Author: CPPA

James Kwak, a former management consultant at McKinsey and Company and a current law student at Yale University, will speak on “13 Bankers: The Political Background to the Financial Crisis” on Wednesday, April 21 at 12:00 p.m. in Thompson 620.  The talk is co-sponsored by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA).

Kwak’s presentation will be based on the just-released book, 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, which he co-authored with Simon Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

13 Bankers documents how a handful of banks became so large and powerful that, by the end of the 20^th century, they were able to reshape our political landscape and produce a tolerance for excessive risk-taking that ultimately led to the current financial crisis and recession. The book also examines how both the Bush and Obama administrations bailed out the banks without securing meaningful reforms, setting the stage for another financial crisis, continued government bailouts, and an ever-growing national debt.

Ultimately, Johnson and Kwak show that the current crisis isn’t simply economic but a problem of political economy, and one that can be addressed only when policymakers find the courage to break up the big banks and impose stricter regulations. 

Niall Ferguson (Harvard University) notes that Johnson’s and Kwak’s “analysis of the unholy inter-twining of Washington and Wall Street—a cross between the gilded age and a banana republic—is essential reading,” and Bill Moyers calls 13 Bankers “a disturbing and painstakingly researched account of how the banks wrenched control of government and society out of our hands—and what we can do to seize it back.”

James Kwak received an A.B. in Social Studies from Harvard University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.  Both he and Simon Johnson, who previously was chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, have published articles in many leading publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Economist.  They co-founded The Baseline Scenario, a widely-read blog about economics, finance and public policy.

This talk is free and open to the public.  Brownbag lunches are welcome.

Gad Barzilai, an international expert on comparative politics and law, will speak on “Beyond Relativism: Where is Political Power in Legal Pluralism?” on Friday, April 16 at 12:00 p.m. in Thompson 620.  The talk is part of the Center for Public Policy and Administration’s Mellon-funded Grants Workshop Speaker Series in collaboration with the Departments of Political Science and Legal Studies.

Barzilai is Professor of International Studies, Law & Political Science in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.  Prior to 2005, he was a professor in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University.  He is active in international, Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian human rights organization and has served as an advisor to politicians and NGOs on issues related to law and politics.  He is the author of the award-winning book, Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities, and has helped to garner more than $4 million in support of academic projects under his direction.

Barzilai will focus in his talk on how theoretical constructs of legal pluralism—multiple legal practices in various jurisdictions—have challenged traditional notions of jurisprudence, but also on how research concerning legal pluralism can be enhanced through acknowledging the role of political power.  According to Barzilai, the politics of identities, non-ruling communities, and neo-liberal globalization are all sites of political power in the praxis of legal pluralism, and the dynamic interactions of local, national, and global agents generate forms of power that are often obscured behind the rhetoric of globalized pluralism. Barzilai will propose new constructs that can enable scholars to unveil political power in the context of decentralized legal pluralities.

While at UMass, Barzilai will also mentor Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Public Policy David Mednicoff, who is developing a grant proposal for support of his research on the rule of law in contemporary Arab societies.  Mednicoff is a Fellow in the 2009-2010 CPPA Grants Workshop, which is supported by the UMass Amherst Office of Faculty Development’s Mutual Mentoring Initiative, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This talk is free and open to the public.  Brownbag lunches are welcome.