Conference to address security

The Kelley School of Business will hold a two-day conference beginning today to discuss how the United States can meet national security needs while enhancing economic prosperity.\nThis conference is being held to garner interest in the Group of Eight Nations summit to be held at Sea Island, Ga., next week. The G8 is an annual meeting of the heads of state of France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States to address major economic and political issues facing their domestic societies and the international community as a whole.\nConference co-chair Alan Rugman said scholars and policy makers at IU's conference "will examine how best the United States, with its G8 partners, can meet its vital security needs in ways that enhance the prosperity that America and its partners need and promote the values of freedom and democracy that they cherish." Discussions will center on how America's G8 partners can best align their policies and interests.\nJeffrey Hart, professor of political science at IU, who will be presenting a paper Friday, said this conference allows the academic world to give its opinions on the issues the G8 summit is addressing.\nDavid Audretsch, director of the Institute for Development Strategies and the Ameritech Chair of Economic Development at IU, said he thinks the conference is a place to present opinions. \n"This conference offers a unique opportunity to inject new ideas and approaches to re-think policy approaches to foster peace and economic prosperity," Audretsch said in an e-mail. "The window of the G-8 is open for creative thinking, and I am delighted to be able to contribute to this process."\nAudretsch will be presenting a paper that discusses the economic consequences of the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts.\n"The 2001 Patriot and Homeland Security Act is not only impeding international business, but it has created barriers to one of the key sources of economic growth -- the mobility of knowledge workers," Audretsch said.\nHart said the task of the G8 is to minimize the economic damage caused by the restrictive policies of the acts. He said he thinks the conference will focus on the Middle East because of the costs the war on terrorism has incurred. \n"The Bush Administration has rediscovered multilateralism and is pushing its discussion in relation to the Middle East," Hart said.\nUnlike the conference at IU, the G8 summit is not open to the public since it has become the target of antiglobalization protesters in recent years. At a G8 summit in Evian, France, hundreds of protesters were removed from around the building where the summit was held.\nThe conference begins at 9:45 a.m. today and ends at 5:30 p.m. Friday. All presentations will be in the Kelley School's Graduate and Executive Education Center, Room 1008. Anyone can attend the presentations, however registration is required. \nIn order to register the event, contact Paula Schershcel at 855-1716 or pshcersc@indiana.edu.\n-- Contact staff writer Karen Yancey at kaeyance@indiana.edu.