IGIS INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
In the 21st century’s increasingly interconnected world, no single discipline is perfectly equipped to address complex international challenges. The Institute for Global and International Studies (IGIS) recognizes this knowledge gap, encouraging scholarship across disciplines in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of international challenges including governance, social inclusion and gender equality, population migration, and foreign-aid effectiveness.
32 IGIS Director Barbara Miller
PROMOTING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IGIS is the home of several initiatives, including the Africa Working Group, the Culture in Global Affairs program, the Development in Aid Effectiveness Working Group, the Diaspora Program, the Project on Forward Engagement, the Global Gender Program, the Tibet Governance Project, and the Western Hemisphere Working Group. These programs encompass more than 60 GW faculty members from a range of social science disciplines. The institute hosted six visiting scholars from around the world in 2013-14, and it serves as the institutional home of the prestigious journal, The Washington Quarterly, which moved to the Elliott School in Spring 2014.
In September 2013, IGIS Director Barbara Miller and Shaista Khilji, associate professor of human and organizational learning at GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development, were awarded a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of State to fund a project on “Development in Pakistan through Women’s Empowerment.” The award supports a partnership between the Elliott School’s Global Gender Program and the Gender and Development Studies Department at Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) in Pakistan and provides for student exchanges, curriculum development, and live video conferences that will enhance the capacities of LCWU. The Africa Working Group is a multidisciplinary community of scholars, practitioners, and students who share interests in and expertise on contemporary African issues. During 2013-14, the group sponsored several public events that illustrate the breadth of topics covered by the program. The first, in September 2013, examined the role of the African diaspora in investing in women and girls on the continent. An October 2013 event with Luvuyo Mandela explored social entrepreneurship in South Africa. In a May 2014 event, Chris Mahony of Oxford University discussed Western influences on the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Another May 2014 Africa Working Group event featured a discussion of women’s mental health in Tanzania. In addition to programmatic activities, the Africa Working Group supports curriculum development and Africa-related research at the Elliott School. Culture in Global Affairs (CIGA) is a research and policy program housed within IGIS that promotes the recognition of culture and its policy relevance to global affairs. In 2013-14, CIGA launched a working paper series and sponsored nine events on topics as diverse as human rights and hydrodevelopment in Guatemala, biodiversity and conservation in Tibet, and prenatal sex selection in Southeast Asia.
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