Pardee Center Reports
Permanent URI for this collection
Various reports published by The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, which include: lectures, conferences, workshop, task force and working group reports.
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Trade in the balance: reconciling trade and climate policy: report of the Working Group on Trade, Investment, and Climate Policy(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2016-11) Ackerman, Frank; Bernasconi, Nathalie; Corbett, James J.; Gallagher, Kevin P.; Güven, Brooke Skartvedt; Hu, Tao; Janetos, Anthony C.; Johnson, Lisa; Mbengue, Makane Moïse; Monasterolo, Irene; Cabré, Miquel Muñoz; Porterfield, Matthew C.; Raberto, Marco; Schacherer, Stefanie; Schachter, Judith (Claire); Selin, Henrik; Thrasher, Rachel; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future; Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston UniversityThis report outlines the general tensions between the trade and investment regime and climate policy, and outlines a framework toward making trade and investment rules more climate friendly. Members of the working group have contributed short pieces addressing a range of issues related to the intersection of trade and climate policy. The first two are by natural scientists. Anthony Janetos discusses the need to address the effects of international trade on efforts to limit the increase in global annual temperature to no more than 2oC over preindustrial levels. James J. Corbett examines the failure of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to adequately address the environmental implications of shipping and maritime transport. The next two pieces are by economists who examine economic aspects of the trade-climate linkage. Irene Monasterolo and Marco Raberto discuss the potential impacts of including fossil fuel subsidies reduction under the TTIP. Frank Ackerman explores the economic costs of efforts to promote convergence of regulatory standards between the United States and the European Union under the TTIP. The following two contributions are by legal scholars. Brooke Güven and Lise Johnson explore the potential for international investment treaties to redirect investment flows to support climate change mitigation and adaptation, particularly with regard to China and India. Matt Porterfield provides an overview of the ways in which both existing and proposed trade and investment agreements could have either “climate positive” or “climate negative” effects on mitigation policies. The final article is by Tao Hu, a former WTO trade and environment expert advisor for China and currently at the World Wildlife Fund, arguing that the definition of environmental goods and services’ under the WTO negotiations needs to be expanded to better incorporate climate change.Item Thoughts About Development: Which Are Mere Fads? Which Are Here to Stay?(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2005) Streeten, Paul; Fromkin, David; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FuturePaul Streeten outlines the changes in the development discourse, from economic growth as the solution to poverty, to the sustainable development paradigm, to human development, and all the nuances in between. Economic growth became, no longer a solution, but a performance test for development. The Lewis model was a widely accepted view stating that rural migrations to urban centers would decrease inequalities, providing support for the Kuznets Curve, but both of these have been largely discredited. Focus switched from GNP to job distribution and justice, away from industrialized versions of “employment” and “unemployment” and towards “labor utilization.” Insufficiently low utilization of labor is said to come from four major sources: consumption, attitudes, institutions, and policies. The basic needs approach has also been advocated recently, and expanded upon by Amartya Sen. One of the latest and most distinctive measures is the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines different statistics to rate a country’s development. This has also led to a debate on whether freedom should be included in the HDI, and the hopeful notion that with a certain level of human development inevitably comes a demand for greater freedoms.Item Must runaway science be regulated?(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2003) Fromkin, David; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureModern society takes a completely different view of curiosity than ancient society did. The Tower of Babel, the wings of Icarus, Pandora’s Box, and of course, Adam and Eve, all punish human beings for extending their search for knowledge to presumptuous heights. Today’s civilization thrives upon the freedom to do just that. Sometimes fear of what we might do with our knowledge and our power is reawakened, and ethical questions arise of how far we should go – for example, with cloning. Biogeneticists may be able to alter the genes of our unborn offspring, as discussed in the Pardee Center’s conference on “The Future of Human Nature.” The idea was proposed that a global bioethics authority might be desirable in order to control science. There are many potentially disastrous results that could come from genetic mutations – disease, terrorist threats, a new species of human beings… And what we will do with our scientific capabilities is yet to be seen.Item Can technology help solve the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine?(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2004) Davidson, Frank P.; Fromkin, David; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis paper looks at the lack of land in Palestine as one part of the problem that might have a low technology solution if the right pressures were applied. If the Gaza settlements were extended and Israel itself was built out into the eastern Mediterranean, then if a time came when peace was in reach, the struggle for land might not remain quite so desperate an issue. This is modeled after the “Dutch Solution,” in the hopes that their success could likewise be achieved using this obvious yet overlooked idea. Dr. Davidson encourages more practical collaboration between the academic sphere and those in positions to make change. Calling it “the quite unnecessary human tragedy in the Middle East,” he focuses on instances of past cooperation and exchange between the cultures of East and West. The paper also notes how, with technological vision, Death Valley was transformed into one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the United States. Dr. Davidson calls for greater real international support, pointing out the high tariffs of the U.S. and France on exports from North Africa which discourage economic expansion.Item Capital account liberalization in China: the need for a balanced approach(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2014-10) Aramaki, Kenji; Arora, Vivek; Erten, Bilge; Gabor, Daniela; Kregel, Jan; Ma, Guonan; McCauley, Robert N.; Ocampo, José Antonio; Ohnsorge, Franziska; Sen, Sunanda; Yongding, Yu; Zhang, Ming; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis is the third report stemming from the Pardee Center Task Force on Regulating Capital Flows for Long-Run Development, a project of the Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) at Boston University. This report is the collective work of experts examining the benefits and risks of accelerated capital account liberalization in China. The contributing authors – all leading scholars and practitioners from around the world (listed below) – met at Boston University in February 2014 to discuss the experiences of other emerging market countries that liberalized the capital account to glean lessons for China as it considers this delicate task. This volume is an outcome from that meeting, presenting the authors’ perspectives on important aspects of capital account liberalization that China should pay special attention to, not only for its own sake, but also in consideration of the potential impacts that China’s actions may have on other emerging markets and the global economy overall.Item Remittance flows to post-conflict states: perspectives on human security and development(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2013-10) Feeley, Frank; Foster, Susan; Galer, Kara; Gioli, Giovanna; Harris, John R.; Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raúl; Khan, Talimand; McKee, Martin; Nabar-Bhaduri, Suranjana; Natter, Raymond; Pheiffer, Chantel F.; Rodima-Taylor, Daivi; Scheffran, Jürgen; Terry, Donald F.; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureMigrant remittances – that is, money or other goods sent to relatives in the country of origin– play an increasingly central role in post-conflict reconstruction and national development of conflict-affected states. Private remittances are of central importance for restoring stability and enhancing human security in post-conflict countries. Yet the dynamics of conflict-induced remittance flows and the possibilities of leveraging remittances for post-conflict development have been sparsely researched to date. This Pardee Center Task Force Report is the outcome of an interdisciplinary research project organized by the Boston University Center for Finance, Law & Policy, in collaboration with The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The Task Force was convened by Boston University development economist John R. Harris and international banking expert Donald F. Terry, and social anthropologist Daivi Rodima-Taylor, Visiting Researcher at the Boston University African Studies Center, served as lead researcher and editor for the report. The Task Force was asked to research, analyze, and propose policy recommendations regarding the role of remittances in post-conflict environments and their potential to serve as a major source of development funds. The report’s authors collectively suggest a broader approach to remittance institutions that provides flexibility to adapt to specific local practices and to make broader institutional connections in an era of growing population displacement and expanding human and capital flows. Conditions for more productive use of migrants’ remittances are analyzed while drawing upon case studies from post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The papers in this Task Force Report establish the importance of remittances for sustaining local livelihoods as well as rehabilitating institutional infrastructures and improving financial inclusion in post-conflict environments. Highlighting the increasing complexity of global remittance systems, the report examines the growing informality of conflict-induced remittance flows and explores solutions for more efficient linkages between financial institutions of different scales and degrees of formality. It discusses challenges to regulating international remittance transfers in the context of growing concerns about transparency, and documents the increasing role of diaspora networks and migrant associations in post-conflict co-development initiatives. The Task Force Report authors outline the main challenges to leveraging remittances for post-conflict development and make recommendations for further research and policy applications.Item Capital account regulations and the trading system: a compatibility review(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2013-03) Anderson, Sarah; Aruaz, Andres; de Paula, Luiz Fernando; Francis, Smitha; Montes, Manuel F.; Prates, Daniela Magalhaes; Siegel, Deborah E.; Tian, Feng; Torres, Hector R.; Tucker, Todd; Viterbo, Annamaria; Xu, Qiyuan; Waibel, Michael; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report is the product of the Pardee Center Task Force on Regulating Capital Flows for Long-Run Development and builds on the Task Force´s first report published in March 2012. The Pardee Center Task Force was convened initially in September 2011 as consensus was emerging that the global financial crisis has re-confirmed the need to regulate cross-border finance. The March 2012 report argues that international financial institutions – and in particular the International Monetary Fund – need to support measures that would allow capital account regulations (CARs) to become a standard and effective part of the macroeconomic policy toolkit. Yet some policymakers and academics expressed concern that many nations — and especially developing countries — may not have the flexibility to adequately deploy such regulations because of trade and investment treaties they are party to. In June 2012, the Pardee Center, with the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES) in Argentina and Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University, convened a second Task Force workshop in Buenos Aires specifically to review agreements at the WTO and various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) for the extent to which the trading regime is compatible with the ability to deploy effective capital account regulations. This report presents the findings of that review, and highlights a number of potential incompatibilities found between the trade and investment treaties and the ability to deploy CARs. It also highlights an alarming lack of policy space to use CARs under a variety of FTAs and BITs—especially those involving the United States. Like the first report, it was written by an international group of experts whose goal is to help inform discussions and decisions by policymakers at the IMF and elsewhere that will have implications for the economic health and development trajectories for countries around the world.Item Games for a new climate: experiencing the complexity of future risks(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2012-11) Bachofen, Carina; Fortugno, Nick; Goentzel, Jarrod; Gonçalves, Paulo; Grist, Natasha; Macklin, Colleen; Mendler de Suarez, Janot; Pfeifer, Kimberly; Schweizer, Sarah; Suarez, Pablo; van Aalst, Maarten; Virji, Hassan; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report is a product of the Pardee Center Task Force on Games for a New Climate, which met at Pardee House at Boston University in March 2012. The 12-member Task Force was convened on behalf of the Pardee Center by Visiting Research Fellow Pablo Suarez in collaboration with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre to “explore the potential of participatory, game-based processes for accelerating learning, fostering dialogue, and promoting action through real-world decisions affecting the longer-range future, with an emphasis on humanitarian and development work, particularly involving climate risk management.” Compiled and edited by Janot Mendler de Suarez, Pablo Suarez and Carina Bachofen, the report includes contributions from all of the Task Force members and provides a detailed exploration of the current and potential ways in which games can be used to help a variety of stakeholders – including subsistence farmers, humanitarian workers, scientists, policymakers, and donors – to both understand and experience the difficulty and risks involved related to decision-making in a complex and uncertain future. The dozen Task Force experts who contributed to the report represent academic institutions, humanitarian organization, other non-governmental organizations, and game design firms with backgrounds ranging from climate modeling and anthropology to community-level disaster management and national and global policymaking as well as game design.Item Regulating global capital flows for long-run development(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2012-03) Bhattacharya, Amar; Blyth, Mark; Burlamaqui, Leonardo; Epstein, Gerald; Grabel, Ilene; Griffith-Jones, Stephany; Mohan, Rakesh; Ocampo, José Antonio; Rodrik, Dani; Spiegel, Shari; Subramanian, Arvind; Takagi, Shinji; Zhang, Ming; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report is the product of the Pardee Center Task Force on Regulating Global Capital Flows for Long-Run Development convened in September 2011 on behalf of the Pardee Center’s Global Economic Governance Initiative led by Kevin P. Gallagher, Associate Professor of International Relations at Boston University. Gallagher co-chaired the Task Force along with Stephany Griffith-Jones and José Antonio Ocampo of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) at Columbia University. With contributions from a dozen prominent scholars and practitioners in the field of global finance and development, the report is intended to contribute expert knowledge to an important and very timely debate concerning whether and how nations can use what have been traditionally referred to as capital controls (classified in the report as ‘capital account regulations’ or CARs) to prevent and mitigate financial crises caused by short-term speculative capital flows in developing countries. Based on discussions among members at the September 2011 meeting, the report posits that there is a clear rationale for capital account regulations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, that the design and monitoring of such regulations is essential for their effectiveness, and that a limited amount of global and regional cooperation would be useful to ensure that CARs can form an effective part of the macroeconomic policy toolkit. The protocol for deploying capital account regulations in developing countries that is put forth here stands in stark contrast to a set of guidelines for the use of capital controls endorsed by the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March 2011. However the Task Force’s recommendations are more in sync with the set of “coherent conclusions” on capital account regulations endorsed by the G-20 in November 2011. Our hope is that this Pardee Center Task Force Report will help inform the discussions and decisions of policymakers and the IMF as they move forward on this issue under the rubric of the G-20 recommendations.Item Latin America 2060: consolidation or crisis?(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2011-09) Blanco, Carlos; Espinasa, Ramon; Inclán, Silvia; Gallagher, Kevin P.; Helwege, Ann; Kunz, Tom; Palmer, David Scott; Rooett, Riordan; Robbins, Dylon; Saravia, Enrique; Thorhaug, Anitra; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureLatin America has produced vigorous ideas throughout its history, expressed in narratives about its struggles and successes, or its weaknesses and failures. Together, these have shaped a multi-faceted vision of the region and its peoples. Some of its expositors, finding the story to be neither complete nor precise, work toward reformulations, some quite radical. Such generation of knowledge in different fields seems destined to yield a variety of distinct outcomes, at least in part because some of the emerging social and cultural movements are not yet very well structured. This Task Force Report project seeks to harness ideas about the region’s future into a coherent and policy useful discourse. A Workshop and a Task Force meeting was held at Boston University on November 18-19, 2010. A select group of invited experts – a mix of academic scholars and practitioners – were asked to turn their ideas into short ‘Think Pieces’ essays. Each Think Piece focuses on a specific topical issue for the region as a whole, instead of looking only at particular countries. These Think Piece essays are compiled and edited by the Task Force coordinator and published by the Pardee Center as a Task Force Report.Item Beyond Rio+20: governance for a green economy(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2011-03) Bigg, Tom; DeSombre, Elizabeth; Halle, Mark; Hoogeveen, J.P. (Hans); Huq, Saleemul; Lee, Bernice; Levy, David; Melendez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Najam, Adil; Selin, Henrik; VanDeveer, Stacy; Verkooijen, Patrick; Wapner, Paul; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureAs an intellectual contribution to the preparations for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, a.k.a. Rio +20), the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future convened a task force of experts to discuss the role of institutions in the actualization of a green economy in the context of sustainable development. A stellar group of experts from academia, government and civil society convened at the Pardee Center and were asked to outline ideas about what the world has learned about institutions for sustainable development from the past, and what we can propose about the governance challenges and opportunities for the continuous development of a green economy in the future. The Task Force members were encouraged to think big and think bold. They were asked to be innovative in their ideas, and maybe even a little irreverent and provocative. They were charged specifically NOT to come to consensus about specific recommendations, but to present a variety and diversity of views. This report presents their thoughts and ideas.Item The future of North American trade policy: lessons from NAFTA(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2009-11) Gallagher, Kevin P.; Wise, Timothy A.; Peters, Enrique Dussel; Zamora, Rodolfo García; Shadlen, Kenneth C.; Stumberg, Robert K.; Van Harten, Gus; Weller, Christian E.; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis Task Force Report written by an international group of trade policy experts calls for significant reforms to address adverse economic, environmental, labor and societal impacts created by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The report is intended to contribute to the discussion and decisions stemming from ongoing reviews of proposed reforms to NAFTA as well as to help shape future trade agreements. It offers detailed proposals on topics including services, manufacturing, agriculture, investment, intellectual property, labor, environment, and migration. Fifteen years after NAFTA was enacted, there is widespread agreement that the trade treaty among the United States, Canada and Mexico has fallen short of its stated goals. While proponents credit the agreement with stimulating the flow of goods, services, and investment among the North American countries, critics in all three countries argue that this has not brought improvements in the standards of living of most people. Rather than triggering a convergence across the three nations, NAFTA has accentuated the economic and regulatory asymmetries that had existed among the three countries. [TRUNCATED]Item The risks of multiple breadbasket failures in the 21st century: a science research agenda(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2017-03) Janetos, Anthony; Justice, Christopher; Jahn, Molly; Obersteiner, Michael; Glauber, Joseph; Mulhern, William; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureWritten by an interdisciplinary team of leading researchers, this report describes a science research agenda toward improved probabilistic modeling and prediction of multiple breadbasket failures and the potential consequences for global food systems. The authors highlight gaps in the existing empirical foundation and analytical capabilities and offer general approaches to address these gaps. They also suggest the need to fuse diverse data sources, recent observations, and new suites of dynamic models capable of connecting agricultural outcomes to elements of the global food system. The goal of these efforts is to provide better information concerning potential systemic risks to breadbaskets in various regions of the world to inform policies and decisions that have the potential for global impacts.Item Connecting the dots: information visualization and text analysis of the Searchlight Project newsletters(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2012-02) Gopal, Sucharita; Najam, Adil; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report is the product of the Pardee Center’s work on the Searchlight:Visualization and Analysis of Trend Data project sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. Part of a larger effort to analyze and disseminate on-the-ground information about important societal trends as reported in a large number of regional newsletters developed in Asia, Africa and the Americas specifically for the Foundation, the Pardee Center developed sophisticated methods to systematically review, categorize, analyze, visualize, and draw conclusions from the information in the newsletters.Item Connecting the dots: information visualization and text analysis of the Searchlight Project newsletters(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2012-10) Arikyan, Azathui; Zaman, Muhamad H.; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report is the product of work by Azatuhi Ayrikyan and Pardee Faculty Fellow Muhammad H. Zaman, with support from the Pardee Center, looking at the role of governance in the creation of knowledge-based economies. By reviewing available information from national governments and international governance and financial organizations (i.e., various United Nations programs, the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, the World Bank), Ayrikyan and Zaman have found connections between governance practices and a nation’s ability to develop and sustain the growth of a knowledge economy. The report includes several graphics illustrating the comparative measures used that support their findings, and it suggests that this work provides useful insights for policymakers and others interested in the economic development trajectories of developing countries.Item Heretical thoughts about science and society: Frederick S. Pardee distinguished lecture, November 1, 2005(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2005-11-01) Dyson, Freeman; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureFreeman Dyson illuminates the importance of having heretics to challenge assumptions, and gives six heretical predictions of his own. The first is that American hegemony will not last until the next century. The second is that global warming is not the enormous problem that people make it out to be, primarily because increasing topsoil can counteract the excess of carbon dioxide and also, our knowledge is still too limited to diagnose the situation. His third heresy is that the increase in carbon dioxide may take us back to that wettest and warmest point in the interglacial period when the Sahara Desert was wet, and that this may be a better climate overall, driving at the critical juncture between naturalists and humanists. The fourth heresy makes an analogy between the transition that computers made to become small and ubiquitous, and the direction that biotechnology perhaps ought to go. Number five elaborates on communal sharing of genes and a completely new path for biology and evolution, and his sixth is that rural poverty should be solved by increasing the productivity of rural activities using “green technology,” (based on biology) such that people are not forced to migrate to urban centers.Item Technological nightmares: Frederick S. Pardee distinguished lecture, October 2003(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2003-10) Streeten, Paul; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FuturePaul Streeten, 2003–2004 Pardee Visiting Professor of Future Studies at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, discusses the topic of technological progress—namely, the negative consequences often attributed to such progress. Advancements in technology are unfairly tied to things like pollution and environmental degradation, he says, and for decades, doomsayers have wrongly predicted that the world is coming to an end. Streeten insists that economic progress doesn’t have to have negative results. For starters, it’s important to remember that there are benefits to technological advancements, he says, such as the production of new goods, prolonged life, better health, and more. These advancements improve society. There are also other ways to accomplish economic growth, Streenten says. Our society can opt to produce different kinds of goods, such as hydrogen-fueled cars that don’t pollute the air. Or, quality of goods aside, perhaps we can promote faster production of goods to compensate for negative production effects. Streeten offers several growth options, discussing the merit and practicality of each.Item Development that works, March 31, 2011(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2011-03) Balfour, Doug; Banerjee, Abhijit Vinayak; Bhattacharya, Amar; Brody, Liam; Epstein, Gerald; Gallagher, Kevin P.; Harris, John R.; Juma, Calestous; Khwaja, Asim Ijaz; Kumar, Kabir; MacPherson, Nancy; Mookherjee, Dilip; Najam, Adil; Quadir, Iqbal Z.; Rosenzweig, Mark R.; Ryan, Una; Sapiro, Virginia; Simon, Jonathan Lee; Wade, Robert H.; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThe theme and the title of the conference—”Development That Works”—stemmed from the conference organizers’ desire to explore, from a groundlevel perspective, what programs, policies, and practices have been shown—or appear to have the potential—to achieve sustained, long-term advances in development in various parts of the world. The intent was not to simply showcase “success stories,” but rather to explore the larger concepts and opportunities that have resulted in development that is meaningful and sustainable over time. The presentations and discussions focused on critical assessments of why and how some programs take hold, and what can be learned from them. From the influence of global economic structures to innovative private sector programs and the need to evaluate development programs at the “granular” level, the expert panelists provided well-informed and often provocative perspectives on what is and isn’t working in development programs today, and what could work better in the future.Item Africa 2060: good news from Africa, April 16, 2010(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2010-04) Clapp, Richard; Dawit, Seble; Eagle, Nathan; Fromkin, David; Kariuki, Julius Gatune; Kazianga, Harounan; Longman, Timothy; Mahajan, Vijay; Mbuende, Kaire; McCann, James; McMillan, Margaret; Najam, Adil; Ngom, Fallou; Oyewumi, Oyeronke; Paliwala, Abdul; Rotberg, Robert; Sereke-Brhan, Heran; Simon, Jonathan; Sommers, Marc; Zewde, Bahru; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThis report provides commentary reflecting upon and information pertaining to the substance of the conference. An introductory overview looks at the major issues discussed at the event, which are placed within the larger literature on Africa’s future. Four short essays prepared by Boston University graduate students provide readers with more specific reflections and highlights of each conference session and the main issues discussed by panelists. The final section presents analyses of key trends and projections related to societal, economic, and governance issues for Africa and a commentary on what this information tells us about the drivers that will determine the continent’s future.Item The role of religion in the longer-range future, April 6, 7, and 8, 2006(Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, 2006) Aldrich, Sophie Lei; Ammerman, Nancy T.; Berger, Peter L.; Buultjens, Ralph; Connor, Walter; Craig-Hart, Patti; Cramer, Constance S.; Drill, Craig; Friedman, Benjamin; Fromkin, David; Gingerich, Owen; Glashow, Sheldon; Gross, Irena; Hammond, Norman; Harper, Charles; Hart, Douglas M.; Katz, Steven; Kimball, Roger; Kornberg, Hans, Sir; Kramer, Jane; Maitre, H. Joachim; Marsh, Chistopher; Mayers, David; McGahan, Anita; Meyer, Michael; Prothero, Stephen; Simon, Steven; Smith, Michael J.; Talbot, Phillips; Tracy, James; Watts, John; Wegter-McNelly, Kirk; Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range FutureThe conference brought together some 40 experts from various disciplines to ponder upon the “great dilemma” of how science, religion, and the human future interact. In particular, different panels looked at trends in what is happening to religion around the world, questions about how religion is impacting the current political and economic order, and how the social dynamics unleashed by science and by religion can be reconciled.