Introduction:
- Thomas Biersteker, Professor, Political Science
Speakers:
- Richard Jolly, Senior Research Fellow and Co-director, UN Intellectual History Project, CUNY Graduate Center, New York
- Thomas Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center and Director, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, New York
Discussant:
- Juan Somavia, Director-General, International Labour Organization, Geneva
- Elisabeth Prügl, Professor, Political Science
- Richard Jolly
He served for fourteen years as deputy executive director for Programmes in UNICEF. In UNICEF, he was directly involved in efforts to ensure more attention to the needs of children and women in the making of economic adjustment policies, along the lines set out in the book he co-edited volume entitled, Adjustment with a Human Face. He has been much concerned with reform and collaboration in the United Nations.
Before joining the United Nations, Dr. Jolly was for nine years director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. In 1978, on secondment from IDS, he acted as special consultant on North-South issues to the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). From 1978 to 1981, he was a member and rapporteur of the United Nations' Committee on Development Planning. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Jolly was chairman of the Society for International Development (SID) North/South Roundtable and vice president of the Society from 1982 to 1985. Dr. Jolly received his degree in economics from the University of Cambridge in 1956, and he earned his doctorate subsequently from Yale University.
- Thomas Weiss
As Research Professor at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies (1990-98), he also held university administrative posts (Associate Dean of the Faculty, Director of the Global Security Program, Associate Director), was the Executive Director of ACUNS, and co-directed the Humanitarianism and War Project. Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the International Peace Academy (1985-9); a Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva (1975-85); and held professional posts in the Office of the UN Commissioner for Namibia, the University Program at the Institute for World Order, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and International Labor Organization. He has been a consultant for foundations and numerous inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations and was editor of Global Governance (2000-5) and research director of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2000-2002).
- Juan Somavia
He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998. In he was re-elected for a second five-year term, and for a third term on 18 November 2008.
An attorney by profession, Mr. Somavia has had a long and distinguished career in civil and international affairs. His wide experience in all areas of public life - as a diplomat and academic - and his involvement in social development, business and civil organizations have all helped shape his vision of the need to secure decent work for women and men throughout the world.He began his career as an academic. From 1967 to 1968, he was lecturer on economic and social issues for GATT's trade policy courses in Geneva. In 1971, he was appointed Professor of International Economic and Social Affairs in the Department of Political Sciences at the Catholic University of Chile, where he highlighted the ILO and its tripartite structure as a case study in international cooperation. Between 1976 and 1990, he was Founder, Executive Director and President of the Latin American Institute of Transnational Studies (ILET). From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Somavia was Chairman of the Board of the United Nations Research for Social Development (UNRISD).
This event is organised by the Graduate Institute in collaboration with the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), the Geneva Centre for Security Policy , UNO Academia and The United Nations Intellectual History Project.
The conference will be preceded by a light lunch offered by the Graduate Institute and the GCSP at 12:30 PM at Villa Barton. Please confirm your attendance before Thursday 25 February 2010 by mail to: communication@graduateinstitute.ch
Auditorium Jacques-Freymond, 132 rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva