SOUTHERN AFRICA
AP Photo
April 18, 2011
"Juma Mwapachu: Legacy of an Entrepreneurial Leader"
Op-Ed, The East African
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Mwapachu will be remembered as a true entrepreneur with a passion for creating new institutions that improve the lives of the majority of people. He operationalised the EAC Customs Union, led negotiations for the EAC Common Market that came into force in 2010 and laid the groundwork for the forthcoming EAC Monetary Union. He also oversaw the admission of Rwanda and Burundi into the EAC."
Spring 2011
Belfer Center Newsletter Spring 2011
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Spring 2011 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights the Belfer Center’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear catastrophe – an effort that began in the 1950s. This issue also features three new books by Center faculty that sharpen global debate on critical issues: God’s Century, by Monica Duffy Toft, The New Harvest by Calestous Juma, and The Future of Power, by Joseph S. Nye.
AP Photo
February 9, 2011
"Why Africa Needs to Lower Its Voting Age to 16"
Op-Ed, The Guardian
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Lowering the voting age 16 for all African countries would not only reflect the demographic structure of the continent, but it would also expand political participation. Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua have lowered the voting age to 16. In Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia, 16-year-olds can vote if they are employed. The voting age in Indonesia, North Korea, Timor-Leste and the Seychelles is 17."
AP Photo
January 7, 2011
"Africa Must Make Tough Choices to Build Democracy"
Op-Ed, Business Daily
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"...[C]reating think tanks to help political parties craft platforms on which to complete would do more for African democracy than all the governance consultants put together. The latter have sprinkled a few good ideas here and there but they have not had the expected effect because of the lack of institutions to translate them into political programmes. Governance was hardly served well by ideas. In the absence of such competence-building, the common practice of ranking leaders becomes no more than hollow self-righteousness."
AP Photo
December 2010
"Energy Innovation Policy in Major Emerging Countries"
Policy Brief
By Ruud Kempener, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2009–2011, Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Jose Condor Tarco, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2008–2009
New Harvard Kennedy School research finds that energy research, development, and demonstration (ERD&D) funding by governments and 100 percent government-owned enterprises in six major emerging economies appears larger than government spending on ERD&D in most industrialized countries combined. That makes the six so-called BRIMCS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, China, and South Africa—major players in the development of new energy technologies. It also suggests there could be opportunities for cooperation on energy technology development among countries.
AP Photo
December 6, 2010
"Will We Know Success When We See It?"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, National Journal
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
"It might be relatively easy, but actually quite unfortunate, for countries to achieve what some people might define as 'success' in Cancun: a signed international agreement, followed by glowing press releases. I say it would unfortunate, because such an agreement could only be the Kyoto Protocol on steroids: more stringent targets for the original list of industrialized countries (Annex I) and no meaningful commitments by the key rapidly-growing emerging economies, such as China, India, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, and South Africa."
AP Photo
November 20, 2009
"Reconciliation Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Yvonne Malan, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2009–2010
"The world loved the Rainbow Nation success story and chose, along with many South Africans, to ignore that reconciliation can easily be used to justify impunity. Jansen's description of the Reitz Four, that they too are his children and that he cannot disown them, echoes the mythology of the TRC that perpetrators were sinners who strayed and need to be forgiven (and granted amnesty), not as individuals who broke the law and need to be held accountable. Any serious discussion about rights and responsibility is quickly marginalised, with dangerous implications for any attempts to foster a respect for human rights and a respect for the rule of law."
Photo by Beth Maclin
June 7, 2009
"Geospatial Science & Technology for Sustainable Development in Africa: Partnerships and Applications"
Event Summary
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
This conference, co-sponsored by the Association of American Geographers and the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, Harvard Kennedy School brought 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. Its goal was to insure that public and private sector initiatives that rely on geospatial tools, techniques, and applications achieve a high level of integration in the areas of database requirements and standards, methodologies, and strategies for sustainability. Enhancing private sector linkages with government and nongovernmental initiatives already underway, as well as with ongoing academic and scientific research efforts, will help further capacity building and coordinate public policy applications across regions and themes.
AP Photo
December 13, 2008
"Uniting Against Mugabe's Corrupt Regime"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
DESPERATE Zimbabweans cannot understand why Africa and the forces of world order have abandoned them in their hour of need, when what is left of their once wealthy nation decays irredeemably. President-elect Barack Obama has spoken critically of Africa's irresponsibility. So have French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. All three want Africa to eject Robert G. Mugabe, Zimbabwe's unelected ruling despot.
October 6, 2008
Strengthening African Governance: Results and Rankings 2008
In the News
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution and Rachel Gisselquist, Former Research Director (2007-2009), Index of African Governance
All citizens of all countries desire to be governed well. That is what citizens want from the nation-states in which they live. Thus, nation-states in the modern world are responsible for the delivery of essential political goods to their inhabitants.
