June 7, 2013, 12:30PM-1:30PM, Sciences Po, 28 rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris, room H101

"The Comparative Advantage of Cities"

A public lecture with Donald Davis (Columbia University)

Donald Davis is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University.

June 18-26, 2013, Sciences Po, 13 rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris, France

Alliance Summer School in Science and Policy 2013

The Alliance Summer School in Science and Policy will be held in Paris (location to be confirmed). The sessions will be held on the following days: from Tuesday the 18th of June to Wednesday the 26th of June 2013. The Alliance Program’s Science and Policy Summer School will facilitate this dialogue during a week-long workshop to be held at Sciences Po in Paris or at Columbia University, building upon the successes of the first Summer School held in Paris last June. World-class professors and industry experts will be invited to lecture on global problems facing the scientific and policy communities and to engage students in discussion. About 30 graduate students from Columbia University, Sciences Po, École Polytechnique and Université Paris-I are expected to participate.

Application Deadline: May 17th, 2013.

For more information, please click here.

Co-sponsored by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)at Sciences Po and the Alliance Program at Columbia University.

May 28, 2013, 12:30PM-2:30PM, Reid Hall Paris

"Capture du carbone dans l'air ambiant / Carbon capture in ambient air"

Une session du séminaire Développement durable et économie de l'environnement avec Klaus Lackner et Alain Goeppert

Les émissions de gaz à effet de serre, au premier rang desquels le CO2, ne cessent de croître. Il devient donc chaque jour moins probable que cette tendance s’infléchisse avant que la concentration des gaz à effet de serre dans l’atmosphère ne dépasse ce que les climatologues considèrent comme compatible avec une probabilité raisonnable de maintenir l’augmentation de température moyenne en-dessous de 2°C. L’acidification des océans due à l’augmentation de la concentration du CO2 atmosphérique, amène en outre à formuler l’hypothèse que ce seuil déjà ambitieux s’avère lui-même trop élevé. Compte tenu de la persistance de ces gaz dans l’atmosphère, il se pourrait qu’il n’y ait finalement d’autre solution que d’aller les y rechercher.

For more information, please click here.

Co-sponsored by the Alliance Program at Columbia University.

May 2013

The Alliance program at Columbia University will be celebrating “Do One Thing For Diversity” during its commencement ceremony, on May 22nd and 23rd.

Its global educational experience, through dual BA and dual Master programs, was recognized by the UN for giving the students the opportunity to immerse themselves in two distinct academic, social and cultural environments, in a positive and inclusive spirit.

May 22, 2013, Columbia University

Commencement Ceremony for Alliance Dual BA Students

Columbia University and Science Po offer a global undergraduate educational experience through their dual BA Program and give the students the opportunity to immerse themselves in two distinct academic, social, and cultural environments by spending two years within a close-knit small college in a French regional setting and two years in a research university in New York City. Every year, around 200 students benefit from a range of 20 international dual degrees and joint programs in all disciplines, including Art History, Curatorial studies, International Affairs, Sustainable Development, Journalism and Financial Engineering. Dual degree programs are offered to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from all over the world.

More information about the Commencement Ceremony can be found here.

May 23, 2013, Columbia University

Commencement Ceremony for SIPA Students

May 2 2013, 12:00PM-1:30PM, 207 Knox Hall, Columbia University

"The Black Man's Burden: The Cost of Colonization of French West Africa"

A public lecture with Elise Huillery (Assistant Professor of Economics, Sciences Po; Sciences Po Alliance Visiting Professor 2013-2014)

Was colonization costly for France? Did French taxpayers contribute to colonies' development? This view has been widely accepted among French historians, though little empirical evidence has been provided. Using original data from colonial and mainland budgets, this paper reveals that French West Africa's colonization took only 0.29 percent of French annual expenditures, including 0.24 percent for military and central administration and 0.05 percent for French West Africa's development. For West Africans, the contribution from French taxpayers was almost negligible: mainland France provided about 2 percent of French West Africa's revenue. In fact, colonization was a considerable burden for African taxpayers since French civil servants' salaries absorbed a disproportionate share of local expenditures.

Mamadou Diouf will act as a discussant.

Elise Huillery joined the Department of Economics at Sciences Po in 2009. She holds a PhD in Economics from the Paris School of Economics, a MA in Management from HEC and a MA in Philosophy from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Her research is mainly focused on development economics and economic history. She has done research on colonial history, inequality and development in West Africa. She joined J-PAL in 2008 and is currently conducting field experiments in health, education and micro-entrepreuneurship in Niger, Morocco, Cameroun, Congo, Romania, Burkina Faso and France. As a Sciences Po Alliance Visiting Professor 2013-2014, she is currently teaching "Development Economics for Undergraduate Students" in the Department of Economics at Columbia University.

Mamadou Diouf is the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and the Director of Columbia University's Institute for African Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Before joining the faculty at Columbia University, he was the Charles D. Moody Jr. Collegiate Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Michigan, from 2000 to 2007. Before that, he was Head of the Research, Information, and Documentation Department of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and faculty member of the History Department of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.

Co-sponsored by Institute of African Studies at Columbia University.

May 1 2013, Columbia University

Philippe Boutry at Columbia University

Philippe Boutry is the president of Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He is also a professor in the Panthéon-Sorbonne University Department of History.

May 2013, Columbia University

Alain Dieckhoff at Columbia University

Alain Dieckhoff is Head of The Political Science Department of Sciences Po. He holds degrees from the University of Paris X-Nanterre, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and a Ph.D. in political sociology from the University of Paris X-Nanterre. He is a member of the editorial boards of Politique et sociétés, Maghreb-Machrek, Questions internationales and Israel Studies. In addition to his main research areas, which focus on politics, contemporary society and transformations of the state in Israel, he also works on the transformation of contemporary nationalism. His latest book is titled the "Routledge Handbook of Modern Israel" (2013).

Spring 2013, Columbia University

"Conversations with Sciences Po Faculty on Social Sciences"

A series of talks organized by the Alliance Program, co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science at Columbia University

April 9, 2013, 1:00PM-2:30PM, 1302 International Affairs Building Columbia University

"The Gamble of War: Is it Possible to Justify Preventive War?"

A book launch with Ariel Colonomos

Ariel Colonomos will be presenting his book, The Gamble of War: Is it Possible to Justify Preventive War?.

Michael Doyle will introduce the conference.

Ariel Colonomos holds degrees from the University of Paris-Dauphine (business and administration), the University of Paris X (philosophy) and a Ph.D. in political science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP). He joined CERI in 1998. He is co-ordinator (with Laetitia Bucaille) of the “Monde” (International Issues) book series at the Presses de Sciences Po; a member of the editorial boards of International Political Sociology; a regular visiting scholar at Columbia University with the Institute of War and Peace; the author of several publications focusing on the ethics of the international relations of an explanatory and normative point of view, including a recent study on the preventive use of force and its justification. His new research project investigates the role of predictive ideas in international relations.

Michael Doyle is the Harold Brown Professor of U.S. Foreign and Security Policy, which is a three-fold appointment in the School of International and Public Affairs, the Department of Political Science, and the Law School. His research interests include international relations theory, international law, and international history; civil wars and international peace-building; and the United Nations.

Co-sponsored by the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies and the Center of Global Governance at Columbia Law School.

May 2, 2013, 4:00PM-5:30PM, 707 International Affairs Building (420 W 118th St), Columbia University

"Israel after the 2013 elections"

A public lecture with Alain Dieckhoff

Yinon Cohen will act as a discussant.

Alain Dieckhoff is Head of The Political Science Department of Sciences Po. He holds degrees from the University of Paris X-Nanterre, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and a Ph.D. in political sociology from the University of Paris X-Nanterre. He is a member of the editorial boards of Politique et sociétés, Maghreb-Machrek, Questions internationales and Israel Studies. In addition to his main research areas, which focus on politics, contemporary society and transformations of the state in Israel, he also works on the transformation of contemporary nationalism. His latest book is titled the "Routledge Handbook of Modern Israel" (2013).

Yinon Cohen is Yerushalmi Professor of Israeli and Jewish Studies, and Chair, Department of Sociology, Columbia University. He is a member of the Columbia Center for Population Research, Columbia Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, and research associate at the Levi Institute. His areas of research include social stratification, labor markets, rising income inequality, labor market discrimination, socioeconomic ethnic and gender gaps, industrial relations, international migration, selectivity and economic assimilation of immigrants, and Israeli society.

May 1 2013, 4:30PM-6:00PM, 1512 International Affairs Building (420 W 118th St), Columbia University

"French Universities After 1968"

A discussion with Philippe Boutry (President, Panthéon-Sorbonne University)

Introduced by Provost John Coatsworth. Souleymane Bachir Diagne will act as a discussant. Chaired by Pamela Smith.

Philippe Boutry  is the President of Pantheon-Sorbonne University. He is also Professor of 19th century history in the Pantheon-Sorbonne University Department of History.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne is a Professor of French in the Department of French and Romance Philology at Columbia University. He received his academic training in France. His fields of research include history of logic, history of philosophy, Islamic philosophy, African philosophy and literature.

John Coatsworth is the Provost of Columbia University, as well as Professor of International and Public Affairs and of History. He is a leading scholar of Latin American economic and international history.

Pamela H. Smith is the Acting Chair of the Department of History at Columbia University. She specializes in early modern European history and the history of science. Her current research focuses on attitudes to nature in early modern Europe and the Scientific Revolution, with particular attention to craft knowledge and historical techniques.

RSVP here.

Co-sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs and the Department of History at Columbia University.

April 30, 6:30PM-8:30PM, Room 707 International Affairs Building, Columbia University

"Artisans of Liberty: Political Dissidents in Eastern Europe"

A film screening with the director, Ruth Zylberman

April 29, 6:00PM-7:30PM, Low Library Rotunda, Columbia University

"Living Side by Side: On Culture and Security"

A discussion with Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University)

CGT is pleased to present Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard. Professor Bhabha will deliver a talk entitled "Living Side by Side: On Culture and Security.” Afterwards, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and CGT Co-chair Saskia Sassen will discuss the talk and lead a question and answer session with the audience.

Registration at www.globalthoughtlecture.eventbrite.com

Undergraduate Breakfast with Professor Homi K. Bhabha, April 30th, 2013

An opportunity for undergraduates from Columbia and other regional universities to meet and talk with Professor Bhabha.  Please bring college ID: no registration necessary. The breakfast will be from 8:30-9:30 am, in room 918 of the International Affairs Building.

April 29, 2013, 6:00PM-7:30PM, 1501 International Affairs Building (420 W 118th St), Columbia University

"Carbon Pricing"

A dicussion with James Hansen (Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University) and Claude Henry (Professor at Sciences Po Paris and the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University).

"Some countries do it seriously and are prosperous -- What about yours?"

Klaus Lackner will chair the event.

James Hansen is an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He served as the head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, a part of the Goddard Space Flight Center, from 1981 to 2013. Hansen is best known for his research in the field of climatology, his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in 1988 that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change. In recent years, Hansen has become an activist for action to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Claude Henry is a physicist (quantum mechanics) turned economist. He has taught public economics and environment economics at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and at Lausanne University and he has written articles and books on these subjects. As a Sciences Po-Columbia Alliance Visiting Professor, he is currently teaching a course called "Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Goals", offered in collaboration with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Klaus Lackner is the Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University and the director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute. Lackner pioneered the concept of carbon dioxide air capture as a means for climate change mitigation, i.e. abating emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

(click flyer for larger version)

April 26, 2013, 9:00AM-6:45PM, 509 Knox Hall, Columbia University

"Phenomenology of Islamic Prayer"

A day-long conference led by Souleymane Bachir Diagne, acting director of the Institute of African Studies

How and why was the commandment of prayer established? What is its significance in connection with the Prophet’s Ascent (Mi’raj)? How should we comprehend the time of prayer as different from the serial time of our works and days? How should we understand also the different times of the five prayers?What interpretations for the very gestures accomplished during a prayer? These are some of the questions that will be raised.

For more information, please view the flyer.

Co-sponsored by the Institute for African Studies, the Partner University Fund, the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life, the Middle East Institute, the Department of French and Romance Philology, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, the Maison Francaise, the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, the British Council, and the Alliance Program.

April 26, 2013, 12:00PM-1:30PM, 1219 International Affairs (420 W 118th St), Columbia University

"Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon"

A book launch with Marie Pierre Rey (Slavic Research Center, Panthéon-Sorbonne University)

Marie Pierre Rey will present her book Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon, in the new English translation which was released in November 2012. Richard Wortman will act as a discussant.

Marie Pierre Rey is a professor of Russian and Soviet History at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, where she is also the director of the Slavic Research Center. She has authored various books in her field, of which her most recent is L’effroyable tragédie, une nouvelle histoire de la campagne de Russie.

Richard Wortman is a Bryce Professor Emeritus of European Legal History at Columbia University's Department of History. He specializes in the history of imperial Russia. He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1977, and Princeton from 1977 to 1988, before coming to Columbia.

Co-sponsored by the Harriman Institute.

April 25, 2013, Institute of International Education, New York

"Teaching Higher Education Policies today: How to articulate global challenges, local responses, best policy practices and academic analyses"

A presentation by Alessia Lefébure (Director of the Alliance Program and Adjunct Professor, SIPA, Columbia University) at the Global Higher Education Salon Inaugural meeting

April 22, 2013, 2:00PM, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
Amphitheatre Gay Lussac [directions]

"Earthquake Scientists and their Convictions"

with John Mutter (Columbia University, Alliance Visiting Professor at Ecole Polytechnique)

The L’Aquila earthquake struck at 3:32 am April 6, 2009, 309 people died, many asleep in their homes. In the weeks before there had been more over 300 tremors, some quite large. Shorty before the quake the head of the Italian Government’s Major Risks Commission, Dr. Bernardo De Bernardinis, reportedly told news media: “The scientific community tells me there is no danger because there is an ongoing discharge of energy.” Dr De Bernardinis and six seismologists from the Commission have been convicted of manslaughter, the fi rst seismologists ever convicted for failing to fulfill their responsibilities. What compelled Dr. Bernardo De Bernardinis to make his statement of assurance? Did he get the science wrong? What are the implications for scientists giving advice to the public? Are the “L’Aquila Seven” guilty of manslaughter? Should they even have been tried? Are scientists above the law?

John Mutter is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and an Alliance Visiting Professor for 2012-2013. His research focuses on the role of natural disasters in constraining development opportunities for poor and emerging societies. Meteorological extremes are expected to increase as a result of human-induced climate change, and his work attempts to assess who are most vulnerable to disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina.

The flyer for the event is available here.

Co-sponsored by the Département de Mécanique and the Institut Coriolis pour l'Environnement at the Ecole Polytechnique.

April 17, 2013, 6:30PM, Consulate General of France, 934 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10021 (between 74th and 75th Streets)

Conference on the environment and on water policy

with Laurence Tubiana and Upmanu Lall

On March 22nd, the international community celebrated the world water day. On this occasion, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, recalled that “One in three people already lives in a country with moderate to high water stress, and by 2030 nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 per cent”. Our two speakers will compare French and American policies addressing the scarcity of water worldwide.

Laurence Tubiana is founder of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris. She follows and participates in the international negotiations on climate change, in which IDDRI is highly involved. She is also professor and director of the Sustainable Development Center at Sciences Po Paris.

As a Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, she is currently teaching "International Political Economics of Biodiversity", "Political Economics of Energy and Climate Policies", and "Global Governance for Sustainable Development" at Columbia University.

Upmanu Lall is the Alan & Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University as well as the Director of the Columbia Water Center at the Earth Institute. He is a leading expert on hydroclimatology, climate change adaptation, risk analysis and mitigation. His research has emphasized hydrology, water resource systems analysis, operations research and stochastic processes with applications to flood/drought risk and uncertainty assessment and the design and operation of water systems.

Co-sponsored by the Consulate General of France.

April 16, 2013, 6:30PM-8:00PM, Room 200 South Fayerweather Hall, Columbia University

"Governing Space in a Metropolitan Age"

A public lecture with Vincent Feltesse (President of the Bordeaux Urban Community, Bordeaux, France, Mayor of the City of Blanquefort, France, 2001-2012), introduced by Richard Plunz

In France like elsewhere, globalization in weakening the State has put territories on the frontline. This is especially true for the metropolis, the territory most open, most connected, and plugged in to the real world. Metropolises are the venue where innovation unfolds, and are engines for economic growth. Metropolises focus essential strategic inputs, such as creative economy, institutional headquarters, higher education, R&D, but also social struggles. Metropolis governance is thus a crucial issue. The "generalized urban setting," and the undefined delineation between city and countryside, have brought about the obsolescence of traditional political institutions, which are no longer able to respond to the challenges of governing metropolitan territories. New practices and new tools must therefore be reinvented. New paths must be found to an effective urban public action.

Vincent Feltesse, as a French Congressman and President of the Bordeaux Agglomeration, is one of the leading French politicians to think and innovate around metropolitan issues. He is the founder of "Les Metropolitaines," a think-tank that focuses on metropolisation processes. In 2012, he directed the web campaign for French President François Hollande.

Richard Plunz is the Director of the Urban Design Program and Co-Director of the Earth Institute Urban Design Lab.

The flyer for the event can be viewed here.

RSVP here.

Co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Urban Design Lab at Columbia University, and the Alliance Program at Columbia University, the Ecole Polytechnique, Sciences Po and the Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

April 16, 2013, 12:00PM-1:30PM, Altschul Auditorium,
417 International Affairs Building, Columbia University

"Green Growth as a response to the European Crisis"

A discussion between Laurence Tubiana (IDDRI, Sciences Po Paris; SIPA, Columbia University), Jeffrey Sachs (Earth Institute, Columbia University), and Georges Papandreou (MP and Former Prime Minister of Greece; SIPA, Columbia University), chaired by Claude Henry (Sciences Po; Columbia University)

Participants:

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

George A. Papandreou is a Member of Parliament and Former Prime Minister of Greece, and a SIPA Global Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. An MP since 1981, he served in several government posts, as undersecretary of Culture and Minister of Education, before becoming Foreign Minister from 1999-2004.

Laurence Tubiana is the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), at Sciences Po Paris. She is also a Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where she is currently teaching "International Political Economics of Biodiversity", "Political Economics of Energy and Climate Policies", and "Global Governance for Sustainable Development".

Chair:

Claude Henry is a physicist (quantum mechanics) turned economist. He has taught public economics and environment economics at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and at Lausanne University and he has written articles and books on these subjects. As a Sciences Po-Columbia Alliance Visiting Professor, he is currently teaching a course called "Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Goals", offered in collaboration with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Co-sponsored by the Earth Institute, the Blinken European Institute, and the Alliance Program at Columbia University.