TheMortara Center

forInternational

Studies

annual report2007–08

Edmund A. Walsh

School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University

Dear Friends of the Mortara Center:

It is my pleasure to present the third annual report of theMortara Center for International Studies. The Center has

enjoyed its most active year yet with a long list of publicpresentations, luncheon seminars, book presentations, panelsand conferences organized or co-sponsored, the highlights ofwhich are described in this report. The Center has also under-taken a number of new initiatives, including the naming offour visiting research fellows and has partnered with outsideorganizations, including World Learning and the AspenInstitute, Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Center forGlobal Development, Development Alternatives, Inc., andUSAID to bring interesting events to the Georgetown campus.

We look forward to another busy year in 2008–9. And we shallcontinue to seek ways to realize the full vision of the MortaraCenter, which includes bringing scholars to campus to workon major international issues and the space in which tolocate them.

Carol LancasterDirector

From the Director

Carol Lancaster

Portrait ofMichael P. Mortara

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The academic year 2007–8 was thebusiest year thus far and the

most diverse in the types of activitiessponsored by the Mortara Center. Itwas a year in which several newthemes emerged from Mortara’sactivities including corporate socialresponsibility, China, and citizendiplomacy. It was a year of new part-nerships with outside organizationsand new collaborations within theUniversity. Thus, the academic year2007–8 was a time of innovation andevolution for the Mortara Center.

Looking Back on 2007–2008

The Mortara Centerwebsite can be found at:

mortara.georgetown.edu

The website for the Initiativeon International Development

can be found at:mortara.georgetown.edu/development

The Mortara Building is home to the MortaraCenter for International Studies, the Center forPeace and Security Studies, and Women inInternational Security. The building featuresoffice facilities and three conference rooms withhighly advanced audio-visual technology.

New partnerships

The year began with a presentationby Rajan Kamalanathan, VicePresident for Ethical Standards, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on what Wal-Marthas done in the area of environmentalstandards and quality assurance inthe production and marketing of itsmerchandise and in the handling ofwaste products from its sales. Thispresentation was co-sponsoredby the Society for InternationalDevelopment, DevelopmentAlternatives, Inc. and the US Agencyfor International Development. Aninteresting presentation, it was madeeven more lively by a student protestagainst Wal-Mart outside CopleyLounge — the first such protest inMortara’s history (but not the last).

There were several other eventsinvolving corporate social responsi-bility and international development,including one by Michael Rawding,Vice President of Microsoft Corporationwho talked about what his companyis doing to close the digital divide withnew and innovative products to reachout to the approximately 5 billionpeople who do not yet benefit frominformation technology; and SueMecklenburg, Vice President ofStarbucks Corporation who explainedhow they support the social welfareof their employees and help ruralcoffee producers while ensuring sus-tained chains of supply for theiroperations. A further co-sponsoredevent in this series brought Adele

Simmons (former president of theMacArthur Foundation and currentlypresident of the Global PhilanthropyPartnership) to campus to ask: “CanWe Make Poverty History? The Roleof Philanthropy”. She spoke aboutthe importance of civil society andsocial entrepreneurs who are wellsuited to make an impact on povertyreduction. A final event in this serieswas with Tom Ehr, from MTV EuropeFoundation and with Simon Goff,Director of the MTV EXIT campaign.The discussion focused on humantrafficking especially how it affectsyoung people all around the world.

Another two new partners for theMortara Center—World Learning andThe Aspen Institute— co-sponsoredtwo important events on campus: anaddress by former president of Ireland,Mary Robinson on “Citizen Diplomacyin a Fast-Moving World” (with CarolBellamy, President of World Learningand Carol Lancaster presiding); and alater event on “What is the Promiseof Citizen Diplomacy?” with Reps.Mac Thornberry and Earl Pomeroy.The former symposiums focused onhuman rights issues and interna-tional migration, while the latterexamined the contribution of citizendiplomacy to shaping the role of theUnited States in the world.

The Mortara Center has begun to co-host activities with yet another newpartner, the Alumni and Friends ofthe London School of Economics.These events are open to Georgetown

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Major Activities — HighlightsNiall Ferguson fromHarvard University

Adele Simmons (formerpresident of theMacArthur Foundationand currentlypresident of theGlobal PhilanthropyPartnership) discussesthe Role of Philanthropy.

students and faculty. This year theyincluded presentations by JoelBrenner of the Office of the NationalCounterintelligence Executive,Ambassador Marc Grossman andSecretary of Homeland SecurityMichael Chertoff.

Togetherwith theCenterforContemporaryArab Studies and with Vital VoicesGlobal Partnership, the Mortara Centerhosted Sheika Lubna bint Khaled AlQasimi, Minister of Foreign Tradefrom the United Arab Emirates, therecipient of the Vital Voices GlobalPartnership 2008 Global Trailblazer Awardfor a discussion on “Women andLeadership in the Middle East.”

The Initiative onInternational Development

As part of the Center’s ongoing focuson International Development, theCenter sponsored a series of lunchtime“Development Practitioners’ Fora”for students and faculty interestedin this field. Among the prominentspeakers were senior officials fromUSAID, McKinsey and Company, TheWorld Bank, and a variety of non-governmental organizations.

The Center also hosted Globalization’sImpact, an initiative organized byVital Voices Global Partnership towelcome Fortune 500 EmergingWomen Entrepreneurs from all aroundthe world for a mentorship programin the US. Profs. Pietra Rivoli andCarol Lancaster discussed the effects

of globalization, environmental, andclimate change on the global economy.

China Forum

Another innovation was the creationof the China Forum involving facultyfrom all elements of the GeorgetownUniversity community with an inter-est in China. The Forum met severaltimes and included a presentation byGeorgetown University President,John J. DeGioia, on the initiatives ofthe University involving China. Thecreation of this Forum reflected theevolving role of the Mortara Centerin University-wide activities andproviding a venue for universityauthorities to engage with faculty inareas of common endeavor. The Centerlooks forward to creating an IndiaForum in the coming academic year.

In relation to China, the Center co-sponsored several events. DennisWilder, Special Assistant to thePresident and Senior Director forAsian Affairs from the White House,National Security Council, gave anupdate on US-China Relations. Thisevent was co-sponsored with theAsian Studies Program and theInstitute for the Study of Diplomacy;Dr. Diane Zhang, a Visiting MortaraAssociate, presented her uniqueperspective on the Long March; theCenter, together with the NationalCommittee on US-China Relationshosted a student discussion onUS-China Relations, and a seminarfor the US-China Student LeadersExchange program.

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Above: Mary Robinson,former president ofIreland;above left: SenatorMac Thornberry

Mort Rosenblumdiscusses his book,Escaping Plato’s Cave

Paul Collier shares someconclusions on globalpoverty as presented inhis latest book, TheBottom Billion

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Annual Speeches

The Center continued its traditionalactivities. Professor Niall Fergusonfrom Harvard University gave theannual Distinguished Lecture onModern International History. Histopic was “The Problem of Conjecture:American Strategy after the BushDoctrine” during which he explored

the four underlying deficits of U.S.politics since 2002, suggesting thatthese deficits are structural, notmerely the results of mistakes by amisguided administration. Professorof Philosophy, Thomas Pogge, deliv-ered a lecture on “World Poverty andHuman Rights”, co-sponsored withthe Office of the President.

Book Discussions

There were a number of lectures byauthors of recent or forthcomingbooks, including Paul Collier (TheBottom Billion), Mort Rosenblum(Escaping Plato’s Cave), Madeleine

Albright (Memo to the President Elect),Victor Cha (Beyond the Final Score:The Politics of Sport), David Edelstein(Occupational Hazards: Success and Failurein Military Occupation), Erez Manela(The Wilsonian Moment) and DouglasFeith (War and Decision). The latter eventwas also graced with a lively studentdemonstration outside the Center.

The Mortara Center and the Centerfor Global Development collaboratedto launch a new and important twovolume publication on Africa — ThePolitical Economy of African Development(Cambridge University Press) thatincluded two central bank governorsfrom Africa, Professor Robert Batesfrom Harvard and Professor CallistoMadavo from Georgetown. Two hun-dred people attended this event.

Illuminati Dinners andFaculty Working Groups

There were several dinner events formasters’ degree students includingone with former Polish PresidentAlexander Kwasniewski, with JamesKennedy (an expert on emergencyrelief) and a presentation by theCenter Director, Carol Lancaster, onChinese Aid and Investment. TheCenter hosted periodic seminarswith PhD students in internationalrelations. There were welcome andwelcome back lunches for Victor Cha,recently returning from two yearson the National Security Counciland for Barak Hoffmann, the newdirector of the Center for Democracyand Civil Society.

Above: Victor Chadiscusses his book,Beyond the Final Score:The Politics of Sport;above right: DouglasFeith responds toa question whilepresenting his latestwork, War and Decision.

Former Presidentof Poland AlexanderKwasniewski

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The Center sponsored three workinggroups during the year: the FacultyGroup on Trade (which has continuedits luncheon discussions into the sum-mer — a feat of unparalleled enthusi-asm), a Culture and Politics FacultyWorking Group, and a South AsianWorking Group, co-sponsored by theSouth Asian Student Association.

Conferences

The academic year wound up with abang — indeed, several bangs in theform of major conferences. First wasa conference, co-sponsored by theInstitute for the Study of Diplomacy,the Center for Democracy and CivilSociety and the Security StudiesProgram on State Fragility: Causes,Consequences, Responses. In addition toGeorgetown’s experts on variousaspects of this issue, also participat-ing was James Dobbins of the RandCorporation, Jack Goldstone ofGeorge Mason University, StewartPatrick of the Council on ForeignRelations, Carlos Pascual from theBrookings Institution and RickBarton from the Center for Strategicand International Studies. The con-ference analyzed the causes, conse-quences and U.S. policy experiencesand options in addressing the chal-lenge of state fragility.

A second major conference was onRealism and the Next US President:National Interests, Grand Strategy and theUse of Force. This conference, co-sponsored by the School of ForeignService Dean’s Office and by the

BMW Center for German andEuropean Studies, and organized byProfessor Celeste Wallander, broughtto campus Robert Art (whom it washonoring), Robert Keohane, RobertJervis, Kenneth Waltz, Robert Ross,Stephen Van Evera, Stephen Walt,Shai Feldman, Barry Posen, LouiseRichardson, Steven Burg and RisaBrooks for an all day discussionof international relations theoryand practice.

A third conference focused onmalaria — its impact, the medicalresearch in controlling and eliminat-ing it and the policy and interna-tional legal implications of malariainterventions. This conference, onthe occasion of the first WorldMalaria Day (April 25), engaged theCenter for Infectious Disease of

Above: Madeleine Albrightand Carol Lancaster:above left: Dean RobertGallucci, Robert Art andRobert Jervis.

Robert Art speaks at aconference on Realism andthe Next US President.

Dr. Daniel Lucey, co -director of the Masterof Science Program in Biohazardous ThreatAgents and Infectious Diseases at GeorgetownUniversity’s Medical Center, Visiting MortaraAssociate, co-organizer of the World MalariaToday conference

Georgetown’s Medical School,experts from the main campusand from the O’Neill Institute forNational and Global Health Lawfrom the Georgetown Law Center. Itbrought experts on malaria from allover the US to present their work.Students from the Main Campus andthe Medical School as well as stafffrom the UN Foundation assisted inthe organization of this event.

Lepgold Book Prize

This year’s Lepgold Book Prize wasawarded to Robert Kagan for his

book entitled“Dangerous Nation:America’s ForeignPolicy from its EarliestDays to the Dawn ofthe Twentieth Century”.Mr. Kagan, asenior associate

at the Carnegie Endowment forInternational Peace, transatlanticfellow at the German Marshall Fund,and a columnist for theWashingtonPost, argues that Americans havebeen increasing their power andinfluence globally for the past fourcenturies and that America has been“an engine of commercial and terri-torial expansion that drove NativeAmericans, as well as French,Spanish, Russian, and ultimatelyeven British power, from the NorthAmerican continent.” At the core ofhis argument lies the idea thatAmerican nationalism has alwaysbeen internationalist at its core,which is why U.S. foreign policy hasbeen viewed as “ambitious and, attimes, dangerous” worldwide.

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Jack Goldstonefrom George MasonUniversity at theFragile StatesConference.

During the past year, the MortaraCenter established a visiting

associate program. This is a programof non-resident fellows who wish tohave a relationship with the Centerand who have agreed to do at leastone presentation during the periodof their associateship. The VistingMortara Associate status was offeredto four distinguished scholars thispast year.

Dr. Zhang Xiaoai, who is currentlythe General Secretary at the Instituteof Human Ecology in Beijing China,has worked in the area of ecologyand history. Dr. Zhang, whose fatherwas part of the Long March in Chinaand later Minister of Defense gave apresentation with slides on the his-tory and contemporary geography ofthe Long March.

Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri is currently anAssistant Professor in the Departmentof Politics and International Studiesat the School of Oriental and AfricanStudies, at the University of London.She is completing a book manuscript,“Justice, Accountability, and WarSince 1945” and holds a grant fromthe Smith Richardson Foundation tostudy U.S. foreign policy on the roleof justice and accountability in coer-cive diplomacy, ongoing conflict, andpostwar reconstruction.

Dr. Daniel Lucey is an adjunct pro-fessor at the Department ofMicrobiology and Immunology andCo-Director of the Master of ScienceProgram in Biohazardous ThreatAgents and Emerging InfectiousDiseases at Georgetown University’sMedical Center. Dr. Lucey co-organizedthe “World Malaria Today” conference.

Dr. Richard Bissell is the ExecutiveDirector of Policy and Global AffairsDivision at the National Academy ofSciences in Washington, D.C. He isinterested in political economy indeveloping countries and interna-tional institutional and policy change.

The Mortara Center looks forward toanother active year in 2008–9. Italso continues to face the challengeof space. Until space for visitingresearchers is freed up, it will not beable to fully realize its mission ofbecoming a focal point for researchas well as discussion of internationalstudies in the School of ForeignService of Georgetown University.

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Innovations and Challengesfor the Future

The Mortara Center enjoyed anoth-er strong year in 2007–2008. It

continues to be a focal point on cam-pus for debate and discussion of cur-rent ideas and issues in internationalaffairs and its activities.

It has expanded its partnerships andcollaboration of elements within theUniversity, including academic pro-grams, faculty groups, graduate andundergraduate student organizations;and within the broader Washingtoncommunity. It has become an initiator

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Summing Up

As Robert Gallucci, Dean of the School of Foreign Service, remarked:

“The mission of the Mortara Center is to provide a venue

for, and to promote, scholarly discourse on a broad range

of policy and intellectual issues in the area of interna-

tional studies. As a relatively new center in a newly reno-

vated building, it has already established a reputation for

doing just that through an extraordinary program of

events, symposiums, conferences, and speeches involving

senior policy makers and cutting-edge academics from

within the Georgetown community, the Washington area,

and the world at large. The Mortara Center has enriched

the intellectual life for students and faculty on campus, as

well as for the broader community outside the university

through its outreach activities. Over time, we can expect

the center to become an important source of ideas and

critical analysis on such issues as international security,

international development, globalization, the role of reli-

gion in society, the impact of democratization on regional

development and security, matters of governance in the

international community, and the importance of trends.”

It is towards these goals that the Mortara Center will continue its work.

and convener on campus while notreplicating the many types of activitiesorganized by existing Georgetownorganizations.

Finally, it has taken the first steptowards realizing its mission —bringing scholars to Georgetown towork on international issues. Itstill lacks the space to fully realizethat dream but looks forward to afuture when the Center can fulfillits mission.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT,Mortara DistinguishedProfessor in the Practiceof Diplomacy

CAROL LANCASTER,Director

ALIZ AGOSTON,Program Coordinator

ADAM OLSZOWKA,Program Assistant

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Advisory CommitteeMadeleine AlbrightJeffrey AndersonAnthony ArendThomas BanchoffAndrew BennettMarc BuschDaniel BymanVictor ChaRobert CumbyCarl DahlmanDavid EdelsteinRobert GallucciBarak HoffmanCharles King

John KlineCharles KupchanAnthony LakeCarol LancasterJohn LanganRobert LieberSusan MartinKathleen McNamaraJohn McNeillTheodore MoranDaniel NexonGeorge ShambaughKatrin SiegCasimir Yost

Mortara Center for International StudiesEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign ServiceGeorgetown University3600 N Street, NWWashington, DC 20057

Phone: 202-687-6514Fax: 202-687-9135mortara.georgetown.edumortaracenter@georgetown.edu

Mortara Center for International StudiesEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University3600 N Street, NW

Washington, DC 20057

Phone: 202-687-6514Fax: 202-687-9135

mortara.georgetown.edu