August 20th, 2008

Armacost argues that Asia needs urgent attention from the next US administration

While the United States has been focused on the Middle East, dramatic changes have been taking place in Asia. The region is relatively peaceful and economic growth has been impressive. However, new powers have emerged, while some of our old friends have become more assertive within the region. Michael Armacost and J. Stapleton Roy, two of America's foremost Asia policy experts, offer advice to the incoming US administration.

• » Asian Policy Challenges for the Next President
• » America's Role in Asia - The Asia Foundation

August 18th, 2008

McFaul co-authors CNAS report on strategic leadership

CDDRL Director Michael McFaul is co-author of a new Center for a New American Security (CNAS) report, Strategic Leadership: Framework for a 21st Century National Security Strategy. In the report McFaul and other top foreign policy experts chart a new direction for America's global role.
Read more »

August 12th, 2008

McFaul: Stop violence in Georgia rather than assign blame

CDDRL Director and Obama foreign policy advisor Michael McFaul discusses the conflict in Georgia with the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Time magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Public Radio. "Would kicking Russia out of the G-8 have stopped this invasion?" McFaul says. "I don't see how those two are related. That is the test of leadership: are you proposing things that can advance American interests?"

• » Los Angeles Times: McCain and Obama condemn violence in Georgia
• » Time: Failing the Georgia test
• » Wall Street Journal: Georgia conflict tests candidates on foreign policy
• » Washington Post: Bush's Georgian betrayal
• » NPR: Why Georgia-Russia conflict is significant for US
• » New York Times: Taunting the bear

New paper on 'What Iranian leaders really say about doing away with Israel'

In "What Iranian leaders really say about doing away with Israel," CDDRL visiting associate professor Joshua Teitelbaum discusses Iranian leaders' statements calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people and presents a comprehensive analysis of what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually said. When Ahmadinejad punctuates his speech with "Death to Israel" m(arg bar Esraiil), Teitelbaum writes, this is no longer open to various interpretations.

August 8th, 2008

Environmental Ethics Working Group

The Environmental Ethics Working Group has embarked on two distinct and experimental approaches to environmental ethical research. Read more »

August 6th, 2008

Southeast Asian Studies at Stanford: A Rising Profile

Five Southeast Asia scholars are slated for residence at Stanford for the upcoming academic year. Read more »

Draper Hills Summer Fellows program begins; one fellow prevented from leaving her home country

The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University is pleased to announce its new class of Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development. This year's fellows--26 outstanding civic, political, and economic leaders from 23 countries in transition--have been selected from more than 800 applications. They will be on the Stanford campus for three weeks, from July 28 to August 15, 2008. Read more »

August 4th, 2008

In the Case of Dokdo: A Lesson Learned

Shorenstein APARC director Gi-Wook Shin and Korean Studies associate director David Straub point out the importance of building long-term strategies by top foreign policy experts in the international community.

• » Joong Ang Daily (Korean)
• » Joong Ang Daily (English)

August 1st, 2008

Korea Needs Low-key, Long-term Approach to Dokdo/Takeshima Controversy

Korean Studies Program associate director David Straub argued in The Nelson Report, a top Washington, D.C. policy newsletter, that Korea needs to take a strategic approach toward the controversy with Japan over the Dokdo Islets ("Takeshima" in Japanese). Widely reported in Korea, Straub's message urged Korea to base its policy on the fact that it has effective control of the islets. Read more »

CISAC Hosts Homeland Security Forum

Private sector leaders, senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, and academic experts convened at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) for a forum on a revolutionary development in disaster response: the rise and pervasiveness of social network communications, and the way these networks will reshape the flow of information when disasters strike. Read more »

Stanford undergraduates pose questions for Singapore in Singapore Journal

The inaugural (March 2008) issue of PRISM, an undergraduate journal published by the University Scholars Programme (USP) of the National University of Singapore (NUS), carries a dozen essays. Six were written by Stanford undergraduates for a Stanford Overseas Seminar taught in Singapore in September 2006, and six by NUS undergrads in the USP for an NUS course taught at Stanford in May 2007. Read more »

Indonesian economist named Shorenstein APARC/Asia Foundation Visiting Fellow for 2009-2010

Sudarno Sumarto has been selected to become the second Shorenstein APARC/Asia Foundation Visiting Fellow. He will be in residence at Stanford during the 2009-2010 academic year. Read more »

Machiavelli for Economic Reformers?

Shorenstein APARC/Asia Foundation Fellow, Dennis Arroyo completes monograph on economic policy strategems in Asia. Read more »

Hedging Alignments, Financing Resilience, and Assessing Pol Pot's Cambodia by John Ciorciari, 2008-2009 Shorenstein Fellow

Fellowships are more often won on the promise of completing a book than books are finished before the fellowships end. Dr. Ciorciari broke this "rule" by completing his book manuscript in Spring 2008 and submitting it to Cornell University Press for possible publication. Read more »

July 31st, 2008

State of the Art of the State?

Stanford University Press publishes SEAF-initiated book on Southeast Asia in Political Science
Read more »

July 29th, 2008

CISAC's Stedman Convenes Capstone 'Managing Global Insecurity' Advisory Group Conference in Berlin, Germany

Heads of international organizations and foreign policy leaders from around the world met in Berlin, Germany on July 15 and 16 to discuss the future of international security and cooperation. Convened by the Managing Global Insecurity Project (MGI) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the event - "Responsible Sovereignty: International Cooperation for a Changed World" - was the MGI project's fifth and capstone advisory group conference. The goal of the Berlin session was to generate momentum toward a 2009-2010 campaign to expand global partnerships and rejuvenate international cooperation to address today's most pressing global challenges.  Read more »

July 23rd, 2008

Video blog: Cohen, Loury take another look at presidential politics

PGJ Director Joshua Cohen talks to Glenn Loury of Brown University about which presidential candidate would be more likely to bring Bush to justice, what to do if Iran gets nukes, and how we might define the "genetics of social mobility." Read more »

PESD work on the role of carbon offsets in climate change mitigation attracts international attention

Michael Wara and David Victor's recent work, A Realistic Policy on International Carbon Offsets, addresses problems with the world's largest offset program, the UN's Clean Development Mechanism. Wara and Victor argue that much of the CDM investment doesn't actually meet the UN's crucial additionality standards, and they outline ways to fix the problem.

• » Wall Street Journal: French firm cashes in under UN warming program
• » Science Magazine: California emissions plan to explore use of offsets
• » Wall Street Journal: UN warming program draws fire

Korean Studies Program welcomes visiting fellows and scholars for 2008-2009 academic year

Korean Studies Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center welcomes Pantech Fellow, Koret Fellow, POSCO NGO Fellows, and visiting scholars from diverse backgrounds and experiences for 2008-2009 academic year. Read more »

David Victor Discusses Climate Policy, Offsets, and Incentives in the Wall Street Journal

Income from carbon offsets has become French chemical manufacturer Rhodia SA's most profitable business. The WSJ estimates payouts to the firm from projects in Brazil and South Korea could total $1 billion over seven years, raising questions about the incentive structure of the CDM. David Victor argues that carbon markets are not sending the appropriate signals to the developing world.

• » Wall Street Journal

July 22nd, 2008

Book Review: The Gunslinger

FSI senior fellow Stephen Stedman reviews John Bolton's book, Surrender Is not an Option, in the July/August issue of the Boston Review. "The memoir reads like an international relations primer done in the style of a modern morality tale," he writes. "Imagine Kenneth Waltz's classic Man, the State, and War as written by Ayn Rand." Read more »

July 18th, 2008

Besieged South Korean president needs to make a fresh start

Shorenstein APARC director Gi-Wook Shin says that President Lee still has time to recover from the diplomatic missteps that have characterized his first months in office. He urges Lee to focus his U.S. policy on establishing a strong relationship with the incoming American president. Article in Korean. Read more »

July 17th, 2008

Comparative pharmaceutical policy and "prescribing cultures"

The July/August issue of Health Affairs, the leading U.S. health policy journal, focuses on China and India. The special issue includes an article on China's pharmaceutical policy by five contributors to "Prescribing Cultures and Pharmaceutical Policy in the Asia-Pacific," a book forthcoming in 2009 from the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center series with Brookings Institution Press.
Read more »

July 16th, 2008

Does it matter how you pay doctors and hospitals? Evidence from the Asia Pacific

The organizing committee of the "Provider Payment Incentives in the Asia Pacific" conference -- including health economists from Shorenstein APARC, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Seoul National University -- reviewed submissions in June 2008 and accepted sixteen. The conference papers cover payment issues in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Tajikistan, the Philippines, and the US, examined from a range of disciplines (e.g., economics, health services research/health policy, public health, medicine, and ethics). Read more »

July 15th, 2008

India continues its rise as local governments produce needed infrastructure changes

While in London, Senior Research Scholar Rafiq Dossani spent time discussing the reasons behind India's continued rise and his recent book India Arriving: How This Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business with CNBC's Europe Tonight host Guy Johnson.

• » CNBC - Europe Tonight