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Promotions at the Toda Insitute for Global Policy and Peace Research
The Toda Institute is pleased to announce that on October 1, 2009, Professor Kevin Clements became Secretary General of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research. Dr. Clements is the Foundation Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies and Director of the New Zealand Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand. He is also Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association. Prior to taking up these positions he was the Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia. He was Secretary General of International Alert from 1999-2003 and earlier Professor and Director of ICAR, George Mason University. His career has been a combination of academic analysis and practice in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He has been an advisor to the New Zealand, Australian, British, Swedish and Dutch governments on conflict prevention, peace, defense and security issues. He has written or edited seven books and over 160 chapters/articles on conflict transformation, peacebuilding, preventive diplomacy and development with a specific focus on the Asia Pacific region. He will contribute to Toda Institute's research projects in the fields of conflict transformation, peacebuilding, human rights, sustainable developments, UN reform, and dialogue of civilizations. The Toda Institute is also happy to announce the promotion of Satoko Takahashi from Program Manager to Research Director. Dr. Takahashi has been with the Toda Institute since 1996 and her many contributions are deeply appreciated. We look forward to working with Dr. Takahashi, as Research Director, for years to come. Please join us in congratulating her on this important milestone.
Alliance of Civilization symposium in Japan
Daisaku Ikeda's Philosophy of Peace project
Humanitarian Competition for Global Visioning
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Deadline: Sept 1, 2009
The idea of “Humanitarian Competition,” also found in the 2009 Peace Proposal, was first proposed by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi in his 1903 work The Geography of Human Life. It sprang from Makiguchi’s observation that competition based on military, political or economic superiority was not serving the best interests of humankind. Instead, he envisioned a world in which groups and nations would vie with each other to find the most effective and humane solutions to our most urgent problems.
In this spirit, we would like to announce a call for project proposals that will bring together the best ideas for this kind of global visioning. Since relations between the UN, NGOs, transnational bodies and many other organizations are becoming more extensive, project proposals need not focus exclusively on the UN, but can freely concentrate on the main issues affecting our planet.
More information about Humanitarian Competition for Global Visioning
New Book: The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons,
from the Toda Institute 2007 Conference on Nuclear Abolition.
The year 2009 is crucial for our survival in the nuclear age. President Obama called for a nuclear weapons-free world on 5 April in Prague, but North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test on 25 May. Where are we heading to?
In the more than sixty years since the advent of nuclear weapons, there has been little meaningful progress toward nuclear disarmament. Some countries have nuclear weapons, while other states are forbidden to acquire them, a status quo that lacks rational basis and cannot be sustained. The vast majority of people would surely opt to abolish nuclear weapons; however decisions about nuclear weapons are not made by the public, but by small groups of political elites. Consequently, the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a small number of individuals, whose perceptions, communications, and judgment determine whether there is to be a future. In this remarkable collection, scholars and policy analysts argue that humankind has a choice: either allow nuclear weapons to continue to proliferate throughout the world or move toward their complete elimination.
More information about this crucial and timely volume
The Ben Ali’s Chair for the Dialogue of Civilizations and Religions organized an international conference entitled “Justice and Peace in the Holy Scriptures and the Philosophical Thought” from 20 to 23 April 2009 in Tunisia.
Toda Institute Organizes Symposium on “Alliance of Civilizations,” co-sponsored by the Soka University Peace Research Institute (SUPRI) in Japan on 23 March 2009
The research question at the center of the DIPP project is: “What is Daisaku Ikeda’s Philosophy of Peace?” The goal of this project is to create a database of different research efforts in order to create a coherent picture of the many facets of Ikeda’s philosophy of peace by the year 2020.
Please read more about the DIPP (2008-2020): Daisaku Ikeda’s Philosophy of Peace project here.
The Toda Institute held an international conference, entitled Facing Climate Change with a Renewed Environmental Ethic, at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, November 21-23, 2008. We brought together leading experts from academia, business, government and civil society to examine the deep ethical roots that guide our economic, political and civil institutions and how those ethics might be transformed to allow us to better address climate change.
Read more about the Facing Climate Change With a Renewed Environmental Ethic conference, here.
TOMOSABURO HIRANO REMEMBERED
We regret to inform you that Toda Institute’s Deputy Director, Mr. Tomosaburo Hirano, passed away in Tokyo on January 22, 2008 at 2:37 AM. We are eternally thankful for his many contributions to the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research over the years. He is dearly missed by all of us. We would like to invite you to prepare a short statement to be included in our online memorial. Please email them to chloe@toda.org. Should you wish to send your condolences to the family please direct them to our Tokyo headquarters:
15-3 Samon-cho, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo, 160-0017 JAPAN
The year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of Josei Toda’s declaration for the elimination of all nuclear weapons from earth. Against this background, the Toda Institute and Nuclear Age Peace Foundation are holding a conference on "The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons." The conference will be held in San Francisco on September 8-9, 2007, and will bring together leading experts in the field as well as a small group of youth leaders.