February 18th
Dr. George Ayittey
At Fairmont Newport Beach


Please note: Due to the inclement weather in Washington DC - this event has been re-scheduled to Thursday, February 18, 2010


World Affairs Council
of Orange County


presents

Dr. George Ayittey
Distinguished Economist in Residence, American University and President, Free Africa Foundation
Listed as one of the 100 most influential thinkers of 2009 by the Foreign Policy Magazine


"Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future"


(Re-scheduled) Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Location: Fairmont Newport Beach
4500 MacArthur Blvd.
Newport Beach, Ca. 92660


6:00 pm Reception * 7:00 pm Dinner * 7:45 pm Program
Members @ $55 Non-Members @ $70 Students @ $38

Bio

Dr. George Ayittey was listed as one of the 100 most influential thinkers of 2009 by the Foreign Policy Magazine. He is cited for being one of a few who contributed to the big ideas "that shaped our world in 2009." Dr. George Ayittey is a Distinguished Economist at American University, in Washington, DC. (USA) where he teaches Development Economics and Africa’s Economic Crisis at both undergraduate and gradate levels. Prior to joining American University, he taught at Wayne State College in Nebraska and Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. In recognition of his scholarship on Africa, he was made a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California in 1988 and a Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation in 1989. He joined American University in 1990.

Dr. Ayittey is also the President of the Free Africa Foundation, which he established in 1993 in Washington, D.C., to serve as a catalyst for change in Africa. The URL is: http://www.freeafrica.org. The Foundation’s mantra is: “Africa is poor because she is not free.” As such, the Foundation actively promotes political, economic and intellectual freedom.

Dr. Ayittey has written several highly-acclaimed book on Africa, including Africa Betrayed (St. Martin’s Press, 1992); The Blueprint For Ghana’s Economic Recovery (Africana Publishers, 1997); Africa In Chaos (St. Martin’s Press, 1998), Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future (Palgrave/McMillan, 2005), and Indigenous African Institutions (Transnational Publishers, 2006). Africa Betrayed won the 1993 H.L. Mencken Award for "Best Book for 1992." (The award is named after the American journalist who championed personal freedom).

He has written numerous articles on Africa and the Third World, which have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail (Canada), The Times of London, USA TODAY, The CATO Journal, World Development, Humane Studies Review, Journal of Defense and Diplomacy, Journal of Economic Affairs, Journal of Economic Growth, The World & I, Crisis, and Foreign Trade Review. Many of his articles have been syndicated for worldwide distribution and some have been reprinted in Reader’s Digest, International Herald and Tribune, Jeune Afrique Economie, and papers in Africa -- recently in The Sowetan (South Africa) and Daily Observer (The Gambia). He has been cited in the American Economic Review, The New York Times, Scientific American, and by Paul Harvey, William Raspberry and others.

Dr. Ayittey has appeared frequently on several radio talk shows, and TV programs including the BBC, Voice of America, (Canada AM, CBS "Nightwatch," ABC "Nightline," Christian Science Monitor TV, MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, C-SPAN, and CNN.

He has testified before many US Congressional committees and the Senate of Canada about the Third World Debt Crisis, Foreign Aid to Africa and South Africa. He has served as a consultant to several organizations, including the World Bank, US AID, and International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME). In addition, he has given lectures to various organizations, institutions and universities, including the National Bar Association, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US State Department, US Foreign Service, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He has been invited by U.S. presidents to the White House on three occasions (Dec, 1990, March 2006, and Sept 2008) for important state functions.

Dr. Ayittey was born in Ghana, West Africa, where he obtained all his primary education and B.Sc. (Economics) from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1966. He left Ghana for Canada to pursue post graduate studies at the University of Western Ontario, where he was awarded an M.A. (Economics) in 1971. After a brief teaching stint at the University of Ghana, he returned to Canada to secure his Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba in 1981.