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2000 Conference Programme

1. Science, Risk and the Regulation of New Technologies

Download Professor Heinz Wolff's Introductory Paper

Merton College, Oxford
24 March - 1 April 2000

Senior Fellow

Professor Heinz WolffBrunel University

Speakers

The future for science in the risk society

Dr Frank FurediUniversity of Kent

Getting it right and getting it wrong: science and regulation

Professor Ortwin RennCentre of Technology Assessment, Baden-Württemberg

The media and the communication of complex ideas

Jeremy LauranceThe Independent

Responding to public anxieties: government

Professor Derek BurkeAdviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee

Responding to public anxieties: corporations

Graham FordPA Consulting, London

The appetite for risk

Professor John AdamsUniversity College London

Worlds apart: risk, rationality and political culture

Professor Sheila JasanoffHarvard University

Science driven by commerce - can it be trusted?

Dr John HammondAventis Crop Science UK Ltd
Dr Douglas ParrChief Scientific Adviser to Greenpeace

The absolute safety culture and its dangers

Bruno PorroHead of Risk and Reinsurance, Swiss Re, Zurich

Calculating risks, taking decisions - Case study I: nuclear power

Professor John GittusConsultant on nuclear safety

Calculating risks, taking decisions - Case study II: global warming

Sonja Boehmer-ChristiansenUniversity of Hull

Discussant for both case studies

Professor Dennis AndersonImperial College, London


Advertised Synopsis

With the galloping advance of scientific knowledge, humans have never been so capable of changing their own condition and that of their environment - for good or ill. This has generated debate over a range of policy issues: the safety of genetically-based treatments in medicine and agriculture; the future of nuclear power generation; the international response to global warming; the reaction to health scares such as mad cow disease; even the adverse social implications of technological change. The villains have been variously identified as greedy businessmen, mendacious politicians, venal scientists and neo-Luddite activists with eccentric scientific support. But central to all such debates are attitudes toward risk. Human life has always involved the assessment, taking and minimization of risks. The pursuit of scientific and technological advance is no exception. However, in an age where public trust of society's institutions and their representatives - academic as much as political or religious - has declined markedly, the voice of science lacks the authority it once held to sway public opinion, especially when it speaks in specialist language incomprehensible to the layman. At the same time political discourse has entrenched the concept of universal human rights. Thus, although in the West at least prosperity and life expectancy have reached unprecedented levels, people everywhere seem to be increasingly intolerant of exposure to risk from the activity of others. This conference will look at the processes whereby governments weigh benefits against imponderable risks in making decisions; why even expert committees seem to err so frequently in assessing future dangers; the extent to which the state should take over through regulation the individual's traditional role in assessing personal risk; how and to what degree it should limit what science is allowed to do; and how to raise the level of public understanding so as to permit better informed debate.

 

2. Asia-Pacific Economic and Security Scenarios for 2020

(In Assocation with The Tokyo Foundation)

Download Sir John Boyd's Introductory Paper
Download Professor Heizo Takenaka's Introductory Paper

Keidanren Guest House, Near Mount Fuji, Japan
12-20 May 2000

Senior Fellows

Sir John BoydMaster of Churchill College, Cambridge, British Ambassador to Japan 1992-95
Professor Heizo TakenakaPresident of The Tokyo Foundation

Speakers

Hopes and Fears for the Asia-Pacific Region

Edward NeilanSyndicated Columnist; Senior Fellow, Heritage Foundation

Will there be a renewed Asian economic model?

Professor Heizo TakenakaSenior Fellow

The challenges to development

Dr Sayuri ShiraiAssociate Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University

How will China change?

Herbert LevinFairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University and The Atlantic Council of the United States, Washington DC

The evolution of the United States' role in the region

Professor Kent CalderSpecial Advisor to the Ambassador, US Embassy Tokyo
Dr Jeong-Woo KilSenior Research Fellow, The Tokyo Foundation

Where might the security flashpoints be?

Dr Alan DupontDirector of the Asia-Pacific Security Program, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

Greater regional co-operation or greater fragmentation?

Professor Takatoshi ItoDeputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, Tokyo

Japan and its external relations

Hatsuhisa TakashimaExecutive Controller General, NHK, Tokyo

Luncheon Guest Speaker

Ichita YamamotoVice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tokyo

Globalization, new technologies and social change

Paul AbrahamsThe Financial Times


Advertised Synopsis

The former certainties of the Asia-Pacific region - world beating economic growth and the American security umbrella - have been brought increasingly into question in the last decade. The stalling of the Japanese economy and the 1997 financial crisis exposed clear weaknesses in the Asian model. Despite recent progress towards economic recovery and structural reform, the forces of globalization pose continuing challenges which must be mastered if Asia is to achieve lasting stability and prosperity. Progress is also required on the political front. The Taiwan issue and the unpredictability of North Korea are potential threats to regional stability. Can either question be ‘restructured' or can economic levers be used to defuse them? Regional economics and security are inter-related; deterioration in either will affect the other. In particular, the course of economic and social development in China will determine whether it emerges as an even greater power or one increasingly divided. Starting from an economic stock-taking and an analysis of security issues, the conference will explore how the internal shape of regional states and relations between them may have developed by 2020. Economically, will the ‘Asian model' return to full vigour? Can the institutions and social practices of the region accommodate the necessary economic change? Will we see the reassertion of a traditional balance of power, or will new patterns be produced by the globalization process? Finally, what is the role of external powers and organisations in promoting benign change? This conference will be held in association with the Tokyo Foundation.

 

3. The Knowledge Society Changing the shape of education for the 21st century

Download Sir Claus Moser's Introductory Paper

Klingenthal Castle, near Strasbourg
8-16 September 2000



Senior Fellow

Sir Claus MoserChancellor, Keele University

Speakers

Globalization, information and the new world of work: the challenges for education

Heather ColeCisco Systems Europe, Middle East and Africa

The impact of new learning technologies

Professor Diana LaurillardThe Open University, United Kingdom

Lifelong learning: how can it be achieved?

Baroness BlackstoneMinister of State, UK Department for Education and Employment
Ann LimbCambridge Regional College

The changing face of schools in the 21st century

Professor David HargreavesUniversity of Cambridge School of Education

A wealth of learning: what role enterprise education?

Ron ClinkDirector of Schools Program, Center for Economic Education, University of Cincinnati

Higher Education in Transition - Reform Initiatives for the 21st Century

Dr Hildegard GeimerEducation Consultant, Bonn

Education and the transformation of a society

Professor Teboho MojaProfessor of Higher Education, New York University

Developing countries and participation in the Knowledge Society

Professor James TooleyUniversity of Newcastle

Learning society or learning elites: the problem of social exclusion

Tom BentleyDemos, London

Schools, values and the community: a case study

Professor Sir David WinkleyFormer Head of the Grove School, Birmigham


Advertised Synopsis

Facing a century in which prosperity will be increasingly determined by control of information rather than natural resources or industrial might, governments throughout the developed world are looking to education as the key to long- term economic success and promoting it to the top of their agendas. In some countries (such as the USA and the UK) there has been a tendency to favour a 'command and control' model of educational reform, while in others (such as Japan) the trend has been towards greater liberalism and flexibility. At this conference we will examine different national solutions to familiar issues in school and post-school education, including teaching methods, curricula and resourcing; but the main focus will be on the 'external' challenges which all educational systems must confront, above all globalization, the communications revolu-tion and the changing nature of work. These challenges require education at successive stages in life and not just for the young; with the increasing rapidity of economic and social change ‘lifelong learning' has become an almost universal slogan. What must governments, corporations and educational institutions do to make lifelong education a reality? There is also the question of education and equity. How far is education in the 21st century going to be elitist and how will it combat social exclusion? In funding, what are the roles of the private and public sectors? In addition, is enough attention paid to concerns other than the economic, in particular the transmission of values? In an era of expanding choice and risk how can students be best equipped to lead the good life and the life of a citizen as well as that of a worker?

 

4. Ending Anarchy? International Rule and Reconstruction After Conflict

Download Dr Michael Williams' Introductory Paper

Madingley Hall, Cambridge
5-13 October 2000

 

Senior Fellow

Dr Michael C WilliamsSpecial Adviser to Foreign Secretary, Foreign Office, London

Speakers

The precedents for international intervention

Professor Fred HallidayLondon School of Economics

Human rights and justice in making and sustaining peace

Ian MartinVisiting Fellow, International Peace Academy, New York; Head of UN Mission in East Timor, May to November 1999

Is intervention best left to regional powers or does that just create regional hegemonies?

Dr Gwyn PrinsEuropean Institute, London School of Economics

Case Study: International Rule and Reconstruction in Kosovo

Andrew MichelsPresident of the Registration Appeals Commission of Kosovo

The role of NGO's in reconstruction and the difficulties they face

Olivia Lind HaldorssonVOICE, Brussels

 Exit strategies and their dilemmas

Dr Jane SharpKing's College London

Case study: International Rule and Reconstruction in East Timor

Sidney JonesExecutive Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch, New York; Director of Human Rights, UN Transitional Administration in East Timor

When is it legitimate to intervene and when is it necessary?

Edward MortimerExecutive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations

How can international intervention avoid being neo-colonialism?

Dr Paul CornishCentre for International Studies, Cambridge University


Advertised Synopsis

On top of the many peacekeeping and peacemaking operations which the United Nations and other international organizations have conducted, a new challenge has arisen over the last decade which - with its colonial echoes - they have only reluctantly begun to address: how to help states or territories emerging from civil conflict to make the transition to a normal society, a task which may entail undertaking temporary responsibility for civil administration or even formal UN trusteeship. This conference will draw on numerous examples from Bosnia and Kosovo through Somalia to Cambodia and East Timor to look at the complicated issues involved. These include practical questions - how to establish the trust of the governed; how to establish authority and introduce law and order into a war-torn society; how to minimize the role of neighbouring powers seeking influence in a future regime while finding countries willing to provide resources for the project; and how to arrange an "exit strategy". More theoretical concerns also arise - what legal basis exists for such an arrangement and how much domestic opposition would make it untenable; what are the implications for sovereignty, especially as there is rarely time for an interim administration to be democratically ratified; and whether organizations other than the United Nations should be allowed - either at the request of the parties involved or of the Security Council - to undertake these activities. Finally there is the moral question of the extent to which outsiders should undertake responsibility for helping with a society's problems when its members may not be ready to live together, but the only alternative seems to be continued bloodshed.

 

2000 Fellowship Programme

Between the Wars: The role of the media and the international community in incipient and unfashionable conflicts

(In Cooperation with Conflict and Peace Forums)

Taplow Court, near Maidenhead
3-5 March 2000

Speakers

The role of media coverage or the lack of it in shaping international responses to a conflict

Tom de WaalBBC World Service and author of Chechnya: A Small Victorious War

When and how did the media pay attention to Kosovo before the war?

Tim JudahJournalist and author of The Serbs and most recently Kosovo
Nancy DurhamCanadian Broadcasting Corporation

Keeping the international community involved in zones of conflict no longer in fashion

Nick StocktonDeputy Director, Oxfam

Stories in the making: how best can journalists cover the warning signs of conflict?

Richard SpencerNews Editor, Daily Telegraph
Mark BrayneNews and Current Affairs Editor, European Region, BBC World Service
Martin HuckerbyEditorial consultant

Future Wars - video preview of Michael Ignatieff's forthcoming BBC TV series

Glyn JonesExecutive Producer (Introduction to series)


Brief Description

This conference, run in conjunction with Conflict and Peace Forums, looked at the role of the media in incipient and unfashionable conflicts, including how the media affects or does not affect the international community's response to such situations; how the actors in a conflict seek to influence the media, and through them perhaps a wider audience; and how journalists might best cover conflicts, not only when fighting is taking place but also before it breaks out.

 

The Global Compact: where do the limits of corporate responsibility lie?

(In Cooperation with The Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum)

United Nations Headquarters
17-19 November 2000

Speakers

Keynote speech

Prof. John RuggieAssistant-Secretary-General, The United Nations

Challenges in implementing the global compact

Georg KellSenior Officer, Executive Office of the Secretary-General

How far are new priorities emerging for corporations?

Matthew BishopAmerican Finance Editor, The Economist

The Global Compact: rhetoric or a real advance? NGO and labour perspectives

Kelly CurrahWorld Vision International
Arvind GanesanHuman Rights Watch
Gemma AdabaThe International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

Looking to business: globalization and the changing role of corporations in governance and international affairs

David VidalThe Conference Board, New York City
Jane NelsonPrince of Wales Business Leaders Forum

 

Brief Description

This summer the UN launched its Global Compact with business, laying down standards for human rights, labour and environmental practices. Kofi Annan said '... let us choose to unite the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations.' This Fellowship seminar will explore how progress can be made towards these goals, examine the standards laid down in the Global Compact and debate the diverse issues involved.