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Public Affairs Program
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In his 13 years as head of ABC News, David Westin saw the 2000 election, 9/11, and many more earth-shaking stories pass through his newsroom. Is it possible for journalists to be both good at their jobs and people of good moral character? (Public Affairs Program)
If the worst threatened, where would the world look for leadership? The United States, with its paralyzed politics and battered balance sheet? A European Union reeling from self-inflicted wounds? China's "people's democracy"? Perhaps Brazil, Turkey, or India? How about none of the above? (Public Affairs Program)
With the obsessive personality cult surrounding the Kim family dynasty, repressive economic and cultural policies, and an appalling human rights record, North Korea is the world's most isolated and controversial state. How has this nation been able to survive as it has for over 60 years? (Public Affairs Program)
Many of our government institutions are short on money, ideas, and efficiency. What can we do, ourselves, to create lasting and workable solutions? How can we also find senses of meaning and community, both so elusive in the current circumstances? (Public Affairs Program)
Eighteen months after the beginning of the Arab Spring, many things have changed in the Middle East and North Africa, but many things also remain the same. What does the future hold? Should the United States be playing a more active role in the region? (Public Affairs Program)
Past Events
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Karl E. Meyer,
Shareen Blair Brysac
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05/15/12
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In a world filled with sectarian strife, where can different ethnicities, and especially Muslim minorities, live in peace? Marseille and Queens are examples of places with minimal violence, high literacy, and great diversity. What can we learn from these oases of civility? (Public Affairs Program)
The United States was the world's biggest, most innovative, and most influential economy in the 20th century. But it will soon cease to be the biggest. How easy will it be for the U.S. to remain the most innovative and influential in the 21st century? (Public Affairs Program)
With annual revenues equal to Norway's GDP, ExxonMobil might be the world's most powerful company; yet it is also one of the most secretive. How did ExxonMobil grow to be more influential in some countries than the U.S. embassy? (Public Affairs Program)
As American forces withdraw from Afghanistan, what are the possibilities and hazards the U.S. is facing in regards to Pakistan? What is the state of the Taliban? And what tough choices does President Obama have to make as he faces a complicated relationship with Pakistan and a reelection campaign? (Public Affairs Program)
In the wake of the terror attacks and wars of the last decade, "shari'a" has become both a loaded word and an all-encompassing explanation. But do Westerners really have an understanding of what shari'a law actually means? (Public Affairs Program)
While investigating conditions on the ground in Syria, Libya, and other dangerous locales, what has Human Rights Watch learned from the earthshaking events of 2011? How can the global community help the world’s most suppressed people seize control of their destiny? (Public Affairs Program)
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Charles A. Kupchan
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04/04/12
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With the rise of China, India, Brazil, and other emerging powers, the West’s preeminence is slipping for the first time in over 600 years. Can Europe and the United States strike a bargain with the rising rest and find consensus on the issues of sovereignty, legitimacy, and governance? (Public Affairs Program)
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Robert J. Shiller
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03/26/12
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Despite the bad reputation of the financial industry in the aftermath of the financial crisis, finance could be one of the most powerful tools we have for solving our common problems. How can we harness the power of finance for the greater good? (Public Affairs Program)
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Michael T. Klare
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03/20/12
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The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion and the political and environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe. Can we change our consumption patterns and find a way out? (Public Affairs Program)
Why do oil-producing countries have less democracy, fewer opportunities for women, more frequent civil wars, and more volatile economic growth than the rest of the world? Is oil a curse? (Public Affairs Program)
In the decades since World War II, presidents from both parties have assumed broad war-making powers never intended by the Constitution and have pumped trillions of tax dollars into the Pentagon. Has this pursuit made the U.S. safer or has it only done irreparable damage to the ideals of American democracy? (Public Affairs Program)
What are the major ideas, influences, and people who have formed the modern Latin America political mind during the late 19th and 20th centuries? (Public Affairs Program)
Perhaps no one in the 20th century had a greater long-term impact on world history than Deng Xiaoping. How did one of the original leaders of China's Communist Party come to reform the economic and social policies that he had helped create? (Public Affairs Program)
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David J. Scheffer
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01/31/12
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David Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. What new insights does he provide in the continuing struggle for international justice? (Public Affairs Program)
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James G. Rickards
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01/26/12
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Currency wars have happened before--twice in the last century alone--and they always end badly. Is the United States now facing the very real danger of the collapse of the American dollar? (Public Affairs Program)
Well-meaning advocates for privacy worry that the Internet and how we share is making us dumber, crasser, distracted, and vulnerable to threats of all kinds. But Jeff Jarvis argues that the Internet and our new sense of publicness are, in fact, doing the opposite. Based on exclusive interviews with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Eric Schmidt, and Twitter's Evan Williams, Professor Jarvis introduces us to the new world of sharing. (Public Affairs Program)
Have the diplomatic efforts of the Obama administration toward Iran failed? Was the Bush administration's emphasis on military intervention, refusal to negotiate, and pursuit of regime change a better approach? How can the United States best address the ongoing turmoil in Tehran? (Public Affairs Program)
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Grigory Yavlinsky
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12/14/11
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If economists and other scholars, politicians, and business professionals understand the causes of economic crises, as they claim, then why do such damaging crises continue to occur? (Public Affairs Program)
The Supreme Court has the awesome power to strike down laws enacted by our elected representatives. How can it help make our democracy work? (Public Affairs Program)
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Bruce Bueno de Mesquita,
Alastair Smith
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12/08/11
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What is the difference between tyrants and elected leaders? How do politics and leadership actually work? (Public Affairs Program)
In his book, "Justice for Hedgehogs," his most comprehensive work, Ronald Dworkin argues that value in all its forms is one big thing. (Public Affairs Program)
How is the Internet transforming the nature of our collective intelligence? Will the Internet help us to better understand our world? Can it expand our problem solving ability? (Public Affairs Program)
How did the insights of thinkers that extend from Victorian England to modern-day India transform the world by rescuing humankind from squalor and deprivation to a world of modern economics? (Public Affairs Program)
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Andrew Feinstein
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11/18/11
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Andrew Feinstein exposes in forensic detail both the formal government-to-government trade in arms and the shadow world of illicit weapons dealing, and lays bare the shockingly frequent links between the two. Is our security compromised and our democracy undermined in the process? (Public Affairs Program)
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John Lewis Gaddis
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11/15/11
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Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis began this history almost 30 years ago, interviewing Kennan frequently and gaining complete access to his voluminous diaries and other personal papers. What is revealed in this landmark work? (Public Affairs Program)
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Barbara Crossette
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11/03/11
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Just this week, the world population reached 7 billion. By the end of this century, the UN predicts that there could be more than 10
billion. Barbara Crossette, author of the UN population Fund Report, discusses the situation. (Public Affairs Program)
Should our understanding of economics be informed more by Charles Darwin, a naturalist, than by the views of economist Adam Smith? Does Darwin's understanding of competition describe economic reality far more accurately than Smith's? (Public Affairs Program)
You recycle? You turn down plastic and paper? Good. But none of that will save the tuna or stop global warming. If you want to make the planet notice, follow the economics, says Gernot Wagner.
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G. John Ikenberry
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10/12/11
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Should the United States renegotiate its relationship with the rest of the world and pursue a more enlightened strategy--that of the liberal leviathan? (Public Affairs Program)
The structure and culture of the internet favor spies over government and corporations, and hackers over privacy. How can we right this imbalance and bring to cyberspace the freedom, accountability, and security we expect elsewhere in our lives? (Public Affairs Program)
If we learn to think of economics as a cultural phenomenon rather than as mathematical models, can we then go on to calculate economic value differently? (Public Affairs Program)
How did a nation founded as a homeland for South Asian Muslims become a haven for al-Qaeda and a rogue's gallery of domestic jihadist and sectarian groups? (Public Affairs Program)
How will the drama of oil--the struggle for access to it, the battle for control, the insecurity of supply, the consequences of its use, its impact on the global economy, and the geopolitics that dominate it--continue to shape our world? (Public Affairs Program)
What are the key features of contemporary Indian foreign policy and India's policy within its South Asian neighborhood? (Public Affairs Program)
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Thomas L. Friedman,
Michael Mandelbaum
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09/07/11
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What can America do as it faces four major challenges--globalization, the revolution in information technology, chronic deficits, and its energy consumption? (Public Affairs Program)
The world has witnessed the beginning of a dramatic revolution in the Middle East. What are the prospects for democratization in the region? What should America's role be moving forward?
Is it possible for civility to transcend money and economic issues? (Civility in America Series)
Drawing on neuroscience, Jack Fuller explains why the information overload of contemporary life makes us dramatically more receptive to sensational news, while rendering the objective voice of standard journalism ineffective. (Public Affairs Program)
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Mitchell B. Reiss
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12/07/10
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When, how, and under what conditions should our government talk to terrorists? Can opening a dialogue bring conflicts to a faster resolution? (Public Affairs Program)
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