TheIsmaili: His Highness the Aga Khan addresses convocation upon receiving honorary doctorate from University of Ottawa.
uOttawa: His Highness the Aga Khan is addressing the convocation after just having received his honorary doctorate.
AKDN: His Highness the Aga Khan addresses convocation upon receiving an honorary doctorate from University of Ottawa.
AKDN: Permettez-moi d’exprimer avant toute chose ma profonde reconnaissance pour l’insigne honneur que vous me faites.
AKDN: gratitude pour l’excellence de la coopération dont le Réseau AKDN a bénéficié de la part de votre Université, ville et pays.
AKDN: Un exemple est le nouveau Centre Mondial du Pluralisme, notre projet commun avec le Gouvernement du Canada ici à Ottawa.
AKDN: I refer to the field of governance and public policy – specifically the difficulty of establishing workable constitutional systems.
uOttawa: His Highness: I am persuaded that one of the critical barriers to progress is the way in which governing processes occur.
AKDN: The University of Ottawa has a long tradition of sharing internationally in the hard work of intellectual inquiry.
AKDN: Canada’s Governor General recently referred to this process as “the Diplomacy of Knowledge.”
uOttawa: His Highness: one risk of decentralization is that it can place more decision-making power.
AKDN: One risk of decentralization is that it can place more decision-making power.
AKDN: ..into the hands of communities that have had less access to education and governing experience.
AKDN: …with the aim of overcoming inertia and inefficiency as well as fragmented and provincial outlooks.
AKDN: The history of constitutions can be seen, as an oscillation between the two poles of centralization and diffusion.
AKDN: …while new dispersions of power are often associated with stagnation, paralysis and even more opportunities for corruption.
AKDN: …respond to rural as well as urban concerns and underwrite equitable opportunity for a better life.
uOttawa: His Highness: we must not assume that what worked in parts of the western world will also work in less developed communities.
AKDN: Aga Khan University is planning a new Graduate School of Government, Public Policy and Civil Society to help address these issues.
AKDN: This University’s global effectiveness is reinforced by the high regard in which Canada is held as a valued international partner.
Ismailimail 