The People's Choice: Carnegie Council Top Ten 2009

2009 was a hard year on many fronts and this feeling was reflected in the Carnegie Council audience favorites. Concerns include making sense of the financial crisis; predicting future risks; and coming up with new strategies for the 21st century.

No. 7 on the list, "Top Risks and Ethical Decisions, 2009," was so popular that on January 13 a similar panel will predict their "Top Risks" for 2010 (with live webcast).

1. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
Niall Ferguson, Harvard University (video, audio, transcript)
The economies of China and America are so entwined that neither can afford to let the other fail.

2. The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
George Friedman, Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (video, audio, transcript)
Which nations will be the winners and losers? These predictions may surprise you.

3. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery
Siddharth Kara, Free the Slaves (video, audio, transcript)
The biggest illegal business after drugs, sex slaves generated profits of $35.7 billion in 2007.

4. On Promoting Democracy
Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study (article)
States are not the only, or even the most important, agents of regime change.

5. Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
Dambisa Moyo, Economic specialist, Sub-Saharan Africa (video, audio, transcript)
Decades of international aid have only made things worse in Africa.

6. The Balance between Risk and Return Is Everybody's Business
Ann Rutledge, R&R Consulting (article)
Risk has shifted from corporations to individuals, and many ordinary Americans got burned.

7. Top Risks and Ethical Decisions, 2009
Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group; Art Kleiner, Booz & Company; Michele Wucker, World Policy Institute; Thomas Stewart, Booz & Company (video, audio, transcript)
This expert panel predicts risks for what they agree will be a very tough year.

8. The Crisis of Islamic Civilization
Ali A. Allawi, former Iraq government official (video, audio, transcript)
What caused the decline of Islamic civilization and how can it be revived?

9. The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: Wilsonianism in the Twenty-First Century
Anne-Marie Slaughter, U.S. State Department (video, audio, transcript)
Who's right, the neocons or the liberal internationalists?

10. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Michael Sandel, Harvard University (video, audio, transcript)
A lively debate with the audience on what we owe to society.