In July, former World Bank president and deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz joined AEI as a visiting scholar in development policy studies. His interest in these issues dates back to his days as ambassador to Indonesia during the Reagan administration.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the subcommittee that oversees foreign aid programs, praised transparency in foreign aid spending during a speech at AEI in June. Roger Bate, who has this year exposed opaque procurement processes at multilateral organizations, moderated the event.
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Representative Mark Kirk |
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Adam Lerrick, Desmond Lachman, and Philip I. Levy have been writing about reform at the World Bank and other development organizations. In June, Representative Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) spoke at an event examining whether we still need the World Bank. Despite policy drift in recent years, the Bank can still be a vessel for American influence, he argued. Other speakers--who included William Easterly of New York University and Mr. Lerrick--addressed ways in which the Bank has lost focus and offered substantial aid to countries that do not need it. They also discussed the challenges World Bank president Robert Zoellick will face.
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Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairperson of the Commission of the African Union |
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Mauro De Lorenzo is monitoring China's charm offensive in Africa and writing about that nation's long-term strategies on the continent. In May, he hosted a discussion on the consequences of China's investment in and close relationship with the repressive Sudanese regime in light of the Darfur situation. African officials and business leaders--including Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairperson of the Commission of the African Union--spoke at a September session on African concerns about Chinese economic and political activity.
Mr. De Lorenzo is the editor of AEI's Development Policy Outlook. The first issue of 2007, by Mr. Levy, discussed how to make U.S. foreign aid more effective. In August, Deepak Lal of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Sarath Rajapatirana wrote a Development Policy Outlook on the popular idea of a "Marshall Plan" for Africa, highlighting basic differences between postwar Europe and modern-day Africa.
Mr. De Lorenzo has launched a research and writing project on promoting entrepreneurship in the developing world.
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