Institute for African Development
International Fair
August 27, 2025
11:00 am
Uris Hall, Terrace
International Fair showcases Cornell's global opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Explore the fair and find out about international majors and minors, language study, study abroad, funding opportunities, global internships, Cornell Global Hubs, and more.
The International Fair is sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and Office of Global Learning (both part of Global Cornell) in partnership with the Language Resource Center.
Register on CampusGroups to receive a reminder. Registration is not required.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Southwest Asia and North Africa Program
Egg Prices Continued to Rise in March
Chris Barrett, IAD/SEAP
Chris Barrett, professor of agricultural and development economics, discusses rising egg prices.
Additional Information
Building Democracy: Global Scholars Showcase
April 15, 2025
4:30 pm
Mann Library, 100 and 102
Join the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies’ undergraduate global scholars for a showcase of their capstone presentations providing public commentary and perspectives on global democracy.
Undergraduate global scholars advocate for building democracy on campus and around the world. They have partnered with the Einaudi Center's democratic threats and resilience faculty fellow Kenneth Roberts and Lund Practitioner in Residence Thomas Garrett—expert researchers and practitioners on building democracy—to design their projects.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Speed Talks: Lessons for the Domestic Moment
April 10, 2025
4:30 pm
Goldwin Smith Hall, G64
Join Einaudi Center and Brooks School researchers for three-minute speed talks and community conversation on our contemporary moment.
Speakers will jump off from interdisciplinary and international research, experiences, and world events to provide a fresh perspective on current U.S. politics and public policy. Together we'll look at challenges faced and solutions found in a variety of academic fields and places around the world—to help us think through how to address emerging issues at home.
The event features clusters of speed talks on related topics—including free speech, U.S. elections, and international aid—with time for Q&A and conversation on each topic.
***
Faculty Speakers
Lessons from Latin America
Kenneth Roberts, Democratic Threats Fellow (LACS) | GovernmentGustavo Flores-Macías (LACS) | Government and Public PolicySantiago Anria (LACS) | Global Labor and Work
International Implications
Magnus Fiskesjö (EAP/SEAP/PACS) | AnthropologyBryn Rosenfeld (IES) | GovernmentWilliam Lodge II (SAP) | Health Equity and Public Policy
Domestic Consequences
Mabel Berezin, IES Director | SociologyGautam Hans | LawMoon Duchin | MathematicsEllen Lust, Einaudi Center Director | Government and Public Policy
***
Sponsors
This conversation is hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, partnering with Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy's Governance and Local Development Institute and Data and Democracy Lab.
Find out how graduate and undergraduate students can get started at Einaudi.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Cornell Concert Series presents: Sona Jobarteh
March 21, 2025
7:30 pm
Bailey Hall
Preserving her musical past, Sona Jobarteh innovates to support a more humanitarian future. The spirit of her musical work stands on the mighty shoulders of the West African griot tradition; she is a living archive of the Gambian people. Her singing and kora playing, while fronting her band, spring directly from this heritage. Sona Jobarteh has performed live to audiences from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Symphony Space in New York to London’s Barbican, Cologne’s Philharmonie, and the Seine Musicale in Paris. Hailed as “mould-breaking” (Songlines Magazine), Sona Jobarteh is “a griot for a new generation” (BBC World Service).
“Guaranteed to hold the attention of any audience… There’s no disputing she’s at the top of her trade.” – The Morning Star
Additional Information
Program
Institute for African Development
Sona Jobarteh panel discussion
March 21, 2025
12:30 pm
Lincoln Hall B20
Sona Jobarteh will join Cornell faculty members Catherine Appert, N'dri Assie-Lumumba, Judith Byfield, Naminata Diabate, and Victoria Xaka for a panel discussion about gender, culture, and development in Africa. The discussion is free with no tickets required.
Additional Information
Program
Institute for African Development
‘Structural Poverty’ Maps Could Steer Help to World’s Neediest
Chris Barrett, IAD/SEAP
“Rapid advances in data science and machine learning haven’t gained widespread acceptance in the operational community in part because they haven’t generated estimates in a very usable form,” said Chris Barrett, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and professor in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy.
Additional Information
Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa
Ellen Lust in World in Focus
Einaudi Center director Ellen Lust is coeditor of a new open-access book examining how decentralization affects communities in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Particularly during political transitions, citizens are accustomed to the central state playing an outsized role in governance; the state has encouraged their passivity and even ignorance.... For decentralization policies to strengthen democratic governance, all must reconceptualize their relationship with each other and actively participate in governance.”
Policymakers and development practitioners often view decentralization as a path to increased political participation and social welfare. Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa (University of Michigan Press, 2025) gathers new research on communities in Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia to explore the ways decentralization policies affect citizens’ everyday lives.
Governance processes and outcomes vary significantly, even within countries. Focusing on changes on the ground since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, this edited volume shows how citizens of the MENA region are experiencing decentralization locally today.
The book's chapters demonstrate the influences of individual factors like gender and education and local contexts—including relationships between central and local actors, how citizens engage in political processes, and whether representatives reflect communities' interests.
The volume offers important insights into governance, participation, and representation in the MENA region and suggests new questions for researchers. Policymakers and development practitioners will find practical directions for program design and implementation.
“We call for close attention to the design of decentralization policies—considering local networks, social structures and institutions, and the resultant power balances, as well as education for citizens and officials alike to understand their rights and responsibilities,” write Lust and coeditor Kristen Kao (University of Gothenburg). “Only by unpacking governance at the local level can we understand how decentralization policies affect citizens’ lives and, ultimately, the welfare and stability of their nation-states and communities.”
The project was supported by the Hicham Alaoui Foundation. The introduction and chapter five are available in Arabic.
Ellen Lust joined the Einaudi Center as director in January. She is Einaudi's John S. Knight Professor of International Studies and a professor in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and Department of Government (College of Arts and Sciences).
Featured in World in Focus Briefs
Additional Information
Topic
- World in Focus
Program
What Does USAID's Demise Mean for Western Allies?
Rachel Beatty Riedl, IAD/Migrations
“Undercutting long-established relationships … weakens America's diplomacy and ability to compete with other global powers,” past Einaudi Center director Rachel Beatty Riedl told CBC News.
Additional Information
USAID Cuts in Kenya Reveal Risks to Lives and American Influence Worldwide
Rachel Beatty Riedl, IAD
“Undercutting long-established relationships with partner countries around the world weakens America’s diplomacy and ability to compete with other global powers, such as Russia and China, for critical resources, markets, and geostrategic alliances,” says Rachel Beatty Riedl, director of the Center on Global Democracy.