2013

  • 2013 Dec 15

    The Heart of Robin Hood

    2:00pm

    Location: 

    American Repertory Theater, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA

    Robin Hood photoPerformance at the American Repertory Theater
    Followed by a discussion on inequality and the quest of a modern Robin Hood

    Steve Meacham, City Life/Vida Urbana
    Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship

    About the Event
    “In this spectacular rendition of the English legend, the notorious Robin Hood and his band of merry men steal from the rich, but refuse to share with the oppressed peasantry. As the wicked Prince John threatens all of England, it is down to Marion to boldly protect the poor and convert Robin Hood from outlaw to hero. First seen at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2011, this new production is filled with high adventure, epic romance, amazing fight choreography, and an original score inspired by contemporary British folk music.”

  • 2013 Dec 06

    All the King’s Men

    7:00pm

    Location: 

    Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

    Movie stillAll the King’s Men (1949) with Harvard Film Archive

    About the Event
    Join us for a screening of the 1949 classic All the King’s Men at Harvard Film Archive’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Directed by Robert Rossen, All the King’s Men was based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren chronicling the rise and fall of local politician Willie Stark (based loosely on a former governor of Louisiana named Huey Long). Ash Center Director Tony Saich will introduce the film with brief remarks on how politics has or has not changed in the last six decades and on the health of American democracy today.... Read more about All the King’s Men

  • 2013 Dec 05

    Japanese Economy: Myth, Reality and Challenges for Policy Makers and Academics

    11:45am to 1:00pm

    Location: 

    Bell Hall, 5th Floor Belfer Building

    Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor of the Central Bank of Japan (2008-2013)
    Introduction by Lucas Papademos, former Prime Minister of Greece

    About the speaker:
    Mr. Shirakawa served as Governor of the Bank of Japan from 2008 to March 2013. He served as Vice Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from January 2011 to March 2013. Mr. Shirakawa joined the Bank of Japan in 1972. His career encompassed monetary policy and financial stability, and he held key positions, including Executive Director in charge of monetary policy. Mr. Shirakawa holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Currently, Mr. Shirakawa is a professor at Aoyama-Gakuin University in Tokyo.

    Cosponsored by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
    For questions, contact Melissa D’Anello at Melissa_DAnello@hks.harvard.edu

  • 2013 Dec 04

    Mayor Walter Maddox on the 2011 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tornado

    4:15pm

    Location: 

    Room 226 (Conference Room), Ash Center, Suite 200 North, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA

    Join us for a conversation with Mayor Walter Maddox of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who will speak about his city’s response to an EF4 tornado that hit on April 27, 2011. Despite leveling an eighth of the city, killing 53 people, and destroying or seriously damaging thousands of structures, the devastation could have been far greater had it not been for the mayor’s decision to revamp the city’s emergency management system in the years preceding the storm. During his talk, Mayor Maddox will discuss this reform and how he led the response to the storm, providing insight into the role political leaders can play in preparing for and responding to disasters.... Read more about Mayor Walter Maddox on the 2011 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tornado

  • 2013 Dec 03

    (Re)designing Democracy for the Long Term

    12:00pm to 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Conference Room (Room 226), Ash Center, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

    definition of democracyA light lunch will be served

    About the Speakers:

    Éloi Laurent, Senior Economist at OFCE (Sciences Po Centre for Economic Research in Paris, France) and Visiting Scholar, Center for European Studies/Visiting Professor, Environmental Science and Public Policy.

    Michael MacKenzie, Democracy Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School.

    Graham Smith, Professor of Politics, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, U.K. and trustee for the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development, currently Ash Center Senior Visiting Scholar.

    About the workshop:

    Many of our most pressing political problems involve long-term issues such as environmental degradation, debt accumulation, education spending, or the viability of social policies such as public pension plans. Short electoral cycles create strong incentives for politicians to adopt policies that produce near-term net benefits. Moreover, individuals are often more concerned about their own immediate interests than they are about long-term collective problems. For example, environmental concerns have consistently ranked far behind immediate economic concerns in almost all democracies since the start of the “great recession” in 2008. But is this a structural problem with democracies? Are democracies inherently vulnerable to fall prey to the concerns of the present?... Read more about (Re)designing Democracy for the Long Term

  • 2013 Nov 21

    Typhoon Haiyan: Response and Recovery in the Philippines

    12:00pm to 2:00pm

    Location: 

    CGIS South S020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA

    Co-sponsored by:
    The Program on Crisis Leadership, Ash Center and Taubman Center, Harvard Kennedy School;
    Harvard University Asia Center;
    Harvard Humanitarian Initiative;
    Harvard Philippine Forum; 
    Harvard Kennedy School Crisis Management Student Group

    In this panel discussion, speakers will discuss the enormous challenges of providing relief and organizing recovery in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. Panelists include Doug Ahlers, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; and Michael vanRooyen, Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Moderated by Arn Howitt, Executive Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Faculty Co-Director of the Program on Crisis Leadership.... Read more about Typhoon Haiyan: Response and Recovery in the Philippines

  • 2013 Nov 20

    Insights on Global Collaboration: Preparing for the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress

    (All day)

    Location: 

    Online Webinar

    Free, online webinar

    Engage in a live dialogue with a senior advisor to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Stephen Woodley, who is an expert on strategies for reaching ambitious habitat and biodiversity conservation goals. Stephen will be joined by Crista Valentino and Elaine Hsiao, who are helping to lead efforts to engage a new generation in the global biodiversity conservation movement. Stephen, Elaine, and Crista will be talking about plans for the upcoming IUCN World Parks Congress, to be held in Sydney, Australia, in November 2014.

    Taking the theme of Parks, People, Planet – Inspiring Solutions, the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014 will advance an ambitious agenda that will inspire solutions for today's most pressing global challenges.... Read more about Insights on Global Collaboration: Preparing for the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress

  • 2013 Nov 19

    The Beautification of Postwar Colombo

    4:00pm to 5:30pm

    Location: 

    CGIS Knafel, K262

    Speaker: Jonathan Spencer, Professor of the Anthropology of South Asia & Head of School of Social and Political Science, Social Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

    Chair: Charles Hallisey, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures, Harvard Divinity School

    Overview
    Since the end of the country’s 30-year civil war in 2009, the Sri Lankan armed forces have continued to grow despite the absence of obvious military threats to the government. Under the guidance of the President’s brother, the Ministry of Defence now plays a leading role in town planning through the Urban Development Authority (which is formally part of the Ministry). Colombo has seen an aggressive programme of improvement, which started with a “war” on alleged underworld figures, has taken in the eviction of hawkers from pedestrian spaces, the creation of new leisure areas, and now would seem to involve the clearance of “sub-standard” housing, especially in places like Slave Island, an historically dense and religiously and culturally mixed area near the city centre.... Read more about The Beautification of Postwar Colombo

  • 2013 Nov 14

    Strategic Dilemmas of Contemporary Conservatism

    5:00pm

    Location: 

    Center for European Studies, Bush Hall, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA

    Dr. Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University

    This keynote address for the “Conservative and Center-Right Politics in Developed Democracies: Continuity And Change conference is free and open to the public. Reception to follow.

    Herbert Kitschelt is George V. Allen Professor of International Relations and Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He specializes in comparative political parties and elections in established and new democracies, comparative public policy/political economy, and 20th century social theory. He has published many books and articles on the transformation of European party systems, party organization, and party strategies (Logics of Party Formation, Cornell University Press 1989; Beyond the European Left, Duke University Press, 1990; The Transformation of European Social Democracy, Cambridge University Press, 1994; The Radical Right in Western Europe, 1995, in collaboration with Anthony J. McGann). The study of the European New Right received the American Political Science Association’s 1996 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for best book on government, politics or international relations.... Read more about Strategic Dilemmas of Contemporary Conservatism

  • 2013 Nov 13

    Localizing Development: Does Participation Work?

    4:10pm to 5:30pm

    Location: 

    124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

    Vijayendra RaoVijayendra Rao, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank

    About the seminar:

    In this Seminar, Dr. Vijayendra Rao discusses the World Bank Policy Research Report, “Localizing Development: Does Participation Work?” a subject of intense debate and advocacy, and billions of dollars in development aid. Dr. Rao will briefly review the history of participatory development and argue that its two modalities, community-based development and local decentralization, should be treated under the broader unifying umbrella of local development. He will compare organic participation (endogenous efforts by civic activists to bring about change) and induced participation (large-scale efforts to engineer participation at the local level via projects) and focus on the challenges of inducing participation. Dr. Rao will discuss “civil society failure” and explain its interaction with government and market failures.... Read more about Localizing Development: Does Participation Work?

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