DRC: War Again in the Eastern Congo: International Engagement

From:  Howard Wolpe, Director, Africa Program, Wilson Center

Topic: Great Lakes Policy Forum

          War Again in the Eastern Congo: International Engagement

With:  Séverine Autesserre, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Barnard College at Columbia University

          Marijan Zumbulev, UN Analyst, International Crisis Group

Moderator: Steve McDonald, Consulting Program Manager, Africa Program and Leadership Project

Date:  Thursday, January 15, 2009 - 10:30AM to 12:00PM

Where: 5th Floor Conference Room, Woodrow Wilson Center in the Ronald Reagan Building. One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC

The Wilson Center’s Africa Program is pleased to invite you the 140th session of the Great Lakes Policy Forum, "War Again in the Eastern Congo: International Engagement". This event will feature Séverine Autesserre, assistant professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University, and Marijan Zumbulev, International Crisis Group, New York. Autesserre will present her research on local violence and international intervention in the eastern part of the country. She will address the importance of bottom-up processes and talk about the reasons for the lack of international support to local conflict resolution projects. Zumbulev will provide an up-to-date policy response for the international community, talking about the necessity and urgency of international engagement in the Congo.

Severine Autesserre is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. She specializes in civil wars, peace building and peace keeping, humanitarian aid, and African politics. Her research has been published in Foreign Affairs, the Review of African Political Economy, the African Studies Review, the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs and she has a forthcoming article in International Organization. She currently is finishing a book entitled Failing the Congo - Local Violence and International Intervention. Her research won numerous prizes and fellowships, including a Peace Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace (2004-2005), a Mellon Dissertation-Writing and Research Fellowship in Security and Humanitarian Action (2004-2006), and a Fulbright Fellowship (1999-2000).

Before becoming an academic, Autesserre worked for humanitarian and development agencies in Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua and India. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from New York University (2006), and M.A.s in political science and international relations from Science-Po (France, 1999) and Columbia University (2000).

Marijan Zumbulev joined Crisis Group New York in June 2004. He spent the summer of 2003 at Crisis Group's Belgrade office, researching on the state of the post-Milosevic Serbian economy. As UN Advocacy Director at the International Crisis Group New York, Zumbulev coordinates Crisis Group’s research and advocacy activities targeting the United Nations. Much of his time at Crisis Group has been spent working on African conflicts on the UN Security Council agenda, particularly Sudan and the DRC.

Zumbulev has conducted research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo several times since 2003. His most recent trip was in late 2006, when he observed the second round of the presidential elections for the Carter Center, based in North Kivu province. Marijan holds a graduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, an M.A. in Nationalism Studies from Central European University, and a B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Connecticut College.

This panel will be moderated by Steve McDonald, a specialist in African affairs. Steve McDonald is currently the Consulting Program Manager for the Africa and Leadership and State Capacity Building Programs of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Focused primarily on democracy and governance, human resource development, conflict resolution and policy formulation for Africa, McDonald has lived on and worked with Africa for 38 years.

Please RSVP by e-mail to Africa Program Assistant Justine Lindemann at africa@wilsoncenter.org

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