Browse FSI scholarship on geopolitics, global health, energy, cybersecurity and more.
Featured Publications
Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures
Gabrielle Hecht dives into the wastes of gold and uranium mining in South Africa to explore how communities, experts, and artists fight for infrastructural and environmental justice.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Online Child Safety Ecosystem
Scholars from the Stanford Internet Observatory outline what needs to be done to improve the CyberTipline pipeline as incidents of AI-generated CSAM escalate.
Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief
Using the first global data set of autocratic propaganda, Erin Baggott Carter and Brett Carter examine the intertwined relationship between citizens' beliefs and a the security of a dictator's power.
Using open-source intelligence - including photographs from the regiment's New Year's party - Ukranian hacktivists were able to ascertain the identity of the Russian pilots.
The decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to suspend Russia’s participation in the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) puts at risk the sole remaining treaty limiting US and Russian nuclear forces.
Projecting the ultimate outcome of the war is challenging. However, some major ramifications for Russia and its relations with Ukraine, Europe, and the United States have come into focus.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States and Russian Federation have been working quietly to ensure that implementation of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) remains on track.
A disinformation researcher shares what she and her team watch for when analyzing social media posts and other online reports related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine (originally appeared in Stanford News)
On February 16, 2022, FSI Director Michael McFaul testified before the House Comittee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security examining Russia’s destabilizing activity in Eastern Europe, including its recent buildup of approximately 130,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders.
Universities contribute to economic growth and national competitiveness by equipping students with higher-order thinking and academic skills. Despite large investments in university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, little is known about how the skills of STEM undergraduates compare across countries and by institutional selectivity. Here, we provide direct evidence on these issues by collecting and analysing longitudinal data on tens of thousands of computer science and electrical engineering students in China, India, Russia and the United States. We find stark differences in skill levels and gains among countries and by institutional selectivity. Compared with the United States, students in China, India and Russia do not gain critical thinking skills over four years. Furthermore, while students in India and Russia gain academic skills during the first two years, students in China do not. These gaps in skill levels and gains provide insights into the global competitiveness of STEM university students across nations and institutional types.
An assessment of Russia that suggests that we should look beyond traditional means of power to understand its strength and capacity to disrupt international politics.