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PDFDecember 1, 2010. Taiwan Democracy at Home and Abroad: Domestic Elections and Cross-Strait Relations. Speakers: Robert Sutter, visiting professor at Georgetown University; Liu Shih-chung, research fellow at the Taiwan Brain Trust; David Brown, adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; and Anne Hsaio, assistant research fellow at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan. 9:30 a.m. Venue: Atlantic Council, 1101 15th Street NW, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C. Contact: Mary Micevych, 202-778-4993, press@acus.org
December 1, 2010. The Transformation of Medellin: Democracy, Development and Social Policy. Speaker: Francis Fukuyama (left), senior fellow at the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute (and former board member of the National Endowment for Democracy). 12:30 p.m. Venue: SAIS, Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Auditorium, Washington, D.C. RSVP to 202-663-7767 or saisevents@jhu.edu
December 1, 2010. The Scorpion’s Tale: The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan – and How it Threatens America. Speakers: author Zahid Hussain; and Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation. 3 p.m. Venue: Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Lehrman Auditorium, Washington, D.C. RSVP to 202-675-1752 or online here.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Technology, Social Innovation, and Civic Participation: What’s the Next Step? Disaster, fraud and crime reporting sites provide information to civic authorities. AmberAlert has more than 7 million users who help with information on child abductions, and SERVE.GOV enables citizens to volunteer for national parks, museums and other institutions. These are just a few examples of digital tools — from social networking applications, to micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter), to recommendation sites like Ushahidi — that represent the new frontier of technology-mediated social participation. Whether dealing with a natural disaster, expanding health care coverage, or campaigning to make a forest a national landmark, governments and private citizens alike have found digital tools to be an effective means of reaching the masses. But there are also clear challenges when using technology in this realm, including limited scale and potential privacy violations. 3:30 p.m. New America Foundation, 1899 L St. NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20036. RSVP here.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010. 2010 Commitment to Development ‘Ideas in Action’ Award. The Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine present The 2010 Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award Honoring 2010 Award Winner. Remarks and introductions will be done by Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development, Moisés Naím (right), Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy magazine (and board member of the National Endowment for Democracy) and Susan Glasser, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy magazine. Please join us in honoring Publish What You Pay, the 2010 winner of the Commitment to Development Award, sponsored jointly by the Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine. The award, bestowed annually since 2003, honors an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to changing attitudes and policies towards the developing world. For more information, please go here. 4:00 p.m.Center for Global Development at lobby-level Conference Center, 1800 Mass. Ave, NW, Washington, DC. Closest Metro: Dupont Circle (Red Line) RSVP here.
Thursday, December 2, 2010. Congo: The United Nations Mapping Report and the Responsibility to Justice. Speakers: Mvemba Dizolele, visiting scholar in the SAIS African Studies Program; Carina Tertsakian, senior researcher in the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch; Peter Rosenblum, clinical professor of human rights law at Columbia University’s Law School; Howard French, associate professor of journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism; Anthony Gambino, former mission director for the Democratic Republic of the Congo at U.S. Agency for International Development; Laura Seay, assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College; and Peter Lewis, director of the SAIS African Studies Program. 9:30 a.m. Venue: SAIS, Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Kenney Auditorium, Washington, D.C. RSVP here.
Thursday, December 2, 2010. Losing Friends in Central and Eastern Europe. Speakers: Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Helle Dale, senior fellow of public diplomacy at the Heritage Foundation; Zsolt Nyiri, director of transatlantic Trends at the German Marshall Fund; Kurt Volker, senior adviser at the International Security Program of the Atlantic Council of the United States; and Sally McNamara, senior policy analyst of European affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. 11 a.m. Venue: Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Lehrman Auditorium, Washington, D.C. RSVP to 202-675-1752.
Thursday, December 2, 2010. An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward. Speakers: Kenneth Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy; Raad Alkadiri, partner and head of PFC Global Risk at PFC Energy; J. Scott Carpenter, director of Project Fikra at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Sean Kane, Iraq program officer at USIP. 1 p.m. Venue: Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Falk Auditorium, Washington, D.C. Contact: 202-797-6105, events@brookings.edu.
Thursday, December 2, 2010. The Pentagon, Information Operations, and International Media Development. Discussion panel on a new report from the National Endowment for Democracy’s Center for International Media Assistance which examines the Defense Department’s evolving role in media development worldwide. Speakers: report author Peter Cary; Rosa Brooks of the Defense Department; Jeanne Bourgault of Internews Network; and Bill Leonard of the National Endowment for Democracy. 2 p.m. Venue: NED, 1025 F Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. RSVP to CIMA@ned.org with name and affiliation.
Thursday, December 2, 2010. Sixth Annual Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Workshop featuring: 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. After the ‘Reset:’ U.S. and European Approaches to Russia. Round-table discussion with: Ambassador Kurt Volker, managing director and senior fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, SAIS, and former U.S. ambassador to NATO; Angela Stent, director, Center for Eurasian, Russian & East European Studies, Georgetown University; Oleg Kozlovsky, a political activist and co-founder of Solidarnost, United Democratic Movement in Russia. 
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Democracy: New Tools for the Struggle. Keynote address: Oleg Kozlovsky (left), a political activist and co-founder of Solidarnost, United Democratic Movement in Russia. Comments by:Daniel B. Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Department of State; Robert Guerra, project director, Internet Freedom, Freedom House; Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egyptian democracy activist and 2006 Recipient of the Ion Ratiu Lecture Award. Venue: Woodrow Wilson Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. Contact: 202-691-4000. RSVP to ionratiu-lecture@wilsoncenter.org
Friday, December 3, 2010. Russia in Search of an Independent Judiciary. Speakers: Susan Glasser, editor in chief of Foreign Policy; Vadim Klyuvgant, lead defense attorney for Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Karinna Moskalenko, founder of the International Protection Center; Richard Sakwa, professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent; and Peter Maggs of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 9 a.m. Venue: Woodrow Wilson Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. RSVP: 202-691-4000.
Friday, December 3, 2010. World Youth Democracy Forum. Speakers: Oleg Kozlovsky, co-founder of the Solidarnost United Democratic Movement; and Eliot Sorel of George Washington University 10am. Venue: GW, 1957 E Street NW, Room 505, Washington, D.C. Contact: 202-691-4000; http://www.wilsoncenter.org
Tuesday, December 7, 2010- 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. China’s Confucius Institutes: Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones. The East-West Center in Washington invites you to an Asia Pacific Security Seminar: China’s Confucius Institutes: Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones. Featuring: Mr. Maria Wey-Shen Siow, Visiting Fellow, East-West Center in Washington, East Asia Bureau Chief, Channel NewsAsia and Discussant: Dr. David Shambaugh, Professor of Politics and International Relations, George Washington University. Western debates and discussions surrounding China’s soft power efforts in the Asian region are more widely known than the related discourse within China itself. Ms. Maria Wey-Shen Siow will present her research into the debates on soft power among Chinese analysts and an update on the progress and development of China’s Confucius Institutes worldwide. Dr. David Shambaugh will offer insights into this recently established Chinese public diplomacy initiative. The event will take place at the 1819 L Street NW, Washington, D.C., 2nd Floor Conference Room. This event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, please click this link.
Wednesday, December 8-10, 2010. Countering the Iranian Threat. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is pleased to extend a special invitation to Democracy Digest readers to attend our annual Washington Forum. This year’s Forum will focus on Countering the Iranian Threat. Agenda includes: Dec 9: 9:00 – 10:30 am: The Nature of the Iranian Regime: an anatomy of its ideology, actions, and statecraft. Speakers: Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament; Ken Katzman, Congressional Research Service; Mehdi Khalaji, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Emanuele Ottolenghi, Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Moderator: David Sanger, The New York Times. Venue: Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd St., NW, Washington, DC. To register and view the full schedule, please visit here. Contact Jen@defenddemocracy.org or 202.250.6158.
Thursday, December 9, 2010. From Postcard to Scorecard: Assessing the Quality of Democracy in Mauritius. Speaker: Dr. Roukaya Kasenally, Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow, moderated by Sally Blair, International Forum for Democratic Studies. The island of Mauritius is perhaps best known as Mark Twain’s model for paradise (Following the Equator, 1897) and as the land of the long extinct dodo. Despite its small size and lack of natural resources, Mauritius has become the “star and key of the Indian Ocean,” touting excellent economic and democratic credentials since achieving independence in 1968. Unfortunately, the star is losing lustre, with growing signs of democratic stagnation, including the rise of ethnic and dynastic politics, the advent of political cronyism and patronage, and growing disenchantment and cynicism among Mauritian citizens towards the political class. Dr. Roukaya Kasenally will examine the “picture-perfect model” of Mauritius and demonstrate the need to go beyond the numerical indicators that have consistently placed the small island as the best performer in Africa. Dr. Roukaya Kasenally is senior lecturer in media and political systems at the University of Mauritius. She is also co-founder and president of the Institute of Social Development and Peace, a think tank influential in promoting dialogue and debate on issues of human security, electoral reform, and poverty eradication in southern Africa.
12 noon–2:00 p.m. (Lunch served 12:00–12:30 p.m.) Venue: National Endowment for Democracy, 1025 F. Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20004. Telephone: 202-378-9675. RSVP (acceptances only) with name and affiliation by Tuesday, December 7 to fellowsrsvp@ned.org.
Friday, December 10, 2010. Forging a Transatlantic Consensus on Russia: Recommendations for Action. The Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR) at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Johns Hopkins University EU Center of Excellence Washington D.C. and Institute for Eastern Studies. Agenda includes: 2:30 pm: NATO And Russia: How Can We Broaden Cooperation to Enhance Security? Javier Solana, former NATO Secretary General and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Spain. 8.30 am -3.45 pm. Venue: Kenney Auditorium, Johns Hopkins University – School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), 1740 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC. Full agenda and RSVP here.
March 1-2, 2011- Belarus in the 2010s: Challenges of Change, and Pathways to Success. Fourth Annual Conference of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS, Lithuania), March 1-2, 2011, Minsk, Belarus. Twenty years after its independence Belarus society and the governing elite faces qualitatively new challenges of development. While Belarus is aiming to join the ranks of the most developed countries in the world with the best business climate and the highest level of human development, which institutions and policies, foreign engagements and patterns of state-society relations would suit these goals the best? Can the country reach these ambitious goals only slightly modifying the political and economic systems? Is balancing between East and West sustainable, particularly in reflection how Russia’s position, and policy, has changed? The fourth BISS annual conference Belarus in the 2010s: Challenges of Change, and Pathways to Success will take place in March 1-2, 2011. Policy makers, experts, scholars from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, the European Union, and North America, will reflect on the new economic, social, and geopolitical context Belarus found itself after the prolonged conflict with Russia and in the aftermath of the presidential elections held on December 19, 2010, and will measure how the ambitious developmental goals the country is striving to achieve will be framed and moderated by the new realities.
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I happy its useful to me and right to the points that adds to my interest but i have no ready finances to travel to attend such excelle3nt functions abroad. Iam building up my political movement to enhance development in my country to reduce poverty among the vulnerable segments of our community more especially the youth and the women. Most African governments with dictatorship aspect have no proper checks and balances hence high rates of corruption which i think with full democracy this can be easily addressed putting a strong institutional system in placed with good governance,and rule of law.