The NYU Center for Global Affairs at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies announces its October 2007 schedule of events and lectures, which includes Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir, Conversations with Clyde Haberman, NYC columnist for The New York Times; as well as the “Thursday Brown-bag Series,” Conflict, Security, and Development: Issues, Actors, and Approaches, which examines new research, creative policy approaches, and recent analytical and practical innovations in responding to challenges of security and development in conflict and post-conflict contexts. Film events include Politics and Art in Cinema: Reel Fundamentalism in which Doris Weisberg hosts three evenings of film that explore the impact of religious fundamentalist ideas on individual lives and on society as a whole. Three main religions (Christian, Muslim, and Jewish) are explored in this series.
All events are free and open to the public, and unless otherwise noted, take place at the Center’s location at the Woolworth Building, 4th Floor, 15 Barclay Street [between Broadway and Church Street]. By subway, take the R or W to City Hall; the 4, 5 or 6 to City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge; the 2 or 3 to Park Place; or the A or C to Chambers Street. Space is limited, and reservations are required for most events. For more information, the public may call the Center at 212-992-8380 or visit scps.global.affairs@nyu.edu.
** For all “Thursday Brown-bag Series” Events: A Collaboration with the Office for International Programs at NYU Wagner (www.nyu.edu/wagner/international/). Note location: NYU Wagner at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, Second Floor Conference Room (southeast corner of Lafayette and Houston). RSVP by visiting www.wagner.nyu.edu/events/conflictseries.php or by calling 212.992.8380.
Tuesday, October 2, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Global Leaders: Conversations With Alon Ben-Meir: The Honorable Al Belooshi. In this engaging and provocative series, Alon Ben-Meir, professor of international relations, journalist, and author, hosts leaders from around the world in conversations that probe critical global issues from the foreign policy and diplomatic perspective of nations around the world. Naser M.Y. Al Belooshi became ambassador of Bahrain to the U.S. on October 3, 2005. Ambassador Al Belooshi previously served as executive director of management services at the Bahrain Monetary Agency, executive director of the Arab Monetary Fund in the United Arab Emirates, and director of economic research at the Bahrain Center for Studies and Research. In addition, Ambassador Al Belooshi lectured at various universities and colleges, including the University of Marylands European Division.
Thursday, October 4th, 12.30 - 1.30 p.m. Part of the Thursday brown-bag series Conflict, Security, and Development: Issues, Actors, and Approaches- American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond with Michael Otterman, freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker; former visiting scholar at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at the University of Sydney. Long before Abu Ghraib became a household name, the US military and CIA had used torture with impunity both at home and abroad. As the Cold War ended, these tortures were legalized using the very laws designated to eradicate their use. Otterman explores the period following 9/11, where these practices were revived again for use on ‘enemy combatants’ detained in America’s vast network of prisons across the globe, from secret CIA black sites in Thailand to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Thursday, October 4, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. International Careers with NGOs & Volunteer Organizations. Intrigued by an international career? Ready for life with at least one foot across sovereign borders? Are you a new job seeker or going through a career transition? This popular series provides an opportunity to meet international insiders who can offer practical advice by sharing their real-life experiences. Participants: Carolyn Kissane, moderator; clinical associate professor, Center for Global Affairs. Michael A. Edwards, director, Governance and Civil Society, Ford Foundation. Kristin Guskovict, operations manager, Save the Children. Christopher Walker, director of studies, Freedom House.
Tuesday, October 9, 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Film and Discussion: Politics and Art in Cinema: Clay Bird (Bangladesh, 2002). Evocatively shot in the Bangladesh countryside, this narrative film provides a view of a Muslim family in the late 1960s as Bangladesh heads towards a violent separation from Pakistan. The father, increasingly religious, sends his son to a rigid madrasa and unwittingly causes the death of his daughter. This award-winning film is a remarkable contemplation of political and spiritual freedom. Written and directed by Tareque Masue. Color. 98 minutes. Bangla with English subtitles.
Thursday, October 11, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m Conflict, Security, and Development: Issues, Actors, and Approaches: Beyond Bin Laden: Combating Tomorrow’s Al Qaeda : **Part of the Thursday brown-bag series, with Jarret Brachman, director of research, Combating Terrorism Center, United States Military Academy, West Point. How do we navigate today’s opaque world of the global militant ideology known as jihadism? Brachman examines the core doctrines, influential personalities, and emerging trends of the contemporary global jihadist movement behind the figurehead of Osama bin Laden.
Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Global Leaders: Conversations With Alon Ben-Meir: The Honorable Urs Ziswiller, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States. Prior to his arrival in Washington, DC as ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S., Urs Ziswiler served as head of the Directorate of Political Affairs at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and as senior diplomatic advisor to the minister of foreign affairs. Ambassador Ziswiler has held a number of postings in Bern and abroad, including positions in Canada, the Bahamas, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Argentina, Israel, Congo, Nigeria, and Oslo.
Wednesday, October 17, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. CGA Graduate Dialogue, “Iraq: Rising from the Rubble” In this innovative and gritty series, Global Affairs graduate students host key figures in the global arena to discuss the politics, culture, and personalities influencing world events. Judge Zuhair Jumma Bash al Maliky, Rule of Law advisor, Baghdad, Iraq and Lorna Tychostup, moderator, degree candidate, M.S. in Global Affairs, join the students for this discussion. Serving from 2003-2005 as Chief Investigative Judge of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq - the main court in the post-Saddam Iraqi legal system established by Coalition Provisional Authority [CPA] - Judge Maliky conducted investigations related to terrorism, organized crime, political corruption, and cases of national importance. Today, he serves as a legal advisor regarding finance and Rule of Law issues in Iraq.
Thursday, October 18, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Conflict, Security, and Development: Issues, Actors, and Approaches: Getting Peace to ‘Stick’: From Risk Factors to Strategic Choices for Post-Conflict Success **Part of the Thursday brown-bag series with Charles T. Call, assistant professor of international relations, American University; visiting scholar, Center on International Cooperation, NYU. How do we get peace processes to stick and prevent war recurrence? Most new civil wars represent failures of past peacebuilding. Drawing on a review he completed of UN peacebuilding and on recent research on post-conflict state-building, Call urges policymakers to go beyond treating risk factors and adopt strategies that interactively address three variable challenges: insecurity, weak state capacity, and a lack of legitimacy.
Thursday, October 18, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m International Careers With the U.S. Government. Intrigued by an international career? Ready for life with at least one foot across sovereign borders? Are you a new job seeker or going through a career transition? This popular series provides an opportunity to meet international insiders who can offer practical advice by sharing their real-life experiences. Panelists include: Vera Jelinek, moderator; divisional dean, Center for Global Affairs, Melissa Garba Baker, recruitment coordinator, U.S. Peace Corps, RPCV Ukraine 2001-2003, Judith Siegel, consultant; former deputy coordinator, Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, and Ambassador Marc Wall, diplomat in residence at City College of New York, U.S. Department of State.
Tuesday, October 23, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m Peace Corps Information Session. Learn how the Peace Corps can fit into your career path. Over 800 NYU alumni and more than 4,000 New York City residents have joined the Peace Corps since 1961. Peace Corps Volunteers provide technical assistance to non-profits/NGOs, local governments, communities, schools, health posts, and small businesses in over 70 countries around the world in the fields of business, health, education, agriculture, urban youth development, forestry, NGO development, social work, community development, and the environment. Positions are available for U.S. citizens with a wide variety of backgrounds.
Tuesday, October 23, 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m Politics and Art in Cinema: A Time of Favor (Israel, 2000). The charismatic, ultra-nationalistic, and ultra-orthodox rabbi of a West Bank yeshiva urges Jews to reclaim the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as part of Israel. A Yeshiva student, inspired by the rabbi, plans a suicide attack on the Mount to fulfill the rabbi’s wish. In a new twist on Middle East terrorism, the student deceives and endangers his classmates and puts members of the Israeli Army in grave danger. Written and directed by Joseph Cedar. Color. 101 minutes. Hebrew with English subtitles.
Wednesday, October 24, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Worldly Conversations with Clyde Haberman, New York Times: Justin Webb, editorial page editor and columnist, The Washington Post. Prior to serving as the BBC Washington bureau chief, Justin Webb served as BBC’s chief radio and Washington correspondent since 2001. Prior to this, he spent three years working as the BBC’s Europe correspondent based in Brussels. Webb joined the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1984 working in Northern Ireland for BBC Radio Ulster, based in Belfast. As a foreign correspondent, Webb has reported on the Gulf War and the war in Bosnia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the first democratic elections in South Africa.
Thursday, October 25, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Conflict, Security, and Development: Issues, Actors, and Approaches: Security in a Changing World: Multilateral Institutions in the 21st Century **Part of the Thursday brown-bag series with Shaukat Fareed, chief executive, Board for Cooperation, United Nations; founder, Office of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations. Are the present multilateral institutions equipped to deal with the global challenges of the 21st century? Fareed explores the concept of human security, the link between security and development, and the efforts of the international community to address these issues in a holistic and integrated manner in an increasingly insecure and conflict-ridden world.
Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. “Global Leaders” Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir. His Royal Highness Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States. Before becoming Ambassador of Jordan to the U.S. in 2007, Prince Zeid Ra’ad served as Jordan’s Ambassador to the UN from August 2000 until December 2006. Among his numerous accomplishments, Prince Zeid played a central role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and was elected as its first president in 2002. He has also served as chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Scope of Legal Protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, as well as the coordinator for the Non-Aligned Movement on Peacekeeping.
The new NYU Center for Global Affairs, within the University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies [www.scps.nyu.edu], is located in the School’s state-of-the-art facility in the Woolworth Building - one of downtown New York’s architectural treasures. The Center presents provocative and timely public events regarding the latest topics in world affairs (formerly held at the NYU Vernon Center for International Affairs), and houses a new graduate program in global studies and myriad non-degree courses in international affairs.