United Nations Studies at Yale (UNSY) -- part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS) -- has been awarded grants by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation, announced Gustav Ranis, director of YCIAS and the Frank Altschul Professor of International Economics.
The Ford Foundation grant will provide $300,000 for three years of core programmatic support at UNSY, which is directed by Bruce Russett, the Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations and Political Science.
The Carnegie grants will provide $150,000 for research to study "Democracy, Interdependence, International Organizations, and the Reduction of International Conflict" and "Public Opinion toward Multilateralism and International Organizations." Both research projects are led by Professor Russett.
"Democracy, Interdependence, International Organizations, and the Reduction of International Conflict" is an ongoing project that began by examining whether democracies are less likely than other states to fight one another. Its focus has since expanded to exploring the role of economic interdependence and multinational organizations in reducing conflict. "Public Opinion toward Multilateralism and International Organizations" involves faculty members from American University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Connecticut, who have held workshops and published articles with a view toward conducting a national public opinion survey on the topic.
The Carnegie grant will also provide:
* $100,000 to assist in the preparation and publication of "The Public Papers of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali," edited by Charles Hill, lecturer in international studies and former special consultant on policy to Mr. Boutros-Ghali. The two-volume work, to be published by Yale University Press, will cover the Secretary-General's term in office 1992-96, which is considered to be a watershed period in the history of the United Nations.
* $25,000 for the completion of "An Independent History of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)," by Ruben Mendez, former career economist at UNDP. This analytical history will go back to the UNDP's pre-United Nations antecedents in an effort to trace the beginnings and evolution of international technical and other development assistance. The book will present a chronological narrative and will analyze global economic developments and the UNDP's interaction with donors and recipients of aid, aid agencies, the private business sector and civil society.
Founded in 1993, UNSY brings together many of Yale's resources for studying international organizations. Considered one of the world's foremost centers for the study of the United Nations, the UNSY served as secretariat for the international report "The United Nations in Its Second Half Century." UNSY staff teach undergraduate- and graduate-level courses, and the organization spon-sors research, conferences and public outreach activities.
Beginning in July of 1998, the headquarters of the Academic Council on the United Nations System -- an international professional organization of scholars and policy-makers concerned with the United Nations -- will be transferred from its current location at Brown University to YCIAS, and will be associated with UNSY and U.N. Legal Studies at Yale. Jean Krasno, postdoctoral associate for UNSY, will serve as executive director.