Undergraduate Program
Policy Seminars
In the policy seminars, faculty directors and guest lecturers provide background information, bibliographic references, and ideas on possible interviewees, but the students are expected to take responsibility for both the organization and the outcome of the exercise. Each junior's paper is read in draft by the faculty director, and then re-written so as to form one product of the group's effort. The final product is a report with policy recommendations drafted after debates within the entire group.
Fall Policy Seminars '08
WWS 401a – U.S Government Policy Toward the UN
Robertson Hall, Monday, 7:30 – 10:00 pm
Eric Schwartz
Each of the major U.S. presidential candidates has acknowledged the importance of enhancing relationships with U.S. friends and allies after a new presidential administration takes office in January 2009. In different ways, each has also expressed his or her view that the United States can best effect influence in the world when it is responsive to the interests and concerns of other major stakeholders in the international community. Without multilateral cooperation on a wide variety of issues -- slowing the rate of climate change, promoting stability in states emerging from conflict, reducing threats posed by weapons of mass destruction, and combating terrorism -- the United States will have little chance to make systemic progress on critical national security issues.
Each of these issues is being considered in a variety of national, regional and international fora. But the single worldwide forum for cooperation on all of these issues is the United Nations, and a new presidential administration will have to determine the most effective set of approaches to the UN membership and the UN Secretariat.
In recent years, the U.S.-UN relationship has been subjected to many significant challenges, from the U.S. decision to intervene in Iraq without Security Council endorsement, to the emergence of the UN Human Rights Council, to criticism from UN bodies regarding the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. While U.S. officials are often frustrated by the UN, they have also relied heavily on the institution in areas such as peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and support for political transitions from Iraq to Afghanistan to the Balkans.
The task force will consider the role of the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the authority of the Security Council, the organization of the UN (especially its organization for delivery of humanitarian and development assistance), U.S. financial support for the UN, and the role of the U.S. Congress. Task force recommendations will be in the form of a transition brief for a new Administration on U.S. policy toward the United Nations.
Eric Schwartz is the Director of Connect US, a multi-foundation initiative that supports non-governmental organizations working for responsible U.S. engagement on global issues. He previously served in senior positions at the United Nations and the National Security Council, as well as on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
WWS 401b – The Challenge of Secondary Education in Developing Countries
Robertson Hall, Monday, 7:30 – 10:00 pm
Marlaine Lockheed
Impressive strides have been made in universalizing primary education (UPE) over the past 25 years, with most developing countries achieving universal primary enrollment and gender parity. While some disparities in UPE remain -- stemming largely from the lagging school participation of children from such excluded groups as rural tribes in Pakistan, lower castes in India, Roma in Europe, and indigenous peoples in Latin America – the next challenge facing many developing countries is that of expanding and improving secondary education effectively and equitably. Completion of primary school and continuation to secondary education is of particular concern for girls and young women, while the poor performance of many developing countries on international tests of reading, science and math suggest serious deficits in quality.
The task force will examine various strategies that governments, multinational donor agencies and non-governmental organizations have used to expand and improve secondary education. It will examine recent cross-national studies of education quality for evidence of disparities at the secondary level. It will assess factors related to the supply of education, including the proximity of schools, teacher absenteeism, and school quality, and the demand for education, including conditional cash transfers, scholarships and labor market returns. It will compare the situation of the low-income developing countries with that of middle-income countries and the potential for grants and debt relief for increasing resources for education services.
The task force report will be in the form of recommendations to a multilateral donor agency or NGO working on issues of secondary education.
Marlaine Lockheed is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. She formerly served as Acting Director for Education at the World Bank and was Principal Research Scientist at Educational Testing Service.
WWS 401c – Managing Elections in Fragile States
Robertson Hall, Thursday, 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Jeff Fischer
Electoral processes are defined by policy decisions on the form, function, and focus of their elements. These policy elements must be configured in a manner which allows electoral processes to be conducted in fair, credible, and transparent fashions. In fragile political and security environments, electoral policy decisions take on an enhanced importance because of the consequences of political failure which could result from a flawed electoral process. Because of this fragility, these electoral processes are often the object of international interventions and, as a result, can be influenced by policy decisions of the international community.
Fragile states can be fragile in different ways and for different reasons. But, in any case, fragile states can be harbors of instability. Elections are often regarded as instruments through which societal consensus on legitimate governance can be achieved, thereby producing a stabilizing effect on the state. However, policy and implementation mismanagement or corruption can produce the opposite outcomes, with the elections themselves becoming sources of instability.
The task force will examine five overarching policy categories: 1) Election Management Bodies (EMBs) and electoral assistance; 2) electoral systems and representation; 3) protection of electoral processes; 4) eligibility and the enfranchisement of marginalized populations; and 5) political parties, candidates, and participation. The task force report will be in the form of recommendations to the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division and the United States Agency for International Development.
Jeff Fisher has served the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as an election director in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and East Timor, and is currently an international consultant on electoral policy and practice.
WWS 401d – The UN and the Resolution of Conflicts in Asia
Robertson Hall, Wednesday, 7:30-10:00 pm
Francesc Vendrell
The United Nations is currently involved in the resolution of conflict situations in the Afghanistan, Nepal and Burma/Myanmar and also plays a supportive role in Iraq. It has also been successful in the past in the resolution of the Cambodia, East Timor and Bougainville issues. Yet the Secretary-General’s good offices are viewed with a measure of suspicion by Asian governments. The UN has been successfully prevented from playing a role in the Kashmir dispute, has been by-passed in the cases of Sri Lanka and Aceh, and been an absent player in North-East Asia, including in the Korean Peninsula.
The task force will examine the reasons that UN involvement was possible and successful in some Asian countries and not in others. In the context of that experience, it will then focus on the role currently played by the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), and the reasons for the difficulties it has faced in playing the central role assigned to it in that country by the Security Council. The task force report will be in the form of recommendations to the Secretary General on how the UN’s role in that country should be strengthened.
Ambassador Francesc Vendrell has been UN and EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan , UN Special Envoy for Cambodia and East Timor and Director for Asia in the UN Dept. of Political Affairs.
WWS 401e – Post-Conflict Peace-Building in Central and Southern Africa
Robertson Hall, Monday, 7:30 – 10:00 pm
Annette Seegers
Post-conflict peace building is an established component of peace operations in Africa. Although defined quite broadly as trying to construct more peaceful and just societies, in practice peace building efforts tend to focus on a few areas: preventing a resumption of violence; democratizing the political system; introducing economic reforms; and “dealing with the past”. Our primary focus will be on the latter.
Dealing with the past often comes down to three options: forgetting about it; a legal trial for those blamed for previous violations; or a compromise, often represented by “truth” or “reconciliation” processes. Few exercises in dealing with the past can boast of complete success; many were highly problematic and some were embarrassing failures.
The task force will address the following questions: In dealing with the past in these situations, what goals are appropriate? How should processes be designed? How can it best be implemented? How should we assess outcomes? How can assessments and lessons become part of institutional learning? In answering these questions, the task force will pay particular attention to three cases from central and southern Africa: the aftermath of the Rwandan war [1990 to 1994]; Mozambique after the peace treaty of 1994; and South Africa after 1994.
Annette Seegers is Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She served as advisor to the South African Constitutional Assembly and to the Research Division of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
WWS 401f – Reforming Urban Public Schools in the U.S.
Robertson Hall, Thursday, 7:30 – 10:00 pm
Tom Corcoran
The educational outcomes of large urban public school systems remain far below the expectations of policymakers, civic leaders, parents, and the general public in spite of No Child Left Behind and decades of reform initiatives. Achievement on state tests has improved in recent years but at a slow pace, too slow to close the achievement gap. In most urban systems, more than half of the students still fail to achieve even basic levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In some urban school systems, fewer than half of the entering students graduate, and many of those who do graduate are not adequately prepared for either employment or postsecondary education. All of the available indicators continue to show large quality and performance gaps between urban and suburban schools. These outcomes pose a critical problem. Over eleven million students, one out of every four American school-age children, attend city schools; the majority are poor children of color.
The task force will examine the health and prospects of several large urban public education systems across the country. It will look at competing theories of school reform, examine research findings, and wrestle with the questions of what we know and don’t know about improving learning for poor children. We will look closely at districts in New Jersey to examine how they are using additional resources and how are they being affected by No Child Left behind. Finally, we will offer recommendations to the NJ State Department of Education about reform in the state’s poor, urban districts.
Thomas Corcoran is Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He formerly served as Policy Advisor for Education to the Governor of New Jersey, and as Chief of Staff of the New Jersey Department of Education.
WWS 401g – Income Security for Poor Children
Robertson Hall, Monday, 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Hillard Pouncy
Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 14.2 million poor children born in 1997 in the United States were born to unmarried parents. Yet, as a consequence of social welfare reforms going back to the late 1990s, the income security of all of them will depend increasingly upon contributions of both their biological parents.
The task force will explore several recent approaches to integrate the four elements of existing social welfare policy and to maximize both efficiency and effectiveness. The four elements are: (1) child support enforcement; (2) cash assistance and in-kind benefits; (3) work incentives and Earned Income Tax Credits; and (4) Human Services. The approaches include: providing employment and training services to low-income fathers to enable them to support their children; providing family support services to low-income unwed couples to help them negotiate shared responsibilities for meeting the needs of their children; making child support guidelines more flexible by lowering the payments by unemployed fathers while they prepare for work, and gradually increasing them as earnings go up; suspending child support orders for cohabiting unwed couples; and revising the earned income tax credit to provide incentives for low-income fathers to increase their hours of work, earnings, and child support payments to children with whom they did not reside.
The task force report will be in the form of recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Hillard Pouncy is a political scientist and independent consultant currently working on a study for the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
WWS 401h – Combating the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity
Robertson Hall, Tuesday, 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Hugh Price
Hardly a month goes by without a new headline bemoaning the phenomenon of childhood obesity or touting new signs of progress in combating the epidemic. The authoritative Robert Wood Johnson Foundation argues that childhood obesity is one of the most urgent and serious health threats confronting our nation. The epidemic afflicts and endangers members of every race and ethnic group, as well as all income levels and in every region of the country. As the Foundation warns, if our nation fails to reverse this ominous trend, we are in danger of raising the first generation of American children who will live sicker and die younger than the generation before it.
While the evidence may be incontrovertible, the explanations for this epidemic are complex and the policy interventions for such an “obvious” problem often provoke spirited debate. Thus, this escalating campaign against childhood obesity can serve as a real-time case study of how social change actually occurs in this country.
The task force will examine the nature, magnitude and myriad causes of the surge in childhood obesity; the roles and responsibility of health care providers and insurers; the potential impact of legislation and regulation; the function of schools and communities; the impact of the media; and the place of personal responsibility and consequences in the scheme of things. In order to understand why social progress is seldom linear, the task force will delve into the policy conflicts, competing “special” interests, and even the litigation that has erupted around this issue. The task force report will take the form of policy recommendations to the new President’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.
Hugh Price previously served as President and CEO of the National Urban League, as Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, as Senior Vice President in charge of production at WNET/Thirteen, and as a member of the editorial board of the New York Times. He is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.
WWS 401i – Dealing with Anti-Americanism
Robertson Hall, Tuesday, 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Sophie Meunier
Poll after poll shows that the image of the United States in the world has severely deteriorated over the past five years. At the same time, criticisms of American policies and hostility towards Americans have increased. Are these signs that the world is becoming progressively more anti-American? Will these anti-American sentiments disappear once the United States elects a new president, or are they more deeply rooted? Are these sentiments linked to the particular political and military position of the US in the world, or are they linked to domestic features of American society?
This task force will explore anti-Americanism in various countries and regions, look for ways to define and measure it, and propose strategies for dealing with it. The task force report will be in the form of recommendations to the U.S. State Department.
Sophie Meunier is Research Scholar in Public and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School. She is the author of several books, including The French Challenge: Adapting to Globalization