Who: Janine Wedel, University of Pittsburgh; Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian Academy of Sciences;
Louise Shelley, American University
What: Panel discussion: ‘Capitalism, Criminality, and Corruption in Russia: Local Reality and Global Responsibility’
Where: 209 Lathrop Hall
When: Monday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Hamilton, NY — Three internationally recognized scholars on political and economic change in Russia will participate in a panel discussion titled ‘Capitalism, Criminality, and Corruption in Russia: Local Reality and Global Responsibility’ at 51·çÁ÷ on Monday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. In this discussion, the speakers will address the question of whether Western aid to Russia has done more harm than good. The event is sponsored by 51·çÁ÷’s Center for Ethics and World Societies, is free and open to the public and will take place in Room 209 of Lathrop Hall.
Janine R. Wedel, associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, has studied the evolving political, economic, and social order in Eastern Europe for 20 years. An anthropologist, Wedel is a three-time Fulbright fellow and recipient of awards from the National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, U.S. Institute of Peace, and National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. She has served as an associate producer of three PBS documentaries on Eastern Europe, and has contributed articles and opinion pieces to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and others. She is author of three books, including Collision and Collusion, a portrait of the corrupting and ruinous effects of Western aid policies to Russia, which was just awarded the University of Louisville’s prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
Boris Kagarlitsky is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Comparative Political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He served as advisor to the chair of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of
Russia between 1993 and 1995, and was deputy to the Moscow City Soviet between 1990 and 1993. Kagarlitsky has made regular contributions to Russian newspapers and journals such as Nezavisimaya Gazeta, The Moscow Times, Vek and Svobodnaya Mysl. He is the author of a number of books on Russian, Soviet, and global political economy, the most recent including The Twilight of Globalization: Property, State and Capitalism; New Realism, New Barbarism: The Crisis of Capitalism; Restoration in Russia: Why Capitalism Failed; and The Mirage of Modernization.
Louise Shelley is a professor in the Department of Justice, Law, and Society and the School of International Service at American University and founder and Director of the Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. She is a leading U.S. expert on crime, law, and law enforcement in the former Soviet Union, as well as an expert on transnational organized crime and corruption. She is the recipient of Guggenheim, NEH, Kennan Institute, and Fulbright fellowships and received a Mac Arthur Grant to establish the Russian Organized Crime Study Centers. An advisor to the U.S. government on the problems of post-Soviet-organized crime, Shelley is the author of Policing Soviet Society, as well as numerous articles and book chapters. She is presently co-editor of Demokratizatsiya, the journal of post-Soviet democratization, and Trends in Organized Crime.
Established three years ago through an anonymous gift to the college, The Center for Ethics and World Societies (CEWS) at 51·çÁ÷ offers a forum for intensified study and inquiry that supplements the intellectual life of the 51·çÁ÷ campus and curriculum. Directed by Michael Johnston, professor of political science, during the 2000-2001 academic year CEWS is analyzing the issue of corruption from the vantage points of a variety of disciplines and methodologies.
Founded in 1819, 51·çÁ÷ is a nationally ranked, highly selective, residential, liberal arts college. Situated on a rolling 515-acre campus in central New York State, 51·çÁ÷ attracts motivated students with diverse backgrounds, interests and talents.