http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/upcoming-events/detail/rethinking-eritrea
Rethinking Eritrea
December 8, 2016 - 8:45 am
*Register
Rethinking Eritrea
A conversation with:
Seth Kaplan
Professorial Lecturer,
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS),
Johns Hopkins University;
Author, Eritrea’s Economy: Ideology and Opportunity
Bronwyn Bruton
Deputy Director, Africa Center
Atlantic Council;
Author,
Eritrea: Coming in from the Cold
Anthony Carroll
Nonresident Senior Associate, Africa Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies;
Vice President,
Manchester Trade Limited
Dan Connell
Visiting Scholar, African Studies Center
Boston University
Welcome by:
J. Peter Pham
Vice President and Director, Africa Center
Atlantic Council
Often in the news for its high emigration flows to Europe, conflicts with neighboring Ethiopia and Djibouti, and controversy over human rights abuses and its mandatory and indefinite national service conscription program, Eritrea remains one of the most isolated countries in the world. Over the past eighteen months, Atlantic Council researchers have been permitted to access the country and its leadership. The results of this research have culminated in two reports. The first, authored by Bronwyn Bruton, examines the deterioration of the US-Eritrean relationship since the country gained independence in 1991 and makes the case that it is in the best interest of the United States to re-engage with Eritrea at a critical time in the Horn of Africa.
The second report, authored by Seth Kaplan, a fragile states expert and professorial lecturer at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, examines the interplay between the ideology of Eritrea’s leaders, the state of its economy, and the human rights and migration issues that capture news headlines. The report lays out how the Eritrean leadership’s ideological emphasis on self-reliance and sustainability has produced a stagnating, inward-looking economy and how these financial woes have reduced Eritrea’s ability to grow, create jobs, and reform its controversial national service program. Finally, Kaplan argues that, while Eritrea has a number of sectors that are ripe for development, much reform is needed, and the country can learn from successful reform processes undertaken by countries with similar ideologies, such as Rwanda and China.
Kaplan and Bruton will be joined by Anthony Carroll¸ a senior associate in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and lawyer and business consultant with thirty-five years of experience working in Africa, and Dan Connell, a visiting scholar in the African Studies Center at Boston University. Connell witnessed firsthand the Eritrea struggle for independence before becoming a prominent critic of the Eritrean regime.
On Twitter? Follow _at_ACAfricaCenter and use #RethinkingEritrea
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Seth Kaplan is a professorial lecturer in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, senior adviser for the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), and consultant to multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, United Nations, and OECD as well as bilateral donors, developing country governments, think tanks, and NGOs.He is currently working on the first United Nations World Bank Joint Flagship Study (on conflict prevention) and leading efforts to update USAID’s Fragility Assessment Prototype and Application Guidance. He is also managing an eight country comparative study for the United States Institute of Peace on transitions in fragile states. Mr. Kaplan is the author of two books on fragile states: Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development (Praeger Security International, 2008); and Betrayed: Promoting Inclusive Development in Fragile States (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He writes regularly for and manages the influential blog Fragile States Forum.
Bronwyn Burton is deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. She has authored a series of reports, journal essays, and special reports on the Horn of Africa. Her articles and editorials are regularly featured in prominent publications and she provides regular expert commentary on African political affairs for major international media outlets. Bruton held international affairs fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to her fellowships, she managed the National Endowment for Democracy’s multi-million dollar portfolio of small grants and managed post-conflict political transition programs in Africa for the United States Agency for International Development.
Anthony Carroll is a senior associate with the CSIS Africa Program. He is a lawyer and business consultant with 35 years of experience working in Africa. He began his work in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1976–1978 and returned to the agency during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations as assistant general counsel from 1986 to 1989. Since then he has advised foundations, universities, corporations, private voluntary organizations, the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, regional economic organizations, and business associations on trade, investment, and development matters. He was instrumental in the design and passage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and has testified before Congress on U.S.-Africa economic and political issues on several occasions. He currently serves as vice president of Manchester Trade, Ltd., in Washington, D.C. In addition, Mr. Carroll has served on several advisory boards including for the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and is on the Board of Visitors at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Mr. Carroll holds a B.A. (economics), an M.P.A., and a J.D.
Dan Connell is a visiting scholar at Boston University's African Studies Center and a retired senior lecturer in journalism and African politics at Simmons College. His work focuses mainly on Eritrea, but it has ranged across Africa and the Middle East to Central America and the Philippines. The cross-cutting themes are democracy, development and social justice and the indispensable linkage among them. He has written numerous books and articles, and he founded and directed two NGOs. His current research and writing focus is refugee flows out of Eritrea.
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Atlantic Council, 1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor
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Please join the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center on December 8, 2016, at 8:45 a.m. for the launch of two new publications on Eritrea.
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Received on Sat Dec 03 2016 - 15:19:59 EST