May 14th, 2012

Using cases of transition in Latin American to predict Burma's democratic future

Michael Albertus, a post-doctoral scholar at CDDRL, co-authored a piece for Foreign Policy's Democracy Lab on the prospects of a democratic transition in Burma and the current constitution that may pose a formidable challenge. Albertus together with Victor Menaldo, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Washington, used Colombia and Chile as models of elite or military-biased democracies that were able to evolve in a more liberal direction over time. Borrowing historic examples, the authors offer concrete approaches Burma can use to ensure a smoother path towards democracy. Read more »

April 13th, 2012

Will land reform sow peace in Latin America?

On the eve of the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Colombia, CDDRL Post-Doctoral Scholar Michael Albertus co-authored a piece on the Foreign Policy website suggesting that land reform could help end decades of conflict in Latin America. Both authors suggest that Colombia's Victims Law can serve as a model for good governance across the region, holding the potential to uproot drug problems and improve security for the lives of everyday citizens. Read more »

April 4th, 2012

Restoring Democracy and Peace in Mali

CDDRL Post-doctoral Scholar Landry Signé comments on the recent military coup in Mali and what it means for the future of one of West Africa's most stable democracies. Read more »

March 8th, 2012

"Where are the Women?" in the Huffington Post

To commemorate International Women's Day on March 8, Kavita Ramdas and Robin Rogers blog in The Huffington Post about the role of women in the ongoing national debate on healthcare, contraception, and more. Read more »

March 6th, 2012

Will Putin's victory strain U.S.-Russian relations?

In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss discusses Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency and what it means for the future of U.S.-Russian relations.

• » Stoner-Weiss op-ed in The New York Times

March 5th, 2012

OpEd: Former Stanford honors student calls North Korea's new leader a "Corleone"

Former CISAC honors student Sheena Chestnut Greitens writes in an OpEd in The New York Times that North Korea's young new leader is a "Corleone" who now must be both head of state and mafia don. Chestnut Greitens' piece builds on her honors thesis about the state-sanctioned crime syndicate that permeates society in the isolated country.

• » A North Korean Corleone - NYTimes.com

February 24th, 2012

CDDRL scholar cautions against third term for Senegalese president

In an opinion piece for The New York Times, CDDRL postdoctoral scholar Landry Signé discusses Senegal's backsliding democracy and the threat that President Abdoulaye Wade's third presidential bid poses to a country that was once West Africa's most stable. Read more »

February 13th, 2012

Menchik discusses the roots of religious intolerance in Indonesia

The origins of intolerance toward Indonesia's Muslim-minority sect Ahmadiyah go back to the early twentieth century, says Jeremy Menchik. In a Jakarta Post op-ed, he unearths the connections between the Indonesian government and anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment, and makes suggestions for how the country can prevent future violence.

• » Jakarta Post: The origins of intolerance toward Ahmadiyah

February 9th, 2012

Negotiating Assad's final exit

In an article for The New Republic's online symposium 'What Should the United States Do About Syria,' Larry Diamond argues that multilateral engagement is the best approach to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Read more »

February 6th, 2012

Will human rights dominate the international stage by 2022?

In a piece for Global Brief magazine, Helen Stacy makes predictions about the state of international human rights norms and criminal prosecutions in the year 2022. Read more »

February 4th, 2012

Are the days of web surfing over?

In an opinion piece for The New York Times on Feb. 4, Evgeny Morozov declares the days of cyberspace exploration over, snuffed out by the world of social media and search engine optimization. Read more »

January 17th, 2012

Lebanon, by the Numbers

Lebanon’s peculiar brand of democracy, dysfunctional and widely unpopular, is a perennial source of national vexation, debated over Sunday lunches and in the press. Read more »

January 6th, 2012

North Korea watchers look at Pyongyang's nuclear trajectory

In the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Niko Milonopoulos, Siegfried Hecker and Robert Carlin use detailed overhead imagery to assess Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program -- and examine how Kim Jong-un's rise may influence it. In a separate piece, written before Kim Jong-il's death, Hecker and Carlin review the developments in North Korea in 2011.

• » North Korea from 30,000 feet
• » North Korea in 2011: Countdown to Kim il-Sung's centenary

Stanford's Fukuyama on the decline of the middle class

In an article for the Jan./Feb. issue of Foreign Affairs, Francis Fukuyama traces the rise of liberal democracy through the 20th century, which led to the growth of the middle class. Read more »

December 12th, 2011

Why it's time for a serious conversation about nuclear weapons

Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Benoît Pelopidas says we must review and debunk "three misguided ideas about nuclear weapons."

• » San Francisco Chronicle: Nuclear weapons' future ripe for discussion

December 8th, 2011

North Korea experts: Pyongyang is now courting Beijing, not the U.S.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Carlin and John Lewis argue that normalizing ties with the U.S. is no longer North Korea's priority. Both researchers have visited North Korea several times, including the only American visit to the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon in November 2010. Read more »

A warning shot for Putin

While Russia's recent parliamentary elections have been mired in accusations of fraud, the electoral results convey a loss for Vladimir Putin's long-standing party. CDDRL Deputy Director Kathryn Stoner-Weiss argues in a piece for Foreign Affairs that the parliamentary results have not diminished the Kremlin's grip on power, and the "super" presidency will continue to reign supreme. Read more »

December 6th, 2011

Charles Perrow discusses the "inevitability of accidents"

Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, sociologist Charles Perrow argues that "some complex systems with catastrophic potential are just too dangerous to exist because they cannot be made safe, regardless of human effort." Perrow, a visiting professor at CISAC, is the author of the landmark 1984 book Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies.

• » Fukushima and the Inevitability of Accidents

November 22nd, 2011

America pivots toward ASEAN

At the conclusion of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, Donald Emmerson says that President Barack Obama's participation in the summit and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar signal a brighter future for U.S.-Southeast Asia relations.

• » Asia Times Online: America Pivots toward ASEAN

November 21st, 2011

US, China role play for ASEAN

While attending the 2011 ASEAN Summit in Bali, SEAF director Donald Emmerson wrote in the Asia Times about the balance between the respectively economic and security roles that China and the United States play in East Asia.

• » Asia Times Online: US, China role play for ASEAN

November 15th, 2011

Global Food Security: An uphill battle that must be won

Stanford Law graduate student Sam Sasan Shoamanesh op-ed piece on the inspiring keynote speech delivered this past Thursday by Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Read more »

November 8th, 2011

The kingdom of paradox

Visiting Scholar Ahmed Benchemsi discusses the seemingly paradoxic relationship between the independent media and the Moroccan government in two pieces for Harvard's Nieman Reports. Read more »

October 23rd, 2011

Charles Perrow: How technology can nudge climate change politics

Writing in Bloomberg View, Charles Perrow says U.S. investment in carbon capture and storage technology could "induce China and Europe to follow suit." This "would allow the world time for renewable-energy technologies to mature -- to the point where we could do away with coal burning altogether." Read more »

October 17th, 2011

American Political Dysfunction

In an article for the November/December 2011 issue of The American Interest, Francis Fukuyama analyzes the roots of dysfunction that have led to the polarization of the American political system. From the design of the U.S. Constitution curbing the power of central government to the entrenchment of powerful interest groups, Fukuyama suggests that institutional changes will need to take place to break the paralysis that characterizes the U.S. political system. Read more »

October 10th, 2011

Sheena Chestnut Greitens: What Steve Jobs taught me about failure

Writing in Newsweek, 2005 CISAC honors program graduate Sheena Chestnut Greitens reflects on Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement address and the hidden virtues of failure. Read more »