth and improving human welfare in Africa. It will re-examine opportunities for development cooperation between the United States and Africa in light of the current global food and financial and crises. It will draw on experiences on the linkages between economic growth and technological innovation in fields such as agriculture, health, energy, education, and environmental management.
The lecture will be from 12:30–1:30 pm, at the University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King's College Circle, Room 2172.
Courtesy of OLPC
December 6, 2008
Science, Engineering, and Economic Growth in Africa: Development Cooperation Challenges and Opportunities
Announcement
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The lecture will explore the role that emerging technologies can play in fostering economic growth and improving human welfare in Africa. It will re-examine opportunities for development cooperation between the United States and Africa in light of the current global food and financial and crises. It will draw on experiences on the linkages between economic growth and technological innovation in fields such as agriculture, health, energy, education, and environmental management.
Friday, January 9, 2009
9:00am – 10:30 am
The Lecture Room, National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D.C. (entrance on C Street)
(No prior registration required)
Special Guest:
Koji Omi
Founder and Chairman, Science and Technology in Society forum, Tokyo, Japan
Member, House of Representatives
Former Minister of Finance of Japan
Sudan: Policy Options Amid Civil War
Annual Report
By Debbie West, Former Program Coordinator, Intrastate Conflict Program
November 2009
The Great American Mission: Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order
Book
By David Ekbladh, Research Fellow, International Security Program
The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism.
October 2008
China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence
Book
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
“Two myths have been concocted by the West on Africa: that the Western impact on Africa has been benign while China’s record in Africa has only been negative. The truth in both areas is more complex. This volume, China into Africa, brings out the complexity of the China story in Africa and illustrates why more balanced assessments are needed on Africa’s relations with the world”
--Kishore Mahbubani
Dean, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore
March 2008
Targeting Civilians in War
Book
By Alexander B. Downes, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2007-2008
Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice?
March 2008
Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa
Book
By Robert Paarlberg, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2007-2008
Heading upcountry in Africa to visit small farms is absolutely exhilarating given the dramatic beauty of big skies, red soil, and arid vistas, but eventually the two-lane tarmac narrows to rutted dirt, and the journey must continue on foot. The farmers you eventually meet are mostly women, hardworking but visibly poor. They have no improved seeds, no chemical fertilizers, no irrigation, and with their meager crops they earn less than a dollar a day. Many are malnourished.
Nearly two-thirds of Africans are employed in agriculture, yet on a per-capita basis they produce roughly 20 percent less than they did in 1970. Although modern agricultural science was the key to reducing rural poverty in Asia, modern farm science—including biotechnology—has recently been kept out of Africa.
2008
War, Peace and Hegemony in a Globalized World:The Changing Balance of Power in the Twenty-First Century
Book
This book focuses on how the US could adapt its foreign policy initiatives to fit in with the growing aspirations of a multipolar world for a more balanced international order.
August 25, 2007
Worst of the Worst: Dealing with Repressive and Rogue Nations
Book
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
"This volume makes an unparalleled contribution to the growing and vital field of measurement and human rights. [The book] offers a useful categorization and assessment of repressive and 'rogue' states, allowing us to measure the extenet of repressive state behavior more accurately. His [Rotberg] work should embolden external critiques and facilitate more transparent and accountable foreign policy."
--Sarah Sewall, Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University
