This legacy is a remarkable monument not to a man but to an idea, one lived out imperfectly in a single life and betrayed repeatedly by the country that professed it. Fulbright’s own biography is evidence that the best of what the United States produced in the last century was inseparable from the worst—a complicated, grownup fact that ought to inform how Americans approach everything from education in international affairs to foreign-policy making. And to generations of people in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Fulbright’s most enduring contribution is something that the United States now has an opportunity to bring back home: the astonishing, liberating idea that governments have a duty to help people lose their fear of difference.

Politics and an Innate Moral Sense: Scientific Evidence for an Old Theory? Political Research Quarterly 62, no. 3 (2009)

It is clearly very important for universities to contribute to their cities, regions and countries. However, many of the major issues facing humankind such as the destruction of the environment, rising inequality and violence across borders can only be solved by countries and universities working together. In this sense, the question of how higher education contributes to global wellbeing becomes very important.

Universities have moved away from notions of public good and have been reconfigured as commercial enterprises competing for economic power precisely at a time when exploding social inequality between different sectors and substrata of humanity demands we redefine the human being in a global manner.

Filip Boicu (PhD, University of Nottingham, fboicu@yahoo.com)

It may be argued that attributing the shortcomings of develop- ment to the failure of materialism does not immediately lead to religion, much less to a discourse on science, religion and develop- ment. Why, then, one may reasonably ask, the emphasis on reli- gion rather than on spirituality. The Institute has preferred to use the word religion in order to convey the idea that the advancement of development thought and practice requires more than reflec- tion on individual behavior—the structures of society, its systems and processes, including its knowledge systems, also need to be considered. Moving beyond the simplistic mantra that if people were simply “more spiritual” things would be better, the Institute has focused on the idea of religion as a system of knowledge and practice that would complement science in bringing prosperity to all of humankind.

Through the following study, the Institute for Studies in Glob- al Prosperity hopes to contribute to the worldwide discourse on social and economic development some of the insights it has gained into the nature of development work that is cognizant of both the spiritual and material dimensions of reality.
The case described here, though of one organization, Seva Mandir* (Temple of Service), an organization working primarily with the rural and tribal communities in Rajasthan, India, is representative of the thousands of efforts that draw on spiritual principles and scientific methods to bring about social transformation.

The following study seeks to contribute to the broad discourse on social and economic development some insights into the dynamic interplay between the spiritual and practical dimensions of commu- nity life, in this case in the context of urban informal settlements. Carried out by the Bahá’í Chair for Studies in Development at Devi Ahilya University in Indore, India in collaboration with the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, this study is part of a series of the Institute’s research publications called Occasional Papers on Insights from Practice. The series examines patterns that are emerging as groups, communities and organizations strive to apply unifying and constructive principles to their everyday lives, endeavor to solve the challenges they face and build a desirable society.

Threati ve faculty is rele ased to forge a path for positive outugh dialogue that engageeased to forge a path for positive outcomes where unity and integration become possible.