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countries cope with crisis
management. “How do
political leaders manage
natural disasters, mitigate
conflict arising from reduction
of resources and adapt
to climate changes that dis-
locate farmers and reduce
food supplies?”
The third type of analysis
is to “evaluate social risks,
especially to women and
children,” she said.
Pearson emphasized the
need to better understand
how developing countries
can offer protection in highrisk
environments, such as
local insurance programs that
safeguard farmers against
climate-related disaster.
64 SAISPHERE
Political risk analysis,
applied to numerous fields,
is clearly a timely topic.
With this in mind, the Bologna
Center introduced a
new course on risk last
fall. Risk in International
We have crossed the threshold, and there are
now more people living in urban areas than in
rural areas for the first time in history. Conflicts
linked to food security will occur because of
reduced food production in the abandoned
rural areas.
Political Economy is taught
by Erik Jones B’89, ’90,
Ph.D. ’96, professor of European
Studies and director
of the Bologna Institute for
Policy Research, with the
generous support of Bologna
Center Advisory Council
member Robert S. Singer
JHU’72.
Water and Food Fights
Many of the world’s bloodiest
conflicts arise out of
Brenda Lee Pearson B’89, ’90
with Prime Minister Hashim
Thaçi of Kosovo
a struggle for control of
resources. Pearson’s experiences
advising on conflict
management in Bosnia,
Kosovo and Macedonia have
given her insight into how
stress over agriculture and
food resources could lead to
conflicts in the future.
“One of my most professionally
rewarding experiences
was in 2001, when I
was in Washington, D.C.,
as a senior congressional
research fellow at the U.S.
Institute of Peace,” Pearson
said. “There was a strong
possibility the simmering
ethnic conflict in Macedonia
would escalate and reignite
nationalist flames across
the region. Then-Senator
Joe Biden called a congressional
hearing and asked
my assistance in drafting
questions, while at the same
time General Wesley Clark
[then-Stephens Groups
consultant] and Richard
Perle [then-member of the
Defense Policy Board of the
U.S. Department of Defense]
asked me to draft responses
to anticipated questions.
It was exhilarating to help
shape American foreign
policy and help prevent civil
war. I also worked closely
with the White House and
NATO to make the case for
the deployment of NATO
troops in the region.”
It is well known that
water shortages and “land
grabs” are triggers for conflict,
and recent issues of
SAISPHERE and Rivista have
highlighted the challenges
of managing the world’s
dwindling water resources.
That said, Pearson foresees
the transborder effects of
irrigation as another new
flashpoint.
“Yemen, where I was a
country director for USAID
programs in the mid-1990s,
will run out of water in five
to 10 years,” she said. “It
has one of the world’s high-
Brenda Lee Pearson B’89, ’90 discussing nutrition practices with
mothers in Gaibandha district in Bangladesh