Two New Papers Published: On Complexity of Higher Education and on G20 Diplomacy

The Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future published two new papers in its Issues in Brief series. The first – No. 014 in the series (April, 2010) – is written by Amb. Paul Hare and focused on the future prospects for the G20 in global diplomacy (here). The second – No. 015 in the series (May, 2010) – is written by Profs. Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Adil Najam and David Campbell and builds on an earlier Pardee Center research workshop on understanding complexity of higher education systems in developing countries (here).

The Issues in Brief series publishes original policy commentary based on research related to issues of high policy significance, including policy reflections building on Pardee Center conferences and workshops.

Pardee Center Issues in Brief No. 014 is written by Ambassador Paul Webster Hare – former British ambassador to Cuba (2001-04) and currently a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, a member of the Brookings Institution Core Group on Cuba, and lecturer on international relations at Boston Univeristy. The paper, titled, Diplomacy is Stalling: How the G20 Can Catch Up with the World argues that outdated diplomacy contributes to our governments’ failing performance, and proposes four steps the G20 could take quickly that would tap into new sources of international convergence, provide a new collective vision, and offer more productive approaches to the transnational issues that our leaders talk about. It suggests creating a new ‘Global Calling,’ an international peace corps operated by governments for the 21st century. (Download full paper here).

Pardee Center Issues in Brief No. 015 is co-authored by Prof. Hamid Zaman, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine in the College of Engineering at Boston University and a Pardee Center Faculty Fellow; Prof. Adil Najam, the Frederick S. Pardee Professor of Global Public Policy at Boston University and Director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and Prof. David Campbell, the Provost of Boston University and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics. Titled Mapping the Complexity of Higher Education in the Developing World, the paper is a policy reflection on a workshop of experts on higher education in developing countries convened by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The workshop, which had the same title, was supported by a grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative with additional support from the Pardee Center and the Office of the Boston University Provost. (Download full paper here).

All Pardee Center publications are available for download on our publications page (here).