Africa

Congratulations to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for yesterday winning the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. She recently retired as President of Liberia. It is for people like her that the award, which pays $5 million, was originally established. I explained and evaluated the Prize, a fascinating experiment, in “The Ibrahim Prize for Excellence Among African Leaders,” published in the African Policy Journal.

Inequality has been on the rise within the United States and other advanced countries since the 1980s and especially since the turn of the century.  The possibility that trade is responsible for the widening gap between the rich and the rest of the population has of course become a major political preoccupation

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, delivered her annual state of the global economy speech in the JFK, Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School followed by a discussion with Nicholas Burns, Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations and Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. In her address, Madame Lagarde quoted President John F. Kennedy stating that “the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Mme. Lagarde adapted this statement to the economy, expressing that while our economy is currently experiencing an upswing, now is the time for reform. We must be proactive, not reactive. Additionally, Mme. Lagarde spoke about the importance of fighting corruption and climate change, empowering women, and addressing inequality. 

Madame Lagarde's speech was the inaugural event of the new Economic Diplomacy Initiative (EDI) - a joint program of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. EDI is co-chaired by Professors Burns and Summers, and aims to provide Harvard students with a sound understanding of the critical importance of economic diplomacy in a globalized world; specifically, the negotiation of agreements between multiple countries and multiple stakeholders.  

Jens Stoltenberg,NATO Secretary General, discussed the future of the NATO alliance during this speech, given at the Harvard Kennedy School on September 23, 2016. He described the alliance as a responsive organization, capable of adapting to changes in the international security landscape but committed to the continuity of its founding values. In particular, he emphasized the necessity of maintaining a policy of absolute solidarity among member states, especially  in light of the exacerbating civil war in Syria and Russia’s aggressive stance toward countries to the East of NATO member state borders.

The ability to edit the genetic code of organisms is hailed as one of the most profound technological achievements of the last five years. Specific techniques known as “gene drives” can transmit inheritable traits throughout the entire population of an organism. There are several ways by which gene drives can be used to control major diseases such as malaria, which killed nearly 395,000 people in Africa in 2015. One approach is to introduce gene drives that induce sterility in mosquitoes.