PRIMARY CONCERNS PART 3-
REVOLUTION, REGIME CHANGE & DEMOCRACY ABROAD
Tuesday, November 29 at 6 p.m. – UNH Manchester
“Arab Spring: Prospects for Democracy,” with Lorne W. Craner, President of the International Republican Institute and Kenneth Wollack, President of the National Democratic Institute
Craner and Wollack, leading experts on the development of democracy worldwide, will discuss the roots and causes of the Arab Spring and how well prepared the countries effected are for the transitions of leadership they are facing. Both non-partisan, non-profit organizations, the IRI advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of lawwhile the NDI works to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.
PRIMARY CONCERNS: CRITICAL FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES AT THE 2012 BALLOT BOX
A four-part series on the top national security issues facing the United States
in the run-up to the 2012 New Hampshire Primary
Funded, in part, by the New Hampshire Humanities Council and presented in partnership with the University of New Hampshire-Manchester and the World Affairs Councils of America.
MORE ABOUT CRANER:
Lorne Craner is President of the International Republican Institute.
Craner returned to IRI as President in 2004 following his unanimous selection by IRI’s Board of Directors. Since then he has led the strengthening of IRI’s programs in countries such as Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Iraq. IRI has broadened its work in governance, women’s participation, access for the disabled, the use of technology in democracy promotion and program evaluation. IRI has also built an unprecedented level of cooperation with U.S. and foreign democracy building organizations, and has held its two most successful fundraisers since Craner’s return.
Previously, Craner was Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for Secretary of State Colin Powell. Among other accomplishments, he initiated the first U.S. government programs to advance democracy in China, helped construct the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s “good governance’ criteria, sharpened the administration’s focus on human rights in Central Asia, and contributed to the conception and implementation of the administration’s approach to democratization in the Middle East. Upon his departure, Craner received the Distinguished Service Award, the State Department’s highest honor, from Secretary Powell.
From 1995 to 2001, Craner, as IRI’s President, led the institute to new levels of programmatic achievement, fundraising, financial accountability and news coverage. He joined IRI as Vice President for programs in 1993. From 1992-93 he served at the National Security Council as a Director of Asian Affairs under General Brent Scowcroft, and from 1989-92 was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs during James Baker’s tenure. Craner was Senator John McCain’s legislative assistant (LA) for foreign policy from 1986-89; he began his career as then-Congressman Jim Kolbe’s foreign policy LA.
Craner sits on the Boards of the National Committee on U.S. China Relations and the Internews Network, and the policy board of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. In June 2007, Craner was again confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to a three-year term on the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Board of Directors. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has testified on numerous occasions before House and Senate Committees. Craner graduated from Georgetown University (MA), Reed College (BA) and Phillips Exeter Academy.
MORE ABOUT WOLLACK:
Kenneth Wollack is president of NDI. He has been actively involved in foreign affairs, journalism and politics since 1972.
Mr. Wollack joined NDI in 1986 as executive vice president. The Institute's board of directors, then chaired by former Vice President Walter Mondale, elected him president in March 1993.
Mr.Wollack has traveled extensively in Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa on behalf of the Institute's political development programs.
Now chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the Institute maintains offices in more than 70 countries and works to support democratic elections, political parties, parliaments, civic engagement and women’s political empowerment.
Before joining NDI, Mr. Wollack co-edited the Middle East Policy Survey, a Washington-based newsletter. He also wrote regularly on foreign affairs for the Los Angeles Times. From 1973 to 1980, he served as legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Mr. Wollack has been active in American politics, serving on the national staff of the McGovern presidential campaign in 1972. He graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and was a senior fellow at UCLA’s School for Public Affairs.
He has testified on numerous occasions before congressional committees, appeared on national television and radio, and spoken before world affairs councils across the country. He has served on various task forces sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the United States Institute of Peace, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for U.S. Global Engagement and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Mr. Wollack currently is a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and has served as chairman of the board of directors of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Programme.
