News and Notes
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Henry Y.K. Tom (1946-2011)
We are sad to note the passing of Henry Y.K. Tom, longtime executive editor for the social sciences in the Book Division at Johns Hopkins University Press. Henry Tom worked with the Journal on more than twenty books. He edited over a thousand books during the 36 years that he spent at Johns Hopkins. Tributes will be printed in a future issue.
Conference on Reagan's Democratic Legacy
On February 10-11, the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs organized a conference entitled "Reagan in a World Transformed, 1981-2011" as part of "The Ronald Reagan Centennial Conference," a four-conference series. One of the panels focused on "Reagan and the Global Democratic Movement" and featured a discussion of how the Reagan administration's efforts affected future presidents' strategies for democratic expansion. Speakers included Paula J. Dobriansky, former undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs; Robert Kagan, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution; and Carl Gershman, president of NED.
Jiri Dienstbier (1937-2011)
Jiri Dienstbier, a leading figure in the 1989 Velvet Revolution and the first Czechoslovak foreign minister after the 1989 collapse of the communist regime, passed away on January 8. He was one of the first signatories of the Charter 77 declaration. In 1991, Dienstbier accepted the NED Democracy Award on behalf of Czech president Václav Havel. For more information, please see: http://praguemonitor.com/2011/01/10/post-1989-czechoslovak-foreign-minister-di-enstbierdies. [End Page 186]
Raymond D. Gastil (1931-2010)
We are sad to note the passing of Raymond Gastil, longstanding democracy scholar who worked for many years on Freedom of the World and developed the survey's methodology. For tributes, please see: http://tinyurl.com/raygastil.
NED's International Forum
On January 20, the Forum organized a panel discussion to mark the publication of The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost by Ilyas Akhmadov, foreign minister of Chechnya from 1999 to 2005, and Miriam Lanskoy, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at NED. The authors offered analysis of the current conflicts in the North Caucasus and their implications for the future of the region. Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor during the Carter administration, gave introductory remarks.
On February 2, the Forum and the Inter-American Dialogue cosponsored a panel discussion on "Latin America's Changing Political Landscape," based on a cluster of articles that appeared in the January 2011 issue of the Journal. The discussion featured one of the authors, Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue. Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, and Miriam Kornblith, director of the Latin American and Caribbean program at NED, offered comments.
The Forum hosted several luncheon meetings this winter featuring Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows.
On January 19, Dayo Aiyetan, founding director of the International Center for Investigative Reporting in Abuja, Nigeria, led a roundtable discussion entitled "Combating Corruption in Nigeria: The Promise of Investigative Reporting."
On February 3, Anton Burkov, a lawyer based in Yekaterinburg, Russia, gave a presentation entitled "Bringing Human Rights Home: The Application of the European Convention in Russian Courts." William Pomeranz, deputy director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, offered comments.
On February 17, Arturo Alvarado, professor of sociology at El Colegio de México, gave a talk on "Violence, Criminality, and the Erosion of the Democratic State in Latin America." Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, commented.
On February 23, Levan Berdzenishvili, founding president of the Republican Institute, a Georgian think tank, gave a presentation entitled "A Not-So Rosy Result: Georgia Seven Years after the Rose Revolution." Miriam Lanskoy of NED offered comments.
This spring, the Forum welcomed a new group of Reagan-Fascell Fellows: Nesreen Barwari (Iraq), Anne-Stella Fomumbod (Cameroon), Medha Nanivadekar (India), Carlos E. Ponce (Venezuela), H. Kwasi Prempeh (Ghana), Mykola Ryabchuk (Ukraine), and Luis Carlos Ugalde (Mexico). [End Page 187]
