Pedro Sanchez
George Mason University President Ángel Cabrera will host Pedro Sánchez, Secretary General of Spain’s Socialist Party, in a special Freedom and Learning Forum next week that focuses on the inequality in Europe and its impact on politics and public policy.
“Mr. Sánchez’ perspective will offer our campus community a unique opportunity to discuss the causes and consequences of rising inequality not only in Europe but much of the developed world,” Cabrera said. “It will also provide some insight into the emergence of populist movements across Europe. Bringing multiple voices around complex world problems is what our Freedom and Learning Forum is all about.”
Their discussion of “Inequality, Politics and Progressive Public Policy in Europe,” will be held at Founders Hall on the Arlington Campus at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15.
Cabrera’s expertise in international business and education and Sánchez’ experience as an economist and as the opposition leader in Spanish Parliament will make for a lively interchange.
“The theme of inequality is becoming more important in both U.S. and European politics,” said David Hart, Acting Senior Associate Dean, School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs.
The financial crisis has forced many countries that are members of the European Union to make sharp spending cuts, which has coincided with a significant increase in unemployment in Southern Europe, particularly Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
That has triggered populist movements in many of those Southern European countries.
“When people are displaced or feel like they’re getting a raw deal, they have a tendency to be more supportive of extreme movements,” Hart said, such as anti-immigrant movements and Islamic extremism.
“Progressive public policy might reduce that tendency by giving all people a basic standard of living,” he added.
Dr. Cabrera is the sixth president of George Mason University, which has been named one of the top 200 research universities by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
The World Economic Forum has named him a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” in 2002, a “Young Global Leader” in 2005, and, in 2008, the chair of the Global Agenda Council for promoting entrepreneurship. He will participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, again this month.
Sánchez was elected Secretary General of Spain’s Socialist Party in 2014. An economist with degrees from Complutense University of Madrid, Free University of Brussels, Ortega y Gasset Institute, IESE, and Camilo Jose Cela University, he has combined his work as a professor of economics with advisory positions in the European Parliament and the United Nations in Kosovo, and elected positions in the city government of Madrid and Spain’s Congress, where he currently serves as opposition leader.