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Polaris Live: Upcoming Events 2024
Live conversations with global experts on World Affairs
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2024 Events
January 16th, 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
David Daokui LI is Professor of Economics and Director of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking, Tsinghua University. He is former Chief Economist of the New Development Bank. Professor Li is a leading Chinese economist.
He also served as the founding Dean of the Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University from 2014 to 2017. His research and teaching cover a wide range of economic fields, including government and economics, economic development, comparative economics, and the Chinese economy.
He is the author of "China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict."
David Daokui LI • China's World View
Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict
A distinguished Chinese economist offers a timely, essential exploration of China’s perspective on economy, government, society, and its position in the world.
Purchase the book HERE
January 17th, 2023 • 9:30 AM EST
Dewi Fortuna Anwar Straddles the world of academia, political activism and government. She is a Research Professor at the Research Centre for Politics-National Research and Innovation Agency (PRP-BRIN).
She has written widely on Indonesia’s foreign policy, Indonesia’s democratization as well as on ASEAN and regional political and security issues. She is an Academician of the Social Science Commission-Indonesian Academy of Sciences; Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Habibie Center, and co-founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia. She served as the Deputy Chairman for Social Sciences and Humanities- Indonesian Institute of Sciences and was Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs and then Deputy for Government Policy Support to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.
Dewi was the Kippenberger Visiting Chair at Victoria University, Wellington; Distinguished Visiting Professor at the RSIS, Nanyang Technological University Singapore,; Visiting Fellow at CSEAS, Kyoto University; and a Visiting Professor at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.
Dewi sits and has sat in a number of national and international advisory boards and was a Governing Board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
January 24th, 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
Dr. Paul Sheard, an Australian American economist, is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling business book, The Power of Money: How Governments and Banks Create Money and Help Us All Prosper (Matt Holt Books). He is a former Vice Chairman of S&P Global and a former Senior Fellow and Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.
He held chief economist positions at S&P Global, Nomura Securities, and Lehman Brothers, and was Japan Strategist at Baring Asset Management and was appointed by two prime ministers to serve on advisory committees of the Japanese Government. A member of the Bretton Woods Committee, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, Sheard sits on the board of the Foreign Policy Association.
Paul Sheard • The Power Of Money
How Governments and Banks Create Money and Help Us All Prosper
In The Power of Money, economist Paul Sheard distills what money is, how it comes into existence, and how it interacts with the real economy.
Purchase the book HERE
February 1st 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
World's biggest property developer, China's Evergrande (1300 housing projects in 280 cities, liabilities of $300 billion) ordered to liquidate by Hong Kong court. What next for China's markets/credibility. China's economy still wobbly, what about consumer sentiment/demand and govt. stimulus? "Corporate credit demand remained dull even as loan rates continued to decline, further confirmation that China’s monetary policy tools remain insufficient to stimulate domestic demand," according to China Beige Book. We speak to CBB's Chief Operating Officer about why hasn't China done more to stimulate the economy and the markets?
SHEHZAD QAZI • Chief Operating Officer, @ChinaBeigeBook.
As the firm-wide operations lead, Shehzad oversees product innovation, client services, new business acquisition, and corporate strategy at China Beige Book International. Shehzad is a frequent guest on major national news networks including CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN and speaks regularly at investor conferences. His articles have appeared in Barron’s, Foreign Policy, and Huffington Post among other publications. He is an elected member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
February 20th, 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
Peter Cloutier is a foreign service officer serving as a research professor at Joint Special Operations University, Tampa, Florida. His research focuses on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and natural resource extraction, climate security, and innovative joint, interagency, intergovernmental, multinational, and commercial (JIIM-C) networking. His book "What We Were Making," is an Amazon best-seller.
He has 12 years of strategic technical direction for over $1 billion of foreign assistance in post-conflict ‘hardship’ countries with proven impact in transformational leadership.
He has advised a Head of State, authored transformative USG strategies, worked for a Pacific Island government, and was the first USG representative on the ground after the second-deadliest tropical cyclone recorded in the Southern Hemisphere struck Mozambique in 2019.
His last full post overseas was as USAID's Health Office Director overseeing the partnership with the Government of Mozambique in which he won two Superior Honor Awards for helping lead the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) to unprecedented performance. He supervised one of USAID's largest offices with 63 staff and an annual budget of over $200 million.
He has frequently served as the development partner interface with host country leadership for more state-societal unity in health, justice, natural resource management, and governance in Afghanistan, Mozambique, Angola, and Timor-Leste. He has led partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Defense, NOAA, Treasury, MCC, and State. He has supported and leveraged interorganizational efforts with the United Nations, the World Bank, and regional development banks.
Peter Cloutier • What We Were Making
A #1 Amazon Bestseller, Peter Cloutier's "What We Were Making" is a must-read for those who love ocean adventures, political thrillers, romance, or coming-of-age stories!
When the lives of two expatriates intersect at the edge of civilization, opportunity, duty and deception collide. Jane is a budding ambassador of heightened motivation, insight, and curiosity. Relentless in her pursuit of justice, ethics, and the common good, her life lacks love. Enter Bill, an adrenaline-fueled waterman who lives breath to breath, wave to wave, and fish to fish. A schoolteacher by day, he embodies the island life but without partnership. When catastrophe unfolds, the two must respond to those in need while attempting to dismantle the deeper collusion around them. In the end, the only winners are those who have the resilience to stand.
Purchase the book HERE
February 27th, 2024 • 2:00 PM EST
Elina Noor - S. E. Asia in the U.S./China Balance of Power
The global landscape is shifting as the power dynamics between South-East Asia, the U.S., and China continue to evolve. These changes are reshaping the world order and influencing international relations on a grand scale.
Will the countries of the global south, especially the dynamic nations of South-East Asia, with a population of some 700 million people, have to choose between the two superpowers? How will China and the U.S. fine-tune their strategies to accommodate the needs of these nations? What will be the impact of this shift in global geostrategic balance on the existing Western led global order?
Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at Carnegie where she focuses on developments in Southeast Asia, particularly the impact and implications of technology in reshaping power dynamics, governance, and nation-building in the region.
Previously, Elina was director of political-security affairs and deputy director of the Washington, D.C. office at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and taught at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. She spent most of her career at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, where she last held the position of director, foreign policy and security studies. Elina was also formerly with the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World.
Elina is a member of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.
March 20th, 2024 • 11:00 AM EST
The global landscape is shifting as the power dynamics between LatinAmerica, U.S., and China continue to evolve. These changes are reshaping the world order and influencing international relations on a grand scale.
Will the the countries of #LatinAmerica with a population of over 430 million people, have to choose between the two superpowers? How will China and the U.S. fine-tune their strategies to accommodate the impact of technology and the emergence of the global south? What will be the impact of this shift in global geostrategic balance on the existing Western-led global order?
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a lawyer, IR scholar and diplomat with a special interest in the international politics of the Global South. Ambassador Heine is Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.
He has served as ambassador of Chile to China, India , and South Africa , and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. His prestigious positions include CIGI Professor of Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University, a Guggenheim Fellow; a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University; a United Nations Research Fellow at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Ambassador Heine is widely published, including his latest best seller, "Latin American Foreign Policies in the New World Order"
Jorge Heine, Carlos Fortin, Carlos Ominami • Latin American Foreign Policies in the New World Order
Latin America, with 8 percent of the world’s population and 30 percent of the world’s deaths from COVID-19, is Ground Zero of the pandemic. The region has also had the world’s worst economic performance in this period. Moreover, it is presently caught in the Second Cold War that is emerging between the United States and China. In this context, the active non-alignment option constitutes an imaginative and creative way out of the current crisis.
Purchase the book HERE
Jorge Heine and Brigitte Weiffen • 21st Century Democracy Promotion in the Americas
This volume examines the promotion and defense of democracy in the Americas. Taking the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) of 2001 as a baseline, it charts the evolution of the issue over the past decade.
Although it considers historical antecedents, the main focus of the book is on key instances of promotion and defense of democracy in the Western hemisphere since the adoption of the IADC. It analyzes democratic norms, norm enforcement mechanisms and how they work in practice. Special attention is paid to the 2009 Honduras coup, the issues raised by it and the debates that surrounded it, as this was the first instance in which a member state was suspended in accordance with the IADC. Three central themes guide the analysis: the nature of challenges to democracy in Latin America; the role of regional organizations as democracy promoters; and the transformation of Inter-American relations.
Purchase the book HERE
April 2nd, 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
India's Bollywood elections must be the envy of Donald Trump --- Lock up the opposition and freeze its bank accounts--the "largest democracy in the world" goes to the poll in a Bollywood inspired election that is about to roll across India. A frank appraisal of a fast changing India from an international, experienced Indian observer.
Luv Puri has been working in the field of International Affairs for two-decades, both as a practitioner and an analyst. He was with the UN Department of Political Affairs for ten years, during which period he worked at the highest levels of multilateral diplomacy, including as part of the Secretary-General’s Good Offices. He started his career working with the widely-read and respected daily, The Hindu where he reported on conflict areas with a focus on issues related to Human Rights for several years. In 2006, he won the European Commission Award for Human Rights and Democracy.
At present, he is a columnist on International Affairs for several widely-read publications (authory.com/Luv Puri). He has authored two books, including -"Across the Line of Control" -, published by Columbia University Press. and was a Fulbright Scholar from 2008-10. He did his Masters in New York University.
Luv Puri • Across the Line of Control: Inside Pakistan-Administered Kashmir
Luv Puri provides sorely-needed analysis of the crucial pre-independence social and political processes that polarized the state as well as the violence that devastated the region during partition. He then follows the effect of these events on Pakistan's Punjab province and the ensuing impact on Pakistan's position toward the Jammu and Kashmir issue. The relationship between Pakistan and PAJK is a significant aspect of Puri's research. He traces the history of migration from Mirpur to Britain and the Mirpuri diaspora's significant support of early militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. Based in PAJK, this insurgency promised to free Kashmir from both Indian and Pakistani forces. Puri also discusses the pro-independence struggle's many transformations, from its inception to the present day. An original and revealing volume, Across the Line of Control majorly contributes to literature on the region and the role of PAJK in larger Jammu and Kashmir tensions.
Purchase the book HERE
April 16th, 2024 • 9:30 AM EST
The Chinese Communist Party governs the country from each village and city building to the very top of the country's power structure. The CCP has the authority to preside over the government's decisions at both central and local levels. Unlike the Soviet Union, however, China is largely a free-market economy that produces as many billionaires as does the U.S. How well does the U.S. understand the CCP? Does this lack of understanding prohibit better relations between the two superpowers?
Dr. Aminda Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Michigan State University. She is a historian specializing in modern Chinese history with a particular interest in the social and cultural history of Chinese Communism. She serves as co-director of the PRC History Group, an international scholarly organization dedicated to increasing research and knowledge on the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Smith has written widely on the global histories of the Chinese Communist Party and Maoism.