February 2007

In This Issue

• The Role of Women in Peace Operations
• How Religious Groups Are Working to Meet the MDGs
• Students Try to Make Sense of Uncertain World
• The Next US Ambassador to the UN
• President Ford's Legacy

Features

The Role of Women in Peace Operations. In November 2006, more than 75 experts gathered in New York and Washington to discuss the topic "United Nations Reform: Improving Peace Operations by Advancing the Role of Women." Convened by the Stanley Foundation and Women in International Security, practitioners and policymakers from various United Nations agencies, national governments and militaries, academia, and civil society groups identified barriers to women's advancement and recommended ways to improve the recruitment and selection of women for peace operations as heads of mission, military personnel, civilian police, and international and national staff. Learn more in this recently published Stanley Foundation report.

How Religious Groups Are Working to Meet the MDGs. In 2000, 189 heads of state endorsed the United Nations Millennium Declaration and promised they would "spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected." Since then, people around the world have grasped the eight Millennium Development Goals as a framework for eradicating extreme poverty. In an article written for this month's think., Lallie Lloyd, author of Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals, describes how religious groups are working to meet the goals.

Students Try to Make Sense of Uncertain World. On January 11 and 12, the Stanley Foundation, in collaboration with Americans for Informed Democracy, hosted a summit for young global leaders entitled "Leveraging US Strength in an Uncertain World" in Muscatine, Iowa. More than 40 leaders from university campuses in the Midwest attended. Una Hardester, a senior political analyst for Americans for Informed Democracy and a summit participant, shares more about the experience.

Beyond the Headlines

The Next US Ambassador to the UN. Former US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has been nominated by President Bush to replace John Bolton as the United States’ new ambassador to the United Nations. Some argue that Mr. Khalilzad, a Muslim well-versed in several Middle Eastern languages who spent significant time in one of the most relevant regions, is a positive update while others point to his foreign policy record and conclude that he is really not that different than Bolton.

President Ford's Legacy. As with all presidential deaths, Gerald Ford's brought much speculation about what his greatest legacy was. Some say it was restoring faith in government after the Watergate scandal. Others believe it was helping the nation to heal after the Vietnam War. Still others say it was pulling the US economy out of recession by cutting taxes. Finally, some remember his little known efforts to help resettle hundreds of thousands of southeast Asian refugees and the establishment of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Indochinese Refugee resettlement as his greatest legacy.

Friend of the Foundation

The Henry L. Stimson Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to enhancing international peace and security through a unique combination of rigorous analysis and outreach. The Stimson Center's Security for a New Century project recently published Policy Matters: Educating Congress on Peace and Security, a practical guide for individuals, groups, and organizations that seek to engage members of Congress on critical issues.

Stay Active

Effectively communicating your message to your elected officials is one way to stay active on the global issues you care about. Find out how you can write letters that will get read with these tips.

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