The fight against poverty and inequality in Latin America has become one of the main challenges in the region. In this session we will be attempting to find answers to the questions that exist in as well as discussing the reforms that are necessary to improve the distribution of earnings, ensure that growth is transformed into an improvement in welfare, and to foster social cohesion. To this end, participants will be discussing the role of governments, businesses, civil society and the media from a bi-regional perspective.

3 and 4 October

For the fourth consecutive year, the CIDOB Foundation, working in collaboration with the Ibero-American Secretariat General and ECLAC, has organised a seminar on the Ibero-American Development Agenda (ADI). This year, the ADI Seminar will be held in Barcelona on 3-4 October, a few days before the 28th Ibero-American Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government opens in El Salvador.

Since its earliest days, this project has been linked with Ibero-American Summits, thanks to the collaboration of the Ibero-American Secretariat General, which is responsible for presenting the seminar's conclusions to the Summit.

Daniel Shenhar, researcher at the CIDOB Foundation, analyses the determining factors that have marked the evolution of the culture of security in Israel, from the creation of the State to the Arab League Peace Plan and the war in Lebanon in 2006. His analysis will be discussed by Amnon Aran, Professor at the London School of Economics.

10-11 October 2008

The Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum brings together representatives from civil society in an annual meeting which has been held since 1999 in alternating venues in each country. Genoa, Barcelona, Roma, Valencia, Milan, Jaén-Granada, Verona and Toledo are now followed by Pisa, which will be hosting the 9th Dialogue Forum on 10-11 October. The result of a long history of collaboration, and with the aim of encouraging research on issues that are important for Spanish-Italian relations, the organising bodies – AREL and the CIDOB Foundation, together with the Forum sponsors – will be awarding the first "Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum" Prize.

Presentation and discussion on the research study The puzzle of Latin American security at the dawn of the 21st century, by Josep Baqués Quesada, Professor in Political Science at the University of Barcelona and ex-analyst at the Centre for Analysis and Security Studies at the University of Granada. His study is based on the idea that the attempts being made to institutionalise a Latin American security model are contemporary to European efforts to achieve the same objective..

22-23 October 2008

The aim of the seminar is to learn from experiences in the management of immigration, integration and diversity, and to discuss the framework of authority in such issues, taking as an example Canada, a country with a long, successful tradition of immigration management. Thus the seminar will feature the participation of internationally renowned experts from all over Canada who will carry out an in-depth examination of different key thematic areas, such as the framework of authority with respect to immigration and diversity, the management of flows, access to the labour market, coexistence and civic and socio-cultural integration, and management of the linguistic policy.

The United States of America are living one of the liveliest election campaign in the latest times. Domestic politics issues play an important role, but foreign relations are also the subject of numerous debates. This workshop will analyse the foreign policy issues being debated in the campaign, the candidate’s views on crucial foreign policy debates and the potential impact of those subjects on the final result. The participants will also try to foresee what consequences would entail the victory of one candidate or the other.

Participants will include Martí Anglada, Head of International Information at Televisió de Catalunya, and who was also the first correspondent for Televisió de Catalunya in Washington; Gabriel Colomé, Director of the Centre d´Estudis d´Opinió at the Generalitat of Catalonia and Lecturer in Political Science at the UAB; Núria Ribó, author of the book Hillary Clinton: Return to the White House, and who was also a correspondent in New York for eight years; she is also a lecturer in the Journalism Faculty at the UAB and currently directs and presents a programme for Catalunya Ràdio; and Esther Vera, correspondent for CUATRO and CNN+ in Catalonia, and who worked for media organs such as Avui, El Temps, Tele 5 i ComRadio during President Clinton's term of office.

The CIDOB Foundation is collaborating with Casa Asia in the organising of the East-West Dialogue, which will commence at 16:00h on 28 October at Barcelona City Hall, and at 09:30h on 29 October in the Casa Asia building. At this event, the 5th Dialogue, political leaders, academic experts and representatives from civil society will be analysing the dynamics that are contributing to the emergence of new actors on the international stage, mainly China and India. Within this framework, the Asia Programme of the CIDOB Foundation will be organising a debate table at which participants will be examining the ways in which these countries are transforming the multilateral sphere, by redefining regional and inter-regional cooperation and obliging other countries to play a new role in these processes.

In collaboration with:

Fred Halliday will chair a round table featuring experts on the current situation in Iraq . A particular emphasis will be put on the potential role of the new US administration, the European Union and Iraq's neighbours such as Turkey and Iran, well-known for the complex relations they maintain with Baghdad.

During the roundtable session, the audience will have the opportunity to discuss the former issues with Iraq specialists such as Faleh Jabar, director of the Iraq Center for Strategic Studies, Patrick Cockburn, journalist for the Independent or Toby Dodge, professor at London University. Iran specialists such as Ali Ansari from Saint Andrew´s University Andrew’s or US specialists, such as Ambassador Kenton Keith will also participate in the workshop.