Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

328 results found

Banerjee, Abhijit Vanayak

(Encyclopedia)Banerjee, Abhijit Vanayak, 1961–, Indian-American economist, b. Mumbai, Ph.D. Harvard, 1988. He taught economics at Princeton (1988–92) and Harvard (1992–93) before moving to the Massachusetts I...

Dorfman, Ariel

(Encyclopedia)Dorfman, Ariel äryĕlˈ dôrfˈmän [key], 1942–, Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, and journalist, b. Argentina. Dorfman's family moved to the United States shortly after his birth, settling...

Stavisky Affair

(Encyclopedia)Stavisky Affair stävēskēˈ [key], financial and political scandal that shook France in 1934. Serge Alexandre Stavisky, a swindler associated with the municipal pawnshop of Bayonne, sold huge quanti...

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne

(Encyclopedia)Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne byörnˈstyĕrnə byörnˈsōn [key], 1832–1910, Norwegian writer and political leader, one of the major figures of Norwegian literature. He was an influential journalist, w...

Samaras, Antonis

(Encyclopedia)Samaras, Antonis äntōˈnēs sämäräsˈ [key], 1951–, Greek political leader, premier of Greece (2012–15), b. Athens, grad. Amherst (1974), Harvard (M.B.A., 1976). He was first elected to parli...

Pearson, Lester Bowles

(Encyclopedia)Pearson, Lester Bowles, 1897–1972, Canadian diplomat and political leader, b. Ontario prov. He served in the Canadian army in World War I. Pearson taught history at the Univ. of Toronto from 1924 to...

Council of Europe

(Encyclopedia)Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The c...

city-state

(Encyclopedia)city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

Vasconcelos, José

(Encyclopedia)Vasconcelos, José hōsāˈ väskōnsāˈlōs [key], 1882–1959, Mexican educator and writer. He headed (1920–24) the National Univ. of Mexico and, as minister of education under Álvaro Obregón, ...

Francophonie, La

(Encyclopedia)Francophonie, La, officially the International Organization of the Francophonie, Fr. Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), an intergovernmental organization of mainly French-speaking n...