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26 March, 2010
Social Agenda in Latin America
As part of the Current Affairs Series, the United Nations University Office at the UN Headquarters New York (UNU-ONY) is organizing a discussion entitled "Social Agenda in Latin America" with Former President of the Republic of Peru Dr. Alejandro Toledo.
Dr. Toledo will talk about the evolving social, economic, and political landscape in Latin America. The focus of his discussion will be the development of a new "Latin America Consensus". The basis of this consensus is a new social agenda developed by 20 former Latin American Presidents at the Global Center for Development and Democracy that focuses squarely on poverty alleviation, access to education and nutrition, health care, low cost energy, strengthening democratic institutions, and bridging the digital divide. Dr. Toledo will also discuss the state of political relations within Latin America and with other regions.
The United Nations University Office in New York (UNU-ONY) Current Affairs Series aims to address ongoing issues of relevance in the areas of international security, development and the environment. The goal is to showcase up-to-date analysis on current events and crises by academics and policy makers who have firsthand knowledge and unique insights on the matters at hand. The programme's topics will also echo the items on the policy agenda of the UN and the UNU.
Date: Friday, March 26, 2010
Time: 9:45 am to 11:15 am
Venue: Conference Room C, Temporary North Lawn Building, UN Headquarters, New York
Speaker:
Alejandro Toledo, Former President of Peru
Moderator:
Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director, UNU-ONY
Event Pictures:
Click here to download the event report.pdf
Background Readings:
If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Noemi Perez at (212) 963-6387 or e-mail: perezvasquez@unu.edu
SPEAKER PROFILE:
Dr. Alejandro Toledo was the democratically elected President of Peru in 2001. During his five-year term, the central aim of Toledo's presidency was the fight against poverty through investment in healthcare and education. As a result of sustained economic growth and deliberate social policies directed to the poorest of the poor, extreme poverty was reduced by 25 percent in five years, and employment rose at an average rate of 6 percent from 2004-2006. From 2001-2006, the Peruvian economy grew at an average rate of 6 percent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America.
Before becoming President, Dr. Toledo worked for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., and the United Nations in New York. He first appeared on the international political scene in 1996 when he formed and led a broad democratic coalition against Alberto Fujimori.
Toledo was born in a small and remote village in the Peruvian Andes, 12,000 feet above sea level. He grew up in extreme poverty in a family of sixteen siblings. At the age of six, Toledo worked as a street shoe shiner and also sold newspapers and lottery tickets to supplement the family income. Thanks to a series of accidental opportunities, he was able to escape from extreme poverty and attend the most prestigious academic centers of the world, later becoming one of the most prominent democratic leaders of Latin America. Dr. Toledo is the first Peruvian president of indigenous descent to be democratically elected in five hundred years.
Toledo received a BA in Economics and Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. He has an MA in Economics, and an MA and Ph.D. in the Economics of Human Resources from Stanford University. During his academic career, Dr. Toledo was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University and a Research Associate at Waseda University in Tokyo.
After finishing his term as President, Toledo returned to Stanford for three years, where he was a Distinguished Visitor in Residence at the University's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and also a Payne Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Simultaneously, Dr. Toledo founded and continues to serve as the President of the Global Center for Development and Democracy (www.cgdd.org), which is based in Latin America, the United States, and the European Union. Dr. Toledo is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and also a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Toledo has lectured in more than forty countries on issues of poverty, economic growth, and democracy, as well as on the benefits of human-capital investment. He has received forty-six honorary doctoral degrees from prestigious universities around the world.
MODERATOR PROFILE:
Dr. Jean-Marc Coicaud is the Director of the United Nations University (UNU) Office at the United Nations Headquarters (New York). He was Senior Academic Officer and Director of Studies at the UNU headquarters (Tokyo) from 1996 to 2003. From 1992 to 1996, he served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General as a speechwriter for Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. A former fellow at Harvard University (Center for International Affairs, Department of Philosophy and Harvard Law School, from 1986 to 1992), Coicaud has held appointments such as Cultural Attaché with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Legislative Aide with the European Parliament (Financial Committee). He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure-Ulm in Paris and has taught at the New School for Social Research (New York). In addition, he has been a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (Washington, D.C.), a Global Research Fellow at New York University School of Law and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University (Beijing). Coicaud holds a Ph.D. in Political Science-Law from the Sorbonne and a Doctorat d'Etat in philosophy from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris. He also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in literature and linguistics.
Jean-Marc Coicaud has published books in the fields of comparative politics, political and legal theory, international relations and international law. They are available in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic, and include the following single-authored books: L'introuvable démocratie autoritaire (L'Harmattan, 1996), Légitimité et Politique (Presses Universitaires de France, 1997), Politics and Legitimacy: A Contribution to the Study of Political Right and Political Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Beyond the National Interest (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007), Kokuren no Genkai/Kokuren no Mirai (Future of the UN/Limits of the UN - Fujiwara Shoten, 2007), Mai Xiang Guo Ji Fa Zhi (Towards the International Rule of Law - Sanlian Shudian, 2008). His latest book, co-edited with Hilary Charlesworth, is Fault Lines of International Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Jean-Marc Coicaud is now finishing two new single-authored books, Kissing War Goodbye, and Knowledge and International Institutions.
Jean-Marc Coicaud is a member of the Advisory Board of the Carnegie Council's Global Policy Innovations (New York). He also serves as an adviser for the Fondation pour l'Innovation Politique (Paris).
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Page last modified Last modified: April 06 2010 at 02:24:12 PM.
