On Shifting Ground

Turkey has long served as the gateway between East and West. Many Western governments count on Turkey to serve as a democratic ally in an unstable region. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP have been praised for creating a liberal Islamic government in the Middle East. More recently, however, the so-called Turkish model looks to be failing. Why did such a promising government model fail to inspire democratic regimes among Turkey's neighbors? Is the Arab Spring to blame for the demise of the Turkish model? Is it possible for a government to effectively blend Islamic principles with democratic practices? Join us for a conversation about the prospects of creating a liberal democracy in the Middle East and why it matters for the region and the world.

Speaker Cihan Tuğal is Associate Professor for the of Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeffrey Scott Collins, Vice President of Communications at After School, moderates the discussion.

For more information about this event please visit: http://www.worldaffairs.org/event-calendar/event/1597

Direct download: 05_18_16_Cihan_Tugal.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 8:00pm PDT

No country in Europe has been hit harder by the 2008 global economic crisis and subsequent downturn than Greece. After years of polarizing austerity measures and fears of a Greek exit from the Eurozone, the country is slowly emerging from an extended period of economic instability. The Greek recovery, however, is far from over. Yanis Varoufakis served as Greek finance minister from January through July 2015 and opposed the EU’s third and final bailout agreement for Greece. He will discuss how the Greek economy is faring today and how the Eurozone crisis affected the rest of the global economy. What lessons have been learned about the risks and benefits of a shared economic system? How can we protect those most vulnerable to economic shocks from another economic crisis?

Speaker Yanis Varoufakis is Former Greek Finance Minister, and Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Athens.

For more information please visit: http://www.worldaffairs.org/events/event/1586

Direct download: 04_21_16_Yanis_Varoufakis.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:09pm PDT

Today, one out of every 120 people in the world is displaced from their homes. Once of the areas where the global refugee crisis is most acute is the Middle East, where the Syrian conflict has grown to become the center of a global humanitarian crisis, overwhelming many of its neighbors in the Middle East, as well as several countries in Europe. There are nearly five million refugees who have been directly affected by violence within Syria, three quarters of whom are women and children. How are individuals and organizations from the public, private and philanthropic sectors are working to provide both short- and long-term support for refugees?
 
 
Speakers:
 
Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State, United States Department of State
 
Nancy Lindborg, President, United States Institute of Peace
 
 
Moderator:
 
Jane Wales, CEO, World Affairs Council and Global Philanthropy Forum
Direct download: 05_16_16_Blinken_Lindborg_Syria.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 12:14pm PDT

From remote sensing devices to telemedicine to wearables, information technologies and connected devices are transforming the way doctors and patients interact and communicate. Is increased connectivity translating into increased health care access, better patient outcomes and lower health care costs as envisioned? How will these innovations impact access to health care in the developing world? Are we at an inflection point for connectivity to really change health care delivery around the world?

 

SPEAKERS

Ram Fish, Founder and CEO, 19Labs

Adam Pellegrini, Divisional Vice President, Digital Health, Walgreens

Aenor Sawyer, Associate Director of Strategic Relations, Center for Digital Health Innovation, University of California San Francisco

 

MODERATOR:

Adam Satariano, Technology Reporter, Bloomberg News

 

For more information about this event please visit: http://www.worldaffairs.org/media-library/event/1548

Direct download: 10_16_15_WA15_Connected_Health_Care.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 12:59pm PDT

After 9/11, the Drug Enforcement Administration reframed itsmission, warning that terrorists had gotten into the illegal drugtrade to finance their attacks. From al Qaeda and the Taliban toHezbollah and the FARC, the agency has pursued drug traffickingcharges in association with many terrorist groups. While the twomay be related in some regions, such as Colombia and Afghanistan,questions have arisen around the scope of narco-terrorism.

How effective is the DEA’s work on narco-terrorism in thwartingterrorist activities? What other strategies could be used againstgroups like ISIS, whose funding comes from oil revenues and taxes,not drug trafficking? Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter GingerThompson recently investigated dozens of narco-terrorism cases,raising questions about whether the DEA is actually stoppingthreats or staging them.

Speaker Ginger Thompson is Senior Reporter at ProPublica.

Cynthia Gorney, Professor Emeritus, Berkeley Graduate School ofJournalism, University of California, Berkeley, moderates thediscussion.

For more information about this event please visit:http://www.worldaffairs.org/event-calendar/event/1575

Direct download: 03_23_16_Ginger_Thompson.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 8:00pm PDT

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