Elliott School

The Future of Democracy Initiative Events

The Future of Democracy Initiative hosts a series of lectures, conferences, and symposia to highlight the state of democracy worldwide and the challenges of democratization. This initiative brings together GW’s faculty expertise on these issues along with leading scholars, analysts, and policymakers. The culminating project of this initiative will be a scholarly book about the future of democracy.

May 12 , 2008
What have we learned about Islamist Political Movements?

Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Amr Hamzawy, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Janine Clark, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Guelph
Joshua Stacher, Middle East Studies Fellow, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Nathan Brown, Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

April 24, 2008
Printing Democracy: Taiwan's Tang-wai Opposition Journals

Gerrit van der Wees, Senior Political Advisor, Formosan Association for Public Affairs and editor of Taiwan Communique
Chou Ching-yu, Commission on Woman's Rights Promotion, Executive Yuan, former published of Care, Taiwan's foremost human rights magazine in the 1980s
Antonio (Chun-nan) Chiang, Journalist, former chief editor of the Eighties and other tang-wai journals
Fu-mei Chang, Minister, Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC)

April 9, 2008
Defeating Dictators: Electoral Change and Stability in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes

Valerie Bunce, Aaron Binenkorb Professor of International Studies and Government, Cornell University
Sharon Wolchik, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW

April 3 , 2008
Kuwait’s Government in Crisis: Implications for Democracy

Edward W. Gnehm, Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs and former US ambassador to Kuwait

April 2, 2008
The Elections in Iran

Afshin Molavi, Fellow, New America Foundation; author of Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran
Ray Takeyh, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; author of Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic

March 26, 2008
The Taiwan Presidential Election: Domestic, Regional and International Implications

Harry Harding, University Professor of International Affairs, GW
Robert Sutter, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University & Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, GW
Edward McCord, Associate Professor of History & International Affairs, GW
Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of East Asian Politics, Davidson College
Hans Stockton, Associate Professor in the Center for International Studies, University of St. Thomas
Kirk Larsen, Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies and Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GW

February 27, 2008
Economic Reforms and Democracy in Nepal

Prem Khanal, Chief, Business Bureau, The Kathmandu Post

February 14, 2008
The Challenges of Integrating Islam: Comparative Experiences of Europe and the Middle East

Hope Harrison, Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies; Professor of History and International Affairs, GW
Merve Kavakci, Lecturer in International Affairs, GW
Zeyno Baran, Director, Center for Eurasian Policy; Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Nathan Brown, Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies; Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW
Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, Director, Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Institute
Liesl Riddle, Assistant Professor of International Business and International Affaris, GW
Jon Anerson, Professor of Anthropology, Catholic University
Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW
John Bowen, Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis

January 28, 2008
Venezuela in the 21 st Century: Democratic Trajectories and Global Relations

Ana Maria Sanjuan, Director of the Center for Peace and Human Rights, Central University of Venezuela
Michael Shifter , Vice President of Policy, Inter-American Dialogue; Adjunct Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown University

December 17, 2007
Can Democracy Survive Globalization? Lessons From Taiwan

Senator Bob Dole, former Senate Majority Leader

November 8, 2007
Corruption in Africa: the Path from Neopatrimonialism

Nic Van de Walle, John S. Knight Professor of International Studies and Director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University; Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development

October 30, 2007
Democracy, Development and Nation Building

Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the International Development Program, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

October 29, 2007
Explaining the Differences in Level of Democracy in Contemporary Latin America

Scott Mainwaring, Professor, University of Notre Dame

September 27, 2007
Shaping Taiwan's Politics: Democracy, Identity & Security 20 Years After the Lift of Martial Law

Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
Richard Bush, Brookings Institute
Kerry Dumbaugh, Congressional Research Service
Vincent Wang, University of Richmond
Harry Harding, Professor of International Affairs, GW

September 17, 2007
Democratization and Civil War

Jack Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University

May 4, 2007
Islamist Political Movements in the Arab World: Contentious and Electoral Politics

Mustapha Khalfi, Former editor-in-chief, Al-Tajdid (Moroccan daily) and member, Justice and Development Party, Morocco
Sanjay Ruparelia, Professor of Political Science, The New School
Baber Johansen, Director, Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard University
Mark Lichbach, Chair of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Nathan Brown, Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the Elliott School of International Affairs

April 24, 2007
A Symposium on Democracy Promotion in Africa

Jim Swann, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, US Department of State
Joel Barkan, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa
Ambassador George Moose, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Penda Mbow, Professor of History, Univeristy of Dakar
Bernadeta Killian, Senior Lecturer, University of Dar es Salaam and Visiting Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy
Gina Lambright, Assistant Professor of Political Science, GW

April 16, 2007
Corruption and Democracy

Mark Warren, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia
Susan Rose-Ackerman, Henry R. Luce Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale Law School
Daniel Kaufmann, Director Global Programs and Governance, World Bank Institute

April 13, 2007
Democracy in Latin America: The Recent Wave

Cynthia McClintock, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Cynthia Arnson, Director, Latin American Program, Woodrow Wilson Center
Kevin Healy, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs

April 11, 2007
Botswana: How Does Their Democracy Work, and What is the Rest of Africa Waiting For?

His Excellency Lapologang Caesar Lekoa, Ambassador of the Republic of Botswana to the US

April 11, 2007
Making Democracy Stick: Lessons from Mature, Emerging and Transitional Democracies in Asia

Kirk Larsen, Director of the International Affairs Undergraduate Program, and the Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Marvin Weinbaum, Visiting Professor, The Elliott School of International Affairs

April 5, 2007
Comparing India and China: Market-Friendly Federalism and Democracy Links

Aseema Sinha, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Jaiwen Yang, Professor of International Business and International Affairs, GW

April 4, 2007
A Dialogue on the Future of Democracy

Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State
Ken Wollack, President, National Democratic Institute
Michael E. Brown, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs

March 29, 2007
Is Democracy In Peril? A Global and Regional Assessment

Kristin Lord, Associate Dean, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Thomas Melia, Deputy Executive Director, Freedom House
Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Henry Hale, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Cynthia McClintock, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Gina Lambright , Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The Elliott School of International Affairs
Thomas Carothers , Vice President for Studies - International Politics and Government, Carnegie Endowment for Peace

March 28, 2007
The 11th Annual Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecture: The Korea Triangle: The Two Koreas between China and the United States

Han Sung-Joo, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea

March 28, 2007
Tailoring the Truth: East German Memory Culture and the Role of Historical Consciousness in a State-Socialist Society

Jon Berndt Olsen, Post-doctoral fellow in the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University

March 26, 2007
Bringing the World to Egypt: Volunteerism – Approaches, Personal Experiences, & Global Impacts

Participating Organizations

Coptic Orphans
Mission Life Center
HANDS Along the Nile

March 26, 2007
Current Challenges and Opportunities in Advancing Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Lara Friedman, Director of Policy and Government Relations for Americans for Peace Now
David Makovsky, Director of The Washington Institute's Project on the Middle East Peace Process
Rafi Dajani, Executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine

March 22, 2007
Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell

Karen DeYoung, Associate Editor, The Washington Post

March, 22, 2007
Experiences from the Top of Europe: The Northern Countries of the European Union

Eva-Maria Liimets, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Anne Lammila, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

March 21, 2007
Ukraine: Political Crises or Normal Politics?

Taras Kuzio, Assistant Professorial Lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs

March 21, 2007
Arms Exports as a Tool of Russian Foreign Policy

Lajos Szaszdi, Independent Scholar

March 20, 2007
Election Monitoring: A Case Study in Democracy and Development

Eric Bjornlund, Author of Beyond Free and Fair

March 19, 2007
Regime Change: U.S. Strategy through the Prism of 9/11

Robert Litwak, Director of International Security Studies, The Woodrow Wilson Center

March 7, 2007
The US-UN Relationship: A Golden Opportunity

The Honorable Timothy E. Wirth, President of The United Nations Foundation

March 6, 2007
Parapolitics and Human Rights in Colombia: An Evening with Senator Gustavo Petro and Carlos Rodriguez Mejia

Senator Gustavo Petro, Congress of Columbia
Carlos Rodriguez Mejia, Deputy Director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists

March 5, 2007
Toward a Harmonious World: New Developments in China's Foreign Policy

Qin Yaqing, Executive Vice President and Professor of International Studies at the China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), Vice-president of the China National Association for International Studies, and Executive Deputy Director and Secretary-general of the East Asian Studies Center at CFAU

March 1, 2007
Indigenous Movements in the Andes: In Search of Roots and Ruptures. A Brown Bag Lecture with Andean historian Brooke Larson.

Brook Larson, Professor, Stony Brook State University of New York
Erick D. Langer, Professor, Georgetown University

March 1, 2007
Getting Transatlantic Cooperation on Climate Change: Germany's Agenda for the G-8

Thomas Bagger, Deputy Head of Political Affairs at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C.

March 1, 2007
Dialogue With Iran?

Geoffrey Kemp, Director of Regional Strategic Programs, The Nixon Center

February 26, 2007
The Globalization of Democracy: Boom, Recession and Renewal

Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University