http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/Recent news from CDDRLen-usPublic domainhttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/images/feed-icon-48x48.jpghttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/60http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1536CDDRL associate director for research Kathryn Stoner-Weiss discusses Medvedev's plans for Russia at the 32nd Annual Stanford/Berkeley Conference on Russia, East European & Eurasian Studies. This year's conference, held on March 7, 2008, was devoted to the topic "Political Succession in Russia" and featured distinguished scholars from UC Berkeley and Stanford.]]>Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1536?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1529Interviewed for Voice of America's Ukrainian frequency, CDDRL Director Michael McFaul expresses optimism about the political potential and intentions of Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev. Mcfaul was also quoted by Bloomberg L.P. for such optimism about the potential for US-Russian relations.]]>Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1529?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1528"There are two important recessions going on in the world today," writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times May 7. One is the economic recession, and the other is what FSI senior fellow Larry Diamond terms the "democratic recession." Friedman extensively discusses Diamond and the concept of democratic recession as laid out in his new book, The Spirit of Democracy.]]>Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1528?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1525The National Research Council at the National Academies has released a new, book-length report from its Committee on the Evaluation of USAID Democracy Assistance Programs. CDDRL/CISAC faculty member Jeremy Weinstein was a member of the committee and co-author of the report, "Improving Democracy Assistance: Building Knowledge Through Evaluations and Research," which is available for PDF download and will be published in hard copy Dec. 2008.]]>Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1525?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1518Daily Star journalist Rami G. Khouri discusses "Morocco's Elections: The Limits of Limited Reforms," a January 2008 Journal of Democracy article that CDDRL Director Michael McFaul wrote with Tamara Wittes of the Brookings Institution. McFaul and Wittes argue that Arab instability often reflects a lack of democracy, says Khouri, and that the parliamentary elections in Morocco last September offered important insights into what might happen when Arabs are given a chance to engage in democratic politics.]]>Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1518?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1507The Russian newspaper quotes CDDRL director Michael McFaul as "Obama's top Russia strategist," quoting McFaul on Obama's tendency to engage--rather than isolate--in foreign policy.]]>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1507?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1498For the last 20 years authoritarian regimes have refashioned themselves in order to stay in power, writes CDDRL visiting scholar %people1% in Le Monde Diplomatique. As the middle class under these regimes becomes increasingly disengaged from local politics, many social groups see the hope for their future outside the national context.]]>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1498?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1499"Putin looks like the big winner this week," CDDRL Director %people1% wrote in an e-mail to the National Journal from Kiev. "As one of my Ukrainian friends said, Russia de facto is already a NATO member as they have the power to veto members, while Ukraine has no such similar powers."]]>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1499?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1488CDDRL Director %people1% comments for the Washington Post on Bush and Putin's weekend meeting in Sochi. "We should be engaging Medvedev after May, not Putin in April," says McFaul.]]>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1488?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1489The truth is, we remain trapped in an awful quagmire, writes Larry Diamond in the Huffington Post and FSI In The World, a new faculty blog for the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. So what needs to be done?]]>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1489?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1487Russia Today interviews CDDRL Director %people1% about NATO expansion and Bush and Putin's meeting in Sochi.]]>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1487?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1482What does it cost to produce a barrel of oil? CDDRL research associate and PESD affiliate Christine Jojarth provides a systematic answer to this question, taking into account geography, the "difficulty" of the oil field, and other factors. The results help quantify how much extra revenue is flowing to oil producers worldwide.]]>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1482?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1481%people1%, an Iraqi journalist living in the United States and a visiting scholar at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute, talks about the frustrations and fears Iraqis face five years after the beginning of the war in Iraq. She also shares the personal struggles she faces living in the U.S. while her family faces daily dangers in Iraq.]]>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1481?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1474Larry Diamond has been appointed as a Senior Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). Currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a renowned scholar of democratization, and prolific in both editorial and policy work, Diamond is an active member of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He coordinates the Program on Democracy, which examines the comparative dynamics of democratic functioning and change in the contemporary world, with a particular focus on the countries of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the post-communist world. He has also established the offshoot program, Democracy in Taiwan, in 2006, and is a central participant in the Stanford Summer Fellows Program on Democracy and Development.]]>Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1474?http://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1473Addressing a packed auditorium on March 5, Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, spoke with intensity about Latin America's prospects for both social welfare and economic well-being in the coming century. Mexico, which Goldman Sachs recently projected to be the world's fifth largest economy by 2040, was emblematic of this electrifying future, he said. Fox's lecture was sponsored by FSI as part of the 2008 Robert G. Wesson Lecture Series in International Relations Theory and Practice.]]>Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 PSThttp://cddrl.stanford.edu/news/1473?