Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs

“Urban Growth and the Contemporary Housing Question: Recovering the Politics of Planning in Germany and the UK” by Professor Ilse Helbrecht, geography, Humboldt University, Germany.

In his lecture “Understanding Arab Comics: A View from Cairo” Jonathan Guyer will discuss the power of political cartoons in the current Arab world. Jonathan Guyer is a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs and contributing editor of the Cairo Review of Global Affairs. From 2012 to 2013, he was a Fulbright fellow researching political cartoons in Egypt. He previously served as a program associate for the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, and as assistant editor of Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel.

A bilingual poetry reading/presentation (in Spanish and English) by young Uruguayan poet and academic Laura Cesarco Eglin, an up-and-coming Latin American writer living in the United States (http://laucesarco.blogspot.com/).

“Thesis in Dialogue” featuring Tim Fraser ’16, winner of the IGS Award for his thesis “Restarting the Sendai Reactor: Ecology of Japanese Civic Activism Post-Fukushima” and current Fulbright Scholar in Japan; and Richard Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for International Studies at MIT, who will present his research on “Disaster and Change in Japan.” Lunch is free for current Middlebury College students/faculty/staff; suggested $5 donation for others; RSVP by 2/21 to rcga@middlebury.edu.

Few government programs that aid democracy abroad today seek to foster regime change. Technical programs that do not confront dictators are more common than the aid to dissidents and political parties that once dominated the field. What explains this ‘taming’ of democracy assistance? To understand this question, Sarah Bush has analyzed large datasets of democracy assistance projects and conducted field research in Tunisia and Jordan. She offers a new way of thinking about foreign influence and NGOs in world politics and in the Middle East.

Officially, France does not recognize ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities. Yet, France is the European country with the most varied origins among its population. How can we explain the disjuncture between a political discourse that claims to be difference-blind and the reality of day-to-day life of French citizens? What is the future for minority citizens in France?

Dr. Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, he served as the chair of the multi-party negotiations in Northern Ireland that provided the foundation for the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. For his efforts to promote peace and conflict resolution, he received the 2013 Tipperary International Peace Award. From January 2001 to June 2003, Dr. Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell. From 1989 to 1993, he was special assistant to President George H.W.

Future of the Past series panel: “Hello, World: Computers and the Dawn of a New Human Era” with Chris Andrews, assistant professor of computer science, Middlebury College: “From Clockwork to Twitter: How did we get here?”; and Brian Fung ’10, reporter, The Washington Post: “Democratization and Inequality in the Computer Age.”

Tim Fraser ‘16 will discuss his current experience as a Fulbright Scholar conducting research in Japan.

Sponsored by Center for Teaching, Learning and Research,
International Program,s and Off-campus Study

Forest Jarvis ‘15 will discuss his current experience as a Fulbright Scholar conducting research in the Philippines, and Maddie Gilbert ‘14 will discuss her year as a Fulbright Scholar English Teaching Assistant in Brazil. Lunch provided.