In his recent blog post, Moosa identifies key components to the success of Egypt’s government, starting with the actions and policies of President  Mohammad Morsi.

The Kenan Institute’s Rethinking Regulation program this semester hosted Kenan Practitioner-in-Residence Sally Katzen.  During her visits this fall,  Ed Balleisen, Associate Professor of History and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, recorded an oral history with Katzen that will be transcribed and made available as a recording through the Duke Library.  The oral history project documents her career trajectory as a lawyer, consultant, leader within the American Bar Association, public member of the Administrative Council of the United States and public servant in the Carter and Clinton administrations.  Additionally, it provides her perspective on crucial shifts in the formulation and implementation of regulatory policy in the United States since 1970.  Balleisen hopes that this will be the first in a series of oral histories about regulatory protagonists which could assist scholars in understanding the ethical dimensions of regulatory policy over time.

Katzen recounted in the interview the many ethical tradeoffs she had to consider when serving as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) under the Clinton Administration.  Specifically she recalled a question about the regulation of airbags in cars.  Front seat airbags in the mid-1990s were sometimes killing small children and infants who were sitting in the front seats of cars.   Regulators could ask car manufacturers to lessen the impact of the airbags, but doing so would endanger very large adults who were not wearing seat belts because the air bag would be not be forceful enough to stop their impact.  In the end, Katzen’s team decided that ethically it was more important to protect the children and infants who often did not have a choice of sitting in the front seat, since the large adults could always choose to wear a seat belt.  This is just one example of a decision-making process that Katzen details, along with lively anecdotes from the course of her career.

Balleisen hopes to have the entire oral history transcribed in the next few months.  For more information, contact Jenny Cook at Jennifer.cook@duke.edu

The Religions and Public Life initiative’s new graduate seminar and a public lecture series next spring are highlighted in a Duke Today article. Both the course and speaker series will bring together scholars in different disciplines from Duke and abroad.

Malagasy activist and musician Razia Said recently participated in a conference and concert sponsore by KIE, the Lemur Center, and the Africa Initative, “Forests, Families, Lemurs, & Guitars: Rights to Madagascar’s Resources.” The Duke Chronicle interviewed Said about her use of music as a tool of activism and the ways in which she approaches the Malagasy people on the need to conserve resources.

The conference and concert were held Monday, December 3, and addressed the ethical dimensions of conservation and development in Madagascar, specifically the illegal harvesting of precious woods from the island’s rain forests.

The KIE Campus Grants program award recipients for Fall 2012 have been chosen. The program allows members of the Duke community to incorporate ethics into their own work through grants of up to $500. The awards are open to students, faculty, and staff, to support initiatives that promote ethical or moral reflection, deliberation, and dialogue at Duke and beyond.

Congratulations to our Fall 2012 Campus Grant award winners:

Trent Chiang / Duke Undergraduate Bioethics Society
For a collaboration between the Duke Undergraduate Bioethics Society and its counterpart at UNC, to engage students from both schools in the field of bioethics. Activities will include an annual conference, monthly colloquia, and an annual publication.

Cameron Thompkins / Me Too Monologues
The Me Too Monologues are an annual documentary-theatre performance about identity that is written, performed, and produced by members of the Duke community.

Kelly Heo / Amnesty International
For a talk by two adolescent North Korean refugees, aiming to demystify commonly held assumptions about North Korea and its citizens. The speakers will discuss their experiences in North Korea, as well as what it means to be a North Korean refugee in South Korea.

William Wittels / Political Science
For “Machiavelli at 500,” a two-day academic conference on Machiavelli that seeks to showcase the impact of the writer’s work on the western intellectual tradition, highlight the debates inspired by different reactions to Machiavelli within and between various disciplines, and feature Machiavelli’s relevance for contemporary politics.