PULLMAN, Wash.The Washington State University Common Reading Program in Pullman will present “Public Administration Reform in Afghanistan: The Security/Stability Paradox” with Paul Thiers, associate professor of political science at WSU Vancouver, at 7 p.m. on Nov. 2 in Smith CUE 203. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Common Reading Tuesdays lecture will focus on the needs and challenges for public administration reform in Afghanistan. Thiers will argue that there are political and administrative contradictions implied in the concept of “nation building,” and that public administration cannot be developed in the absence of political stability and accountability.
“This will require progress on the political front before the considerable efforts underway to construct a functional bureaucracy can bear fruit,” he says.
Thiers’s research focuses on the political, economic, and environmental issues relating to rural development and international affairs in Asia. He received his doctoral degree in political science from the University of Oregon in 1999. In 2007 he was a visiting associate professor at the China Agricultural University in Beijing. His honors include fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Nippon Foundation of Japan.
The Common Reading Program spans two semesters, and features a lecture series, typically on Tuesday, on topics pertaining to the freshman common reading book presented by WSU faculty, staff, and guests. This year’s book, “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” by Greg Mortenson, follows the Montana humanitarian in his attempts to build schools in the rural regions of the two title countries.
Now is its fourth year, the Common Reading Program is a part of the University College at Washington State University. Nominations for the 2011 book are now open to all students, faculty, and staff. For more information on Thiers’s presentation, the program itself, or to nominate a book, visit CommonReading.wsu.edu or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/CommonReading.