KNOXVILLE — The Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, in partnership with the Latin American studies, Global Studies and political science programs, will host C\u00e9sar Mont\u00fafar, professor of global social studies at the Universidad Andina Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Free and open to the public, the event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave., at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.<\/p>\n
Mont\u00fafar, a member of the National Assembly of Ecuador, will discuss the dominance of left-wing populist governments in the Andes like those of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales. The lecture will focus on the left wing populists\u2019 social ideology, constitutional model, economic model and perspective of creating a new internal order with links to countries such as Russia, China and Iran.<\/p>\n
Mont\u00fafar has published extensively on the politics of the Andean region, especially with regard to Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Venezuela. He also has studied topics including border conflicts among Andean neighbors, governance, neoliberal policies and constitutional assemblies.<\/p>\n
The Baker Center, which opened at UT in 2003, develops programs and promotes research to further the public’s knowledge of our system of governance, and to highlight the critical importance of public service, a hallmark of Sen. Baker’s career.<\/p>\n