TheMortara Center

forInternational

Studies

annual report2006–07

Edmund A. Walsh

School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University

Dear Friends of the Mortara Center:

This past year has been an exciting one for the MortaraCenter as the new Initiative on International Development

got underway with a series of seminars, debates and presen-tations by scholars and practitioners. Among the highlights of the year were our series of Distinguished Lectures inInternational History and International Economics and ourlecture/seminar recognizing the winners of the Lepgold Prizefor the best book in international relations published in theprevious year.

The coming year promises to be a productive one as well withthe initiation of a Visiting Mortara Associates program, a new China Forum for professors and scholars with an interestin China at Georgetown and the continuation of our now “traditional” activities. The Center is now established as afocal point for debate and discussion in the University onissues involving international studies as well as an initiatorand convener for new activities drawing in the University’smany (but often dispersed) strengths and its abiding commit-ment to teaching, learning and research in the area wherethe world of theory and the world of practice converge.

The Mortara Center and its activities could not have been pos-sible without the extraordinary vision, dedication, and generos-ity of the Mortara Family. We are extremely grateful as wecontinue to build the Center that Michael Mortara envisioned.

Carol LancasterDirector

From the Director

Carol Lancaster

Portrait of Michael P. Mortara

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The academic year 2006–7 was aproductive one for the Mortara

Center. It continued a number of theprograms and seminars that had beeninitiated in 2005–6, the first yearthe Center enjoyed its wonderful newspace. It also initiated several newactivities, including the Initiative on International Development. TheCenter looked forward to gettinganother initiative underway in2007–8—the Visiting MortaraAssociates program.

Looking Back on 2006–2007

The new Mortara Center website can be found at:mortara.georgetown.edu

The website for the Initiative on International Development can be found at:mortara.georgetown.edu/development

Annual Speeches

The annual Goldman Sachs lecture—a centerpiece of the annual MortaraCenter program—was delivered byEllen Johnson Sirleaf, the Presidentof Liberia and the first woman presi-dent of an African country. PresidentSirleaf spoke about the extraordinaryopportunities and challenges con-fronting her country as it rebuildsits economy and society after yearsof civil war and instability.Everything was needed: roads thathad disappeared; schools and healthclinics that no longer existed; elec-tricity that had not been availablefor 15 years. Investment, aid anddebt relief were essential to Liberia’srecovery as was security and politicalstability. A good start on recovery hadbeen made but much more needed tobe accomplished. President Sirleafappealed to Liberians in the United

States and others sympathetic to the country’s needs and dreams con-tribute their skills and ideas to leadthe country forward.

President Sirleaf also held a seminar discussion on Liberia for 25Georgetown students after her address.

Professor Paul Kennedy of YaleUniversity gave the DistinguishedLecture on Diplomatic History inNovember. His topic was “The Past,Present and Future of the UnitedNations” which was based on hisrecent book, The Parliament of Man.

Professors Jack Snyderand Edward Mansfield,winners of the LepgoldBook Prize for an excep-tional work in interna-tional relations publishedduring the past year, lectured on their book,Electing to Fight whichdealt with the relationship betweendemocracy and conflict. This eventwas co-sponsored with theGovernment Department.

In April, Professor Dani Rodrik gave the Distinguished Lecture onInternational Economics. He spokeon “Is Globalization Compatible with Democracy?” The Center forDemocracy and Civil Society co-sponsored this lecture.

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Major Activities

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,President of Liberia

President Sirleaf

Conferences

Each year, the Mortara Center organ-izes one or more conferences or panelson contemporary issues in interna-tional relations or on those issuesjust over the horizon which promiseto become prominent in the comingyear. In November, 2006, the MortaraCenter and the Institute for theStudy of Diplomacy co-hosted a panelentitled “After the Elections: Impacton Foreign Policy” included formerCongressman Mickey Edwards, DavidIgnatius of the Washington Post, formerUS Ambassador to Turkey, MarkGrossman and former Counselor ofthe Department of State, AmbassadorWendy Sherman. With control of theUS Congress passing to the Democrats,what would be the key issues in thecoming year? Iraq, of course, was atthe center of a lively discussion.

In February, 2007, the MortaraCenter sponsored a conference on“Iraq: The Approaching Endgame.”This series of panels and discussionswas co-sponsored by the Departmentof Government, the Institute for theStudy of Diplomacy and the Centerfor Peace and Security Studies. Theconference was organized aroundthree panels: Security, Partition, andRegional Issues. Speakers includedLieutenant General William E. Odom,former director of the NationalSecurity Agency; Nora Bensahal,Senior Political Scientist of the RANDCorporation; Nicholas Sambanisfrom Yale University; ChaimKaufman from Lehigh University;

Andrew Bennett from GeorgetownUniversity; Paul Pillar, formerNational Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia; andAmbassador David L. Mack, actingPresident of the Middle EastInstitute.

In March, 2007, together with theBerkley Center on Religion, Peaceand World Affairs, the MortaraCenter hosted a conference on“Evangelicals and Foreign Policy”that examined the increasing role ofthe evangelical movement in the USboth on foreign policy and develop-ment policy. Among those presentingat this conference were Luis Lugo,Director of the Pew Center onReligion and Politics; Richard Cizik,Vice President of the NationalAssociation of Evangelicals and,Richard Land, President of theSouthern Baptist Convention

Debates

The Mortara Center organized two debates among prominentGeorgetown faculty in 2006–7. Thefirst debate was between AndrewNatsios, former Administrator of the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment and Professor CarolLancaster, Director of the MortaraCenter (and former DeputyAdministrator of USAID) on “ShouldRich Countries Double Aid in theNext Three Years?”.

The second Mortara Debate wasbetween School of Foreign Service

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Caption

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Dean Robert Gallucci and ProfessorDan Byman, Director of the Centerfor Peace and Security Studies on theseverity of the threat of terroristsusing weapons of mass destruction.

Lectures and Seminars

The Mortara Center hosted a numberof luncheon presentations by schol-ars and prominent practitioners ofinternational relations, includingProfessors Robert Jervis and NancyBermeo. Welcome lunches for newfaculty—including Bruce Hoffman,Katherine Marshall and DouglasFeith—were also part of the fallMortara program.

Universities are about ideas. A majorvehicle for new ideas are books. TheMortara Center hosted presentationson new books on international rela-tions: Georgetown Professor (and for-mer Secretary of State) MadelineAlbright on her book, The Mighty andthe Almighty; Ethan Kapstein on hisbook Economic Justice in an Unfair World;Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman onEthical Realism: A Vision for America’sRole in the World; Todd Moss from theCenter for Global Development onAfrican Development: Making Sense ofIssues and Actors; Professor ChesterCrocker on Leashing the Dogs of War;Allen Hammond of the WorldResources Institute on The Next FourBillion; and Professors CharlesKupchan and Peter Trubowitz ontheir work on “The Demise of LiberalInternationalism in America”.

Illuminati Dinners andFaculty Working Groups

Georgetown University is home to anumber of prominent scholar/practitioners. The Mortara Centerorganizes pizza dinners for graduatestudents with these “Illuminati”during the academic year. In 2006–7,the Illuminati included formerSenator Tom Daschle, formerNational Security Council Advisor,Anthony Lake, former USAIDAdministrator Andrew Natsios, former Polish President AlexanderKwasniewski and political commen-tator Mark Shields.

Two Faculty Working Groups metduring the year: one on InternationalTrade, chaired by Professor MarcBusch; and one on Culture andInternational Relations, chaired by Professor Dan Nexon. A one dayworkshop on Transitional Justicewas organized by Professor Leslie Vinjamuri.

The Mortara Center also hosted con-versations among foreign policy pro-fessionals from the State Departmentand NSC and Georgetown faculty;among equity investors in Africa andGeorgetown faculty experts in theregion; and among visiting Chinesediplomats and Georgetown studentson soft power.

Dr. Mohammed Yunnus,Nobel Peace Prize winner and creator ofGrameen Bank

Dr. Mohammed Yunnus

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The Initiative onInternational Development

Responding to the increasing interestin world poverty and economic andsocial progress abroad among faculty,students and the leadership ofGeorgetown University, the MortaraCenter established the Initiative onInternational Development. ThisInitiative included a series of lec-tures, conferences and seminars onissues of global development as wellas a new website (accessed throughthe Mortara Center website) for theInitiative. Among the events spon-sored in 2006–7, were two major lec-tures, one by Dr. Mohammed Yunnus,Nobel Peace Prize winner and creatorof Grameen Bank in Bangladesh,among the largest and best knownmicro-enterprise programs in theworld; and a lecture on “LegalEmpowerment of the Poor” by

Dr. Madeline Albright and Dr. Hernando DeSoto. Luncheon sem-inars sponsored by the Initiativeincluded presentations by Ministersof Education from Afghanistan andfrom Pakistan, presentations by several prominent developmentpractitioners including Dr. AntoniaNeubauer on “Development in WarTorn Countries”, by Mehran Kamravaon “National Security: The Viewfrom Tehran”, and by Joel Lamsteinand Gill Garb of World Education on“Challenges of Fighting HIV/AIDS”.

The Mortara Center also co-spon-sored a conference on FightingWorld Hunger and two seminarseries: one with World Vision on current issues in development andone with the Wolfensohn Center at the Brookings Institution onInnovations in Development.

Above: Dr. HernandoDe Soto with Dr. Madeline Albright;above center:Dr. Hernando De Soto

Dr. Madeline Albright

Dr. Hernando De Soto lecture.

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For the academic year 2007–8, the Mortara Center plans several

new initiatives, in addition to con-tinuing those described above. It willbegin a program of Visiting MortaraAssociates and it will undertake aseminar entitled Practitioners inInternational Development.

The Visiting Mortara AssociatesProgram will offer qualified scholarsand scholar/practitioners an associa-tion with the Mortara Center.Visiting Associates will be able to useUniversity facilities and participatein the activities of the MortaraCenter in exchange for an agreedservice to the Center or the Universitywhich might include a seminar, con-ference or lecture, a working paperto be posted on the Mortara websiteor other activity. Unfortunately, theCenter cannot yet offer Associateseither funding or office space at this time. But it is hoped that in thenot too distant future, both fundingand space will be available and theVisiting Associates program canbecome a resident fellows programfor post-doctoral and mature scholarsand scholar/professionals.

The second initiative for the comingacademic year will be a luncheonseminar series entitled Practitionersin International Development. Itwill be chaired by Dr. Ann Van Dusenof the Certificate in InternationalDevelopment in the School ofForeign Service and will bring tocampus periodically active practi-tioners to explore their experiencesin implementing development projects in the field.

The third initiative will be a ChinaForum—a periodic meeting of schol-ars and students interested in Chinato hear from Georgetown faculty andprominent scholars from beyondGeorgetown’s gates on research topicsand contemporary issues involvingthat important country. This initia-tive supports the efforts of the lead-ership of Georgetown University toexpand the University’s ties withuniversities and institutes in China

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Looking Towards the Future

All in all, the Mortara Center is off to a strong start in the first two yearsof its existence in its new building. It has become a focal point on cam-

pus for debate and discussion of current ideas and issues in internationalaffairs and its activities are set to expand in the future. Its principal chal-lenge is acquiring the additional office space and funding that would permitit to realize its vision of hosting visiting scholars and a vigorous program ofresearch on international studies at Georgetown University.

As Robert Gallucci, Dean of the School of Foreign Service, remarked:

“The mission of the Mortara Center is to provide a venue

for, and to promote, scholarly discourse on a broad range

of policy and intellectual issues in the area of interna-

tional studies. As a relatively new center in a newly reno-

vated building, it has already established a reputation for

doing just that through an extraordinary program of

events, symposiums, conferences, and speeches involving

senior policy makers and cutting-edge academics from

within the Georgetown community, the Washington area,

and the world at large. The Mortara Center has enriched

the intellectual life for students and faculty on campus, as

well as for the broader community outside the university

through its outreach activities. Over time, we can expect

the center to become an important source of ideas and

critical analysis on such issues as international security,

international development, globalization, the role of reli-

gion in society, the impact of democratization on regional

development and security, matters of governance in the

international community, and the importance of trends.”

It is towards these goals that the Mortara Center will continue its work.

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Summing Up

StaffCarol Lancaster,

Director

Madeleine Albright,Mortara DistinguishedProfessor in the Practice of Diplomacy

Aliz Agoston, Program Coordinator

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Advisory CommitteeMadeleine AlbrightJeffrey AndersonThomas BanchoffAndrew BennettDaniel BymanVictor ChaRobert CumbyCarl DahlmanDavid EdelsteinJudith FederRobert GallucciSteven HeydemannCharles KingJohn Kline

Charles KupchanAnthony LakeCarol LancasterJohn LanganRobert LieberSusan Martin Kathleen McNamaraJohn McNeillTheodore MoranDaniel NexonGeorge ShambaughKatrin SiegLeslie VinjamuriCasimir Yost

Mortara Center for International StudiesEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign ServiceGeorgetown University3600 N Street, NWWashington, DC 20057

Phone: 202-687-5644Fax: 202-687-9135mortara.georgetown.edu

Mortara Center for International StudiesEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University3600 N Street, NW

Washington, DC 20057

Phone: 202-687-5644Fax: 202-687-9135

mortara.georgetown.edu