Home > Academics > Faculty Directory > Faculty Detail
SIPA Faculty
Kemal Dervis
Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs
kd2343@columbia.edu
Biography:
Kemal Dervis teaches global economic governance. He is also a fellow of the Committee on Global Thought.
Dervis was the head of the United Nations Development Programme, the UN's global development network, from 2005 to 2009. He was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues at the country level.
Dervis served in the Turkish Parliament representing Istanbul from 2002 to 2005. From 2001 to 2002, he was Minister for Economic Affairs and the Treasury, without party affiliation, of the Republic of Turkey. He was responsible for Turkey's recovery program after the devastating financial crisis that hit the country in February 2001.
In 1977, Dervis joined the World Bank, holding various positions including Division Chief for Industrial and Trade Strategy and Director for the Central Europe Department after the fall of the Berlin wall, a position where he later coordinated the World Bank and donor community's support to the peace and the reconstruction process in the Balkans, particularly in Bosnia. In 1996, he became Vice-President of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region, where he was active in supporting the Middle East Peace Process. In 2000, Dervis became Vice-President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, where he was responsible for the World Bank's global programmes and policies to fight poverty. He was also responsible for operational coordination with other institutions, including the United Nations system, the IMF and the WTO on international institutional and policy issues.
Dervis has published many articles in academic journals, as well as current affairs publications on topics ranging from mathematical models of growth and social mobility and quantitative models of trade, to European enlargement and transatlantic relations. He coauthored General Equilibrium Models for Development Policy (Cambridge University Press, 1982), which became a widely used textbook in development economics. In cooperation with the Center for Global Development, he published A Better Globalization (Brookings Press, 2005), which deals with global development issues and international institutional reform.
Dervis holds degrees in economics from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.