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Upcoming Events:

September 16-18, 2010 (Thursday-Saturday)
“Federalism and the Global Financial Crisis: Impacts and Responses”
Concurrent meeting of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies and IPSA Research Committee on Comparative Federalism and Federations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Co-hosted by the Meyner Center and the Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University

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In The News:

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Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter Speaks at Meyner Center Forum

July 6, 2010: On June 17, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter gave the keynote address at the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Center’s Seventh Annual Forum on Local Government. More than 100 municipal officials and members of the Lafayette community attended the forum.

Since being elected in November 2008, Mayor Nutter has led America’s sixth largest city during one of the most trying economic times in recent history. He has sought to find innovative and cost-effective ways to grow the Philadelphia-area economy in a sustainable manner, improve public safety, and invest in education and workforce development. During his 40-minute presentation, Mayor Nutter described the challenges facing his city and many of the steps his administration has taken to provide public services in a time of austerity. Facing declining revenues and rising expenditures, Philadelphia has had to implement personnel layoffs, service cuts, and tax increases in order to balance its budget. “These are just the things you have to deal with,” said Nutter, “I didn’t create the national economic recession. I can’t get out of the national economic recession.  But I can .  .  .  move the city into the future.”

The forum, which focused on “Municipal Innovation and Sustainability,” also featured discussions of the green design components of the public works building to be constructed in neighboring Forks Township, the feasibility of erecting revenue-producing cell-phone towers on municipally owned land, implementing cost-effective approaches to energy conservation, and innovative, cost-saving measures taken by Upper Merion Township.

Part one of his presentation is below, and the remaining clips can be seen on the Meyner Center’s YouTube Channel.

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Director in Europe

June 21, 2010: Prof. John Kincaid recently spoke at three forums in Europe. On June 10-11, 2010, he participated in the International Roundtable on Political Parties and Civil Society in Federal Countries held at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin, Germany. The roundtable was the ninth such event in the Global Dialogue on Federalism co-sponsored by the Forum of Federations and International Association of Federal Studies. Prof. Kincaid is the Senior Editor of the book series on comparative federalism being published by the Global Dialogue. Seven volumes have been published to date. The volume on political parties and civil society, expected to be published in 2011, will be the ninth volume.

He also spoke on the “U.S. Senate as a Guarantor of Territorial Pluralism” at an international seminar on “Guarantees of Territorial Pluralism” held at the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies in Madrid, Spain, on June 14-15. The seminar was co-sponsored by the Forum of Federations and the Manuel Giménez Abad foundation.

Prof. Kincaid spoke, as well, on “Health Care Reform and the States in the United States” at a forum on June 18 on “Decentralization of Health Care in Federations: Recent Trends and Lessons from Spain.” The forum was co-sponsored by the Cortes de Aragon and held at the Palacio de la Aljaferia in Zaragoza, Spain.

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“I Know Democracy’s Not Popular with You Lot”: Why The European Union Needs to Learn Constitutional Lessons from the United States

April 21, 2010: Dr. Andrew Glencross, a visiting lecturer in the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania, delivered a speech on concepts of federalism within the European Union.  Glencross earned his Ph.D. In political science from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy; he was a Joseph Hodges Choate Fellow at Harvard University; and is the author of What Makes the EU Viable? European Integration in the Light of the Antebellum US Experience (2009).

Part one of his presentation is below, and the remaining clips can be seen on the Meyner Center’s YouTube Channel.

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“How Does Japanese Local Government Respond to Globalization?”

April 15, 2010: Mr. Hiroshi Sasaki, Executive Director of the Japan Local Government Center (NYC), spoke at a Brown Bag.  Following this, he also participated in Prof. Kincaid’s GOVT 310 American Federalism class.

Below is the first part of his public lecture; additional clips are available on the Meyner Center’s YouTube channel.

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“Governing for Sustainable Water in

Complex Environments”

March 4, 2010: Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University, and 2009 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, delivered a public lecture and also hosted an intimate student discussion.

The first portion of her public address is below, and additional videos of both events are available on the Meyner Center’s YouTube channel
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Professor Nicholas Aroney Visits

February 4, 2010: Dr. Nicholas Aroney delivered a public lecture on Australian constitutional law and then spoke in Prof. Kincaid’s Politics, Policy, and Law in American Federalism class. Aroney is a Professor of Law at the TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland, Australia.

Below is the first part of his public lecture; additional clips are available on the Meyner Center’s YouTube channel.

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Director in China

January 23, 2010: Prof. John Kincaid traveled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on January 16-23, 2010, for a Symposium on Comparative Governance with the Counselors’ Office of China’s State Council.  Kincaid spoke about U.S. federalism along with the U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, who spoke about U.S. federalism from his perspective as former governor of Utah. The Counselors’ Office is the advisory body to the Premier’s State Council. The U.S. delegation was sponsored by the Kissinger Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In August 1973, Kincaid was one of the first Americans to visit the PRC after President Richard M. Nixon reopened relations in 1972.

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Center Director Comments on Texas Governor’s Race

January 11, 2010: John Kincaid was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman recently about federal-state issues in the Republican gubernatorial primary race in Texas, which pits incumbent Governor Rick Perry, who is running for an unprecedented third gubernatorial term, against Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has been a U.S. senator from Texas since 1993. The primary election will be held on Marsh 2, 2010. Kincaid, who joined Lafayette’s faculty in 1994, was an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas from 1979 through 1986. Here is the link to the news story: http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/campaign-rhetoric-obscures-facts-about-federal-money-172606.html

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Catalan Federalist

November 25, 2009: Prof. John Kincaid wrote an analytic introduction to the first translation of The Federalist into the Catalan language. The Federalist consists of 85 essays written in 1787-88 by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay to support ratification of the United States Constitution. This translation was just published by the Institut d’Estudis Autonómics of the Generalitat de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

“Catalan, the native language of Catalonia, is spoken by about 14 million people,” said Dr. Kincaid. “When General Francisco Franco ruled Spain from 1936 to 1975, Catalans were prohibited from speaking their language.”

“This translation,” he added, “represents not only the revival of the Catalan language since Spain’s democratic revolution of 1978 but also the revival of the Catalan nation. Catalonia is now an autonomous community within Spain—a country that has adopted many features of federalism.”

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Easton Mayor Sal Panto Visits

November 5, 2009: Sal Panto, Mayor of the City Easton, spoke to the students in Govt. 211: State and Local Government class about the economic-development and budget challenges facing Easton and told the students that he would later announce publically a major new economic asset for the city—the National High School Sports Hall of Fame Museum to be constructed on South Third Street.

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Professor Michael Burgess Visits

November 3, 2009: Professor Michael Burgess spoke to the students in Prof. Kincaid’s U.S. Politics and State and Local Government classes about the impacts of the American model of federalism on other federal countries and experiments around the world. Burgess is Professor of Federal Studies and Director of the Centre for Federal Studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury, U.K.