International Civic Engagement

Richard Florida on Bloggingheads.tv

The University of Toronto's Richard Florida, author of the recently published Who's Your City?, appeared on Bloggingheads.tv with The Cato Institute's Will Wilkinson in a diavlog posted yesterday.

2010 Regional Census Centers

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced the locations of several 2010 Regional Census Centers.  I will attend the open house for the Kansas City center tomorrow morning.

Call for Papers - Conference in Citizenship Studies

From H-CITIZENSHIP:

The Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University announces its Sixth Annual Conference in Citizenship Studies.  The conference will be held at Wayne State's Detroit campus on 26 – 28 March 2009, and will focus on the Center’s theme for the 2008-2009 academic year, Representing Citizenship. 

Distinguished philosopher Wil Kymlicka (Queens University, Ontario, Canada), author of Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, will serve as the conference's keynote speaker. 

The Center invites proposals for papers, panels, poster sessions, artistic displays and performances that examine citizenship and representation in many senses, from the political and legal to the literary and artistic.  Topics may include but are not limited to the representation of political or legal interests by proxies such as legislators, political parties, interest groups, or lawyers; the representation of citizens in novels, plays, or print, broadcast, or digital media and the cultural consequences of this "embodiment"; and the circulation of depictions and descriptions of citizenship in school texts, government films, or other media meant to model or critique civic behavior.  These examples are meant to be suggestive, not to limit the range of potential subjects for scholarly inquiry.  We invite presentations from any time period or geographic area from among and across the widest range of disciplines, including but not limited to literature, political science, history, anthropology, law, communications, sociology, economics, geography, medicine, film studies, and the fine arts.  We welcome proposals from scholars, graduate students, artists, and performers. 

If you would like to participate in the conference as a moderator or commentator, rather than presenter, please indicate that along with your area(s) of expertise (political science, literature, etc.) and include a brief c.v.

The Center plans to publish a volume of papers from the conference.  Proposals should be submitted using the Center's online form, available 15 August by the submission deadline of Friday, 14 November 2008.  Both panel proposals and individual submissions are welcome.  Questions should be directed to Marc W. Kruman aa1277@wayne.edu.

We regret that the Center does not provide funding for travel or other expenses.

UN Spearheads Climate Change Debate

I received this opinion piece yesterday from my ASPA colleague Bill Miller, a long-time UN observer:

A year or two ago few of the climate change observers would have predicted that the debate would have gained the incredible traction and visibility it has recently. Although many groups were involved, much of the credit for showcasing this critical issue goes to various UN entities, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon and former Vice President Al Gore.

Gore, who attained international rock star status, effectively used the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” to explain in understandable terms very complex, scientific climatic changes and how they may negatively impact the earth.

Undoubtedly, Al Gore was instrumental in identifying the climate change problem, developing a systematic way to explain it, and focusing the public’s attention on what most scientific studies suggest will be a crisis that could adversely affect most forms of life on the planet.

Another key player in the debate was a group that co-shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore: the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Unfortunately, some xenophobic American media outlets had a difficult time reporting that both the IPCC and Al Gore won the prize. A large number of newscasters either reported late in the story --or not at all--about the UN sharing the coveted award. They gave the erroneous impression that Al Gore was the only recipient.

The IPCC, established in 1988 and consisting of over 2,000 eminent scientists from over 130 countries, issued four hard hitting scientific reports that contained a litany of potential doomsday scenarios ranging from violent storms, melting icebergs, rising sea levels, loss of species, massive droughts, desertification, and destruction of rain forests, to mention a few.

The last report by the IPCC was a “synthesis” report that combined lessons learned from the first three: scientific arguments, how the world can adapt to global warming, and ideas to reduce greenhouse gases.

Another key player, who received little credit for his role in the debate, was UN Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-moon. Early on in his tenure the Secretary General took a hands-on approach in elevating this issue. For starters, he helped guide the IPCC’s fourth report that paved the way for a substantive 2007 climate conference in Bali, and he diplomatically confronted and goaded the US and China, the two major polluters, to get involved in finding a solution.

Ban Ki-moon was also the first UN Secretary General to lead a delegation to Antarctica and Brazil to experience firsthand the melting of the glaciers and the disappearing rain forest, which is often compared to being the “lungs” of the earth.

Perhaps in an effort to raise consciousness and develop coalitions, one of Ban Ki-Moon’s most notable, yet quiet, accomplishments was addressing, the National Association of Evangelicals, where he was apparently very well-received. Although evangelicals have not traditionally been close allies of the UN and its programs, polls show that many of the leaders and rank-and-file members are starting to view the UN more favorably, especially on issues like Darfur, humanitarian assistance and global warming.

Some of Ban Ki-Moon’s friends and foes alike have wondered whether he may be too docile when dealing with the US and may be viewed as a toady for President Bush. Apparently, if the climate change issue is an accurate barometer, Ban will pick his battles carefully. He will maintain his diplomatic façade, work behind the scenes, and then implement his strategy.

Ban drove the point home at a 2007 climate conference at the UN when he commented that the “cost of inaction will far outweigh the cost of early action.” President Bush and Secretary of State Condi Rice have strenuously argued that a technological energy revolution and voluntary goals were needed so as not to stifle economic growth. Apparently, Ban Ki-Moon did not get the memo about kowtowing to the US. Arguably, the Bush Administration was probably not very pleased with the SG’s enthusiasm and independence in promoting the climate change debate.

What role can the UN play in further discussions about global warming? There are several critical areas where the UN can continue to lead. For example:

      --SG Ban Ki-Moon recently reported that the climate change issue would top the UN agenda in 2008, along with peacekeeping, pre-emptive diplomacy, Millennium Development Goals, and internal reforms. He also indicated that the UN is the logical venue to promote a discussion and resolution of the climate change since the UN has all 192 countries of the world as members. Global warming problems will not be resolved by a handful of countries, but will require massive international cooperation.

      --After the successful Bali Conference, the UN brought 100 environmental ministers to Monaco to continue the process and launched the Climate Neutral Network that will highlight “best practices” in confronting global warming.

      --As the Arctic ice melted, Russia recently planted a flag at the North Pole, thus claiming a swath of territory for its own. It is anticipated that the US, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark will contest control over what may be a very lucrative area consisting of oil and other natural resources.

      --The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Treaty, to which the US is not a signatory, and a UN hosted organization, called the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, will play a crucial role in determining which country has a legal claim to the land that is being exposed. Ironically, there is strong support from the Bush Administration, private sector, military, and nongovernmental organizations for the US to join the UNCLOS. By shunning the UNCLOS, a small number of US Senators has blocked the treaty and weakened the US’s bargaining position.

      --The UN Environment Program (UNEP), under the able leadership of a new and dynamic director Achim Steiner of Germany, will be more proactive in providing new scientific information regarding climate change. Recently, UNEP did a study that highlighted how governments are ignoring the seriousness of global warming. The study indicated that human consumption had outstripped available resources and “every human now requires a third more land to provide his or her needs than the planet can supply.”

      --In early February, the UN sponsored a meeting with two dozen organizations that highlighted the importance of governments and scientists worldwide to upgrade their climate prediction capabilities, which will save lives and help protect economies. The UN World Meteorological Organization will be a major player in monitoring climate shifts.

Some scientists believe that the earth has already hit the “tipping point” where it cannot reverse the negative effects of climate change. Although a recent poll showed that 62% of Americans considered global warming a serious danger, incredulously, given all of the dire reports and predictions, only a slim majority considered global warming to be a “very serious problem.”

One ray of hope is that the leading Democratic and Republican presidential contenders have the climate change crisis on their radar screen, much more so than President Bush. In the latest State of the Union speech, the president offered a tepid endorsement of extricating the US from fossil fuels and a disingenuous proposal to develop an international agreement to deal with climate change. The Bush Administration has stonewalled, even to the point of re-writing official scientific reports, any meaningful discussion of and implementation of aggressive measures to reduce the carbon footprint and other environmental irritants.

Another encouraging sign is that over 740 US cities have indicated they would work to achieve the Kyoto Protocol goals, which the US Administration has both ignored and undermined.

The handful of skeptics that doubt that global warming is happening will argue that this is a natural cycle that occurs every so many centuries. In the past, that may have been the case when the earth had a couple of million people who were emitting small amounts of pollution. Today’s reality is that there are 6.6 billion humans, predicted to be 9 billion by 2050, spewing out an overwhelming myriad of wastes and contaminants that pollute the air, water and land, not to mention the human body. Increasing the population will only exacerbate this problem.

      --Since most of the environmental degradation is aggravated by humans, it would be logical, but perhaps not politically popular, for the next US president to develop a “profile in courage moment,” confront head-on the hard reality that there are too many people on Terra Firma, and diplomatically recommend that a goal of 2.1 children per family should be a stated goal in the US and worldwide. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), a major UN agency in family planning (not abortion promotion), is working tirelessly to help educate women and men so that they can have control over when and how many children they wish to have.

Public administrators working in environmental programs have long been aware of the potential looming disasters associated with climate change. Today, researchers, academicians and practitioners alike are rapidly arriving at the same conclusion even if they are in diverse areas, such as transportation, health care, economic development or public financing: adverse climate changes affect ALL aspects of public administration and the public; yet ALL areas of public administration have a role to play in reducing the environmental threats.

At the recent economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that there is a looming water crisis in the world that may pre-empt the climate change problems. Nations and peoples will go to war and commit unspeakable atrocities to secure sufficient water supplies that are basic to their survival. Today, a large part of the problem in Darfur is attributed to a lack of water and desertification of the region.

British author G.K. Chesterton once suggested that “It isn’t they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.” For the past several years, there has been overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is a reality. Although some people have refused to see the problem, hopefully, they and the financial barons at the Davos conference will realize that the Secretary General is on target and they need to move quickly to deal with this imminent tragedy today—not tomorrow when it may be too late.

Bill Miller, former Chair of the ASPA Campaign for International Relations, is the accredited Washington International journalist at the UN and is the producer/moderator of Global Connections TV, which often interviews UN leaders in New York. Contact him at millerkyun@aol.com.

Social Networking – Business Searches for a Legitimate Use

I read this Chris Kuehl piece published in today's Armada Business Intelligence Brief:

It has always been an article of faith in the business world that networking is good for you and for your business. It is quite impossible to attend a meeting about marketing and sales development that doesn’t include a heartfelt exhortation to “get out there and network”. But for the vast majority of people who valiantly attend functions, join organizations and diligently collect business cards at every opportunity the effort seems hardly worth it. Lots of time spent talking to people who have no desire to do business with you and are just trying to avoid standing by themselves. There is even a sense of the desperation we are all so familiar with from high school dances – the gnawing suspicion that one will be utterly ignored. Now there is another compelling network to become engaged in – the social network as exemplified by applications like Facebook, MySpace, Linked-In and so on. Everybody, it seems, is out there but just as with most networking there doesn’t appear to be a real reason to be.

Analysis: The problem with networking – live or on the Net – is the wide variety of rationales for the behavior. For some the network is there for the development of business contacts but for many others it is their social life or a diversion. We have all met the chronic networker who seems more attracted to the prospect of meeting a future date than selling their widget and we have all met the people who seem to have arrived for lack of anywhere else to be. These same people are on the social networking sites. As the business community tries to figure out what Facebook might mean to their marketing efforts, the whole issue of human interaction comes into play. Few people want to be confronted with a hawking salesman in a social setting so the purpose of networking seems to be to simply create friends and acquaintances that might become colleagues in the future. How that is done on-line has yet to be determined but not from lack of trying.

Robert Putnam Will Open Kansas City Public Library Truman Forum on April 6

Harvard University professor Robert D. Putnam will address community building within the diverse American population and the importance of centers for public engagement and dialogue at the grand opening of the Kansas City Public Library's Truman Forum on April 6.

Funded in part with a substantial grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Truman Forum is a multi-purpose facility named for President Harry S Truman. The space is intended to serve as a catalyst for civic, political, literary, and intellectual engagement among the youth and adult populations of greater Kansas City.

Reservations to this event can be made online at http://www.kclibrary.org/rsvp/2008/truman_forum/#rsvp.

3D Virtual College Fair Provides Another Way to Reach Prospective Students

From The Greentree Gazette:

by Joe Dysart

More than fifty colleges and universities are recruiting prospective students in an online 3D virtual fair this week, which features live video presentations by college shopping experts and one-to-one text and video chats between admissions officers and attendees.

Dubbed ‘CollegeWeekLive,’ the two-day event, March 25-26, enables institutions to meet teenagers where they live – on the internet – and make quick, personal connections in a virtual world.

“CollegeWeekLive represents a smart investment for us,” says Anna Jaquez-Herron, assistant director of admission and financial aid at Colorado College, adding that the event enables the admissions staff to reach out to a much broader spectrum of students from around the country – and around the world.

Other institutions participating in the event include West Point, Temple, George Mason, Northeastern, Oregon State, Christian Brothers, Kansas State and Old Dominion.

A major draw of the event is the live, video-streamed presentations, which are presented in a virtual conference hall and include a post-talk, online Q&A chat with the experts. Top keynotes include “The State of College Admissions in 2008,” by recognized college shopping experts Howard and Matthew Greene and “The Financial Aid Office as Your Advocate,” by Ronald Johnson, UCLA director of financial aid.

Visitors also get a chance to check out specific colleges and universities in the fair’s virtual exhibition hall, where institutions have 3D virtual booths. Each college or university is able to brand its booth with school logos and recruiting slogans and stock it with recruitment videos, podcasts, brochures and applications. All booths also feature a link to the institution’s home website.

“Schools interested in getting a booth can be up-and-running in about 30 minutes,” says Michael Lewis, CollegeWeekLive’s vice president of marketing.

The virtual booths also enable school financial aid officers and other experts to present their own video webinars and interact with prospective students and parents in real-time via text or video chat. Many of the booths feature current students, who can text or video chat with visitors one-to-one and give visitors a personal perspective on what day-to-day life at the institution is really like.

The fair also has a virtual resource center, where visitors can download documents, videos and podcasts related to their college search and store that data in a personalized, virtual briefcase. A virtual financial aid library is available, stocked with resources that detail the variety of funding options available, including grants, scholarships, loans and work-study assistance credits.

Visitors can also sign-up for the CollegeWeekLive Mailing List, which emails alerts on future college fairs, as well as follow-up recruitment information from colleges and universities that participate in the fair. Fair promoters helped goose interest in the online happening with essay and video creation contests that award winners $2,500 scholarships to the institution of their choice.

Sixty-five percent of the anticipated student attendees are expected to be female, and 75 percent will most likely need some form of financial aid, says Lewis.

For a quick appreciation of what the 3D virtual fair is like, check out the event’s pre-programmed, three-minute virtual tour here.

Registration for 2008 Conference: The Many Faces of Public Management Reform in Asia-Pacific

From the International Public Management Network Listserv:

Registration is now open for the 2008 Conference of the Asia-Pacific Governance Institute and International Public Management Network: The Many Faces of Public Management Reform in Asia-Pacific: Moving Ahead Amidst Challenges and Opportunities in Emerging Markets, 7-9 July, 2008, Bangkok Thailand.

This conference will be of interest to scholars and public service professionals working on Asia-Pacific countries. Participation will be targeted at 30, so early registration is advised. If there are remaining openings after May 31, a late registration fee will be charged. The draft program is available on http://asiagovernance.blogspot.com/.

Public Satisfaction with e-Government Hits Lowest Level since 2005

From GovExec.com:

The public's affection for federal government Web sites waned for the third straight quarter during the first quarter of 2008. The score of 72.4 (out of 100) for the e-government portion of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index was a half point lower than last quarter and the lowest reading since 2005.

The dip in scores is due to several factors, including uncertainty about the upcoming presidential election and administration transition, according to Larry Freed, CEO and president of Foresee Results of Ann Arbor, Mich., which published the report. Overall, 42 percent of federal Web sites reported lower scores compared to last quarter, while 33 percent reported higher scores and 26 percent indicated no change. Two portals, which are department home pages or entryways to other sites, had the sharpest decline in satisfaction -- the GSA's Forms.gov and the USDA's home page received the lowest scores, 58 and 59 points, respectively.

"E-gov sites are experiencing challenges; we are back to a level of satisfaction we saw in 2005, and the big question is why," said Freed. He suggested that citizens' expectations of government Web sites are largely driven by their experience with commercial sites such as Google.com or Amazon.com, which could account for the public sector's lower scores. Freed said citizens expect the same ease of use, search capability and navigation that they would find at those Web sites.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39570&dcn=e_gvet

ASPA Section on Democracy and Social Justice Launches Blog

The American Society for Public Administration's (ASPA) newest section, the Section on Democracy and Social Justice (DSJ), launched its blog over the weekend.  Administered by Lisa Zanetti (University of Missouri) and Richard Box (University of Nebraska at Omaha), this blog will undoubtedly provide an important forum for critical thought and analysis.  Check out Lisa Zanetti's post titled "Henry Giroux and counternarratives."

DSJ is thought to be the first ASPA section to launch a blog.