Summer Reading COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Summer Reading COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog One question we typically get from admitted applicants this time of year is advice for summer reading prior to the start of the fall term. There are generally two opinions from those I ask at SIPA about this topic. The first group says something like, Do as much fun reading as you can!   You wont have any time to read fun stuff while at SIPA because you will be so busy.   Of course your SIPA reading will be meaningful, but it might not be like reading a page turning popular novel. The second group offers advice on reading that is directly related to what SIPA is all about.   This can be divided into reading materials specific to courses and reading that is just related to topics in international and public affairs.   A future entry will be posted with information on accessing class listings and example syllabi so you can look forward to that, but for now here are some digital resources for you to consider reading and following in the coming months. SIPA Faculty Blogging and Online Forums: Steven Cohen: The Huffington Post Steven Cohen is director of SIPA’s Energy and Environment concentration; director of the MPA program in Environment Science and Policy; executive director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Stuart Gottlieb: The Arena on Politico Stuart Gottlieb teaches American foreign policy and counterterrorism. Gary Sick: Gary’s Choices on Tumblr Gary Sick is a senior research scholar at Columbia’s Middle East Institute and an adjunct professor at SIPA. He served on the National Security Council for three presidents, and is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Iran and the Persian Gulf region. Hassan Abbas: Asia Society and Watandost Hassan Abbas is Quaid-i-Azam Professor with SIPA and Columbia’s South Asia Institute. He teaches courses focusing on politics, religion and security in South Asia. Guillermo Calvo: The Ecomomist Guillermo Calvo is the director of SIPA’s mid-career Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM).   Professor Calvos main field of expertise is macroeconomics of emerging market and transition economies. Rodolfo de la Garza: WNYC Rodolfo de la Garza specializes in immigration, Latino political behavior, and public policy. He directs the Project on Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race and is vice-president of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. José Antonio Ocampo: Project Syndicate José Antonio Ocampo is director of Economic and Political Development concentration at SIPA, and a Fellow of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. Professor Ocampo previously served in a number of positions in the United Nations and the Government of Colombia. Jagdish Baghwati: The American Interest Jagdish Baghwati is the Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics and a professor of political science. Benjamin Orlove: Earth Institute’s State of the Planet Benjamin Orlove focuses on environment and climate change. He is an anthropologist who has conducted field work in the Peruvian Andes, East Africa, the Italian Alps, and Aboriginal Australia. Tanya Domi: The New Civil Rights Movement Tanya Domi is Senior Public Affairs Officer at Columbia Universitys Office of Communications and Public Affairs. She teaches human rights at SIPA. Howard Freidman: The Huffington Post Howard Friedman works as a statistician and health economist for the United Nations, currently focused on the areas of maternal and newborn child health, health expenditures, and fertility at UNFPA. He teaches health economics at SIPA. Anne Nelson: PBS Media Shift Anne Nelson specializes in international media development and has worked extensively as an analyst, evaluator, and practitioner in the field. Ralph Da Costa-Núñez: The Huffington Post Ralph Da Costa-Núñez is President and CEO of Homes for the Homeless, and President of Institute for Children and Poverty, an independent think tank which focuses poverty, homelessness, and the impact on children and families. Student and alumni blogging: SIPA’s student-run blog: The Morningside Post Thanassis Cambanis’ graduate seminar blog: Writing About War. Samantha Barthelemy (MIA ’11/Sciences Po dual-degree): SAMANHATTAN. Michelle Chahine (MIA ’12): First Generation. Josh Gartner (MIA ’06): China Policy Pod. Francisco Noguera (MPA DP ’12): Next Billion Summer Reading COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog You will find many distinguished authors among the SIPA faculty.   Here are just a few books written by SIPA professors.   Many of these Professors have written several books, but I just wanted to give you a taste of the breadth of scholarship here at the SIP.  (All book descriptions are abridged from Amazon.com) Richard K. Betts is the Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies in the political science department, Director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, and Director of the International Security Policy program in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He was Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations for four years and is now an adjunct Senior Fellow there. Book Description: Combining academic research with personal experience, Betts outlines strategies for better intelligence gathering and assessment. He describes how fixing one malfunction can create another; in what ways expertise can be both a vital tool and a source of error and misjudgment; the pitfalls of always striving for accuracy in intelligence, which in some cases can render it worthless; the danger, though unavoidable, of politicizing intelligence; and the issue of secrecyâ€"when it is excessive, when it is insufficient, and how limiting privacy can in fact protect civil liberties.   Kenneth Prewitt is the Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs and the Vice-President for Global Centers. He taught Political Science at the University of Chicago from 1965-1982, and for shorter stints was on the faculty of Stanford University, Washington University, the University of Nairobi, Makerere University and the Graduate Faculty at the New School University (where he was also Dean). Prewitts professional career also includes, Director of the United States Census Bureau. He is currently completing Counting the Races of America: Do We Still Need To? Do We Still Want To?  (Nancy’s note: He has not published this one yet. I included this because I contributed some research for it.  We’ll see if it actually makes it in! If you have the chance, definitely take a class with Prof. Prewitt.) Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia and Co-Chair of the Universitys Committee on Global Thought. He is also the co-founder and co-president of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia.In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2011, Time named Stiglitz one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Book Description: America currently has the most inequality, and the least equality of opportunity, among the advanced countries. While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces. In this best-selling book, Stiglitz exposes the efforts of well-heeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice. Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete program to achieve that vision. Merit E. Janow is an internationally recognized expert in international trade and investment, with extensive experience in academia, government, international organizations and business and incoming SIPA Dean.  For the past 18 years, Merit E. Janow has been a Professor of Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and affiliated faculty at Columbia Law School. Currently she is Director of the International Finance and Economic Policy concentration at SIPA, Co-Director of the APEC Study Center, and Chair of the Faculty Oversight Committee of Columbia’s Global Center East Asia. Previously, she was Director of the Masters Program in International Affairs and Chair of Columbia University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. While at Columbia University, Professor Janow was elected in December 2003 for a four year term as one of the seven Members of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body, which is the court of final appeal for adjudicating trade disputes between the 153 member nations of the WTO. From 1997 to 2000, Professor Janow served as the Executive Director of the first international antitrust advisory committee of the U.S. Department of Justice that reported to the Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. Book Description: This volume brings together essays by world-renown leaders in the field of international trade examining the operation of the WTO and its dispute settlement system. The experts who have contributed to this book include policy makers, scholars, lawyers and diplomats. Two major areas of inquiry are undertaken. The first half of this volume examines the governance and operation of the WTO and the international trading system. It pays particular attention to issues that affect developing country Members of the WTO. The second half of this volume contains a detailed examination of the performance, operation, and challenges of the WTOs dispute settlement system. Dipali Mukhopadhyay joined the SIPA faculty as an assistant professor in July 2012.  She studies modern state formation in conflict and post-conflict settings.  Her research interests lie, in particular, with the challenges weak political centers face as they attempt to grow their authority in the midst of formidable competitors. She is currently finishing a forthcoming book manuscript with Cambridge University Press entitled Warlords, Strongman Governors and State Building in Afghanistan.  She has been conducting research in eastern and northern Afghanistan, as well as Kabul, since 2007 and made her first trip to the country  for a project with the Aga Khan Development Network in 2004. Her book, Warlords As Bureaucrats, is forthcoming   Book Description: Afghanistans weak central government and limited resources make the informal networks employed by local warlords a viable option for governance. The countrys former warlords, made powerful governors by President Hamid Karzai, use both formal and informal powers to achieve security objectives and deliver development in their provinces. Based on substantial in-country research and interviews, Dipali Mukhopadhyay examines the performance of two such governors, Atta Mohammed Noor and Gul Agha Sherzai, who govern the northern province of Balkh, and the eastern province of Nangarhar, respectively. Ester R. Fuchs is Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science and Director of the Urban and Social Policy Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.  She served as Special Advisor to the Mayor for Governance and Strategic Planning under New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2001 to 2005. Prof. Fuchs was chair of the Urban Studies Program at Barnard and Columbia Colleges and founding director of the Columbia University Center for Urban Research and Policy.  Prof. Fuchs recently received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Queens College; Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Award for Outstanding Teaching; and NYC’s Excellence in Technology Award for Best IT Collaboration among Agencies for Access New York.   Book Description: Chicago and New York share similar backgrounds but have had strikingly different fates. Tracing their fortunes from the 1930s to the present day, Ester R. Fuchs examines key policy decisions which have influenced the political structures of these cities and guided them into, or clear of, periods of economic crisis. Lincoln Mitchell is an Associate at the Harriman Institute and an Affiliate at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.  Prior to joining the Harriman Institute, Mitchell was Arnold A. Saltzman Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Politics at Columbia University.  In addition to serving as Chief of Party for the National Democratic Institute in Georgia from 2002-2004, he has worked on political development issues in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.  Mitchell also worked for years as a political consultant in New York City advising and managing domestic political campaigns.   Book Description: In November of 2003, a stolen election in the former Soviet republic of Georgia led to protests and the eventual resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze. Shevardnadze was replaced by a democratically elected government led by President Mikheil Saakashvili, who pledged to rebuild Georgia, orient it toward the West, and develop a European-style democracy. Known as the Rose Revolution, this early twenty-first-century democratic movement was only one of the so-called color revolutions (Orange in Ukraine, Tulip in Kyrgyzstan, and Cedar in Lebanon). What made democratic revolution in Georgia thrive when so many similar movements in the early part of the decade dissolved?   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 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. He is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, and is director of the Millennium Villages Project. Sachs is also one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates, and a Commissioner of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Development.  Book Description: The last great campaign of John F. Kennedy’s life was not the battle for reelection he did not live to wage, but the struggle for a sustainable peace with the Soviet Union. To Move the World recalls the extraordinary days from October 1962 to September 1963, when JFK marshaled the power of oratory and his remarkable political skills to establish more peaceful relations with the Soviet Union and a dramatic slowdown in the proliferation of nuclear arms.Jeffrey D. Sachs shows how Kennedy emerged from the Missile crisis with the determination and prodigious skills to forge a new and less threatening direction for the world. Together, he and Khrushchev would pull the world away from the nuclear precipice, charting a path for future peacemakers to follow. Liza Featherstone is the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart (Basic Books, 2004), which was praised by publications ranging from the New York Review of Books to Bitch magazine. Since that book’s publication, she has continued to write about Wal-Mart’s employment practices.  Featherstone is also a co-author of Students Against Sweatshops (Verso, 2002).She has been a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economic Journalism at Columbia University, as well as a Hoover Institution Media Fellow.Featherstone, has written for Slate, Salon, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Babble, Newsday, The San Francisco Chronicle, The American Prospect, CNN.com, New Labor Forum and many other publications.  She is best known for her work in The Nation magazine, where she is a contributing writer.   Book Description: In 2000, Betty Dukes, a fifty-two-year-old black woman in Pittsburg, California, became the lead plaintiff in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, a class action, representing 1.6 million women. In her explosive investigation of this historic lawsuit, journalist Liza Featherstone reveals how Wal-Mart, a self-styled family-oriented, Christian company: Deprives women (but not men) of the training they need to advance. Relegates women to lower-paying jobs like selling baby clothes, reserving the more lucrative positions for men. Inflicts punitive demotions on employees who object to discrimination. Exploits Asian women in its sweatshops in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth. Featherstone goes on to reveal the creative solutions that Wal-Mart workers around the country have found, like fighting for unions, living-wage ordinances, and childcare options. Steven Cohen is the Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science. Dr. Cohen served as a policy analyst in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1977 through 1978 and 1980-81, and as consultant to the agency from 1981 through 1991, from 1994 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2010. From 2001 to 2004, he served on the United States Environmental Protection Agencys Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology. He serves on the Board of Directors of Homes for the Homeless. Book Description: Can we grow our world economy and create opportunities for the poor while keeping the planet intact? Can we maintain our vibrant, dynamic lifestyles while ensuring the Earth stays productive and viable? Aimed at managers, students, scholars, and policymakers, Sustainability Management answers these questions in the affirmative, arguing it is possible for environmentally sustainable business practices and policies to foster economic and long-term growth.