Russia and the Medvedev Presidency - One Year On
Speaking shortly after his election as President of the Russian Federation in 2008, Dmitry Medvedev highlighted his priorities in office: to maintain economic stability, to strengthen freedoms, to promote social programs, and to ensure that Russia sustains its position in the world. A year later, Medvedev's record in delivering on these promises is coming under intense scrutiny. What does Russian resurgence actually mean? How well has Russia ridden out the global financial storm? Is authoritaria
Artful Science: Rethinking how the young learn
Anthropologists who study socialisation tend to do so in order to compare modes and values of child-rearing or to examine the role of language in child-rearing. Rarely have anthropologists attended to the ways in which children learn to discern, appreciate, and take part in forms of artful representation. Anthropologists have given only slightly more attention to the extent to which children and young people learn key science concepts and representational modes in their own cultural settings. Th
Where to from here? Australia’s role in refugee protection
Australia's handling of the asylum-seekers on board the Oceanic Viking and recent 'freeze' on Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum applications has sparked vigorous and ongoing debate. In her inaugural lecture as the Freilich Foundation Professor, Penelope Mathew looked at Australia's past and present policies against the backdrop of global refugee movements. She assessed these policies for compliance with accepted international human rights standards, and evaluated their capacity to deal with the probl
Coping with Climate Change: Is Development in India and the World Sustainable?
2007 K R Narayanan Oration
Recent high rates of economic growth in India and other parts of the
developing world, while reducing poverty and raising global economic
growth, have put considerable stress on the environment even as it is
already saddled with high emissions from the developed world. The 2007 K R Narayanan Oration by
Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri questions whether such growth patterns can be
sustained into the future and what options are available for ensuring
that the adv
Must Climate Change End The Platinum Age
In the inaugural S.T. Lee Lecture on Asia and the Pacific Professor
Garnaut asks: How the risks of climate change will interact with the
'Platinum Age' of global economic growth? What are the limits for
global emissions within which the world will need to live if the risk
of dangerous climate change is to be kept within acceptable bounds?
What principles could be reasonably applied to the allocation of a
global emissions budget amongst countries? What global emissions budget
would make sense for
2008 K R Narayanan Oration Why Environmentalism Needs Equity
"Why Environmentalism Needs Equity: Learning from the environmentalism of the poor to build our common future". Ms Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science & Environment; Director of the Society for Environmental Communications; and publisher of the fortnightly magazine 'Down to Earth', has been with the Centre from 1982 and has worked hard at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development, and at creating public consciousness about the need for sus
India and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty
How does a nuclear power & non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty engage in international debate on the issue? Following the US-led campaign for global nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapons free world, the international community eagerly await the review conference of the parties to the treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), to be held in New York between 3-28 May 2010. But what of India? Or Pakistan, Israel and North Korea? Four states with nuclear weapons
Building on Kyoto: Towards a Realistic Global Climate Agreement and What Australia Should Do
As a mechanism for controlling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol has not been a success. Over the decade from it’s signing in 1997 to the beginning of its first commitment period in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions in industrial countries subject to targets under the protocol did not fall as the protocol intended. Instead, emissions in many countries rose rapidly. Moreover, emissions have increased substantially in countries such as China, which were not bound by the protocol but which will
The Financial Crisis: What Happened and Why?
The lecture comprised a description and an analysis of (some aspects of) the current financial crisis. The crisis is viewed as a "financial perfect storm" resulting from a combination of developments in global markets for goods and financial assets. Special attention is devoted to the incentives created by developments in financial markets in the United States and the United Kingdom. A comparison of the experiences of these two countries is used in assessing the relative
Australia’s Forestry Industry Crisis: How it happened and what to do
Many plantation managed investment companies have collapsed. A pulp mill proposal struggles to find financiers. A stock exchange listed forestry company requests a share trading halt while it tries to sell forestry assets to repay debt. A major Australian company (with forestry a non-core activity) struggles to divest itself of forestry assets. The global financial crisis is a glib explanation for Australia's forestry crisis. Today's difficulties stem from the early 1990s when it became clear th
Fighting the Great Pandemics
The last five years have seen a remarkable increase in the level of
financing and commitment in the war against AIDS, TB and Malaria. This
period has also witnessed remarkable innovations in the business of
development finance. The Global Fund has played a central role in both
of these phenomena.
Professor Sir Richard Feachem, who lead the Global Fund from its
inception in 2002 until March 2007, discusses the fight against the
great pandemics and the need to find a new architecture for deve
Promises & challenges in developing new vaccines, with a focus on diseases of the developing world
Learning how to harness the power of the immune system to combat infectious killers has been one of the most dramatic developments in the history of medicine. Eradication of smallpox and the near elimination of polio serve to remind us that the destiny of disease can be written by human ingenuity. These and other great feats continue to inspire us all as we strive to combat major infectious killers of the 21st Century. Success rarely comes easily and we are enormously challenge
4.6 Post-decision evaluation
Do you hate making decisions? Does the ability of others to make snap decisions really frustrate you? This unit will help you understand some of the processes involved in decision making. Attention to the psychology of decision making and the social context in which decisions are made can improve your understanding of others and yourself.
The Dark Side of the Universe
Professor Silk discusses how our understanding of cosmology has evolved
in recent years from the old Big Bang cosmology of the Einstein era.
Observations have shown us that the universe is mostly dark. This is
one of the greatest mysteries in the cosmos. Not only is the observed
night sky dark, but also most of the matter in the universe is dark.
Astronomers today are seeking to unravel the nature of the mysterious
but pervasive dark matter and dark energy, which account for two-thirds
of the ma
Anatomy of a meltdown The GFC Forum: Cause, effect and recovery
Few public events are significant enough to justify their own acronym. In even fewer instances are those acronyms readily understood worldwide. Clearly the global financial crisis, or GFC, is one such event. Much has been said and done about it already. But how accurate or effective has this been? Are fingers being fairly pointed? Can the cracks be repaired, or do we need a whole new system?
Dimensions of the Global Food Crisis: Session 2
Associate Professor Bill Pritchard, Department of Geography, University of Sydney presents "'Rewriting the global food equation', but to what script? Priorities and strategic choices in addressing food insecurity within vulnerable population". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Dimensions of the Global Food Crisis: Session 2
Associate Professor Bill Pritchard, Department of Geography, University of Sydney presents "'Rewriting the global food equation', but to what script? Priorities and strategic choices in addressing food insecurity within vulnerable population". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Dimensions of the Global Food Crisis: Session 11
Barry Coates, Oxfam, New Zealand presents "Need and greed: Food security, trade and global supply chains". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
China's Ascent: New Superpower or New Global System? Session 11
Professor Gerald Chan, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland presents "China's Rise in Global Economic Governance". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
China's Ascent: New Superpower or New Global System? Session 11
Professor Gerald Chan, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland presents "China's Rise in Global Economic Governance". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
