The New Colonialists?: How NGOs, Non-State Actors and Private Citizens are Transforming State Sovereignty November 30, 2009

Sixty countries (more than a quarter of all UN members) are unable to meet the basic requirements of statehood, as recently reported by the Brookings Institution. What or who is keeping these states from falling into the abyss of full state failure? Increasingly a hodgepodge of international charities, aid agencies, global corporations, philanthropists, foreign advisors and corporate managers are assuming basic state responsibilities by providing a host of services including health care, education, and even security. Five decades after the end of the colonial era, they are fast becoming the “new colonialists” of the 21st century.......Hear Michael A. Cohen, Senior Research Fellow of New America Foundation, discuss this growing global phenomenon and the implications for US and international security........A networking reception at 5:30 p.m. will be followed by the program at 6:00 p.m. at The Commonwealth Club of California on the 2nd floor of 595 Market St. (at Second and Montgomery) in San Francisco........For more information and to register, go to www.commonwealthclub.org and click on the 11/30/09 date in the Calendar in the upper right-hand corner, OR call the Club at 415-597-6700.