At the discussion following a screening of Reality Show last month, filmmaker and educator Rob Davenport reinforced the underlying message of his 2008 documentary: International aid organizations may sometimes value impressing supporters over improving lives.

Read More | posted 10.3.08

The current US financial crisis “is obviously going to exacerbate the problems in the world economy. So I think we’re going to be looking at a slowdown,” Institute Board Member William R. Rhodes ’57 said in a recent Financial Times video interview on global impact. Also looking at the situation this week was Ross Levine, director of the Rhodes Center for International Economics at the Watson Institute. “The plan that came out last week gave enormous discretion to [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson, in particular, to allocate $700 billion,” Levine said in an interview with Bloomberg. “At least the plan that’s coming up now has more oversight from Congress, which is fully appropriate.” Levine will be part of an open discussion of the crisis on campus on Friday.

Read More | posted 10.2.08

Social entrepreneurs from Brown and other universities gathered at the Watson Institute one weekend in September for a retreat on “Sustaining Social Entrepreneurship: Helping Good Works Stay Well.” Led by Shirley Brice Heath, a Brown professor at large who studies youth-initiated social entrepreneurship around the world, the retreat highlighted steps young people have taken to create innovative social change and to sustain and extend these efforts.

Read More | posted 9.30.08

Watson Institute Senior Fellow Sue E. Eckert recently gave a mixed review to a new European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that gives Europe’s courts jurisdiction over local implementations of UN-mandated terrorist sanctions. “While the ruling is a challenge, I would hope it is also viewed as an opportunity which can be managed,” Eckert said during a panel at American University’s Washington College of Law. Separately, Countering the Financing of Terrorism, co-authored by Eckert, was recently reviewed in International Studies Review.

Read More | posted 9.30.08

The questions surrounding the current financial crisis continue to mount. Is there a single cause of the crisis? Is the bailout plan fair? What lies ahead? Answers have been provided in recent days by Watson Institute Board Member William R. Rhodes ‘57, Rhodes Center for International Economics Director Ross Levine, and Visiting Fellow Christopher Lydon, who has aired an Open Source interview with Vanguard founder John C. Bogle.

Read More | posted 9.29.08