Nathan Gardels is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine.
The Berggruen Institute, an independent, non-partisan “think and action tank” that is co-publisher of The WorldPost, announced this week that Craig Calhoun will become the new president of the organization. Professor Calhoun will leave his current position as director and president of the London School of Economics and Political Science in the summer of 2016 to take on this new role.
Announcing the appointment, Nicolas Berggruen, the founder and chairman of the Berggruen Institute, remarked: “Having headed the London School of Economics, Craig brings to us the world-class experience of leadership as well as scholarly achievement in the top ranks of global education. His aspiration over the years to establish ‘an institutional location for practical reason in public affairs’ is a perfect fit with the mission of the Berggruen Institute.”
Professor Calhoun is a world-renowned social scientist. His work joins sociology to culture, communication, politics, philosophy and economics. Prior to his post at LSE, he was a professor at New York University as well as director of the Institute for Public Knowledge and president of the Social Science Research Council. He is the author of several books, including “Does Capitalism Have a Future?”, “Nations Matter, Critical Social Theory, Neither Gods Nor Emperors,” and most recently, “The Roots of Radicalism”
“The Berggruen Institute offers an incredibly exciting opportunity,” said Mr. Calhoun. “Like LSE, this institute seeks to use knowledge to improve society and deepen the capacity for international cooperation. It has been an enormous honor to lead LSE, and I am looking forward to this new challenge.”
The Berggruen Institute was founded in 2010 with a mission to improve governance systems. With successful projects underway in California, Europe and China, the institute launched the Philosophy and Culture Center last fall. The new center expanded the scope of the organization beyond political governance to enhancing cross-cultural understanding, particularly between Asian and Western cultures. Central to its activities is the Berggruen fellowship program which funds research at campuses around the world including, Stanford, Harvard, NYU, Oxford, Tsinghua and Peking universities.
Later this year, the Berggruen Institute will give away the Berggruen Philosophy and Culture Prize. The $1 million prize will be awarded to a living thinker whose ideas have had a broad cultural or philosophical impact on society. An independent and diverse jury composed of leading thinkers, including Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Michael Spence, will award the prize.
