Below is a chronological listing of upcoming programs and events.  To see programs/events of a specific type, click on the sub-menu item to the left.

The focus of the Spring 2010 International Lecture Series  program is on four nations that appear to be doing remarkably well despite the impact of the global recession. BRIC is an acronym often applied to the subjects of the spring series: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. While each of them has a unique political structure, cultural make-up and history, the BRIC nations have generally done far better than others including the United States and much of the Western World in generating remarkable rates of economic growth. The speakers in our series will help us understand what factors and strategies these nations have utilized to outdistance their rivals. There may well be important lessons for our own country in examining the successes of the BRIC group.  The program is:

• Lecture 1, Brazil: The Latin American Giant, January 23
• Lecture 2, China:  Monster, Menace or Fragile Superpower, February 20
• Lecture 3, India:  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, March 20
• Lecture 4, Russia:  Rising Ambitions, Growing Challenges, April 17

Read the postings below for more information.

Speaker: Charles Bergman
Location to be determined

Mr. Bergman will address the question of how we should view China. Is China a gentle giant in the midst of a “peaceful rising”? Or is China a growing threat to the US and its global interests? As the balance of power shifts to accommodate China’s rise, how will the US and China react to each other? And what can we do as thoughtful citizens to ensure that the US-China relationship evolves toward cooperation instead of conflict?

Charles Bergman is a member of the history faculty at the Albuquerque Academy. He earned master’s degrees from both Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. He has traveled extensively in the Far East and written knowledgably about Modern China.

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website.  (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

Economic Development in Afghanistan: 
How can we use it to promote peace?

 Presenter:  Andrew “Drew” Tulchin of Social Enterprise Associates
Location:  Santa Fe Hilton, 100 Sandoval Street
Price:  $26/CIR Members; $32/Non-members and Guests
Reservation Deadline: Noon on Friday, February 26

Andrew ‘Drew’ Tulchin is Managing Partner of Social Enterprise Associates, New Mexico’s only registered B Corporation, which seeks to leverage the power of the marketplace to ‘do well by doing good’ and make new ideas reality. http://www.socialenterprise.net

Drew’s professional experience spans many sectors and consulting in more than 30 countries.  Last year’s visits included Afghanistan, Haiti, Mexico and Mozambique.  Current clients include SEEP Network, Environmental Defense Fund, USAID for AED’s ARIES project, the German GTZ, Organic Exchange and Historic Fort Apache on the White Mountain Apache Indian Tribe (Arizona).  Drew has extensive experience in new ventures.  He has launched 15 entities and more than fifty business plans.

Drew completed his MBA at University of Washington and his BA, Cum Laude from Washington University.  His studies included a year abroad at Sussex University, UK.  He began his career as a VISTA volunteer providing Red Cross post-disaster experience after Los Angeles’ earthquake.

Suggested Reading:

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart, a travel narrative about a solo walk across North-Central Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a novel set against a backdrop of events in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees and the rise of the Taliban regime.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin, a description of the author’s transition from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and educating girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Through CIR’s Student Outreach Program, interested students and teachers are invited to attend World Affairs Discussion events for free.  You can help fund this program by including a donation with your registration fee.   Purchase tickets with a Visa or Mastercard on this website or call the CIR Office at (505) 982-4931.

Fee Type: CIR Member Ticket ($26)Non-member/Guest Ticket ($32)

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Location:  Estancia Primera Clubhouse

Estancia Primera Club House is located at 450 Avenida Primera South off of Hyde Park Road.

The book will be The Limits of Power:  The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich.

Talk:  A Special Time in the Special Relationship—The United States and Great Britain

By:  Lynne Olson, freelance writer and former correspondent

St. John’s College, Great Hall
$15 for CIR Members/$20 for non-members

 Co-sponsored by Santa Fe Council on International Relations and St. John’s College

St. John’s campus bookstore will have in stock two of Olson’s books:  Citizens of London (to be released February, 2010) and Troublesome Young Men (published April, 2007).   The bookstore will remain open until after the event.

 Following her presentation, Olson will join in a panel discussion with Stanley Cloud and Mike Peters of St. John’s College, moderated by John Andrews.  The panel will entertain questions from the floor.

Lynne Olson has been a reporter and writer since shortly after her graduation from the University of Arizona. She worked for the Associated Press in the U.S. From 1971 to 1973 and in 1974 became AP’s first woman correspondent in Moscow. In 1976, Olson returned to Washington, where she covered Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. In 1977 Olson joined the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House. In 1981 she became a freelance writer. She has written for numerous publications and taught journalism for five years at American University in Washington.

Olson and her husband, Stanley Cloud, are co-authors of The Murrow Boys, which was named one of the best books in 1996 by Publishers Weekly. Olson’s second book,Freedom’s Daughters, is the first comprehensive history of women in the civil rights movement. Published by Scribner in February 2001, it won a Christopher Award in 2002. Olson joined with Cloud again to write A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 2003.

Olson’s fourth book, Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in April 2007. Drawing wide critical acclaim, it was named one of the top 10 books of 2007 by New York Times book reviewer William Grimes and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize in history.

Her latest book, Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, will be published by Random House in February 2010.

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website. (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

Fee Type: CIR Member Ticket ($15)Non-member/Guest Ticket ($20)

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Speaker: Dr. Stanley Wolpert
Location:  Santa Fe Preparatory School

Professor Wolpert will analyze India’s remarkable economic development, the opportunities created by the youthful majority of its population, and the challenges posed by the lagging rural sector. He will also discuss India’s strategic partnership with the United State and the terrorist threats the country faces, paying special attention to India-Pakistan relations and the long-standing conflict over Kashmir. Wolpert will consider both the nightmare scenario of nuclear conflict between these two countries as well as suicide bombings, and the prospects for peace and progress.

Stanley Wolpert is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles where he is affiliated with UCLA’s Asia Institute. He earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and has published several books including A New History of India (4th edition, Oxford University Press, 1993).

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website.  (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

CIR will host a seminar/ workshop for invited humanities teachers, funded by a grant from the Turkish Cultural Foundation and administered by the World Affairs Council of America.
The workshop will include a historical review from the Ottoman Empire to modern Turkey and current issues in the Republic. Also, the workshop will address pedagogy and developing curriculum. CIR volunteers, using authentic recipes, are providing lunch.

From the seminar attendees, applications will be taken and four teachers will be selected for an 11 day Study Tour Of Turkey during the 2010 Summer. The four teachers from area schools will join about 25 other teachers from other world affairs councils around the country. The study tour of Turkey has been valued at $5000 per teacher and includes four and five star accommodations, all meals, all entrance fees to museums and cultural events and round trip air fare from Chicago to Istanbul. The study tour of Turkey is organized by the Turkish Cultural Foundation.

Teachers are responsible for paying a $600 fee to the Turkish Cultural Foundation and round trip airfare from Albuquerque to Chicago. We would appreciate any CIR members who can donate frequent flier miles to help the teachers off-set their travel costs. Please contact Susan with your donation at 982-4931.

At CIR, we think this project is well worth the effort to give our local teachers a first hand view of a country and culture with a fascinating history. The teachers, students and our community all benefit from this type of international activity.

The working title for this luncheon is International Water Issues.

SAVE THE DATE!

Speaker: Dr. Allen C. Lynch
Location:  Santa Fe Preparatory School

Professor Lynch’s talk will reflect on the growing gap between Russia’s rising ambitions and assertiveness in the international arena, the country’s economic growth, and oil and gas wealth on the one side, and shrinking human and natural resources on the other. He will answer the broader question of whether Russia has the social and economic foundation she needs to maintain her status as a great power in the international arena.

Allen Lynch occupies the Hugh S. & Winifred B. Cumming Memorial Chair in International Affairs in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia where he also serves as Director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies. He earned his doctorate at Columbia University and is a prolific author whose his most recent book is How Russia is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website.  (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

Location:  Estancia Primera Clubhouse

Estancia Primera Club House is located at 450 Avenida Primera South off of Hyde Park Road.

The book will be Googled:  The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta.