124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA
James Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Sciences, Yale University
About the Seminar Why would people choose to remain stateless? For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia – a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries – have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them – slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. The story of the peoples of Zomia and their unlikely odyssey in search of self-determination challenges our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even basic ideas about what constitutes civilization, and confronts us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of “internal colonialism.” This new perspective requires a fundamental reevaluation of the civilizational narratives of the lowland states and is applicable to other runaway, fugitive, and marooned communities, be they Gypsies, Cossacks, tribes fleeing slave raiders, Marsh Arabs, or San-Bushmen.... Read more about The Art of Not Being Governed
124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA
Thomas Carothers, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment
About the Seminar Among the many foreign policy challenges President Obama inherited from his predecessor, restoring the credibility of U.S. democracy promotion is one of the most complex. What have the new president and his foreign policy team done so far on this front? What opportunities exist for U.S. democracy promotion in a world where democratic retreat is as common as democratic advance? Can a new line on democracy be reconciled with the broader Obama policy of diplomatic reengagement, which entails reaching out to undemocratic regimes, like those in Russia and Iran?... Read more about Democracy Promotion Under Obama: The Complexities of Reengagement
124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA
Daniel Tichenor, University of Oregon
About the Seminar Daniel Tichenor is a professor of political science at the University of Oregon. At the inaugural seminar of the Ash Center Democracy Seminar Series, he will speak about the inter-action between the American labor movement and immigration from the 19th century to the present. This represents his current research. He holds that unions, contrary to popular perception, have at different times in American history been very divided internally over immigration policy and the question of whether immigrants are an opportunity or a threat.... Read more about Immigration, Economic Security, & the American Labor Movement: Enduring Conflicts in Recombination
This is a report on the first biannual Global Network Conference of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Held at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government on April 12-14, the conference, titled "Making Democratic Government Work: Connecting Principle and Practice," brought together 180 leaders, scholars, and practitioners to discuss, debate, and share examples regarding the best ways to harness government innovation and promote and sustain democratic governance. The format of the conference endeavored to take full advantage of the wisdom and...
