Public Affairs Discussion Group

Bicentennials in Latin America: What the History of Latin America's First Constitutions Can Teach Obama's America

Marixa Lasso, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University





Friday February 04, 2011
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall - Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

It has received little attention in what we should call Anglo-America, but we are at a time of commemoration and reflection in Latin America. Nine countries, including Mexico, have been celebrating their independence from Spain between 2009 and 2010. Latin American constitutions were among the first in the world to declare legal equality. Independence led to black senators, congressmen and governors, who were fully incorporated into the public life. Yet discrimination continued informally without any institutional sanction. Moreover, the presence of legal equality and famous black public figures helped delegitimize and criminalize those who continued to denounce racial discrimination. Latin Americans had 200 years ago many of the debates about race relations that we are having today.

More About Our Guest....

Marixa Lasso is an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. Professor Lasso's research interests include Latin American history, Caribbean history, Colombia, Urban history, Panama, and the Age of Revolution. She received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Florida, an M.A. in History from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.A. in History and Geography from the Universidad Nacional de Panamá. She is the author of the book, Myths of Harmony: Race and Republicanism during the Age of Revolution, Colombia 1795-1831. Professor Lasso was written numerous articles that have appeared in American Historical Review, Historical Reflections, Lotería, Revista Humanidades, Revista de Estudios Sociales, and Historia General de Panama.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

February 11: Special Inamori Center Event

February 18: Iwan Alexander, Faculty Director, Great Lakes Energy Institute: News from the Great Lakes Energy Institute

February 25: Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services, CWRU: "Case Recycles," and How That Works.

March 4: Shirley M. Moore, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing: Even After a Heart Attack - The Challenge of Encouraging Healthy Behavior

March 11: No Session, Spring Break

March 18: Special Inamori Center Event

March 25: Mark Votruba, Associate Professor of Economics: The Social Effects of Economic Dislocation

April 1: Jacqueline Lipton, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Law, Technology and the Arts: Privacy and Online Social Networks.

April 8: Special Inamori Center Event

April 15: Mark Naymik, Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio's Budget Battle

April 22: Jon Groetzinger, Visiting Professor of Law and Director, China Legal Programs: Developing the Legal Profession in China.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. Overflow parking is also available in the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.

January 31, 2011

Upcoming Events

Divided Loyalties: Professional Standards and Military Duty

February 8, 2011, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Moot Court Room, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio, Sponsored by the Arthur W. Fiske Memorial Lectureship Fund.

There has always been some tension between the ethical, legal, and professional obligations of professionals and the requirements of military service. This tension has been increased by the War on Terror. Physicians, mental health professionals, lawyers, and law enforcement/corrections officers serving in the military have been placed in situations in which their professional ethics, obligations, and legal duties may contradict military necessity or directives, or even place the role of professional in direct conflict with the role of military personnel.

Symposium participants include Deborah Ascheim, MD, Associate Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; George Annas Professor, Boston University Law School & School of Public Health; David Frakt, Professor, Barry University Law School, Orlando; Jon Hanson, Professor, Harvard Law School; Beth Hillman, Professor, University of California, Hastings; and Steven Reisner, Physicians for Human Rights/ International Trauma Studies Program New York University

Awash in Debt: State Liabilities and the Future of the Chinese Economy

Professor Victor Shih, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, February 17, 2011, 4:30-6:00 p.m., Mandel Center Building, Room 115, 11402 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH. This program is made possible by the generosity of Ms. Eloise Briskin and is sponsored by the Case Western Reserve University Center for Policy Studies.

Although China has some of the world's lowest level of foreign debt and official government debt, the Chinese government and state owned banks and enterprises actually owe an enormous amount of debt to domestic financial institutions and households. This presentation first catalogs the different segments of debt owed by the Chinese government and related entities and the claimants on this debt. It then discusses some implications for future public policies in China.

Victor Shih is an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University. He is interested in political economy in developing countries broadly, and how politics affect economic outcomes in China specifically. His book, Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008) explores the timely question of how politics affects the large volume of underperforming loans on the books of Chinese banks. His on-going projects investigate the performance of Chinese banks, signaling in elite politics, and elite selection in China. Victor Shih received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.