The Blavatnik School of Government’s annual Challenges of Government conference will be held on Monday 9th to Tuesday 10th December. This year’s conference will explore the theme of ‘People, Power, Politics’, with panels and plenary sessions covering a wide range of topics to reflect the School’s multidisciplinary approach to the study of public policy.
We look forward to two days of stimulating contributions on some of today’s most challenging questions from respected academics, policy makers, activists and senior practitioners from all over the world: How should governments respond to the popular demands for change engulfing their countries? How can this people power be put to good use? And how should developing countries handle rising expectations of prosperity? These challenges are especially pressing in light of the recent Arab uprisings and mass protest movements in Brazil, Chile, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece and elsewhere, and the various ways – some conciliatory, some draconian – in which governments have responded to them.
Monday’s discussions will tackle these issues head on, with an opening plenary session on ‘People, Power, Politics’, chaired by Dean Ngaire Woods. Contributors will include political and social activist Jeremy Heimans, CEO and Co-Founder of Purpose, an online platform for launching social movements whose campaigns reach millions of concerned citizens around the world; Luiz Felipe d’Avila, President of Brazil’s Centro de Liderança Pública, an organisation dedicated to improving the quality of public management; Karuna Nundy, a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India with a wealth of experience in human rights litigation and advising governments on international norms and standards; and Professor Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of Government and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School, whose research focuses on security and conflict, and what it takes to achieve and maintain peace.
Tuesday opens with a special conversation between President Atifete Jahjaga of the Republic of Kosovo and Dean Ngaire Woods on ‘Policing for the People’. The President will discuss her involvement in the creation of an inclusive, multi-ethnic police force for her country after the upheaval of the Balkans War as part of a wider effort to build trust in a polarised environment.
One of the greatest challenges for emerging economies is how to develop natural resources in a fair, sustainable and transparent way. On Tuesday Professor Mthuli Ncube, Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank, will chair a plenary session on natural resources and rising expectations of prosperity. Among the contributors will be Dr Richard Konteh, Sierra Leone State House Chief of Staff and former Minister of Trade and Industry, and Sheila Khama, Director of Extractive Resources at the African Centre for Economic Transformation.
Other themes on the agenda include better public service delivery; innovations in education, health care and social policy; youth activism; sustainable development and growth; and people-powered development.
In addition to our panel speakers, over three hundred delegates will attend the conference. Students, academics, members of the media and representatives from business and government will come together to share their ideas and expertise and, we hope, find solutions to the challenges on which they are working.
We are delighted to welcome all of our conference attendees and we look forward to reporting on the proceedings. Join the conversation online: @blavatnikschool, hashtag #cogc2013.
