Great Decisions 2012

GD_2012

Discussions to engage citizens in learning about the world
To reference the LWV-LPC 2008 - 2011 Great Decisions activities, click the Great Decisions Archive to your left.

Great Decisions 2012.  GD 2012 Reference Materials.  Past Events.

Great Decisions 2012

*January 2012: Please note that the January 2012 Great Decisions Update is now available from the Foreign Policy Association

*Our 2012 Great Decisions Series has begun on Tuesday, January 19 and Thursday, January 21 in Program Room 2 at the Durango Public Library. Please feel free to join us from 11:45AM to 1:45PM for a lively discussion

Topics for the 2012 session include:

• Middle East realignment January 17 & 19 session moderator: Ellen Park
• Promoting democracy January 31 & February 2 session moderator: Curt Johnson
• Mexico February 14 & 16 session moderator: John Lyons
• Cybersecurity February 28 & March 1 session moderator: Gail Harris
• Exit from Afghanistan & Iraq March 13 & 15 session moderator: Ed Villmoare
• State of the oceans March 27 & 29 session moderator: Dennis Lum
• Indonesia April 10 & 12 session moderator: Ross Park
• Energy geopolitics April 24 & 26 session moderator: Glenn Rodey

Great Decisions 2012 Reference Materials

*Session 3 Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012 & Thursday, Feb 16, 2012: 2012 Great Decisions Session #3, session moderator - John Lyons,

Mexico: transborder crime and governance by George Grayson, Professor at the College of William and Mary, Seniopr Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies and an Associate Scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute
Suggested readings:

• Foreign Policy Association referenced readings on Mexico
• Astorga, Luis, and Shirk, David H. Drug Trafficking Organizations and Counter-Drug Strategies in the U.S. - Mexican Context Cernter for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California at San Diego.
• Grayson, George W., Mexico: Narco Violenceand a Failed State? Center for Hemispheric Studies, University of Miami
• Seelke, Clare Ribando, and Beittel, June S., Merida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Initiatives Congressional Research Service
• 1/18/12 NYTimes:Mexico's Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican drug war that has largely been defined by violence along the border is intensifying in interior and southern areas once thought clear of the carnage, broadening a conflict that has already overwhelmed the authorities and dispirited the public, according to analysts and new government data. Last week, two headless bodies were found in a smoldering minivan near the entrance to one of the largest and most expensive malls in Mexico City, generally considered a refuge from the grisly atrocities that have gripped other cities throughout the drug war. Two other cities considered safe just six months ago -- Guadalajara and Veracruz -- have experienced their own episodes of brutality: 26 bodies were left in the heart of Guadalajara late last year, on the eve of Latin America's most prestigious book fair, and last month the entire police force in Veracruz was dismissed after state officials determined that it was too corrupt to patrol a city where 35 bodies were dumped on a road in September. The spreading violence, believed to largely reflect a widening turf war between two of the biggest criminal organizations in the country, has implications on both sides of the border, putting added pressure on political and law enforcement leaders who are already struggling to show that their strategies are working...

  *Session 2 Tuesday Jan 31 & Thursday Feb 2: session moderator - Curt Johnson
  Promoting Democracy: foreign policy imperative by Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He also directs the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. *Suggested Readings:

• Great Decisions 2012 Preview: Exporting Democracy video Nov 22, 2011
• Great Decisions 2012 Winter Update: Promoting Democracy Jan 20, 2012
• Carothers, Thomas, Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve 1999
• Council for a Community of Democracies, A Diplomat's Handbook for Democracy Development Support 2011 Diamond, Larry, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World Jan 2008
• McFaul, Michael, Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should and How We Can Nov 2009
• NY Times Opinion 1/22/12: Do Drones Undermine Democracy
• Time Magazine Interview 1/30/12: The Strategist by By Fareed Zakaria
• Making Modernity Work: The Reconciliation of Capitalism and Democracy by Gideon Rose
• The Future of History: Can Liberal Democracy Survive the Decline in the Middle Class? By Francis Fukuyama

*Session 1 Tuesday, Jan 17 & Thursday, Jan 19: session moderator- Ellen Park

Middle East Realignment: The Arab upheaval by Augustus Richard Norton, Professor of International Relations and Anthropology at Boston University where he is Director of the Institute for Iraqi Studies.

*Suggested Readings:

• On the State of Egypt: What made the revolution inevitable by Alaa Al Aswany, DissentMagazine.org
• The Middle East Current History (requires subscription)
• In the Country of Men Hisham Matar, Nominated for a Booker Prize in 2006, Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men is mainly told through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, Suleiman. For the most part, what Suleiman sees in this story, no child should have to witness.
• Arab Reform Initiative analysis in English and in Arabic from experts, including staff on the ground in the Middle East.
• Center for Strategic and International Studies expert assessments of strategic options for U.S. policy
• International Crisis Group detailed and valued assessment of crisis spots around the globe including Syria, Egypt, and Libya.

Past Events

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: February 18, 2012 10:11 PST.

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