Snider Workshop "The Dynamics of State Failure in Africa"
Friday, January 29, 2010 10:00-12:00 PM
S403
For more information: glasbergen@utsc.utoronto.ca
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On *Friday January 29*, Professor Bates will lead a *workshop* on the *"The Dynamics of State Failure in Africa."* Key questions to be discussed include why African states' have been particularly prone to political instability and civil war and what the roles of ethnic diversity and economic development have played in this regard.
Attendance will be limited to *30* UTSC undergraduate students, on a "first-come-first-served" basis. The workshop will run from *10:00 AM-12:00 Noon *in room* S403*. A complementary lunch with Professor Bates will be provided, from 12:00 Noon-1:30 PM. Interested UTSC students should contact the Secretary of the Department of Social Sciences, Ms. Audrey Glasbergen (glasbergen@utsc.utoronto.ca ), to register for the event and request the assigned reading for the seminar. We expect that faculty will allow interested students to take part in the seminar without penalty if it happens to conflict with a class.
Questions regarding Professor Bates' visit should be directed to Professor Phil Triadafilopoulos of the Department Social Sciences (triadaf@utsc.utoronto.ca ).
*Robert Bates* is Eaton Professor of the Science of Government at Harvard University. His research focuses on the political economy of development, particularly in Africa, and on violence and state failure.
Bates has conducted field work in Zambia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Columbia and Brazil. Before coming to Harvard, he held faculty appointments at the California Institute of Technology and Duke University and had been a researcher at the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Nairobi, the Institute for Social Research of the University of Zambia, and Fedesarrollo in Bogota, Columbia. Bates currently serves as a researcher and resource person with the Africa Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi; as a member of the Political Instability Task Force of the United States Government; and as Professeur associe, School of Economics, University of Toulouse, where he has taught since 2000. His most recent books are a co-authored study of Africa's economic performance in the post independence period (‘The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa’, 1960-2000, 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 2008) and a sole-authored study of state failure (‘When Things Fell Apart’, Cambridge University Press, 2008).