2014

  • 2014 Oct 29

    A Conversation with U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford

    4:15pm to 5:15pm

    Location: 

    Malkin Penthouse, Littauer 4th Floor

    Robert FordMiddle East Initiative Speaker Series
    Open to the Public

    Related Project: Middle East Initiative

    Description:

    A seminar with Ambassador Robert Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, from 2010 to 2014, and Algeria, from 2006 to 2008.

    Moderated by Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

    Ambassador Ford spent 4 1/2 years working for the U.S. Mission in Iraq and later 3 years working on Syria. He will talk about the roots of the unrest in both countries that spawned the Syrian civil war and the rise of the Islamic State straddling across the two countries’ borders.... Read more about A Conversation with U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford

  • 2014 Oct 28

    Hong Kong Protests: Democracy in Action?

    6:00pm

    Location: 

    JFK Jr. Forum, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK St., Cambridge, MA

    Co-sponsored with the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum

    C. M. Chan
    Harvard Kennedy School, MPA/MC ’15
    Legal Counsel, Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons Limited

    William C. Kirby
    Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
    T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies, Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration, HBS

    Heather Pickerell
    Harvard College, ’15

    Anthony Saich (moderator)
    Director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School... Read more about Hong Kong Protests: Democracy in Action?

  • 2014 Oct 24

    Two Models for Representing Workers' Rights: Local Organizing versus International Standards

    12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

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

    BoardroomAsh Center Student Speaker Series

    Sanjay Kumar, MC/Mason ’15 and Rosie Zhang, MC/Mason ’15

    Lunch will be provided.

    About the Event
    In fast developing countries, ensuring safe and humane working conditions can be a contentious and evasive struggle. Sanjay Kumar and Rosie Zhang will discuss their work protecting the rights and voice of workers in India and China, respectively. The discussion will cover standard setting, monitoring, ethical sourcing and other approaches to labor rights protection in China from the perspective of international corporations, NGOs, and regimes.... Read more about Two Models for Representing Workers' Rights: Local Organizing versus International Standards

  • 2014 Oct 22

    Hong Kong: Origins of the Crisis

    12:30pm

    Location: 

    S020, Belfer Case Study Room, Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA

    Hong Kong crowdDalena Wright, Senior Fellow, Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School
    Burton Levin, Visiting Professor, Carleton College; former U.S. Consul General, Hong Kong (1981-1987); former U.S. Ambassador to Burma
    Stephen M. Young, former U.S. Consul General, Hong Kong (2010-2013); former Director, American Institute in Taiwan; former Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic

    Critical Issues Confronting China Seminar Series; co-sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School

  • 2014 Oct 17

    Public Education and System Change

    12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

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

    Ash Center Student Speaker Series

    Alvaro Henzler, MC/Mason ‘15 and Rivandra Royono, MPA/ID ‘16

    Lunch will be provided.

    About the Event
    Education reform is a topic of perennial interest. Beyond debating what works or not, there are interesting lessons for understanding broader concepts in governance from system-level change and decentralization to movement building. Two Ash Center student fellows, Alvaro Henzler and Rivandra Royono, will discuss their own experience in educational reform in Peru and Indonesia, respectively. The conversation will explore both the role of international reform models in a local context as well as the resources and strategies required of a successful movement for systemic reform.... Read more about Public Education and System Change

  • 2014 Oct 10

    Six Countries in Four Weeks

    12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

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

    Ash Center Student Speaker Series Presents
    Samuel Kim, MPA ’14 and Ignacio Alvaro Benito, MC-MPA ’14

    About the Event
    When learning about leadership, education, or entrepreneurship in Asia, students often hear abstract ideas and theories. The HKS student- and alumni-run Asia Leadership Trek allows students to visit and experience Asia, exploring political, economic, educational, and societal issues with government and business leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, students, and more.... Read more about Six Countries in Four Weeks

  • 2014 Oct 07

    The Responsive City: Engaging Communities through Data Smart Governance

    4:10pm to 6:00pm

    Location: 

    124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

    Responsive City coverStephen Goldsmith, Daniel Paul Professor of Government, Susan Crawford, co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and Bill Oates, Chief Information Officer for Commonwealth of Massachusetts

    About the Event
    Harvard Kennedy School Professor Stephen Goldsmith and Harvard Law School Visiting Professor Susan Crawford will discuss their new book The Responsive City. When harnessed by dedicated leaders, they argue, data empowers communities and officials to make local government more transparent, responsive, accountable, and cost-effective, thus thickening the bonds of democracy, increasing trust in government, and improving civic life.... Read more about The Responsive City: Engaging Communities through Data Smart Governance

  • 2014 Oct 03

    Government Innovation Teams in Practice: An Inside Look Into a Growing Trend

    12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

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

    team membersAsh Center Student Speaker Series

    Victoria Kabak, MPP ’15, and Jessica Huey, MPP ’15

    Lunch will be provided.

    About the Event
    Victoria Kabak, MPP '15, and Jessica Huey, MPP'15 were 2014 Ash Center Summer Fellows deployed to NYC’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) and the General Services Administration’s Challenge.gov team, respectively. Though these programs are at different levels of government and their approaches are distinct, both are on the frontier of efforts to promote innovation in government and both have attracted significant national attention.... Read more about Government Innovation Teams in Practice: An Inside Look Into a Growing Trend

  • 2014 Sep 26

    Volunteer Bureaucrats: Neighborhood and Grassroots Organizations as Agents of Local Governance in Asia

    12:00pm to 1:00pm

    Location: 

    124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

    photosKick-off Seminar of the Ash Center Student Speaker Series

    Seth Soderborg, Ph.D. Student, Department of Government and Chen Jiaxi, Director of the Center for Chinese Local Government Innovations at Shenzhen University

    Lunch will be provided.

    About the Event
    Seth Soderborg, a Ph.D. Student from the Department of Government, and Chen Jiaxi, Director of the Center for Chinese Local Government Innovations at Shenzhen University and a Rajawali fellow at the Ash Center, will be our speakers. Soderborg will present preliminary work on the changing role of neighborhood association leaders in Indonesian communities. Over the summer, he interviewed neighborhood association leaders in Jakarta, Banda Aceh, and Medan, to understand their unique role in local administration, public goods provision, and policing.... Read more about Volunteer Bureaucrats: Neighborhood and Grassroots Organizations as Agents of Local Governance in Asia

  • 2014 Sep 24

    How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century

    4:10pm to 5:30pm

    Location: 

    124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

    DHow signHahrie Han, Wellesley College, Sarah Hodgdon, Sierra Club, Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, and Archon Fung (Moderator), Academic Dean and Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship

    About the Event
    Why are some civic associations better than others at getting – and keeping – people involved in activism? In this book talk, Hahrie Han will describe how she used in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments to compare organizations with strong records of engaging people in health and environmental politics to those with weaker records.... Read more about How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century

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