Tuesday, May 4, 2010
12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

City View Room, 7th Floor
1957 E Street, NW

EITI at the Crossroads

Jonas Moberg, Head of Secretariat, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

Mr. Moberg will discuss the current status and future of this voluntary initiative which is supported by a trust fund at the World Bank. His remarks will be followed by comments from a senior World Bank official.

The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) aims to increase the transparency of money to resource rich host governments. EITI strengthens governance by improving the dialogue between policymakers, extractive companies, and citizens in these countries. Some 28 countries have agreed to implement EITI and two additional countries (Liberia and Azerbaijan) have been deemed compliant with EITI criteria. But many other countries were not able to meet these criteria as of 2010. How will EITI supporters, candidate countries, and the World Bank respond?

Lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDd2akszbXgwVDJVOUR1X3lzMjdiLUE6MQ

Sponsored by the Center for International Science and Technology Policy, the Institute for International Economic Policy, and the World Bank

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM

Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412
1957 E Street, NW

Moscow and the Muslims: The Eternal Soviet-Albanian Friendship, 1949-1959

Elidor Mehilli, Mellon Fellow in Contemporary History, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, GW; Ph.D. candidate, Princeton University

What was the Sovietization of postwar Eastern Europe? Who enabled it? What did it actually entail on the ground? Was it coercive and formal or also co-optive and informal? This presentation analyzes the postwar emergence of the socialist world system through the lens of 1950s Albania. It argues for Sovietization as the crafting of a mental map, in addition to (often coercive) transfers of ideas and institutions, tangled geopolitical interests, and scripted exchanges in people, materials, and goods.

Formerly a colonial outpost of fascist Italy, Albania liberated itself from Nazi rule and escaped Yugoslav designs in the Balkans by siding with Stalin in 1948. Soviet patronage not only ensured the survival of local communist leader Enver Hoxha (and his cronies), but it also provided a blueprint for the country's vision of modernity. The "eternal friendship" with Moscow, it turns out, was more than mere propaganda. Sovietization entailed more than the mechanical imposition of an external model of development. Embedded within it were distinct ideas and beliefs, local interests, power struggles, and long-standing security concerns.

RSVP: ieresgwu@gwu.edu

Sponsored by the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Thursday, May 6, 2010
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602
1957 E Street, NW

The Art of the Possible: Advancing Drug Policy Reforms in Latin America

National Drug Policy Debates and Reforms

Pedro Vieira Abramovay, Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Brazil

Felipe Caceres, Vice Minister of Social Defense, Bolivia

Alberto Calabrese, Technical Coordinator, National Coordinating Commission on the Prevention and Control of Drug Trafficking, Transnational Organized Crime, and Corruption, Argentina

Milton Romani, Executive Secretary, National Commission on Drugs, Uruguay

Maria Paula Romo, Chair of the Justice Commission, National Assembly, Ecuador

Moderator:
Pien Metaal, Transnational Institute

Cross-Cutting Issues in Drug Policy Reform

Tom Lloyd, International Drug Policy Consortium
"Reconsidering the Role of Law Enforcement"

Peter Reuter, University of Maryland
"Options for Cannabis Policy"

Ricardo Soberon, Center for the Investigation of Drugs and Human Rights (CIDDH), Peru
"Human Rights and Drug Policy"

Graciela Touze, Intercambios, Argentina
"Drug Use and Harm Reduction Strategies"

Moderator:
Coletta Youngers, Washington Office on Latin America

This half-day conference on drug policy debates and reforms underway in Latin America will feature government officials and legislators from South America discussing national-level reforms, as well as experts addressing cross-cutting themes such as harm reduction strategies, the role of law enforcement, human rights, and cannabis policy.

Simultaneous interpretation will be available.

RSVP: Anthony Dest at adest@wola.org or 202-797-2171

Sponsored by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Transnational Institute (TNI), and George Washington University's Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program

Thursday, May 6, 2010
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

Kendrick Seminar Room, Room 321
2115 G Street, NW

How do Different Exporters React to Exchange Rate Changes? Theory, Empirics, and Aggregate Implications

Thierry Mayer, Professor of Economics, Sciences Po (Paris)

A copy of the paper being discussed is available at: http://econ.sciences-po.fr/sites/default/files/file/tmayer/BMM.pdf .

This event is part of the Trade and Development Seminar Series.

RSVP: iiep@gwu.edu

Sponsored by the Institute for International Economic Policy

Thursday, May 6, 2010
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412
1957 E Street, NW

From War-Profiteer to Strategic Asset: U.S. Armament Policy toward Switzerland in the Early Cold War

Marco Wyss, Visiting Scholar, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, GW

Immediately after the Second World War, U.S.-Swiss relations were far from cordial. The United States accused Switzerland of war-profiteering because of its neutrality policy and its cooperation with the Third Reich. In late 1951, however, Washington assumed a more benevolent approach towards Switzerland, which was considered to be of strategic interest to the U.S. Meanwhile, Washington's armament policy towards Switzerland seemed to evolve in parallel. In 1945 a Swiss request for military aircraft was flatly rebuffed, and by early 1952, Switzerland qualified for military aid under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act.

This presentation will focus on the evolution of Washington's armaments policy toward Switzerland and the reasons for U.S. policy shifts. It will also question the assumption that the qualification for American military aid led to a dramatic change in U.S. policy. Finally, the paper will examine if the supply of weapons and military technology was an American tool to wean Switzerland from its traditional policy of neutrality - as this was the case with the other traditional European neutral Sweden.

RSVP: ieresgwu@gwu.edu

Sponsored by the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
11:30 AM - 2:00 PM

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602
1957 E Street, NW

Media Piracy and Enforcement: Global and Economic Perspectives

Joe Karaganis, Program Director, Media and Democracy, Social Science Research Council

Loren Yager, Director, International Affairs and Trade Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Media piracy has been called a global scourge and a nirvana for criminals. But it could equally be described as a global pricing problem, shaped by high prices for media goods, low incomes, and cheap digital technologies, or as the gap between wildly successful global marketing campaigns and inadequate efforts to serve local audiences. As the U.S. moves toward a major expansion of domestic and international anti-piracy efforts, how we describe and understand 'piracy' has become important to debates about the digital future - in the US and abroad. Joe Karaganis will present the results of a three-year, seven country, Social Science Research Council study focused on how piracy works, how enforcement is organized, and where we are going. Loren Yager of the GAO will be presenting the results of a new GAO study: Intellectual Property: Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods. GAO-10-423, April 2010.

RSVP: igis@gwu.edu by May 10 at 10am

Sponsored by the Institute for Global and International Studies and the American University Washington College of Law Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412
1957 E Street, NW

Lifesaving Social Capital: The Case of Green Pastures in Social Housing

Sverre Vatnar, Visiting Scholar, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, GW

Social capital, or the value of "social networks" and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for one another, proves to be vital to both individual and societal well-being. Social housing project Green Pastures in Britain has realized that tackling homelessness is not just about bricks and mortar, it's about people. The Green Pastures charity is not only offering its tenants a permanent home located outside of the most depressed city areas where bad role models abound; it is also offering a supportive social network of "pastoral friends" of volunteering local church members to help the tenants get back on their feet. The talk will look at how Green Pastures has employed a "social capital strategy" and how that has made a difference.

RSVP: ieresgwu@gwu.edu

Sponsored by the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602
1957 E Street, NW

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy

David E. Hoffman, author, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy

Moderated by:
Amy E. Smithson, Senior Fellow, Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Please RSVP to Kirk Bansad, kirk.bansak@miis.edu.

Sponsored by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Elliott School of International Affairs

Wednesday, May 12, 2010
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

American Foreign Service Association
2101 E Street, NW

Promoting Excellence and Deepening Impact: Resources and Skills for Diplomacy and Development in the Age of Smart Power

Alec Ross, Senior Adviser on Innovation to the Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State

RSVP: paintern@afsa.org

Sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corporation and the American Foreign Service Association

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Room 505
1957 E Street, NW

Jihad in Saudi Arabia

Thomas Hegghammer, author, Jihad in Saudi Arabia

Thomas Hegghammer will present remarks on his most recent book: Jihad in Saudi Arabia.

A limited number of signed copies will be available for distribution.

Reception to follow from 5:30-6:30 PM.

Please RSVP here or http://tiny.cc/jihad-saudi-arabia

Sponsored by the Project on Middle East Political Science

Wednesday, May 26, 2010
8:15 AM - 5:30 PM

City View Room, 7th Floor
1957 E Street, NW

Financial Regulation and Supervision: Lessons from the Crisis

8:15 am-8:45 am: Breakfast

8:45 am-9:00 am: Opening Remarks
Stephen Smith, Director, Institute for International Economic Policy, GW

IMF Representative

9:00 am-10:00 am: Session 1: What Went Wrong: Market and Regulatory Failures
John Geanakoplos, James Tobin Professor of Economics, Yale University

Matthew Richardson, Charles Simon Professor of Applied Financial Economics, New York University

10:00 am-10:15 am: Coffee Break

10:15 am-11:15 am: Session 1: What Went Wrong: Market and Regulatory Failures
Ross Levine, James and Merryl Tisch Professor of Economics, Brown University

Phillip Swagel, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University

11:15 am-11:30 am: Coffee Break

11:30 am-1:00 pm: Session 2: The Regulation of Financial Institutions
Stijn Claessens, Assistant Director, Research Department, IMF

Douglas Gale, Professor, New York University

Mark Flannery, Bank of America Eminent Scholar Chair of Finance, University of Florida

1:00 pm-2:30 pm: Lunch Break

2:30 pm-4:00 pm: Session 3: The Regulation of Financial Markets

Laura Kodres, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF

Neil Pearson, Professor of Finance, University of Illinois

Erik Stafford, John A. Paulson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University

4:00 pm-4:15 pm: Coffee Break

4:15 pm-5:00 pm: Keynote Address: The Regulatory Response to the Financial Crisis: Evaluation and Next Steps

Jeffrey Lacker, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

5:00 pm-5:30 pm: Open Floor Discussion

RSVP: iiep@gwu.edu

Sponsored by the Institute for International Economic Policy and the IMF Institute