The Fletcher School

A Graduate School of International Affairs

Lawrence Harrison

Lawrence Harrison

Lawrence Harrison

lawrence.harrison@tufts.edu

Phone: (617) 627-3034

Fax: (617) 627-3712

Office:
132 Curtis St.
Somerville, MA 02144

Director, Cultural Change Institute and Lecturer

Education

AB, Dartmouth College
MPA, Harvard University

Professional Activities

Currently, Associate, Academy for International and Area Studies, Harvard University; has served as a Visiting scholar at Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1981-83, 1988-1990,1994-96,1998-2000), Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (1997-1998), and Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1996-1997); Vice President for International Development, National Cooperative Business Association (1984-1988); Consultant to USAID for several projects/programs in Latin America and Asia; Director, USAID Missions to Costa Rica, Guatemala (for Central American region), Nicaragua, and Haiti, Deputy Director, Dominican Republic (1969-81).

Biography

Lawrence E. Harrison is the Director of the Cultural Change Institute at Fletcher. He is the author of Underdevelopment is a State of Mind, Who Prospers?, The Pan-American Dream, and The Central Liberal Truth, and co-editor (1) with Samuel Huntington, of Culture Matters, (2) with Jerome Kagan of Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change, and (3) with Peter Berger, Developing Cultures: Case Studies. Between 1965 and 1981, he directed USAID missions in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Harrison was associated with Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs for eight years during the period 1981-2001. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, among other publications.

Programs & Centers

Courses

Fall 2009

Research Interests

Cultural values: how they affect political, economic, and social development; how they are transmitted; how they relate to policies, institutions, and economic development; how they change.

Selected Publications

Books

  • The Central Liberal Truth (2006)
  • Developing Cultures: Case Studies (co-editor 2006)
  • Developing Cultures: Case Studies (co-editor 2006)
  • Culture Matters - How Values Shape Human Progress (co-editor) (2000)
  • The Pan-American Dream (1997)
  • Who Prospers? - How Cultural Values Shape Economic and Political Success (1992)
  • Underdevelopment is a State of Mind - The Latin American Case (1985)

Selected Op-eds

  • “What will America stand for in 2050?” The Christian Science Monitor, 28 May 2009.
  • “Es ist die Kultur, Dummkopf!” Internationale Politik, April 2009.
  • “Could Obama's Rise Signal The End Of Black Victimology? If so, it's not good for Jesse Jackson, but it's great for America.” The Christian Science Monitor, 6 August 2008; reprinted by The Baltimore Sun 10 August 2008.
  • “Want Democracy in Iraq? Culture Matters,” The Christian Science Monitor, 1 July 2008.
  • "The End of Multiculturalism," The Christian Science Monitor, 26 January 2008.
  • "Verdensmestre i fremskridt" (submitted as "Nordic Lessons for the World)," Danish newspaper Politiken, 19 January 2008.
  • "The End of Multiculturalism," The National Interest, January- 2008.
  • "Getting Mexico on Track," with Luis Rubio, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 July 2007.