Center calls attention to globalization and governance

Princeton NJ -- A new center focusing on globalization and international governance has been established in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The Center for Globalization and Governance will be led by international political economist and trade expert Helen Milner, the school’s B.C. Forbes Professor of Politics and International Affairs.

“The Center for Globalization and Governance will present the opportunity for scholars to conduct fully funded research in a number of disciplines addressing the unique demands and challenges of a changing global order,” said Milner, who joined the Princeton faculty in 2004. “In addition, the center will serve as a resource for policy-makers, researchers and others examining the role of the United States and the formulation of American foreign policy in a globalizing world.”

The center will be formally launched during its inaugural conference Friday and Saturday, April 29-30, titled “The Political Economy of Globalization: How Firms, Workers and Policy-Makers Are Responding to Global Economic Integration.”

The conference is an example of how the center’s programming will differ from similar programs at other universities, which typically address national and global security issues. The Princeton center will instead examine issues of globalization and security from a broader standpoint. Programming will focus on the dense web of globe-spanning relationships between corporations, civic organizations and governments — as well as criminals and terrorists — created by the globalization of trade, production, finance, technology and information.

The center will have a three-fold mission. First, it will serve as a community of scholars and students interested in the academic and policy dimensions of globalization and international governance. Thought leaders whose research and areas of expertise span economics and economic development, trade, the environment, human security, monetary and regulatory policies, international law and human rights will be part of an intellectual pool that will work with faculty and students throughout the University and institutions around the globe.

Second, the center will be a home for visiting fellows who will be integrated into the Woodrow Wilson School and the larger Princeton community. In addition to conducting research in their respective fields, fellows will participate in Woodrow Wilson School courses and colloquia, work with faculty and mentor young scholars. The center also will sponsor a range of activities to engage undergraduate and graduate students studying international relations.

Third, the center will provide the opportunity to participate in outreach initiatives with outside academic and policy institutions in America and other countries that share the center’s mission and scholarly rigor. The center also is in the process of developing a network of relationships with public policy institutions in Europe, Latin America, the Near East and Asia.

“The center will enhance our understanding of the interlocking global forces that are shaping our world,” said President Tilghman. “Its creation reflects our determination to strengthen Princeton’s international perspective by promoting multidisciplinary research and forging ties with foreign scholars and institutions.”

Woodrow Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter added, “[The center] brings together a wide range of scholars in our increasingly strong international relations program and provides an intellectual focal point for students, faculty and visiting fellows. Under Helen’s direction, it will quickly become a forum for a wide array of international relations programming, teaching and research. It will be a great asset to the school and to Princeton as a whole, giving us additional international relations capacity under the broad umbrella of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.”

Milner is among a cadre of faculty members recently hired by the school as part of an effort to rebuild its strength in international affairs. An expert on trade and the impact of globalization on developed and developing countries, she was a faculty member at Columbia University from 1986 to 2004. She is the author of several books and is serving as general editor of a multi-volume series, “The International Library of Writings on the New Global Economy” (Edward Elgar Publishing). A 1980 graduate of Stanford University, she earned her Ph.D. in 1986 from Harvard University.

For more information on the Center for Globalization and Governance’s inaugural conference, visit <www.wws.princeton.edu/cgg/>.

 
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