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Susan Waltz reflects on United Nations General Assembly international Arms Trade Treaty

May 8, 2013

This April, the United Nations General Assembly finalized the text of an international Arms Trade Treaty designed to staunch the flow of weapons to countries where they're likely to fuel human rights abuses. Ford School Professor Susan Waltz, who has been deeply engaged in efforts to develop an Arms Trade Treaty for the past 16 years, reflects on the treaty's origins and what will be required before it's recognized as international law.

NAS publication features report on aging co-authored by Susan M. Collins

April 30, 2013

A report co-authored by Susan M. Collins will be featured in a new publication celebrating National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 150th anniversary.

Yu Xie named 2013 Henry and Bryna David Endowment recipient

April 29, 2013

Yu Xie has been named the 2013 recipient of the Henry and Bryna David Endowment by the National Research Council's Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. The award is given annually to individuals performing innovative research in the behavioral and social sciences.

Melvyn Levitsky appears in Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Advisor, answering the question: How Will an Investigation of Lula Affect Brazil's Politics?

April 24, 2013

How Will an Investigation of Lula Affect Brazil's Politics?

Question from Latin America Advisor

Prosecutors in Brazil announced April 5 that they have opened an investigation of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in connection with the so-called "mensalão" vote-buying scheme. The scandal has already led to several convictions, including that of Lula's former chief of staff, José Dirceu. Have the prosecutions dealt a significant blow to corruption in Brazil? How is the scandal, and now the probe involving Lula, affecting the country's politics ahead of next year's presidential election?

Axelrod to receive 2013 Skytte Prize

April 21, 2013

Robert Axelrod has been named the winner of the 2013 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. The Skytte Prize is among the most prestigious awards in political science and recognizes outstanding academics for their contribution to the discipline.

Comparing the advantages in international trade

April 21, 2013

In March 1990, Associate Dean Alan V. Deardorff shivered in a cold passenger jet on a runway in Alpena, MI. He was seated with his son and his son's friend, in the midst of a plane full of people anxious to escape. They were all waiting for the signal that it was OK to slide down the inflatable emergency chute to the tarmac.

Ciorciari joins UN General Assembly debate on global criminal justice

April 11, 2013

John Ciorciari's participation in a thematic debate before the UN General Assembly was discussed in a press release from the United Nations as well as an article on BalkanInsight.com. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, heads of state, and justice ministers attended the event that focused on the "Role of International Criminal Justice in Reconciliation."

Ford School students travel to Cape Verde for 2013 IEDP

April 12, 2013

In March, graduate students from the Ford School and other programs at the University of Michigan spent ten days exploring development issues in Cape Verde as part of the Ford School's 2013 International Development Program (IEDP). The research trip included meetings with government ministries, including the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Tourism; aid institutions like the Millennium Challenge Corporation; and the U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde, Adrienne O'Neal, a former Ford School Diplomat in Residence.

Mapping the future of the Arctic

April 2, 2013

This March, 40 students from the Ford School and University of Toronto's School of Governance & Public Policy (SGPP) met to discuss the future of the Arctic during the 4th Annual U.S.-Canada Conference. In mixed teams, students imagined what policy situations and challenges would occur if the Arctic ice completely melted by 2050.

Preventing vote-selling in the Philippines

April 1, 2013

Are reciprocity and the negative effects of breaking promises key factors in an individual's vote-selling behavior? Prior to the Philippines' May 2013 elections, Dean Yang, professor of public policy and economics, and his colleagues will test this theory.

Parthasarathy quoted by PBS's NOVA Next in story on gene patents

March 18, 2013

Shobita Parthasarathy was interviewed in an article from PBS's NOVA Next about the effects of the U.S. patent system on scientific research and medical treatment.

Ann Lin Detroit News op-ed calls for provisional residency for potential U.S. immigrants

March 5, 2013

In an op-ed for the Detroit News, Ann C. Lin suggests that a provisional residency system for U.S. immigrants should be considered as part of the solution to the country's immigration debate.

Global Michigan post on Lieberthal Policy Talks lecture

February 13, 2013

A new Global Michigan post highlights Kenneth Lieberthal's lecture on Chinese foreign policy at the latest event in the Ford School's Policy Talks series. Lieberthal, a leading expert on China and a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, spoke at length about China's relationships with the United States, Japan, and North Korea.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School lecture by Ken Lieberthal: Feb. 13

February 1, 2013

Join us as Ken Lieberthal returns to the University of Michigan on Wednesday, February 13 at 4 p.m. for a lecture on current U.S-China relations under President Obama's new foreign policy team.

Ann Lin discusses latest bipartisan immigration reform for "Policy Points"

January 30, 2013

The latest installment of "Policy Points," Ann C. Lin discusses new immigration reform legislation unveiled last week by a bipartisan group of eight Senators.

Ford School students to visit Cape Verde in March for 2013 IEDP

January 30, 2013

In March, twenty-five graduate students from the Ford School and other programs at the University of Michigan will spend a week off the coast of West Africa in the island nation of Cape Verde to research social and economic issues. The trip will be the culmination of a half-semester course focusing on development issues in Cape Verde.

Terrorist networks and deadly force

January 24, 2013

When violent non-state organizations form alliances with each other, do they become more lethal? Ford School Assistant Professor Philip B. K. Potter and Associate Professor Michael Horowitz of the University of Pennsylvania seek to answer this question in their article Allying to Kill: Terrorist Intergroup Cooperation and the Consequences for Lethality, published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution this month. The article explores the networks of violent non-state actors, and how these connections bolster their deadly acts.

Global repercussions: The impact of today's U.S. economy

January 22, 2013

A conversation with Ted Truman, Marina Whitman, and Susan Collins as part of the Ford School's annual DC event/reception on Feb. 7. Alums, RSVP by Feb. 5.

The ongoing Eurozone experiment

December 18, 2012

The fortunes of the European Economic and Monetary Union.

For many of us, the year 2006 was part of a different time. Our retirement accounts were increasing in value. Our house values were going up, up, up. Without much difficulty, we could borrow money to buy houses, make home improvements, or buy cars, boats, and refrigerators. Our spending was keeping the economy humming. For lots of us, the financial future looked bright.

Changing the game: Bob Axelrod's powerful blueprint for peace

December 18, 2012

We've all heard the dictum, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It's an ancient Mesopotamian legal tradition recorded in Hammurabi's Code and in the holy texts of many religious faiths. The concept is simple: repay insult in kind—wound for wound, stripe for stripe, even life for life.

We've also heard the counterargument—an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. But the two are far from mutually exclusive explains Robert Axelrod in his highly acclaimed book, The Evolution of Cooperation, which outlines a powerfully effective recipe for deescalating conflict.

Memory and justice: Assembling archives of mass atrocities

December 18, 2012

A woman in Cambodia recently released more than 1,000 photographs of people imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge—the genocidal Democratic Kampuchea regime that ruled the country from 1975–79. She had worked in the regime's prison system and, fearing reprisal for her involvement, had hidden the photos. She gave the photos to the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM), but for nearly thirty years, family members didn't know what had happened to their loved ones.

Now they know.

Mapping terror: Understanding terrorist networks and alliances

December 18, 2012

People collaborate—it's what we do. We work together to tackle big problems. We work together to achieve big goals. We give favors, in hopes that they'll be reciprocated. We look out for each other, in hopes that someone else will look out for us in our moment of need. These collaborations make us stronger, smarter, safer, and more successful.

Something worth fighting for: The future of an arms trade treaty

December 18, 2012

In July 2012, an eleventh hour phone call with instructions from the White House abruptly stalled passage of an all-but-complete 193-nation Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations. Susan Waltz, professor of public policy, believes that was a mistake.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

December 18, 2012

International development interns put ideas to work

One block down Hill Street, just west of State, is Ali Baba's, a small Middle Eastern restaurant with habit-forming grape leaves and baklava. Any day of the week, you're sure to find a table, or two, or five filled with folks from the Ford School. On just such a visit, I met Dionisio Garcia Piriz (MPP/MA '13), a dual degree master's student who had recently returned from a mind-bending summer internship exploring savings habits among indigenous Tsimané (chee-MAH-nay) tribes in the lowland forests of the Bolivian Amazon. Because most Tsimané rely on barter, the question of how they save for the future—how they build a cushion to support themselves if the plantains, rice, and sweet manioc crops fail—is an intriguing one. And Piriz's Tsimané study wasn't a one-off; it was part of a much larger study of non-traditional savings practices among tribes all over the developing world.

The heart of security

December 16, 2012

New IPC director Allan Stam is taking the research center in bold new directions. His latest project on the 1994 Rwandan genocide shows, for him, what's really at stake: how to improve the lives of citizens.

Allan C. Stam, the new director of the Ford School's International Policy Center, has been officially on duty for 27 days, and confides that he's feeling a little behind. He doesn't seem behind to an outsider though. He seems energetic, effusive, funny, and ambitious. He seems like he's got his head in the game and is just about ready to reinvent it. And he seems like someone who throws himself, body and soul, into whatever he undertakes, whether that's goose hunting in Manitoba, tackling the Himalayan range in Nepal, investigating ongoing caste-based discrimination in India, or, as is now the case, running an international policy center.

Ford School Dean Collins appointed to Detroit Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

December 11, 2012

Susan M. Collins, dean of the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, was appointed Wednesday to the board of directors of the Detroit Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Shobita Parthasarathy proposal receives MCubed seed grant

November 28, 2012

A proposal by Shobita Parthasarathy was selected as one of fifty projects to receive a $60,000 seed grant under the MCubed program for funding research. MCubed is a new program created to empower interdisciplinary teams of U-M faculty to undertake research with the potential for major societal impact.

Melvyn Levitsky appears in Inter-American Dialogue's Latin American Advisor, answering the question: Where is the Drug Policy Debate Headed Next?

November 26, 2012

Where is the Drug Policy Debate Headed Next?

Question from Latin American Advisor

Colorado and Washington state passed measures legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States' Nov. 6 election. Luis Videgaray, the head of President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto's transition team, said afterward that while the administration remains opposed to legalization, the measures could result in changes to its anti-drug strategies, The Washington Post reported. How will the measures in Colorado and Washington affect the federal government's relationship with Mexico in the ongoing fight against drug cartels? What effects, if any, would more widespread marijuana legalization in the United States have on Mexican criminal organizations? Where does the debate about drug policy in the United States and in the region appear to be headed?

Marina Whitman spoke with Crain's Detroit Business on future of business, post-election

November 25, 2012

Marina Whitman spoke on a panel of nonprofit and private sector executives, organized by Crain's Detroit Business and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, which focused on issues facing businesses in the wake of the recent presidential election.

Southern California Public Radio interviews John Ciorciari on Obama's Asia visit

November 18, 2012

Southern California Public Radio interviewed John Ciorciari about the political context and motivations behind President Obama's five-day trip to Asia. The visit is part of a U.S. pivot to Asia that began when Obama first took office, Ciorciari explained.

"Martian's Daughter" at Hungarian embassy in DC

November 13, 2012

Marina Whitman spoke with Bloomberg News at a book signing in Washington, DC hosted by long-time friends John and Debbie Dingell, Alan Greenspan, and Andrea Mitchell.

The Monkey Cage publishes guest column by Philip Potter titled, "The next four years: how the election will shape foreign policy"

November 7, 2012

The Monkey Cage, a blog about politics and political science research, published a guest column by Philip Potter, which looks at trends in the relationship between presidential elections and American foreign policy. Drawing on recent studies about electoral margins and presidential experience, Potter notes several foreign policy implications.

Susan M. Collins speaks at Columbia conference on labor and development

October 30, 2012

Dean Susan M. Collins spoke at the Conference on Labor and Development, hosted by Columbia University's Center on Global Economic Governance (CGEG).

Fingerprints for finance: Improving micro lending in Africa

October 9, 2012

Some called it "witchcraft." Others just watched in awe as their scanned fingerprints were used to pull up their records on a computer.

They were paprika farmers in Malawi participating in a new study that shows fingerprinting can help encourage borrowers to repay their loans.

Marina Whitman interviewed by American Public Media's Marketplace about her book, "The Martian's Daughter"

September 25, 2012

Marina Whitman discussed her new book, "The Martian's Daughter", on American Public Media's Marketplace, which is carried on hundreds of NPR stations nationwide.

In her book, Whitman, who served on the president's Council of Economic Advisors and was later vice president and chief economist at General Motors, talked about her success in reaching positions previously inaccessible to women.

A lot at stake in South China Sea standoff, Ciorciari tells NPR

September 12, 2012

National Public Radio quoted John D. Ciorciari about the territorial dispute between China and the Philippines over islands in the South China Sea.

"I think what makes this situation particularly intractable is that China's economic and strategic interests broadly coincide in the South China Sea," Ciorciari said.

Gen. Michael Hayden on al-Qaida, career, and the importance of policy analysts

September 11, 2012

Four-star general Michael Hayden, retired U.S. Air Force, delivered the Ford School's annual Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture last Friday, September 7—closing out the first week of fall 2012 semester at the Ford School. Former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA), General Hayden spoke on "Law, policy, and the war on al-Qaida: An emerging consensus" to an audience of more than 200 students, faculty, and U-M community members at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre.

In election season, the Fed will "be accused of being political no matter what they do," Collins says

September 3, 2012

Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, was quoted by Reuters and CNNMoney regarding the dangers of politicizing the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy.

Susan M. Collins chairs first day of annual Federal Reserve conference, introduces Chairman Bernanke

August 31, 2012

Dean Susan M. Collins chaired today's session of the 2012 Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. As part of Collins' duties, she introduced Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who delivered a highly-anticipated speech outlining the Fed's ongoing plans to give the U.S. economy a boost. The conference is hosted annually by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The Fed needs to act, communicate more boldly, Dean Susan Collins tells CNBC

August 29, 2012

Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, told CNBC Thursday she believes the Federal Reserve should act boldly to stimulate the U.S. economy.

"I think the Fed should and can do more," Collins said. "It's not just quantitative easing. It's how it communicates its policy, which I think is hugely important in terms of making a difference."

A 2012 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture by General Michael Hayden

August 22, 2012

Policy Talks @ the Ford School - a 2012 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund
Lecture by General Michael Hayden.

Friday, September 07, 2012
1:00-2:30 p.m.

Alumni Center, Founders Room
200 Fletcher Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

[Learn more]

Freep writer: Marina v.N. Whitman's new memoir "feels like viewing several extraordinary movies in one sitting"

August 18, 2012

Marina von Neumann Whitman's memoir, The Martian's Daughter, "feels like viewing several extraordinary movies in one sitting," writes Detroit Free Press business writer Tom Walsh.

The only child of famed mathematician John von Neumann, Whitman became the first woman on the Council of Economic Advisors under President Nixon and then a leading executive at General Motors. Whitman's frequent encounters with well-known characters and moments in American history prompted Walsh to compare her memoir to films such as A Beautiful Mind, The Wizard of Oz, and Forrest Gump.

Whitman pens op-ed, "I didn't leave the Republican Party – it left me."

August 12, 2012

In a guest column for the Detroit Free Press, Marina v.N. Whitman, the first woman appointed to the President's Council of Economic Advisors by President Nixon, said the bipartisanship of that era has disappeared from today's politics.

Ciorciari: American investors seek profit, safety in Cambodia

July 4, 2012

With a group of U.S. business owners joining U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on a trip to Cambodia, Voice of America Khmer spoke with John D. Ciorciari about the
prospects for American investment in the country.

Feds must decide where to "flex its muscle" on marijuana policy, says Amb. Levitsky

July 1, 2012

Amb. Melvyn Levitsky discussed the friction between state and federal laws regarding medical marijuana on "The Vic McCarty Show."

Levitsky, who sits on the board of directors for the Drug Free America Foundation, said Michigan's state law permitting dispensaries for medicinal marijuana, while federal law still classifies marijuana as a narcotic with no medical benefit, creates unnecessary confusion.

New Facebook page provides preview, supplement to Marina v.N. Whitman's forthcoming memoirs

June 28, 2012

Many know the Ford School's Marina Whitman as an accomplished economist, business executive, and professor. But before she began her own impressive career she was Marina von Neumann, the only daughter of John von Neumann, who was often hailed as the greatest mathematician of the 20th century and even as the greatest scientist after Einstein.

Ann Lin discusses SCOTUS immigration ruling for "Policy Points"

June 26, 2012

Ann C. Lin discussed the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Monday on Arizona's immigration law for a Ford School video series, "Policy Points."

Yu Xie quoted in Christian Science Monitor article about growth in Asian-American immigration

June 22, 2012

Yu Xie commented on the American economy's shift away from manufacturing and the impact of that shift on immigrant demographics in a Christian Science Monitor article, "How Asians displaced Hispanics as biggest group of new U.S. immigrants."

Phil Potter awarded grant by DoD's Minerva Research Initiative

June 12, 2012

The Minerva Research Initiative, a Department of Defense-sponsored, university-based social science research initiative, has awarded funding for a research project led by Ford School assistant professor Philip B. K. Potter.

Robert M. Stern co-edits Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization for Oxford University Press

June 13, 2012

Robert M. Stern was one of a team of three editors of the recently published Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization. According to the publisher, the book that aims to provide "an authoritative and cutting-edge account of the World Trade Organization." Stern edited the book alongside Amrita Narlikar, the director of the Centre for Rising Powers at Cambridge University, and Martin Daunton, a professor of history at Cambridge University.