Donald E. Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs Larry M. Bartels’ new book, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Princeton University Press, June 2008) has been excerpted in the New York Times Magazine and prominently reviewed in the Washington Post Book World. It was the focus of panel discussions in Princeton, Washington, and New York featuring Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, Professor of Economics and International Affairs Paul Krugman, and prominent political scientists William Galston, Thomas Mann, and James Stimson, among others. In August it will be featured on “The Open Mind,” which airs on WNET in New York and other U.S. public television stations.

On June 16, Theodore A. Wells ’29 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Roland Benabou presented one of six of the Deutsche Bank Lectures at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. The lectures were on the theme of economic inequality and justice, and the title of Benabou’s talk was “Inequality and the Social Contract: from Fundamentals to Ideology.”

In February, Diplomat-in-Residence Barbara Bodine spoke at The City College of New York (CCNY). Her lecture, “The United States and Iraq: Cassandra’s Curse and Pandora’s Box,” was sponsored by the Master’s Program in International Relations (MPIR) in CCNY’s Division of Social Sciences. In May she spoke at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her talk, “Repairing the Damage: Foreign Policy Prescriptions for the Next Administration,” was sponsored by the School’s Institute of International Studies.

George Bustin, a visiting lecturer of public and international affairs this past spring and a faculty associate of the Program in Law and Public Affairs in the upcoming year, on March 31 gave a talk in Cincinnati, “Encounters with the New Russia,” at a joint meeting of the Foreign Policy Leadership Council and the Ohio Valley Princeton Association. On April 16 he delivered the C.V. Starr Lecture at New York Law School entitled “The European Union and Russia: From the Normative to the Geopolitical.” At the end of July, he participated in a panel on developments in the international law of cultural property with Evan Davis, former president of the bar association of the City of New York, at the offices of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York, and on August 7, he was a panelist at an all-day conference concerning the Administrative Law of the European Union at Cardozo Law School of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association. In addition, on September 5 he will address a task force of the European Institute for Strategic Studies in Paris on the relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation, a topic that was the subject of his recent WWS seminar. The task force is preparing a report for the European Council on pending negotiations with Russia on a new partnership agreement

Anne Case, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and Christina Paxson, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, had their paper “Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes” published in the June 2008 issue of The Journal of Political Economy. Their working paper previously was covered by major news outlets internationally.

Professor of Politics and International Affairs Tom Christensen testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in March. In his testimony, “Shaping China’s Global Choices Through Diplomacy,” he discussed how U.S. policy has responded to China’s growing influence in the East Asia region and around the world.

John Darley, the Dorman T. Warren Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, discussed the concept of “moral luck” at a workshop at Brooklyn Law School’s Center for the Study of Law, Language, and Cognition last fall. Darley and the other panelists presented their findings from recent studies focusing on why, when two people perform similarly bad acts and only one causes injury, the lucky perpetrator is often treated better than the one whose conduct caused harm.

Director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination and Lecturer of Public and International Affairs Wolfgang Danspeckgruber recently completed a trip to Afghanistan, where he was conducting field research and making an assessment of the capital’s security and economy. While there he reported on his observations of the status of Kabul and outlying regions.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs Angus Deaton was awarded a Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, on June 25. In mid-March, he spoke at the Department of Economics at MIT. His talk, titled “Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations,” was part of the MIT Labor/Development Workshop.

In March, Lecturer of Public and International Affairs Robert Finn delivered a talk to the Council on Foreign Affairs in Denver on “Afghanistan’s Clouded Future.” He also presented “Afghanistan’s Past and Future” at the American Academy in Berlin.

Professor of Politics and International Affairs Aaron Friedberg participated in the panel discussion “How to Rethink Policy Planning” at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in April. The event was part of the School’s conference “The Past, Present, and Future of Policy Planning.”

Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs Noreen Goldman recently completed a year as acting director of the Office of Population Research while director James Trussell was on sabbatical. She recently completed the second round of fieldwork of a national survey in Taiwan (the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study) and has been working to make the data publicly available. Goldman also embarked on a project to examine SES differentials in health among Latinos in the U.S. and in Mexico, and is collaborating with the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the potential for future collection of biomarkers. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries, which will explore the decline in the relative position of the U.S. with regard to older age mortality and the implications for the future trajectory of U.S. mortality.

Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs Emilie Hafner-Burton participated in the panel discussion “Can the Human Rights Movement Achieve its Goals? Contrasting Visions” at the Kennedy School’s conference on “Human Rights and the New Global Order” in May.

Professor of Politics and International Affairs John Ikenberry co-chaired a recently released study on the future of the U.S.–Korea alliance titled “The Search for a Common Strategic Vision: Charting the Future of the U.S.-ROK Security Partnership.” The report, an initiative of the East Asia Foundation, the Institute for Korean Unification Studies at Yonsei University, and the College of William and Mary, concludes a three-year dialogue between American and South Korean foreign policy experts, and outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S.–Korea alliance while addressing future security challenges facing the partnership.

Harold James, a professor of history and international affairs, was elected as a member of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences on July 4 and installed in a ceremony in the presence of the president of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, the following day. In March, James participated alongside Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European Central Bank, and Otmar Issing, former economics director of the ECB, in a conference organized by the Bundesbank and the European Association of Banking History marking the 10th anniversary of the creation of the European single currency, the Euro. On May 23, he gave the dinner speech at the annual research conference of the German Bundesbank on the theme of “Financial Globalization,” and on May 29 presented the Italian translation of his book on family business at the Bocconi University in Milan. He also presented a paper on the context of the Bretton Woods Agreement to a conference in Birkbeck College London on June 6, the theme of the conference being the remaking of the European political and social order after 1945; and on June 12, he gave the keynote address at a conference on family business in Germany, organized by the Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf. He also participated in a conference organized by the Austrian National Bank on institutional developments in the international financial system.

Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Policy Alan Krueger, and Arthur Stone, distinguished professor and vice chair in the department of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stony Brook University, published an article on the occurrence of pain in The Lancet entitled “More Than 25 Percent of Americans Experience Pain.” Among other things, they found a large income gap—people who make less than $30,000 a year spend nearly 20 percent of their time in moderate to severe pain, compared with just 7 percent for those who make over $100,000 a year. Krueger also testified in March before the Senate HELP committee on his latest research on unemployment and job search.

S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle Eastern Policy Studies Daniel Kurtzer recently was appointed by Governor Jon Corzine to serve as the chair of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, whose purpose is to stimulate bilateral business, education, and cultural cooperation. This past spring he delivered two papers at a conference in Israel, convened by Tel Aviv University, on the role of external powers in resolving regional disputes, and also spoke at a conference in Greece, convened by the Greek government and UCLA, on regional security in the Middle East. Kurtzer also published a review essay in the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs entitled “Shortsighted Statecraft: America’s Muddled Middle East Policy.” On May 27 he testified before the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on the subject of U.S. relations with Israel and Egypt. In his testimony, he highlighted the importance of the United States’ relationship with Israel and Egypt, but stated that with U.S. relations with both countries there is “unfinished business.” Dan stated, “The most pressing unfinished business of the U.S.–Israeli relationship relates to the search for a comprehensive peace settlement between Israel and the Arabs. Egypt, on the other hand,” he said, “has been slow in transitioning to a pluristic democracy. In addition, the U.S. and Egypt have differed on the tactics and strategy to be used in conducting Middle East peace negotiations.

Professor and Senior Policy Analyst Adel Mahmoud in August was among the keynote speakers at the World Vaccine Asia 2008 Congress in Singapore. His presentation will address the unmet vaccine needs of the developing world.

Douglas Massey, the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, was the keynote speaker in July at “Scholars Week,” an annual celebration of undergraduate research and creative activities at Western Washington University.

William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs Sara McLanahan was a guest speaker in April at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University as part of the Center’s Sulzberger Colloquium.

Deborah Pearlstein, an associate research scholar in the Program in Law and Public Affairs, in April participated in the panel discussion “Using Private Military Contractors: Issues of Accountability” at Duke University’s School of Law. The event was part of the University’s “Combating Terrorism: Charting the Course for a New Administration” conference.

Lee Silver, professor of molecular biology and public affairs, was a planner and the moderator of a 2008 Princeton University Reunions faculty panel discussion on science and religion, “Building a Framework of Factual Human Knowledge in a Faith-based Society” held on May 30. The panel examined some of the issues that encompass science and religion, including each claiming dominion over much of society and human knowledge, and discussed how attempts to resolve differences may at times seem to exacerbate the problem. He also presented the keynote address, “Reproductive Genetics and Future Evolution of the Human Species” at the 8th International Symposium on Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis held in Barcelona, Spain on April 25. Silver was also a panelist in a debate held by the Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation, “Do We Have the Right to Improve Upon Human Nature?” Panelists on either side of the debate discussed whether the new technologies that promise to extend and improve human life that have resulted from a better understanding of genetics and medicine are right, or whether these interventions are “playing God.”

Diane Snyder, lecturer of politics and international affairs, was a guest professor in March at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, where she delivered a Master’s Seminar on “U.S. National Security and Intelligence Policy: 1945–Present.” The intensive course was part of Charles University’s new Master’s in International Relations degree program, and was co-sponsored by the Czech Security Studies Institute in Prague. Her course focused on the evolution of the U.S. intelligence community since its formation, during the Cold War, to recent developments for the intelligence community in the post-9/11 environment. The course emphasized the challenges for intelligence, highlighting successes and failures within the U.S. constitutional democracy and U.S. government responses to major domestic or geopolitical events. She later hosted a roundtable discussion at the Prague Security Studies Institute attended by former military, intelligence, diplomatic, and other government officials for a discussion on “Evolution of U.S. Intelligence Policy since 9/11 and Forecast for the Future.”

Maurice P. During ’22 Professor in Demographic Studies Marta Tienda will be featured in the September, 2008 issue of Biography Today, a magazine profiling people the editorial board believes “will interest and inspire students in late elementary through middle school.” The magazine appears in school media centers and public libraries.

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs David Wilcove, and ecology and evolutionary biology graduate student Lian Pin Koh together published an article in Conservation Letters entitled “Is Oil Palm Agriculture Really Destroying Tropical Biodiversity?” in which they show that, contrary to claims by the Malaysian and Indonesian governments, tropical forests are being cleared to grow oil palm. Using data on the distribution of birds and butterflies in old-growth forests, logged forests, rubber plantations, and oil palm plantations, the authors show that the conversion of old-growth or logged forests to oil palm results in substantial reductions of biodiversity, while conversion of rubber plantations to oil palm does not. In a new paper in the Public Library of Science–Biology (PLoS Biology), Martin Wikelski of the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology and Wilcove discuss the ecological and social implications of ongoing declines of migratory animals around the world. Declines affect a wide range of species, including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and other invertebrates. The authors argue that the continued decline of migratory species could be harmful to agriculture, forestry, and other important human activities. Moreover, protecting migratory species, which typically cross all sorts of human-created borders and boundaries, poses unique social and political challenges.

Professor of History and Public Affairs Julian Zelizer published an article in the June 2008 issue of the Boston University Law Review, “The Conservative Embrace of Presidential Power,” and has had articles published recently in The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post. In May, he convened a conference at the Woodrow Wilson School on the history of the presidency of George W. Bush, with several of the nation’s leading historians participating. The purpose of the conference was to present early versions of chapters he is editing that will be part of a book on this topic. He also presented papers at the Miller Center for Public Affairs, the Policy History Conference, and the Texas Lone Star Forum, where his new manuscript was the focus of a session.