Ford Motor Company Establishes the Ford Institute for Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH—During World War II, America promulgated FDR's Four Freedoms.

With the world again in turmoil, Ford Motor Company today announced a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh to establish the Ford Institute for Human Security. The Ford Institute, which will begin operations at Pitt on

April 1, 2003, will address a new and uniquely broad set of challenges to human freedoms and international security.

Directed by Professor Simon Reich of the University's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), the Ford institute will be located within Pitt's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, a joint center of GSPIA and Pitt's University Center for International Studies. GSPIA Professor William W. Keller, the inaugural holder of the Wesley W. Posvar Chair at Pitt, directs the Ridgway Center.

In the 20th century, major challenges to personal safety came from interstate wars and were reflected in the Four Freedoms—freedom from fear, from want, of worship, and of speech.

Today, in an increasingly globalized world, although the Four Freedoms remain relevant, the most pernicious threats to human security, according to Reich, emanate from the conditions that give rise to genocide, civil war, human rights deprivations, global epidemics, environmental degradation, forced and slave labor, and malnutrition.

The Ford Institute for Human Security at Pitt has been established to recognize global problems in these areas as they emerge. It will then develop "early warning" policy papers that investigate these issues in a timely fashion, generate fresh policy approaches, and ensure that these approaches receive serious, top-level attention. The Ford Institute will maximize exposure for its work by distributing its policy findings widely. It will disseminate them not only to the general public but, more importantly, also to those policymakers in a position to implement life-affirming measures: high-ranking members of governments throughout the world, of international organizations, of corporations, and of nongovernmental organizations.

"As Ford Motor Company prepares to begin its second 100 years of operation on June 17, 2003, we have partnered with the University of Pittsburgh to establish this Institute to help make the world a better and safer place," said John Rintamaki, chief of staff, Ford Motor Company. "As a part of our ongoing leadership role in Corporate Responsibility, we believe we should make every effort to identify, study, and, wherever possible, eradicate human rights violations around the world. In establishing this Institute, we've challenged the University of Pittsburgh to take the lead in putting together global, diverse teams of experts to meet the challenges of human rights issues head-on."

"We are deeply appreciative of Ford Motor Company partnering with us to establish the Ford Institute for Human Security within the Ridgway Center," said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. "This collaborative effort on the part of Ford Motor Company and the University will contribute to society's understanding of the threats humanity faces and, through that understanding, help us to build a safer and better world for ourselves and future generations. This important partnership will advance the critical cause of human security."

In expressing his appreciation, Pitt Provost James V. Maher said, "We are especially gratified that Ford Motor Company has recognized the record of academic accomplishment Pitt's programs in international studies have achieved and has expressed its confidence in our ability to deliver results in this key research initiative."

Commenting on the philosophy of the Ford institute, Reich said, "Typically, as in the case of genocide, it is only after dire consequences that policymakers consider action, and then it is simply too late. Through its research and policy analysis, the Ford Institute for Human Security will seek to alert policymakers and the international community alike to emerging threats to human welfare, whether at home or abroad."

Ford Motor Company provided a $2.25 million gift to create the Ford Institute for Human Security. Each of the Ford Institute's policy projects will be overseen by a faculty member charged with drawing together policy analysts and scholars who are recognized experts in the specific area of concern.

A GSPIA faculty member since 1987, Simon Reich earned both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in government at Cornell University. He was the director of research and analysis for the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in England in 2000-01, and he has been awarded the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, as well as fellowships from the Kellogg Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, and numerous other organizations. He is a former president of the International Political Economy Section of the International Studies Association.

Reich wrote The Fruits of Fascism: Postwar Prosperity in Historical Perspective (Cornell University Press, 1990); he has coauthored three books, one of them—The Myth of the Global Corporation (Princeton University Press, 1998)—with William Keller; and he has coauthored two major government reports—Multinationals and the U.S. Technology Base (Office of Technology Assessment, 1994) and Multinational Corporations and the National Interest (Office of Technology Assessment, 1993).

Before joining the Pitt faculty in 2002, William W. Keller was executive director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a principal research scientist and research director of the M.I.T. Japan Program. He also has directed international projects for the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the Senate Committee on Commerce and the Senate Committee on Armed Services, among others. Keller coedited Crisis and Innovation in Asian Technology (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and wrote Arm in Arm: the Political Economy of the Global Arms Trade (Basic Books, 1995) and The Liberals and J. Edgar Hoover: Rise and Fall of a Domestic Intelligence State (Princeton University Press, 1989).

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4/1/03