1968 in 2018: Geographies and Temporalities of Mai 68 April 27, 2018 • 1:00-5:00PM Columbia University, Buell Hall, East Gallery Imen Amiri, Ludivine Bantigny, Françoise Blum, Julian Bourg, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Frédéric Gros, Kristin Ross, and Emmanuelle Saada Revolts, revolutions and calls to resistance have shaped the 2010s globally. In this context, the 50th anniversary of Mai 68 calls less for a […]

You(th) be the Change A Special Workshop for Undergraduates in Conjunction with the “Youth in a Changing World” Research Project of the Committee on Global Thought Tuesday, April 10, 2018 • 6-8PM Columbia University, Kent Hall, Room 403 What issues in the world today are of the greatest concern to youth?  Can youth “be the change”? This […]

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: Gender-Role Attitudes and Late-Life Cognition Professor Ursula Staudinger Moderated by Yasmine Ergas April 5, 2018 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to present current research characterizing and assessing issues […]

Climate Change and Urban Heat: Exploring Patterns and Factors of Future Global Vulnerability Professor Peter Marcotullio Moderated by Joel Cohen, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences March 29, 2018 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to […]

Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart Andreas Wimmer in conversation with Jack Snyder, Gwyneth McClendron, Deborah Yashar, and Prerna Singh, moderated by Shamus Khan March 27, 2018 • 6:00-7:30PM Columbia University, Buell Hall, East Gallery About the Book Why is national integration achieved in some diverse countries, while others are destabilized […]

From Cells to Society: Rethinking Public Policy in a Changing World Assistant Professor Esteban Calvo Moderated by Ursula Staudinger March 8, 2018 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to present current research characterizing and assessing issues […]

The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against its Own Citizens by Bernard E. Harcourt February 27, 2018 • 6:00-7:30PM Columbia University, Buell Hall, East Gallery About the Book Militarized police officers with tanks and drones. Pervasive government surveillance and profiling. Social media that distract and track us. All of these, contends Bernard Harcourt, […]

Some Philosophical Reflections on Our Political Ideals Professor Akeel Bilgrami February 22, 2018 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to present current research characterizing and assessing issues of global importance. Read more about the CGT Lunchtime […]

Brexit: A Leap in the Dark? Simon Coveney, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland February 21, 2018 • 6:30-7:45PM Columbia University, Low Library Faculty Room About the Event Featured Simon Coveney, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland. Opening remarks by David Madigan, Executive Vice President and Dean […]

What Is To Be Done? After the Illusions, A Critical Practice for the Twenty-First Century Professor Bernard E. Harcourt Moderated by Carol Gluck December 7, 2017 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to discuss current research […]

Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought Design Session: Global 20 Youth in an Interconnected World  Thursday November 30, 2017 · 4:30 – 6:00 PM Lerner East Ramp Lounge What does it mean to be 20 years old in today’s rapidly changing, interconnected world? This design session provided a unique platform for students to brainstorm and influence […]

World Leaders Forum featuring Jan Eliasson: Global Leadership in the 21st Century  Undergraduate and Graduate Student Workshops Learn how to affect change in your community and in the world November 29, 2017 · 1:30 – 3:00 PM We live at an exciting time: most of the assumptions that underpinned the post war and then the […]

How Much Inequality is Fair? Mathematical Principles of a Moral, Optimal, and Stable Capitalist Society Professor Venkat Venkatasubramanian Moderated by Bernard E. Harcourt November 9, 2017 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to discuss current research […]

Film screening followed by a panel discussion with director Olivier Babinet

Dancers from the Apollo’s International Festival, Breakin Convention, join Mamadou Diouf, Columbia Professor of African Studies, to reflect on music’s impact on their lives and the politics of its local communities.

Film screening followed by a panel discussion with CGT Member Barnard E. Harcourt and Etienne Balibar

Film screening followed by a panel discussion with Alessia Palanti and curator Nora Philippe

Film screening with introduction by Professor Emmanuelle Saada

Ffilm screening followed by a panel discussion with Professor Madeleine Dobe and curator Nora Philippe

Film screening followed by a panel discussion with Professor Jane Gaines and curator Nora Philippe

Professors Sandro Mezzadra, Etienne Balibar, and Rosalind Morris will discuss “The ‘Migration Crisis’ in Europe and The Current Global Predicament.”

The Rise of the Bolsheviks: Uncovering a Family View Professor Mark Mazower October 12, 2017 · 12-1PM Columbia University, Fayerweather Hall, Room 411 The Committee on Global Thought (CGT) Lunchtime Seminars are a forum for Columbia University faculty and visiting scholars to discuss current research characterizing and assessing issues of global importance. About the speaker Mark […]

The Talks with Professors series allows students to engage in casual and meaningful conversations with distinguished scholars in a laid-back, informal setting. Participation open to Columbia University students only.

UNDERGRADUATE WORKSHOP: In advance of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s appearance, the Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought presented a workshop with Professor Mara Green on Wednesday, September 20, from 2:15PM – 3:15PM.

What are your Thoughts on a Changing World? An Open Forum with Columbia Faculty September 13, 2017 • 6-8PM Columbia University, Kent Hall, Room 403 The Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought (UCGT) presented its first event of the semester, a lively discussion among undergraduates and faculty about youth in our changing world. What are YOUR thoughts on a changing world? […]

Thoughts on the Democratization of Information April 19, 2017 • 6-7PM Broadway Hall Lounge, 14th Floor West Of the series Thoughts on a Changing World, an initiative organized by the Committee on Global Thought to gather and access at a local and global scale the issues of current and urgent attention, the Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought’s […]

“Who Gets to Speak?”

“China’s Urban Transformation”

A Book Talk on Akeel Bilgrami’s “Beyond the Secular West”

“The Commander of the Faithful in Islamic History and the Taliban-Islamic State Rivalry”

“The Urban Apparatus: Mediapolitics and the City”

Lessons for a deglobalizing world from the last 25 centuries of financial crisis

“Being the Other: The Muslim in India”

“Hijacking Human Rights: Neoliberalism and the End of the Third World”

“The Limits of Global Thought: Western Social and Human Sciences on Trial”

“Revisiting Palestine’s History”

The University Commencement ceremony of the 262nd Academic Year.

This ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of all MA candidates in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Class of 2016.

A reception to celebrate a decade of activities and research of the Committee on Global Thought with its founder, President Lee C. Bollinger.

Join Professor Jonathan R. Cole, a prominent professor in the sociology of science for a conversation on “Trigger Warnings: Freedom of Academic Inquiry”. The Talks with Professors series allows students to engage in casual and meaningful conversations with distinguished scholars in a laid-back, informal setting. Registration open to Columbia University students only.

The Talks with Professors series allows students to engage in casual and meaningful conversations with distinguished scholars in a laid-back, informal setting. Registration open to Columbia University students only.

The Construction of a Global Institution: International commercial arbitration, 1890-1960

This Global Thought Lab on Global Philanthropy gave students the opportunity to discuss the influences of global philanthropic ventures abroad.

Nation Building: Why some countries came together while others fell apart

UNDERGRADUATE WORKSHOP: In advance of President Mattarella’s appearance, the Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought presents a workshop with Professor Alessandra Casella on Saturday, February 6, from 10-11AM.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne will discuss the ideological formation of the state in various traditions of Islam and indicate what factors have contributed to the range of ways in which Islamic traditions govern, are governed, and ideologically participate in integrating the identities of the faithful as Muslims and as citizens.

Richard W. Bulliet discussed his new book, “The Wheel: Inventions and Reinventions,” focusing on the three major phases in the evolution of the wheel and their relationship to the needs and ambitions of human society.

Renowned philosophy Professor David Albert joined the UCGT for a conversation on “The Nature of Time: Intersecting Physics and Philosophy.”

The Legacy of Bandung

The Question of Intervention

The Identity of Modern Indian Political Thought

Panelists discussed the politics of memory of World War II in this seventieth anniversary year in domestic and geopolitical perspectives. Each panelist made a 7-minute introductory statement, which was then followed by a discussion among the panelists, moderated by Gluck, and finished with some questions from the audience.

We’ve all seen hip-hop dance…but nothing like this! UCGT hosted “It’s A Hip-Hop World”, an event organized in conjunction with the Apollo Theater’s Breakin Convention International Hip-Hop Festival. Our renowned international panel will hold a discussion on the topic of the intersection of hip hop between different global environments, followed by a Q&A and a meet and greet.

Political Transition in East-Central Europe and the End of the Cold War, 1988-1991

Women’s Emancipation and the Rise of Fundamentalism

This World Leaders Forum program featured an address by Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile, titled, Challenges of Our Democracy: 25 Years After, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

The Enlightenment, Enchantment, and the Mentality of Democracy

“Rethinking Knowledge: Evidence-Based Medicine” addressed how randomized clinical trials provide the highest quality of evidence with regard to the efficacy and safety of medical interventions such as drugs and surgical procedures.

TIME AND TRAUMA: Memory in Global Perspective

Time and Trauma: Memory in Global Perspective

TIME AND TRAUMA: Transgenerational Memories of Mass Suffering

A panel discussion with Marco Magnani on his book “Creating Economic Growth: Lessons for Europe” with Bruce Greenwald, Dominick Salvatore, and moderated by Vishakha N. Desai.

The Undergraduate Committee on Global Thought presents Urgent Issues on Global Urbanism with Saskia Sassen

The Politics of Memory in East Asia and Eastern Europe Today

Remembering Across Time: Psychological Studies of the Two World Wars in Transgenerational Memory

How can Columbia University undergraduates become better equipped to understand and participate in the inter-connected, inter-dependent world of the 21st century? It is widely noted that in the next decade, one in every four jobs will be related to global trade and development. Do you feel you are prepared for this new world? What do you need from your undergraduate education to provide a more nuanced global perspective?

The 7th Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture on “Prices and Decentralization without Convexity” was delivered by Paul Milgrom, Shirley and Leonard Ely professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Economics at Stanford University, with Kenneth J. Arrow, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at Stanford University; Jay Sethuraman, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University; and Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia University.

The Kenneth J. Arrow Series Book Launch featured a policy-oriented authors’ roundtable.

Panel discussion as part of The Politics of Memory in Global Context series on the relation between individual and collective memory, between national and global history, between commemoration and information, including the challenge of presenting such difficult pasts as September 11th and the Holocaust.

Panel discussion as part of The Politics of Memory in Global Context series on the relation between individual and collective memory, between national and global history, between commemoration and information, including the challenge of presenting such difficult pasts as September 11th and the Holocaust.

A Global Think-in on the past, present, and future of attempts to “govern the world”

The 2014 Global Thought Lecture featured an address by Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization and Chair of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, titled “Global Governance and Future Challenges: Lessons from the Oxford Martin Commission.”

Undergraduate: Meeting on Global Governance with Pascal Lamy

Workshop on the Future of Global Governance April 18, 2014 · 2:00-3:00PM Columbia University, Hamilton Hall, Room 603 José Antonio Ocampo, Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of International and Public Affairs and Member of the Committee on Global Thought José Antonio Ocampo, moderator for the Global Thought Lecture on Global Governance and Future Challenges, will lead […]

Catch Up: Developing Countries in the World Economy

Stefan Jonsson and Andreas Huyssen will discuss Jonsson’s recent volume, Crowds and Democracy: The Idea and Image of the Masses from Revolution to Fascism, (Columbia University Press, 2013), published in the series Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts.

What happens in our brains when we think about collective memory?

The nightmare in Syria remains unresolved – and with no end in sight.

A forum on education and the environment

This interdisciplinary conversation brings together voices from literature, psychology and cultural and political theory to explore the ways we understand the past.

A lecture celebrating Akeel Bilgrami as the first Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy

Colleagues, admirers, and members of the Hobsbawm family celebrated the life and work of world-renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012).

Book launch event for “The Quest for Security: Protection Without Protectionism and the Challenge of Global Governance”, edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Mary Kaldor.

A panel on the technical and global implications of the expanded surveillance capacity of states and the expanded capacity of people to contest.

Director Brad Evans in a film screening of Ten Years of Terror, which explores the impact of 9/11.

Glenny considered the connections between criminality, commercial espionage and the National Security State.

In the First Global Thought Lecture, Bhabha used the works of W.E.B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, Kathleen Battle, artist Zarina Hashmi, and dozens of other thinkers to explore the role of culture and the arts in cultivating an aesthetic of “living side by side” that contributes to our contemporary understanding of “cosmopolitan right”.

The Sixth Annual Arrow Lecture

Current Trends >> Future Possibilities
A conference to discuss the 2013 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report

The panel sought to advance alternative governance solutions for essential resources drawing on theory, legal and empirical research.

Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II November 27, 2012 · 6:00-8:00PM Columbia University Business School, Uris Hall, room 141 In 1943, during World War II, the eastern province of Bengal in British India underwent a famine that killed 3 million people or more. The famine has long […]

Panelists discussed “Globalization and Sovereignty: Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism” by Jean L. Cohen bringing perspectives from law, history and political science.

Join Michael Doyle, a prominent SIPA and law professor, for a conversation on the myriad of ways in which issues of foreign policy inform and influence U.S. presidential elections. The Talks with Professors series allows students to engage in casual and meaningful conversations with distinguished scholars in a laid-back, informal setting. Registration open to Columbia University students only.

Oil Talk: Thinking and Retelling the Political and Cultural Economy of Oil and Gas April 13, 2012 · 10:00AM – 2:00PM Columbia University Business School, 142 Uris Hall Hannah Appel, Post-doctoral Research Scholar with the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University Keynote lecture with Michael Ross (UCLA), Suzana Sawyer (UC Davis), and Michael Watts (UC Berkeley) […]

Sustainable Consumption: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective April 2, 2012 · 10:00-11:30AM Columbia University, 1501 School of International and Public Affairs Partha Dasgupta, Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge Visiting scholar and Professor Emeritus of Economics (Cambridge University), Sir Partha Dasgupta, will lecture on “Sustainable Consumption”. Joining as discussants will be Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor […]

The CGT presented an hour of open global discussion with Columbia’s undergraduates. Columbia’s leading scholars and members of the Committee on Global Thought heard the thoughts of Columbia’s undergraduates on the pressing issues facing the world today including everything from issues of globalization, to Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring.

The third annual conference on the changing landscape of urban spaces, curated by Professor Saskia Sassen.

This conference examined the major path-breaking transitions in North Africa and the Middle East, as a continuation of three panels presented in Spring 2011, when the uprisings first broke out.

The Fourth Annual Arrow Lecture

India During and After the Global Financial Crisis March 30, 2011 · 7:00-9:00PM Columbia University Business School, 301 Uris Hall Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Government of India Prabhat Patnaik, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Department […]

A Symposium Over Two Evenings

Is Private International Law Still a Relevant Tool?

An exploration of the current unrest in Egypt and the Middle East.

The second annual conference on the changing landscape of urban spaces, curated by Professor Saskia Sassen.