The Burkle Center funds faculty research working groups and faculty research projects led by UCLA faculty in support of the study and analysis of significant questions of international policy and politics.
2013-14 Projects:
Strategic (Non)Participation in International Organizations
Leslie Johns, Assistant Professor, UCLA Department of Political Science
Research Project: International organizations aspire to egalitarian decision-making among sovereign states. Yet powerful states often drive decisions, while weaker states are excluded from participation. This research project, which is jointly undertaken with Krzysztof J. Pelc of McGill University, examines the politics of participation within international organizations.
Program on International Migration
Hiroshi Motomura, Professor, UCLA School of Law (co-chair); Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Professor, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (co-chair); Ruben Hernandez-Leon, Associate Professor, UCLA Department of Sociology, and Roger Waldinger, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Department of Sociology.
Research Project: During 2013-14, the Program in International Migration will continue its bi-weekly program of speakers, with plans to once again assemble an interdisciplinary, international group. Invited speakers in 2013–14 are expected to address international refugee protection, comparative immigration policy making, remittances, social networks and migration, and transnational families, among other topics.
Working Group: Devolution and Public Service Delivery in Africa: Implication for Health, Water, and Education for All by 2015
Edith Mukudi Omwami, Associate Professor, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (co-chair), Edmond J. Keller, Professor, UCLA Department of Political Science (co-chair), Osman Galal, Professor and Director, International Health Program at UCLA School of Public Health (co-investigator), Charlotte Neumann, Professor, Community Health Sciences and Pediatrics at UCLA School of Public Health (co-investigator), and Dr. Stephen Commins, Lecturer in Urban Planning, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs (co-investigator).
Research Project: The purpose of this project is to organize an international workshop, involving lectures and discussion focused on the delivery of public goods in Africa, particularly the policies of governments in the areas of health care, water and sanitation, the provision of affordable housing, and education. These are sectors that have been a particular focus of donor agencies, multi-lateral and bi-lateral and non-governmental organization.
Understanding Fuel Price Shocks
Michael Ross, Professor, UCLA Department of Political Science; Jay Ulfelder, Independent Researcher
Research Project: Many news reports suggest that increases in the price of fuel can trigger protests, and even threaten the stability of governments. This project seeks to collect original data on monthly fuel prices in all countries to statistically explore this hypothesis. It also hopes to clarify the conditions under which governments have successfully removed fuel subsidies, without triggering protests.
For more information, and to see recipients from prior years, please click here.