Worldview Institute | Spring 2014
The Worldview Institute | Winter 2014 Semester
SEMINAR 1 : January 15, 2014
Public Diplomacy for the United Nations
Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal outlines the importance and value of public diplomacy in dealing with the biggest global challenges, and looks at why we are currently in a critical moment for diplomacy worldwide.
Guest lecturer: Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, United Nations
SEMINAR 2 : January 22, 2014
Can One Size Fit All? Universality in the Post-2015 Development Framework
2015 is the end point for the current generation of development goals, the MDGs. The world is currently discussing, and Member States are negotiating, what the next generation of goals should look like, including whether the agenda should be universal, and apply to all countries, regardless of development status. John Hendra will discuss the challenge of universality, how a universal agenda can be formulated and implemented by different countries, and the political tensions inherent in this discussion. As a global problem, gender inequality requires a universal approach, and efforts to promote gender equality and women's empowerment can help illustrate the way forward for a universal post-2015 agenda.
Guest lecturer: John Hendra, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General
SEMINAR 3 : January 29, 2014
Venezuela: Challenges to Moving Forward Chavez's Socialist Dreams
The evening's analysis will focus on recent economic and political developments in Venezuela and discuss how they impact the Venezuelan people, the region and the United States.
Guest lecturer: Diana Negroponte, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Latin America Initiative, Brookings Institution
SEMINAR 4 : February 12, 2014
Can Syria Still be Saved?
The question is ever more pressing, as the situation of the Syrian people becomes ever more desperate. Syria presents the international community with a profound moral dilemma. Good options seem absent, as the opposition's increasing fragmentation makes military intervention neither feasible nor advisable, while a political solution seems impractical. And yet: the Security Council's agreement on chemical weapons remains the best hope for peace, since conflict resolution cannot happen if the international community remains deeply divided.
Guest lecturer: Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Director, Center of International Conflict Resolution, and Associate Director, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies at SIPA, Columbia University
SEMINAR 5 : February 19, 2014
UN Global Education First Initiative
The Director of the UN Secretary-General's Global Education First Initiative will describe the global advocacy initiative launched in September 2012 aimed to re-energize the global community to: deliver on the promise of universal access to education by 2015; to place quality, relevant and transformative education at the heart of the social, political and development agendas; and to generate additional and sufficient funding through sustained advocacy efforts. This vision requires high level leadership and concerted international support. Ms. Jensen will outline the main achievements in the Initiative's first year, its unique characteristics, and the forward agenda.
Guest lecturer: Vibeke Jensen, Director, UNESCO Liaison Office, New York
SEMINAR 6 : February 26, 2014
The U.S. and Iran: Doomed to Permanent Hostility?
Guest lecturer: Gary Sick, Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University, SIPA
SEMINAR 7 : March 5, 2014
A Visit to the United Nations
A private tour of the United Nations with fellow Worldview participants, with the opportunity to discuss your impressions at dinner following the tour.
SEMINAR 8 : March 12, 2014
Revolution, Egypt: What Went Wrong? What Comes Next?
Many people all over the world were impressed with the peaceful revolution Egyptians carried out on January 25, 2011. Three years later, many Egyptians feel that they have opened the door for instability, insecurity and a deteriorating economy, instead of improving their lives and building a democracy. Even the first elected president after the revolution failed the expectations of the majority of his people, an proved more loyal to his Muslim Brotherhood group and its ideology. The strong military establishment is now back in control, and Egypt is unlikely to experience stability in the near future. Mohamed Elsetouhi explains why Egypt took such rough course.
Guest lecturer: Mohamed Elsetouhi, Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Ghad Al-Araby TV
SEMINAR 9 : March 19, 2014
GHIT and Japan's Role in New Health Technologies
As the third-largest drug-developing nation in the world, Japan is also one of the world's leading innovators of medical therapies, with enormous potential to create groundbreaking innovations. Despite this, it has lacked a mechanism to bring forth new technologies and expertise for the discovery and development of new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for global health.
Tonight we will look at how the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT) — created in April 2013 as a platform to make the best use of Japanese technologies and expertise to develop new approaches to infectious disease — aims to leverage innovation from Japan to improve people's health worldwide, while advancing global health technology development.
Guest lecturer: B. T. Slingsby, CEO of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund
SEMINAR 10 : April 2, 2014
United Nations Sanctions Against Al-Qaida
This presentation will focus on the United Nations targeted sanctions against Al-Qaida and affiliates, and the role of Chapter VII targeted sanctions against terrorism.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Expert, Sanctions Monitoring Team, United Nations Security Council
April 4, 2014
Worldview Winter 2014 Graduation Dinner
Keynote Speaker: Kristen Saloomey, New York correspondent, Al Jazeera
Location: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York
