Worldview Institute | Spring 2011
The Worldview Institute | Winter 2011 Semester
SEMINAR 1: April 13, 2011
Japan Nuclear Crisis: What Happened and What to Expect Next
MIT professor and CNN contributor Jim Walsh will look back at the Japanese nuclear crisis and discuss the causes, the consequences and the lessons for the future. Dr. Walsh will give us a unique perspective having witnessed much of the Japanese nuclear crisis on CNN interpreting the news as it happened. His talk will highlight both the historical and present causes of the nuclear crisis, the failures of the international community, and the brave and tragic efforts of the workers at the plant to prevent what could have been the world's worse nuclear accident.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Jim Walsh, Expert in International Security and Research Associate at MIT's Securities Studies Program
SEMINAR 2: April 27, 2011
Global Governance: The G20, the United Nations and the 3G
Since November 2008, the G-20 has been playing an active role in dealing with the global financial crisis. While this might have helped avert a global depression, some quarters see the emergence of the G-20 as a challenge to the UN on global governance issues. What could the G-20 do to allay such concerns? The G-20 is also a manifestation of the need for more effective global governance mechanisms. What role can the United Nations play in helping to restructure global governance mechanisms to suit the needs and demands of the 21st century?
Guest lecturer: Ambassador Vanu Gopala Menon, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations
SEMINAR 3: April 28, 2011
UN Women
Guest lecturer: Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director, UN Women
SEMINAR 4: May 4, 2011
Covering the United Nations for the Arab World
Issues related to the Middle East are usually on top of the UN agenda since its creation nearly 70 years ago. Khaled Dawoud, an Egyptian reporter, covered the UN for nearly five years for both Al-Jazeera Arabic and Lebanon's daily Assafir. He will deliver his perspective on how the UN is seen in the Middle East region, and what Arabs expect from the world organization. Dawoud, who moved to Cairo two months ago to work as managing editor of Al-Ahram Weekly (an English-language publication), will also deliver an update on the situation in Egypt three months after the January 25th revolution which ended 30 years of Mubarak's rule.
Guest lecturer: Khaled Dawoud, Managing Editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo, Egypt
SEMINAR 5: May 11, 2011
Presentation on Syria
Guest lecturer: Ambassador Bashar Ja'Afari, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations
SEMINAR 6: May 18, 2011
The Voice of America: President Obama's Rhetoric and Global Political Change
President Obama's 2008 election engendered enormous global interest for a number or reasons, among them his status as the first African-American president and the hope in many quarters for change in U.S. international policies following the globally unpopular Bush administration. Obama's campaign rhetoric — for example, his July 2008 speech in Berlin that drew the largest crowd of the campaign — had attracted interest around the world and commentary on his intellectual, political and rhetorical gifts. As president he has given a number of speeches on global issues, including his June 2009 speech at Cairo University, as well as his addresses to the UN General Assembly in September 2009 and September 2010.
The seminar will examine how these speeches reflect emerging U.S. policies and how key points have affected global opinion and political change. We will review the stated priorities and approaches of these speeches, as well as their cross-cultural communication equities, and media coverage.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Judith Siegel, Center for Global Affairs at SCPS
SEMINAR 7: May 25, 2011
Theories of Development, Science and Technology, and the United Nations
The United Nations had a key role in the emergence of the theories of development during the first decades of its existence. Unfortunately, those theories were just about dead during the last decades of the 20th century. The lack of appropriate understanding of the role that science and technology (S&T) plays in the process of development is a key factor in explaining the inadequacy of current mainstream economics. Nowadays, however, there are several historical conditions favoring the re-emergence of theories and policies of development, and the United Nations could once again play an important part in this process. Sustainable development is prone to become the new paradigm guiding such an emergence and S&T is particularly vital for it.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Eduardo Viotti, Adjunct Associate Professor of International an Public Affairs, Columbia University, SIPA
SEMINAR 8: June 1, 2011
Saudi Arabia and Yemen
Guest lecturer: Dr. Christopher Boucek, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Middle East Program
SEMINAR 9: June 8, 2011
Social Media and Social Change: How Generation Facebook is Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time
This presentation will look at how social media became invaluable tools for self-expression, connection and networking, and helped youth take on regimes in recent uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa.
Guest lecturer: Mona Eltahawy, award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues
SEMINAR 10: June 15, 2011
The UN Human Rights Office : An Overview
Guest lecturer: Maggie Nicholson, Deputy Director, Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, New York
June 17, 2011
Graduation Dinner
Keynote Speaker: Jeffrey Laurenti
Location: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York
