Cook Conducts Training Session in Budapest

Gretchen R. Cook, Associate Director for Programs of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, conducted a two-day workshop on political advocacy at the Regional Roma Political Participation Conference, hosted by the Open Society Institute in Budapest, Hungary November 14-19, 1997.      The New York based Open Society Institute, part of the network of Soros Foundation grant-making entities, brought together grassroots Roma (or "gypsy") leaders from Lithuania, Hungary, Macedonia, Bosnia, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic for the first time in an effort to provide training on lobbying, voter participation, election campaigning and strategic media relations planning.

Bunche Center Nurtures
Foreign Affairs Interest Amongst
Local Minority High School Students
in Summer Program

     The Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center will host the Third Annual International Affairs Summer Enrichment Program June 22 through July 2, providing 30 Washington, DC, area minority high school students with an opportunity to explore international affairs career options, diplomatic issues, foreign language study, study abroad, and relevant institutions. Program participants will attend briefings at the World Bank, Africare, the Commerce Department on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations, featuring high-level government officials, legislators and business executives during the two-week program.
     In conducting this program, according to Ms. Gretchen Cook, Bunche Center Associate Director, the objective is to stimulate within participants a thirst for knowledge of international affairs. As a culminating activity, all students will participate in a mini-United Nations crisis simulation, for which they will prepare through group discussions, research and a day trip to the New York based United Nations.
     The IASE Program was established in 1995 as an avenue by which to nurture the next generation of African American and other minority Foreign Service diplomats, international business leaders, and academics. Many of the IASE Program’s former participants have gone on to study abroad in Korea, Israel, and Pakistan, and currently major in studies relevant to international affairs at the university level. The Program was previously funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Talks on Korea As a
Case Study in Development

     In cooperation with the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Bunche Center hosted on October 23, 1997, a three-part seminar on South Korea as a possible model for economic development, sponsored by the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute (KEI).
     The initial panel focused on economic themes, and featured presentations by the Korean Embassy’s Financial Counsellor, Dong-Kyu Shin; President of the Korea Economic Institute of America, Robert Warne; and a State Department expert, Edwin Sagurton. Deputy Chief Sung-Whan Choi of the Bank of Korea and the Howard Business School’s Youngho Lee served as special participants. Discussion points ranged from the genesis of Korea’s strong economy to current difficulties in Asian economies.
     The luncheon speaker, Chang Ho Lee, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Korean Embassy, provided an excellent analysis of Korea’s evolution, its relations with the U.S. and prospects for the Korean peninsula in the future. Led by KEI’s Peter Beck, the afternoon panel included Georgetown University’s David Steinberg and the Korean Foreign Trade Association’s Byoung-Joo Kim, focusing on the political and social dimensions of South Korean development. All phases of the program were attended by capacity audiences of faculty and students from a variety of campus departments. An overall consensus formed by day’s end was clear -- though Korea certainly has provided many lessons on economic development issues, it is less clear whether the Korean experience is or should be directly transferable to developing countries in Latin America, Africa and elsewhere.
     On the basis of favorable audience reaction, more such in-depth programs related to the Pacific Rim are projected by the Bunche Center.

Diplomat-in-Residence Kevin McGuire (l), Dr. Horace G. Dawson Jr., and
Dr. Orlando L. Taylor, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (second from right), pose with participants in the Korean Seminar.

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