Graduate Student Conference 2011 on the Politics of Environmental Disasters

On May 26-27, 2011 the American Graduate School in Paris (AGS – www.ags.edu) held its sixth Annual Graduate Student Conference on the theme: “The Politics of Disaster: The Mitigation, Management, and International Response to Environmental Crises.” After a decade marked by a particularly intense series of natural and man-made environmental catastrophes, AGS invited students, professors, and NGO managers from around the world to examine the consequences of such crises and the environmental, social, and economic responses from international governments. Panelists from China, Pakistan, England, Ireland, Argentina, and the United States, participated along with AGS students to exchange ideas and discuss potential solutions to better prevent and respond to future crises.

This conference was organized by students in the Master’s and Ph.D. programs in International Relations and Diplomacy at AGS. They worked under the coordination of Professor Ruchi Anand, Associate Professor at the School of International Relations at AGS, whose areas of expertise include environmental policy. Anand authored, among other books, International Environmental Justice: A North South Dimension (Ashgate, 2004), which assesses the environmental disparities between the North and the South and the structural, political, economic, social, and legal conditions that have reinforced those disparities. “Conferencing and publishing are invaluable and essential components of graduate school. I have always pushed our students towards it. It allows them to hone their CVs and gives them a chance, in a rather amicable setting, to brainstorm challenging and complex issues of our time.”

AGS graduate student conferences have been organized every year since 2006. Previous conferences have addressed such themes as intercultural dialogue, international immigration issues, globalization, and democracy.

The American Graduate School in Paris is a nonprofit institution of higher education located in France and offering US-accredited programs delivered in English to students from around the world. It specializes in Business, Finance, and Economics (www.ags.edu/business-economics), as well as International Relations, Diplomacy, and International Affairs (http://www.ags.edu/international-relations). Its main partners in the US are Baruch College at the City University of New York, and Arcadia University in Pennsylvania.

For more information:
http://www.ags.edu/news-and-events/ags-school-news#conference-2011
Contact: Corentine Chaillet – corentine.chaillet@ags.edu

SOURCE American Graduate School in Paris