Click here to view CNISS mission statement

The Center promotes an ongoing research program involving undergraduate and graduate students, together with junior and senior faculty of Washington University, and scholars from around the world. This program will evolve around four main components: an undergraduate 'minor' program in new institutional social sciences; a complimentary certificate program for Ph.D. students; a summer school; and a research center that will help focus and fund research of undergraduate honors theses, graduate dissertations, visiting scholars, Washington University faculty, and related research around the world. 

Currently led by Itai Sened, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science in Arts & Sciences, the Center supports diversified research into the evolution of social, political, and economic institutions that shape societies and economies around the world. CNISS will encourage the integration of what is best in the individual bodies of the separate social sciences into one body of knowledge that will allow us to better explain, understand, and solve the problems of complex societies. 

"American Research Universities and the Law"
November 9, 2009
CNISS hosted Michael Cannon, Executive Vice Chancellor and General Counsel for Washington University in St. Louis. Mr. Cannon spoke on the entanglement of U.S. research universities with the law. Please see flyer below for lecture RSVP information.
Flyer
Abstract

CNISS Research Symposium
November 4, 2009
CNISS will host its annual Research Symposium on November 4. The event will feature presentations by CNISS affiliated faculty, past and present students, and Academic Board representatives, who will all provide summaries and updates of their work connected to current CNISS research projects. Please see flyer below for lecture RSVP information.
Flyer

"Politics Closer to Home: Decentralization and Women's Empowerment Worldwide"
November 2, 2009
CNISS will host Meg Rincker, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Purdue University-Calumet and former CNISS Ph.D. Certificate Program Fellow. Meg will discuss her book manuscript on why international organizations and country leaders are pushing more political decisions to the local level and the conditions under which women take leadership roles. She will focus on a specific case of decentralization in Pakistan. Please see flyer and abstract below for lecture RSVP information.
Flyer
Abstract

"The Variable Effect of War on Longterm Childhood Mental Health Outcomes"
October 19, 2009
CNISS will host Professor Jeff Gill, Professor or Political Science and Director of the Center for Applied Statistics and Enbal Shacham, Research Assistant Professor at the Health Communication Laboratory at the School of Social Work, who will be giving a joint lecture on the effect of war on longterm chilhood mental health outcomes. Please see flyer below for RSVP information.
Flyer

"The Changing Balance Between Business and Government"
October 12, 2009
CNISS is honored to host Murray Weidenbaum, Honorary Chairman of the Center and Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Profesor. Dr. Weidenbaum will lecture on "The Changing Balance Between Business and Government. Please see flyer below for RSVP information.
Flyer

Is the West Merely a Culture?
October 5, 2009
Sponsored by CNISS and the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, Amnon Rubinstein will lecture on "Is the West Merely a Culture?" Dr. Rubinstein is a leading scholar on constitutional law and a former Israel Knesset member who served as Minister of Communication, Minister of Infrastructure, Minister of Science and Technology, and most notably, Minister of Education and Culture. He is currently the founding Dean of the Interdisciplinary-Herzliya Law School, recently ranked as the best Law School in Israel. Please see flyer below for RSVP information.
Flyer

Leading in Green
September 14, 2009
Dr. Isaac Berzin, Director for the Institute for Renewable Energy (IREP) at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel will lecture on his research on turning algal into biofuels. Dr. Berzin is also an affiliated scientist at MIT who worked on developing bioreactors and the former Chief Technology Officer of GreenFuel Technologies Corporation. Please see flyer below for RSVP information.
Flyer

Justice and the American Metropolis Conference
May 7-9, 2009
SAVE THE DATE
CNISS, the Political Theory Group, and the Democracy and Citizenship Initiative, at Washington University, along with the University of Missouri St. Louis Des Lee Collaborative Vision will sponsor this two day conference. The conference will bring empirical scholars who study urban politics and urban political economy together with historians of the American city and legal and political theorists to focus on justice in the American metropolis. If you are planning to attend, please email to cniss@artsci.wustl.edu by APRIL 24, 2009 so we can provide adequate seating. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Program

Youth Poets: Empowering Literacies in and out of Schools
April 23, 2009
SAVE THE DATE
CNISS and the Center for Humanities will co-sponsor Korina Jocson, Assistant Professor of Education, who will give a lunchtime lecture on her new book entitled "Youth Poets" -- the book documents an ethnographic study of the literacy learning of urban high school youth. Gerald Early, the Director of the Center for Humanities, will provide introductory comments. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. To register, please see flyer below.
Event flyer

CNISS Symposium on Current Projects & Office Suite Dedication Ceremony
April 2, 2009
SAVE THE DATE
CNISS will host a symposium with presentations on some of our CNISS projects. We will be dedicating our new office suite in Seigle Hall with a ribbon cutting and short reception. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, MARCH 18 VIA EMAIL TO CNISS@ARTSCI.WUSTL.EDU Program

The Social Science of International Development: Research and Engineering
March 24, 2009
SAVE THE DATE
CNISS and American Culture Studies will co-sponsor a one-day conference examining the issues surrounding Democracy in today's society. Nobel Laureate in Economics and Founder of CNISS Professor Douglass North will lecture on his forthcoming book examining the intrepretations of recorded human history. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, MARCH 13 VIA EMAIL TO CNISS@ARTSCI.WUSTL.EDU
Program
Additional information
Preface to "Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History

November 25 Yadama/Hovmand Lecture and Lunch
November 2008
CNISS will sponsor a special lunch and lecture by Professors Peter Hovmand and Gautam Yadama of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, on "Community and Natural Resource Management: Modeling Complexity in Natural & Human System Interactions." Please see below information for R.S.V.P. details and brief research synopsis.
Lunch and Lecture Information
Research Synopsis

October 21 Weidenbaum Lecture and Lunch
October 2008
CNISS will sponsor a special lunch and lecture by Murray Weidenbaum, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis, in honor of his new book "The Competition of Ideas: The World of Washington Think Tanks." Please see below flyers for R.S.V.P. details and book synopsis.
Lunch and Lecture Information
Book Synopsis

Measures of Legislators' Policy Preferences and the Dimensionality of Policy Spaces
Nov. 30- Dec. 1, 2007
Washington University
CNISS, the Center in Political Economy at Washington University, and Emory University are co-sponsoring this conference which will examine roll-call vote selection, alternative measures of legislative preferences, and estimation options for observation data. 20 participants who are experts in these topic fields will come to present and discuss their research. If you are interested in attending any/all of this conference, please R.S.V.P. via email by November 13 to cniss@artsci.wustl.edu
Conference Flyer
Program Information

NIE & Development Conference: A Project of the St. Louis Initiative
May 4-5, 2007
Washington University
The Bakewell Foundation sponsored a CNISS-hosted event here at Washington University on NIE and Development. The conference focused on improving our understanding of policy reform by focusing on the dynamics on institutional change. It paid special attention to issues such as clean water provision, lowering the cost of doing business, and the problems of credibly policy evalution. Click here for more information

DOUGLASS NORTH ADDRESS
January 12, 2007 at
United Nations
Professor Douglass North, Nobel Laureate in Economics and CNISS Founder, presented his research proposal on "The Integration of Political and Economic Systems" at the next meeting of the Commission of Legal Empowerment of the Poor at the United Nations on January 12. Panel members include Madeleine Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (Iran), Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland, and Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico.

St. Louis Initiative Conference
November 10-11,2006
John Nye, CNISS Board Member and a professor in the Department of Economics, led the organizational effort in a two-day conference on the St. Louis Initiative -- a project to advance our understanding of the dynamics of institutions in developing economies by assisting policy makers to carry out needed instutional changes and to implement policy reforms. Issues to be examined include combating malaria and Aids and spreading clean water to these regions. Click here for more information

Political Science Workshop
November 3, 2006
Andy Sobel, CNISS Board Member and a professor in the Department of Political Science, will direct a one day workshop co-sponsored by CNISS and the Political Science Department. Click here for more information

Micah Project Workshop
October 21, 2006
CNISS cosponsored a one day workshop on issues concerning the Micah Project in Belize with the Skandalaris Center for Entreprenurial Studies. For further information, go to Click here for more information

Promoting U.S.-China Business Relations
May 11-13, 2006
CNISS cosponsored a conference with the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, The Institute for Global Legal Studies and the Center for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford in England. For further information, go to Click here for more information

A Tax Free Zone in Belize
May 10, 2006
CNISS cosponsored a one day workshop, with the Skandalaris Center for Entreprenurial Studies, on a tax free zone in Belize. For further information, go to Click here for more information

2006 Speaker Series
The 2006 CNISS Speaker series will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays, February 8-April 20. Wednesdays will be for interested graduate students and Thursdays for faculty, graduate students, and interested community members.
Click here for further information

Special CNISS Event
Israel: The Next Decade, May 19-21, 2005
This workshop evaluated future reforms in different policy domains in Israel. It was co-sponsored by the Center, as well as The Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, and The Murray Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy.
Click here for more information

Sister Center Event
ESNIE 2005, May 2-7
The fourth session of the European School on New Institutional Economics will be in Cargese, May 2-7, 2005
Click here for more information