Honorary President of GFDD and FUNGLODE, Leonel Fernández Will Teach the Course “Latin America in Globalization” at the Institute for Global Studies in Paris

The former President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernández, together with the former Presidents of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, and Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, joined the teaching staff of the course “Latin America in Globalization” ​​at the Institute for Global Studies in Paris. This academic institution was created in the framework of the three day international symposium “Think Global / Thinking
Globally” which took place in Paris from May 15-17, 2013.

The Institute for Global Studies will function as part of the Foundation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH) and will offer 15 courses delivered by prominent international academics, including the former President Fernández, who is also the President of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE). The newly created
Institute will organize a number of events in different parts of the world in order to share results of research and studies on various aspects of globalization.

The course “Latin America in Globalization” will be delivered by Fernández, Lagos and Cardoso and directed by Dr. Ernesto Ottonne, a renowned Chilean intellectual, the author of numerous
papers about Latin America and the globalized world. The course, amongst other activities, will provide studies and promote discussions on economic, social, political, cultural, technological and environmental issues in the context of Latin America.

Except Fernández, Lagos and Cardoso, the teaching staff of the Institute for Global Studies includes Alain Rouquié, Chairman of the House of Latin America; Ernesto Ottone, Professor at the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile;
Manuel Castells, Professor at the University of Southern California; and Immanuel Wallerstein, Professor at Yale University and President of the Association of Friends of the FMSH. Other staff members are Michel Wieviorka, Administrator of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme and Director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS); Alain Touraine, President of the High Council of the College of Global Studies; Dutch Sociologist Saskia Sassen,
winner of the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award in Social Sciences; and French Philosopher and Sociologist Edgar Morin, famous for his studies about the crisis of an individual.

On a side note, President Fernández returned home last Saturday evening after completing an official visit to Fiji, Paris, in the course of the symposium, and Brussels, where he successfully concluded a busy schedule of meetings on issues of globalization, regional integration, cooperation and
investment. During his visit to Paris, Mr. Fernández took advantage of the opportunity and opened FUNGLODE’s new office at UNESCO headquarters.

The symposium “Think Global / Thinking Globally”
The international symposium “Think Global / Thinking Globally” was organized by the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme with the participation of a large number of
leading scholars in social sciences from Europe and Latin America. For three days, the participants were debating about internationalization and globalization of social sciences and humanities while promoting the emergence of creative research.

Speakers
The event was opened by Tseh Yuan Lee, the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry and member of the High Council of the College of Global
Studies, who gave a keynote address, and Isabelle This-Saint-Jean, representative of the city of Paris and Vice President of Higher Education and Research at the Regional Council of Ile-de-France.

Hélène Ahrweiler, former Rector of the Academy of Paris, and Michel Wieviorka, Administrator of the FMSH and Director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales came out to greet the distinquished audience.

President Fernández made the
closing remarks to wrap up the first working day. He shared the session with the former Presidents Ricardo Lagos of Chile and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil. In his speech, the former Dominican Head of State addressed the problem of drug trafficking, “an evil and dark side of the globalized world.”

The high-level symposium was one of the events to celebrate the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme 50th anniversary. The institution
was established in 1963 by historian Fernand Braudel with the aim to “promote studies of human societies that focus on current social realities and contexts.”

More information
http://www.yale.edu/sociology