Sustainability, Resilience and Public-Private Partnerships from a Global Governance Perspective - Dr Georgios Kostakos, Executive Director, Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability

One hears a lot about sustainable development or sustainability, to such an extent that these terms increasingly feel inflated or devoid of meaning. The concepts behind them, though, do matter and should not be abandoned because of abuse or over-use. Sustainable development has a glorious past, dating back to the Brundtland Report of 1987 and the UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as Earth Summit, of1992. It was most recently reaffirmed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.

Major new Queen Mary programme for Bosnia-Herzegovina with UK Foreign Office

Fellows at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague

The public management team in the School of Business and Management – which also runs the Queen Mary University of London Masters’ programme in Public Administration – won a major contract with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in late 2013 to run a course throughout the month of February 2014 in collaborative policymaking and public leadership for emerging new leaders from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The participants are the first cohort of Fellows on what the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hopes will be a series of leaders in that country from the new generation. Britain has a longstanding commitment to assist Bosnia-Herzegovina and Queen Mary has been delighted to be able to play its part.

Open Seminar: Sustainability, resilience and public-private partnerships from a global governance perspective - Dr Georgios Kostakos

Image: Rochester Factory Credit: Ben Reierson License: CC BY 2.0 

Centre for Government and Leadership

School of Business and Management

Queen Mary University of London

Open Seminar

12^th March 2014 – 17:30

Guest Speaker: Dr Georgios Kostakos, Executive Director, Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS)

Bio: Georgios Kostakos holds a PhD in International Relations and a Mechanical Engineering degree. He served on the secretariat of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) as Senior Adviser and Acting Deputy Executive Secretary, and on many other positions at UN Headquarters, UN field missions, the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and the University of Athens. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS). His areas of expertise include global governance and sustainability, climate change, UN reform, conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. He maintains a current affairs blog: www.kostakos.net

Seminar title: Sustainability, resilience and public-private partnerships from a global governance perspective

Abstract: Sustainability is an often-used term in recent years, especially following the Rio+20 Conference of June 2012 and in view of efforts to arrive at a set of Sustainable Development Goals for the post-2015 period. One important element of sustainability and its three interconnected dimensions - namely social, economic and environmental - is resilience, the capacity of communities, institutions and individuals to bounce back after severe shocks. In an era of climate change, financial crises, food price hikes and water scarcity this is a key ingredient of sustainability, although not the whole of it. However, in the pursuit of growth and efficiency this is often forgotten or relegated to secondary importance. The seminar will focus on how sustainability and resilience are reflected, or not, in the public-private partnerships increasingly concluded at the global level, between international organizations and big private sector entities. Issues of delivery, representativeness, division of labour, respective responsibilities and capabilities, as well as overall accountability will be reviewed in this light, with suggestions for the future.

Research themes: Globalisation; Ethics and Politics; Public Management Group

Chaired by: Dr Stella Ladi

Location: Arts Two Lecture Theatre, Arts Two Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus, London, E1 4NS.

This is an open seminar, but please book your place online: http://bit.ly/1hYK1hn

If you have any questions, please contact Naomi Britton Executive Education Administrator: n.britton@qmul.ac.uk

Six consequences of the Ukraine crisis for British government - Prof Perri 6, Chair in Public Management, Queen Mary

Image: Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine - Credit: Sasha Maksymenko License: CC BY 2.0

Russia’s military intervention in the Crimea and perhaps more widely in the Ukraine will have longstanding consequences for government in Britain, and the impacts will be felt far beyond the Foreign Office and the diplomatic service. Six implications for British government are immediately obvious. In order from the shortest to the longest terms, six implications of the Russian occupation of the Crimea can immediately be identified for British government having to do loans, distractions, gilts, gas, missiles and boots and finally containers and pipes.