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1997 Fellowship Programme
1997 Conference
Programme
The West
and Islam: clashpoints and dialogues
Ethnic conflict
in the wider Europe: Causes, preventions, and cures
Study tour of
South Africa and Namibia: The challenges of political and economic
reconstruction into the 21st century
The West
and Islam: clashpoints and dialogues
Download Dr Abdel Wahab el Messiri's
Introductory Paper
Download Edward Mortimer's Introductory
Paper
- Forte Grand Hotel, Giza, near Cairo,
- 15 - 23 February 1997
Senior Fellows
Dr Abdel Wahab el Messiri |
Ain Shams University, Cairo |
Edward Mortimer |
The Financial Times |
Speakers
Introductory Address
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Dr Ahmed Kamal AboulMagd |
International Jurist, Professor of Law, Cairo
University |
The pains of modernisation |
Julie
Polter |
Sojourners Magazine |
The Limits of Secularism |
Prof John Keane |
University of Westminster |
Religion and the state
comparisons of their inter-relation in Western and
Islamic societies, and of the legitimacy of the use of force
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Dr Basheer Nafi |
University of Reading |
Relations Between the
Islamic World and the West |
Mohammed Sid Ahmed |
Journalist |
What are the prospects for
democracy in the Western and in the Muslim worlds?
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Dr Ahmet Davutoglu |
Foundation for Science and Arts, Istanbul; |
Prof Saad Eddin Ibrahim |
Director, Ibn Khaldoun Centre, Cairo |
Muslims in the West and non-Muslims
in Islamic societies |
Prof Gilles Kepel |
Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris |
Advertised Synopsis
Mutual perceptions of Western and Islamic countries
have been clouded through the centuries by conflicting
interests with regard to religion, land, trade
routes and, more recently, oil.
These inherited suspicions have been fuelled
by the strategic interventions of the old imperial powers
and the Cold War super-powers, the Arab-Israeli conflict,
the Iranian revolution and other popular protests against
secular regimes.
To what extent are the mutual perceptions of
Western and Islamic countries out-dated, erroneous or distorted
by over- simplification and caricature?
How does the growth of Muslim communities within
Western societies affect mutual perceptions? Can a better
mutual tolerance be developed, along with fruitful cultural
and economic relations, or must there be a continuing
clash of interests, or even, as Samuel Huntington
has argued, "a clash of civilizations"?
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Ethnic
conflict in the wider Europe: Causes, preventions, and cures
Download Neal Ascherson's Introductory
Paper
- Klingenthal Castle
- near Strasbourg, 7 - 14 June 1997
Senior Fellow
Neal Ascherson |
Senior Assistant Editor, The Independent on
Sunday |
Speakers |
What is unique about ethnic
conflict? |
H.E. Alfred Cahen |
Secretary- General, Atlantic Treaty
Association |
Ethnic tension in Eastern
Europe a historical perspective |
Prof Norman Stone |
Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey |
Ethnic conflict and
diplomacy lessons from Bosnia |
Dr Mats Berdal |
International Institute for Strategic Studies,
London |
The uses and limits of
international intervention |
Sir Marrack Goulding |
United Nations Head of Peacekeeping and Under-Secretary-General
for Political Affairs (1986-1996), Warden, St
Antony's College, Oxford |
Communal violence and
terrorism |
Shane O'Doherty |
Freelance Writer, Dublin |
Case study: the Caucasus
and Abkhazia |
Dr Viacheslav Chirikba |
Spokesman for Abkhazian cause in Western
Europe |
Conditions for Permanent
Peace |
Dr Mary Kaldor |
University of Sussex |
Stabilising majority/minority
relations agreements between neighbour states |
George Schöpflin |
University of London. |
Advertised Synopsis
The collapse of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian
war shattered post-Cold War optimism by reminding
Europe of the deadly potential of nationalist and
religious antagonisms.
The seeds of further conflict are scattered
across the continent. This conference will examine the kind
of ethnic or religious strife which gives rise to widespread
violence and will attempt to identify warning indicators.
It will examine the options open to the international
community and other outside parties in the face of such threats,
including direct armed intervention, preventative deployment,
or letting the fire burn out despite the human cost;
and also post-conflict questions such as the maintenance
of peace once restored, including the future role of peace-
keeping, and the rebuilding of trust between communities.
There would appear to be a growing need to
adapt current international mechanisms in these areas, which
were designed for :
- the stable environment of the Cold War
and based on the rationalist precepts of
- the Enlightenment, to the challenges of
combatants whose
- ultimate moral authority resides in tribe
or faith.
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Study
tour of South Africa and Namibia: The challenges of political and
economic reconstruction into the 21st century
Download Dr Paul Kielstra's Impressions
and Tour Report
- Johannesburg - Durban - Cape Town - Windhoek,
- 31 October - 12 November 1997
Tour Leader
Sir Michael Weir |
Director, 21st Century Trust |
Speakers |
An Introduction to South
Africa |
Deon Seals |
South African High Commission, London |
South Africa's transition:
an overview |
Cheryl Carolus |
African National Congress Acting Secretary-General,
South Africa's High Commissioner- designate to
London |
The role of black small
business in the new South Africa |
Phillip Machala |
CEO National African Federated Chambers of
Commerce (NAFCOC) |
Michael Levi |
Former Secretary-General NAFCOC |
Leslie Maasdorp |
KPMG Micro-credit |
Small business and rural
development |
Chris Höck |
Director, Rural Finance Facility South
African Politics and the Role of the UDM |
Bantu Holomisa |
Co- leader, United Democratic Movement |
Investment in South Africa |
Moss Leoka |
CEO, Alliance Capital Management, South
Africa, President Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce |
Land Redistribution
Problems and Prospects |
Rev Mzamo Mathe |
KwaZulu Natal Land Redistribution Commission |
The political challenges
ahead |
Vasu Gounden |
Director, African Centre for the Constructive
Resolution of Disputes; Prof Ralph Lawrence, University
of Natal |
Prof Ralph Lawrence |
University of Natal |
Prof Fatima Meer |
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission |
Dumisa Ntsebeza |
Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation
Commission |
The economic challenges
ahead |
Prof Rob Davies |
ANC Member of Parliament; Paul Truyens,
Southern Life |
Women and the family in the
new South Africa |
Naledi Pandor |
ANC Deputy Chief Whip |
The implementation of the
new constitution |
Pravin Gordhan |
Chair, Constitutional Affairs Committee,
South African Parliament |
Development in Gugulethu
Township |
Bulelwa Belu-Toni |
Executive Director, Gugulethu Community
Development Corp. |
The constitution and the
workings of the new democracy in South Africa |
Prof Chris Tapscott |
University of Western Cape School of
Government |
Political and economic
reconstruction in Namibia since independence |
Hon Nahas Angula |
Namibian Minister of Higher Education |
Investment Opportunities in
Namibia |
A.S. Aboobakar |
CEO, Namibia Government Offshore Development
Company |
Namibian Foreign Policy |
Hon Theo-Ben Gurirab |
Namibian Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Advertised Synopsis
Departing from our usual conference format,
this study tour will give first hand experience of South Africa
and its astonishing transformation, now that
initial reconstruction is underway and longer term problems
and prospects are becoming clearer.
The tour will end in Namibia where there is
earlier experience of such change, albeit on a smaller scale,
and where the group will be joined by the Hon. Nahas Angula,
Minister of Higher Education and a Fellow of the Trust.
A particular focus for study throughout will
be where the balance should be struck between economic exigencies
and political and social necessities.
This should be of interest to those concerned
with a range of development issues, as well as those intrigued
by Southern Africa specifically.
At every stage of the tour there will be pre-arranged
meetings with prominent figures in politics and
government, industry and commerce, rural development, and
academic analysis.
Site visits will include townships, rural settlements
and development projects. There will also be sight-seeing
trips to the Umfolozi Game Reserve, Museum Africa, the Valley
of a Thousand Hills near Durban and the magnificent
surroundings of Cape Town.
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1997
Fellowship Meetings
Fellowship Meeting 1
Democracy and Foreign Policy An Uneasy
Relationship
- Washington DC
- 24 - 27 April 1997
Speakers |
Thomas L. Hughes |
President Emeritus of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace |
John Barker |
United States Department of State |
Melvin Goodman |
Former member of CIA, now at National War
College |
Sir Michael Weir |
Director, 21st Century Trust |
Advertised Synopsis
Liberal democracy is now the prevalent constitutional
model over much of the globe.
Even regimes which reject this model usually
acknowledge, if not always sincerely, that legitimacy derives
from the popular will.
The adaptation of most areas of government to
democratic accountability has been relatively straightforward,
but foreign policy has remained a partial exception, with
electorates often prepared to accept a degree of secrecy in
its formulation and operation. Strong arguments exist
for this.
Woodrow Wilson's call for open covenants openly
arrived at, while an admirable principle for the negotiation
of multinational instruments, is unrealistic where important
national interests are at stake; public debate on foreign
policy questions, both at and between elections, is
liable to be prejudicial to good relations with
other states; and the members of an elected assembly are
unlikely to have much expertise in foreign affairs.
On the other hand, it seems illogical, if not
dangerous, that in a democracy foreign policy should be
conducted with relatively little reference to a legislature,
let alone the electorate.
The conference will examine questions arising
from this tension, such as how government contrives to
balance popular interest against the need for discretion and
compromise in diplomacy; how domestic pressures affect the
conduct of foreign policy; how far such pressures should
properly be resisted; and what degree of secrecy
is appropriate in foreign policy.
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Fellowship Meeting 2
The Media and the Public Interest in
the Information Age
- London
- 10 - 12 October 1997
Speakers |
The managerial and
technological transformation of the media for better or
for worse? |
Adam Boulton |
Political Editor, Sky News; John Foster,
General Secretary, National Union of Journalists |
The new disorder in
broadcasting |
Mathew Horsman |
Media analyst at Henderson Crosthwaite |
The internet information
riches or information overload? |
Monique van Dusseldorp |
New Media Department, Wegener Arcade,
Amsterdam |
Journalistic culture and
the closing of the modern mind |
Professor Kenneth Minogue |
London School of Economics |
Hopes and fears for
journalism into the 21st century (Panel discussion) |
Godfrey Hodgson |
Reuters Foundation Programme, Oxford (chair);
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Matthew Bishop |
The Economist |
Martin Hiller |
World Wildlife Federation |
Tim King |
The Daily Telegraph |
Andrew Marshall |
Foreign Editor, The Independent |
Tomohiko Taniguchi |
Nikkei Business |
Advertised Synopsis
The last fifteen years have seen a revolution
in the media industry. New technology and, in some
countries, the defeat of unions have led to sweeping
changes in management style and a much sharper edge in competition
amongst titles.
With innovation proceeding at breakneck speed
in electronic communications - satellite, cable, the Internet
- this is seen as all part of "The Information Age" providers,
driven on by competition and ever expanding opportunities,
will give the public access to information of
unprecedented diversity and quantity.
However, there is also concern that a small
number of business conglomerates will make the competition
so cut-throat that information will be replicated rather than
diversified and that choice amongst masses of almost identical
sources will be illusory.
It is argued that the public interest will
suffer as journalists are over-stretched now that down-sizing
is taking its toll, and editors are concerned solely about
tomorrow's headlines rather than in-depth reporting or investigative
journalism.
Will we as decision takers, voters, concerned
citizens be better or less well informed in the 21st century?
We are grateful to the Freedom Forum European
Centre for making available their premises for this meeting.
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Summary of all Conferences
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