Washington, D.C. Events

Crisis Management 3.0: Social Media and Governance in Times of Transition

February 16, 2012 // 12:00pm — 2:00pm

Co-hosts: Global Health Initiative, Inc. and National Defense University

Crises in the United States and around the world are happening with increasing frequency, severity, and complexity, and with exponentially increasing economic and human cost. During these times of transition, social networks have become an increasingly important mechanism in preventing, responding to and managing crises, especially in circumstances in which unity of effort can be achieved, but unity of command may not be feasible, or even desirable. Web 2.0 social networks, unfortunately, have important limitations and are creating challenges to vertically organized institutions. Resolving the potential and actual conflicts between horizontally and vertically organized approaches, as well as nurturing the development of new synergies between horizontal and vertical organizations is stimulating new thinking about the nature of governance during times of significant transition, as well as stimulating the emergence of “Web 3.0 Resilience Systems.”

The Crisis Management 3.0 panel and roundtable discussion will address the following questions:

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The Fate of the "Reset" During Political Open Seasons in Russia and the U.S.: Prospects for Change and Continuity

February 21, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm

As the 2012 election cycle heats up, critics of the Obama Administration have taken aim at one of the President’s signature foreign policy initiatives: the US-Russia “reset.” Attackers charge that Russia is an untrustworthy partner, and that the government of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev is fundamentally illegitimate. As Russia’s own presidential transition approaches in March, and with a popular protest movement inspiring Russians to take their pent up frustration to the streets and to the internet, the Kremlin could benefit from a crisis with Washington that forces Russians to rally around the flag. During this tense period, how can the US minimize damage to important areas of US-Russia cooperation, like the mission in Afghanistan, nuclear non-proliferation, and counter-terrorism, while laying groundwork for renewed progress in the future?

Please note that seating for this event is available on a first come, first served basis. Please call on the day of the event to confirm. Please bring an identification card with a photograph (e.g. driver's license, work ID, or university ID) as part of the building's security procedures.

The Kennan Institute speaker series is made possible through the generous support of the Title VIII Program of the U.S. Department of State.

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Dependent America? How Canada and Mexico Construct U.S. Power

February 21, 2012 // 9:00am — 11:00am

Stephen Clarkson, professor of political economy, University of Toronto, and former senior fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center

Matto Mildenberger, PhD student, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

In Dependent America?, Stephen Clarkson and Matto Mildenberger explore the extent to which U.S. power is a function of its capacity to mobilize other states’ material and moral support. Dependent America? establishes that Canada and Mexico are the largest of all these foreign determinants of U.S. power, particularly in matters of economic, security, and global affairs. At a time when the challenge to U.S. global hegemony is again on the policy agenda, the book has a message for U.S. policymakers: “do not throttle the goose that lays the golden egg by building security walls that are strangling the United States' most productive foreign economic relationship.”

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Peace & Justice Studies Association (PJSA) Networking Mixer

Event Details

Time: February 21, 2012 from 6pm to 8pm

Location: Bus Boys & Poets

Street: 5th & K (1025 5th Street), NW, - Upstairs

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Israel, Iran, and the Arabs: A Regional Perspective

February 22, 2012 // 9:30am — 11:00am

Ephraim Sneh Chairman of S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue, Netanya Academic College and former member of the Knesset and Deputy Defense Minister

Ghaith Al-Omari Executive Director at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP)

Worries are mounting over the prospects of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear sites; the Israeli-Palestinian peace process exists but only on paper; civil war looms in Syria; and Egypt is less prosperous and secure now than under Mubarak. Is there any good news from the region? To find out, please join us for a discussion with four experts and practitioners.

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Reaching Out at Rio: Population Growth, Family Planning, and Environmentalists

February 22, 2012 // 12:00pm — 2:00pm

While recognition of the connections between population growth and environmental impact is growing, they are still poorly understood by both the environmental and family planning communities. Environmental scientists and demographers rarely work together to produce interdisciplinary analysis. Reproductive health and environmental practitioners stay in their stovepipes, despite the evidence that integrated development projects are more successful than single-sector efforts. Donors and advocates fear "mission creep" and avoid the stigma of straying into potentially controversial sectors. And when the mass media covers it at all, reporting often lacks nuance or focuses on political aspects rather than the evidence base.

This failure to communicate has potentially disastrous results for both the environmental and reproductive health policies being developed at this crucial juncture. This panel, composed of expert communicators well-versed in both reproductive health and environmental "languages," will conduct a frank but nuanced discussion of the linkages and the challenges of communicating them.

Nancy Belden from Belden Russonello Strategists will present findings from a recent report commissioned by Americans for UNFPA on environmentalists’ perception of the relationship between population and international voluntary contraception; Kim Lovell will talk about the Sierra Club’s outreach efforts to its members about reproductive health and the environment; and Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard will discuss the challenges of covering these issues in the media.

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Trading with the Enemy; How Albanians armed Macedonia's Revolutionaries in 1903

February 22, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm

Drawn from a larger project which examines the relationships between ethnic identity and anti-Ottoman insurgency in early 20th century Macedonia, Keith Brown, an associate professor at Brown University will focus on the specific instance of the Ilinden Uprising of 1903. Brown will analyze the circuits through which members of Macedonia's Revolutionary Organization obtained and stockpiled thousands of rifles in preparation for the Ilinden Uprising, and the practical and symbolic effects of that effort on patterns of intercommunal violence in Macedonia. In particular, Brown will attend to descriptions of purchasing rifles and ammunition from a purportedly threatening other, Albanians, to argue that the Organization’s emphasis on acquiring arms, even when undertaken in a spirit of self-defense, had important and far-reaching cultural consequences in re-ordering patterns of deadly retribution and escalation between different communities.

Keith Brown is an associate research professor at the Watson Institute at Brown University. Working primarily in the domain of culture, politics and identity, he has conducted extensive research on ethno-nationalism and the role of national history in the Balkans. This research into how different communities construct history in Macedonia, Greece, and Bulgaria led to his book “The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation”, as well as a number of articles on the culture, history, and politics of Macedonia. Brown’s more recent work explores how different transnational processes such as labor migration, democracy promotion, and commodity production contribute to people's sense of long-distance connection, and new forms of citizenship and belonging. He is engaged on long-term research on the interaction between political activism and labor migration, and his book entitled "Loyal Unit Death: Circuits of Trust and Terror in Insurgent Macedonia" is forthcoming from Indiana University Press.

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center

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Rio+20: A New Agenda for Sustainability - or More of the Same?

February 22, 2012 // 3:00pm — 5:00pm

The Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development is rapidly approaching -- an important opportunity to make progress on the global sustainability agenda. A panel of Reid Detchon, United Nations Foundation, David Sandalow, Under Secretary of Energy, and Robert Engelman, Worldwatch, will discuss the developing agenda.

The “Managing Our Planet” seminar series – developed jointly by George Mason University and the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Brazil Institute – addresses planetary scale problems and solutions.

Please RSVP with name and affiliation to brazil@wilsoncenter.org

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Troy Davis Event

Hope you will come to an important event at Bus Boys & Poets-5th&K on February 25th from 5-7pm.

The event will highlight the problems in our criminal justice system, and raise money for Troy Davis's family, who, as you know, have lost Troy, his mother Virginia, and his sister Martina in less than a year, and are now burdened with medical and funeral bills.

Please come if you can and spread the word!

If you are unable to come, but would like to contribute to help this amazing family, you can do so here: https://www.wepay.com/donations/fund-for-troy-davis-s-family

Hope you will be able to come, and please spread the word!

Mediators Beyond Borders 5th Annual Congress

Mediators Beyond Borders International's 5th Annual Congress is approaching on March 1-4, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. This year's Congress promises to be an exciting weekend of organizational development, networking and learning.

Authors Panel with Doug Noll, Ken Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, Cinnie Noble, and Nan Waller-Burnett.

Keynote address with Melanie Greenberg of Alliance for Peacebuilding.

Sanam Anderlini, one of the drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

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