Institute for Policy Studies

Ben Abrams, who will examine the trend toward the development of subsidiary operations to worker cooperatives and its effects on the movement toward workplace democracy. To what extent are these subsidiaries organized on more traditional and less democratic lines than their cooperative parents? What forces are driving this trend? Ben will seek answers to such questions through interviews with managers, employees and cooperative members, direct observations, documents and archival records. The results will help inform the search for strategies for successful workplace democratization in a global economy.

Farrah Hassen, who will build on her work at the United Nations Development Program office in Damascus to examine the linkages between the goals of regional disarmament and the implementation of political and economic reforms in Syria. This linkage has been facilitated by the October 2004 agreement giving Syria greater access to European Union markets in exchange for progress on human rights and controlling weapons of mass destruction. Her work will put particular emphasis on how the nascent civil society movement in Syria could complement the UNDP’s work in Syria promoting the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals.

A Somber Ramadan in Syria by Farrah Hassen in Counterpunch, October 14, 2005

Work from prior Melman Fellows

Rethinking U.S. Involvement in Central America’s War on Gangs: The Case of El Salvador by Alfonso Gonzales
The Front Lines: Stories from the war against labor unionists in Colombia by Daniel Malakoff and Megan Caine
Globalization, Poverty, And Social Justice: A Basic Introduction For Students Of Psychology And Social Work by Tod Sloan
Melman Fellows 2004

Since 2001, the Institute for Policy Studies has sponsored the Seymour Melman Fellowship program, funding research on militarism and on workplace democracy. The Fellowship Program is currently being redesigned. There will be no call for proposals in 2006.

Direct inquiries and send proposals via email to:
Miriam Pemberton, IPS
miriam@ips-dc.org
202-234-9382 x. 214

Seymour Melman was a leader of the anti-war movement, informing, exhorting and challenging it during its strong and its weak periods over more than four decades. He pioneered the field of economic conversion, which focuses on the economic underpinnings of militarism, and examines the political, economic and technical processes of converting military resources to civilian use. He died on December 16, 2004. He spent most of his career at Columbia University as a Professor of Industrial Engineering. In addition to his work on economic conversion and demilitarization, he wrote extensively on the development of workplace democracy. His last book on this subject was After Capitalism: From Managerialism to Workplace Democracy, Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. In it he defines workplace democracy as "…Joining producing with decision-making; organizing decision-making on a non-hierarchical, democratic basis; sharing the social product without inequality; achieving human solidarity in place of alienation." You can learn more about Professor Melman's work at www.AfterCapitalism.com.

In Remembrance Of Seymour Melman
Delivered At Funeral Service, December 23, 2004, Riverside Chapel. By Marcus Raskin, Co-founder, Institute For Policy Studies

IPS is a multi-issue progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C. that strives to offer resources for progressive social change locally, nationally, and globally through books, articles, films, conferences, and activist education. IPS is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and encourages applications from people of color, women, and other groups that have historically been subject to discrimination.