Browse FSI scholarship on geopolitics, global health, energy, cybersecurity and more.
Featured Publications
Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder
A clear-eyed look from Michael McFaul at how the rise of autocratic China and Russia are compelling some to think that we have entered a new Cold War—and why we must reject that thinking in order to prevail.
Gi-Wook Shin explores how Japan, Australia, China, and India achieved economic power and sustained momentum by responding to risks and challenges such as demographic crises, brain drain, and geopolitical tensions.
The diffusion of high-yielding crop varieties has been a key driver for agricultural productivity. This study examines the relationship between the adoption of high-yielding crop varieties of two staple crops—wheat and maize—and infant mortality in rural China. Using data from 1954 to 1987, we find a significant reduction in infant mortality linked to high-yielding crop varieties diffusion, an association that remains robust even after excluding the Great Famine years. We investigate potential mechanisms driving this relationship, including increased grain production, improved infant nutrition, and changes in maternal characteristics. Additionally, our analysis unveils a spectrum of heterogeneous relationships between high-yielding crop varieties adoption and infant mortality across factors such as infant gender, maternal characteristics, and policy regulation. These findings reaffirm the positive and lasting benefits of dissemination of high-yielding crop varieties for human welfare and provide valuable policy insights for developing nations grappling with food and nutritional insecurity.
Despite investments in teacher education programs, teacher shortages persist in rural areas of many low- and middle-income countries. Using data from 1860 tuition-free students, we examine factors influencing enrollment in China's Tuition-Free Normal Education (TNE) program and their implications for teacher recruitment and retention in rural schools. Descriptive analysis and OLS regression reveal that TNE students mostly come from larger, poorer families, and enroll for job security and financial benefits. Many aspire to teach but resist rural placements, risking non-compliance. These findings can guide the design and reform of programs to attract qualified teachers to rural areas in China and abroad.
Japan’s unique strategy – combining regulatory oversight, resource efficiency, and international partnership – offers a potential blueprint for the world. By Charles Mok and Athena Tong.
In an era of disruptive global challenges, from climate crises to pandemics, understanding the drivers of drastic policy innovation is paramount. This study defines drastic policy innovation as a significant shift in governmental priorities through policies untried by most jurisdictions in a country. While policy entrepreneurs are often credited with initiating change, this study argues that political will is essential for enacting and implementing such innovative policies. Political will is defined as the degree of commitment among key decision makers to enact and implement specific policies. It is characterized by three key components: authority (the power to enact and enforce policy), capacity (the resources to implement it effectively), and legitimacy (the perceived rightfulness of actions by stakeholders). Through the case of low-carbon city experimentation in China, this study examines how political will drives the adoption and implementation of these policies. The findings reveal that a high level of political will is significantly linked to more drastically innovative policies being enacted and implemented and that when political will is institutionalized, implementation continues despite leadership turnover. These insights likely apply to other policy contexts and countries, regardless of regime type, albeit with some caveats.
In an era where digital technology serves as both a tool for liberation and a threat to democracy, the term “digital authoritarianism” has emerged to describe the strategies employed by authoritarian regimes to exert control in the digital sphere. This chapter explores the defining characteristics of digital authoritarianism as exemplified by countries such as China and Russia, identifying three primary pillars: information control, mass surveillance, and the creation of a fragmented, isolated Internet. Furthermore, this chapter emphasizes that digital authoritarian practices are not confined to authoritarian regimes. Democratic governments and technologically advanced private corporations, especially the dominant tech companies shaping the modern Internet, are also capable of adopting authoritarian tactics. Finally, the chapter argues that the technology itself—through the omnipotence of code in cyberspace—may inherently foster a form of digital authoritarianism.
