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Society

FSI researchers work to understand continuity and change in societies as they confront their problems and opportunities. This includes the implications of migration and human trafficking. What happens to a society when young girls exit the sex trade? How do groups moving between locations impact societies, economies, self-identity and citizenship? What are the ethnic challenges faced by an increasingly diverse European Union? From a policy perspective, scholars also work to investigate the consequences of security-related measures for society and its values.

The Europe Center reflects much of FSI’s agenda of investigating societies, serving as a forum for experts to research the cultures, religions and people of Europe. The Center sponsors several seminars and lectures, as well as visiting scholars.

Societal research also addresses issues of demography and aging, such as the social and economic challenges of providing health care for an aging population. How do older adults make decisions, and what societal tools need to be in place to ensure the resulting decisions are well-informed? FSI regularly brings in international scholars to look at these issues. They discuss how adults care for their older parents in rural China as well as the economic aspects of aging populations in China and India.

“Critical Engagement”: British Policy toward the DPRK

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"'Critical Engagement': British Policy toward the DPRK" examines the United Kingdom's policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The policy known as "critical engagement" has been applied for over 14 years. 

"UK efforts are not going to have the immediate result we all want. However, they do show...that it is possible to carry out engagement and hopefully reduce the chasm between DPRK thinking and the rest of the world," author Mike Cowin writes. He suggests that the British approach is similar to that advised by a Stanford research team in Tailored Engagement.

Cowin wrote an earlier policy paper on relations between the DPRK and the European Union in March 2015.

Mike Cowin is the 2014-15 Pantech Fellow in the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. Before coming to Stanford, he served as the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Pyongyang, North Korea. He has also served in the British embassies in Seoul from 2003 to 2007, and in Tokyo from 1992 to 1997.

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Mike Cowin

The Tunisian Transition and the Challenge of Youth Alienation

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Abstract

Social and economic grievances of Tunisian youth played a major role in igniting the uprising in Tunisia, and more generally, the so-called Arab Spring. Despite a successful political transition in the country, progress on addressing youth grievances has been slow in light of deteriorating living conditions, rampant corruption, and rising unemployment. These realities continue to pose a serious challenge to the prospects of building a sustainable democracy in Tunisia. Based on data gathered from meetings with a diverse group of 500 young Tunisians, this talk will shed light on youth’s perceived and actual exclusion from social, economic, and political opportunities. In doing so it will provide a critical assessment of the underlying causes of youth alienation in the country and prospects for greater political, social and economic inclusion.

Speaker Bio

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Ghazi Ben Ahmed leads the Mediterranean Development Initiative of the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins SAIS in Tunisia. He is the founder and the Secretary General of the Club de Tunis, a Tunisian based foundation that helps policymakers and entrepreneurs devise strategies and development projects for inclusive growth. He has set up jointly with Dar El Dhekra (Remembrance House, the first Tunisian Jewish Association), a project to safeguard Tunisian Jewish Heritage by promoting its products on the US market. Ghazi Ben Ahmed is the Tunisia Coordinator for Leaders Engaged in New Democracies (LEND). He cooperates with the U.S. State Department, the Community of Democracies, and the Club de Madrid to provide peer advice, peer support, and capacity building to political leaders and policy makers in Tunisia. Previously he was the Lead Trade Expert in the African Development Bank (AfDB). Before joining the AfDB, he was a Senior Advisor at the United Nation agency for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in the Africa and LDC Division. He also worked for almost 10 years in the European Commission in Brussels, in several Directorates-Generals: Trade, EuropeAid and External Relations, responsible for trade issues, EU trade and development policy, textile negotiations, macroeconomic analysis, structural adjustment and institutional building in the Mediterranean countries.

 

*This event is co-sponsored with the Mediterranean Studies Forum.*

 

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Okimoto Conference Room
3rd Floor East Wing
Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford, California 94305

Ghazi Ben Ahmed Executive Director Mediterranean Development Initiative
Seminars
Arab Reform and Democracy Speaker Series

Building a foundation for critical engagement

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North Korea fired off short-range missiles last Tuesday close to the arrival of U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to the region. Carter, who was on his inaugural trip to Asia as the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense, said the launch was a sign of the region’s continued tensions.

The United States consistently expresses concern over North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities, yet attempts to resume the Six-Party Talks, the negotiations to denuclearize North Korea which began in 2003, have been unsuccessful. The United Kingdom, although not an official participant in the Talks, has had diplomatic relations with North Korea since 2000, setting itself apart from many in the West, and from Japan which do not have formal diplomatic ties with the country. 

In a new policy brief, Mike Cowin, the 2014-15 Pantech Fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), discusses lesser-known channels of engagement between the United Kingdom and North Korea. 

Cowin is the former deputy head of mission at the British Embassy Pyongyang, and implemented many of the programs he describes in the paper, "Critical Engagement": British Policy Towards the DPRK.

Typically small-scale and led largely in collaboration with European NGOs, the Embassy’s initiatives span from humanitarian aid – providing water supplies and sewage systems – to exchanges – hosting visiting delegations of North Korean paralympic athletes and English teachers.

The Embassy also works to build a stronger understanding of modern Britain in North Korea. They have shown films such as Wallace and Grommit and Philomena at the Pyongyang International Film Festival, and supplemented reading materials in the Grand People’s Study House, a central library in Pyongyang.

Cowin says that it’s not easy to construct these exchanges, but if established, they provide small steps in the right direction, and help set the stage for critical engagement in the future. The United Kingdom’s approach shares commonalities with the suggestions made by a Stanford research team in Tailored Engagement, he says.

“The United Kingdom’s efforts are not going to have the immediate result we all want. However, they do show that the DPRK is not completely isolated from the Western world and that it is possible to carry out engagement,” he says.

Cowin is also the author of an earlier policy brief on relations between North Korea and the European Union.

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Presenters on stage at the 13th annual Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea. | Mike Cowin
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Changing Corporate Governance in Japan

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Abstract:

Enhancing corporate governance has been an emphasis in Abenomics economic reform.  The Stewardship Code established in 2014 has defined principles that institutional investors should follow to enhance the long-term investment return for their beneficiaries.  The institutional investors are now expected to engage "constructively" with the investee companies to increase the corporate value, including discussion on corporate governance changes.  Another related development in 2014 was the introduction of JPX Nikkei Index 400, which is a new stock price index calculated from the stock prices of 400 companies with "high appeal to investors."  Following this, many Japanese companies started to improve their corporate governance and accounting practices to increase their chances to be among the 400 companies.  Now Corporate Governance Code, which defines principles for effective corporate governance, is being developed, adding another impetus for Japanese companies to change.  We invite two business leaders in Japan who have been leading the change.  Kazuhiko Toyama was a member of the committee that drafted the Corporate Governance Code.  Masaaki Tanaka has been pushing the corporate governance reform at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), the largest financial institution in Japan.

Speaker Bios:

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Takeo Hoshi is Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at the Graduate School of Business, and Director of the Japan Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (S-APARC), all at Stanford University. Hoshi is also Visiting Scholar at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and at the Tokyo Center for Economic Research (TCER), and Senior Fellow at the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER). His main research interest includes corporate finance, banking, monetary policy and the Japanese economy. He received 2006 Enjoji Jiro Memorial Prize of Nihon Keizai Shimbun-sha, and 2005 Japan Economic Association Nakahara Prize. His book Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future co-authored with Anil Kashyap received the Nikkei Award for the Best Economics Books in 2002. B.A., University of Tokyo (1983). Ph.D. (Economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988).

 

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Masaaki (Masa) Tanaka is Representative Director and Deputy President of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), the largest financial group in Japan.  He assumed this position in 2012 after serving as CEO for the Americas for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, (BTMU), one of the wholly owned subsidiaries and the principal revenue-generating entity of MUFG from 2010 to 2012, and President and CEO of Union Bank, BTMU’s West Coast subsidiary, from 2007 to 2010.  Mr. Tanaka also serves on the Board of Morgan Stanley since 2011, and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Councilors of the U.S. Japan Council. In Mr. Tanaka’s current assignment, he directly reports to CEO with general responsibility to oversee all business groups of MUFG, including overseas business.  His responsibility also includes oversight over corporate functions, including corporate governance, strategic and financial planning, and enterprise risk management.  He oversees highly complex business operation with global reach and is responsible for ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements.  Mr. Tanaka holds a law degree from the University of Tokyo and a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

 

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Kazuhiko Toyama is CEO of Industrial Growth Platform, Inc.  He has started his career with BCG and later became one of the founding members of Corporate Directions, Inc. (CDI), a Tokyo-based independent management consulting firm, eventually becoming its CEO. In 2003, he was appointed to lead Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ), a government-backed restructuring fund, as COO. In 2007, when IRCJ was dissolved, he founded Industrial Growth Platform, Inc. (IGPI), which he currently runs as its CEO. He graduated from Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo and holds an MBA from Stanford University. He has passed the Japanese National Bar Examination. 
Vice Chairperson of KEIZAI DOYUKAI (Japan Association of Corporate Executives), Expert member of Council on Economic Fiscal Policy (MOF), Member of The Tax Commission (CAO), Member of Committee for National University Corporation Evaluation, Department of Innovation Program (MEXT), Member of the Council of Experts Concerning the Corporate Governance Code (FSA), Outside director of OMRON Corporation and Pia Corporation.

Bechtel Conference Rm
Encina Hall 
616 Serra St.
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

Takeo Hoshi

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Former Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Former Professor, by courtesy, of Finance at the Graduate School of Business
takeo_hoshi_2018.jpg PhD

Takeo Hoshi was Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at the Graduate School of Business, and Director of the Japan Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), all at Stanford University. He served in these roles until August 2019.

Before he joined Stanford in 2012, he was Pacific Economic Cooperation Professor in International Economic Relations at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he conducted research and taught since 1988.

Hoshi is also Visiting Scholar at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and at the Tokyo Center for Economic Research (TCER), and Senior Fellow at the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER). His main research interest includes corporate finance, banking, monetary policy and the Japanese economy.

He received 2015 Japanese Bankers Academic Research Promotion Foundation Award, 2011 Reischauer International Education Award of Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana, 2006 Enjoji Jiro Memorial Prize of Nihon Keizai Shimbun-sha, and 2005 Japan Economic Association-Nakahara Prize.  His book titled Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future (MIT Press, 2001) co-authored with Anil Kashyap (Booth School of Business, University of Chicago) received the Nikkei Award for the Best Economics Books in 2002.  Other publications include “Will the U.S. and Europe Avoid a Lost Decade?  Lessons from Japan’s Post Crisis Experience” (Joint with Anil K Kashyap), IMF Economic Review, 2015, “Japan’s Financial Regulatory Responses to the Global Financial Crisis” (Joint with Kimie Harada, Masami Imai, Satoshi Koibuchi, and Ayako Yasuda), Journal of Financial Economic Policy, 2015, “Defying Gravity: Can Japanese sovereign debt continue to increase without a crisis?” (Joint with Takatoshi Ito) Economic Policy, 2014, “Will the U.S. Bank Recapitalization Succeed? Eight Lessons from Japan” (with Anil Kashyap), Journal of Financial Economics, 2010, and “Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan” (Joint with Ricardo Caballero and Anil Kashyap), American Economic Review, December 2008.

Hoshi received his B.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Tokyo in 1983, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988.

Former Director of the Japan Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
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Masaaki Tanaka
Kazuhiko Toyama
Panel Discussions
Japan Colloquium Series

Personal and Party Representation in Contemporary Europe: Effects on Intra-party Dynamics

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ABSTRACT:

This study explores the relationship between elected representatives and the parties they belong to in the European context. It uses an elite cross-national survey, exploring the way elected representatives perceive their representative role and construct their perceptions of representation with regards to party unity. In order to bypass the "no-variance" problem in recorded votes, the study makes use of a legislator's sequential decision-making model, according to which party unity is not considered an end-result, but rather a process. Using attitudinal data on legislators’ perceptions and attitudes, the study shows that representatives often feel a tension between different, competing foci of representation – mainly party representation versus all other foci. It then examines how elected representatives reconcile this tension; how they are assisted by internalized perceptions of their role; and the effect of various institutional factors in this process.   

 

SPEAKER BIO:

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Reut Itzkovitch-Malka is a visiting scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. She is also a postdoctoral scholar from the Israel Institute. Her research interest centers on political representation from a comparative politics perspective, with a specific focus on the following two major topics. The first is legislative studies. Her main contribution in this regard is a large-scale, cross national comparative research focusing on legislators’ perceptions of representation and on the link between such perceptions and party unity. This research, which she conducted for her dissertation, uses a novel decision-making sequential model for the analysis of legislative attitudes and behavior. Using this model the research provides a first-time inside look into the dynamics surrounding party unity and allows us to gauge the importance of legislators’ representational role perceptions in shaping their behavior. Her second research interest revolves around gender and political representation. While investigating a broad range of issues related to gender and politics – such as women’s descriptive representation, the adoption of gender quotas for women and the gender gap in voting – Reut specializes in the substantive representation of women.

Reut received a Ph.D. in political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2014, where she won the President Fellowship for outstanding doctoral students. She holds an M.A. with honors in political science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.A with honors in political science and history also from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Postdoctoral Scholar (CDDRL and Israel Institute) Postdoctoral Scholar (CDDRL and Israel Institute)
Seminars

Stanford scholars discuss framework for inter-Korean dialogue

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Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanford’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, presented the policy report Tailored Engagement at the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies in late March. The event in Seoul coincided with the public release of the report in Korean.

Shin delivered a keynote lecture on the study which offers steps that South Korea can take to establish sustainable dialogue with North Korea. The report is an outcome of a longstanding research project seeking to understand the future domestic and global implications of North Korea’s situation.

Shin’s lecture was followed by remarks from Korea Program Associate Director David Straub and a panel discussion among four other experts. The panelists shared their observations on the current political climate in and around the Korean Peninsula.

Video from the event is available below:

Gi-Wook Shin’s lecture (in Korean)

David Straub’s remarks (in English)

Panel discussion (in Korean)

More than 320 people attended the event including students, policymakers and academics. The event marked the second occasion in Seoul where the Stanford team presented the report. In late 2014, they briefed the Special Committee on Inter-Korean Relations, Exchange and Cooperation of the South Korean National Assembly. An article about the briefing can be accessed here.

Shin is a professor of sociology, director of Shorenstein APARC, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Straub is the associate director of the Korea Program at Shorenstein APARC.

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Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies
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Stanford postdoctoral fellow wins award for China paper

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Fei Yan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, has been awarded a prize from the China and Inner Asia Council (CIAC) for his paper on political rivalries during China’s Cultural Revolution. The award aims to recognize emerging scholarship and foster intellectual exchange among experts working on China and Inner Asia topics, according to the award website.

Yan was presented the award at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference on March 27. CIAC released the following statement:

“In his paper, Fei Yan offers a new interpretation of the factional rivalries that wracked China's provinces during the early years of the Cultural Revolution. His focus is on the dispute between the so-called ‘radical’ Red Flag faction and the so-called ‘conservative’ East Wind faction that came to a head in Guangzhou in 1967. Making use of previously unavailable archival sources, he offers a meticulous and detailed description of the extent to which this split was based less on deep ideological differences and more on intense power rivalries and disagreements over tactics.”

Yan specializes in Chinese politics and political culture, and comparative social policy within transitional economies and authoritarian settings. He will join the Department of Political Science at Tsinghua University as an assistant professor this fall.

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Womenomics: How Women's Empowerment Will Save Japan

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Monday, May 4, 2015

4:30pm – 5:45pm Seminar
5:45pm - 6:15pm Reception

 

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Masako Mori (Liberal Democratic Party) is in her second term as a member of House of Councillors of Japan’s Diet (roughly equivalent of U.S. Senate).  She represents Fukushima prefecture.  From December 2012 to September 2014, she served as Minister in charge of Support for Women's Empowerment and Child-Rearing, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Minister of State for Declining Birthrate and for Gender Equality in the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  As a central policy maker in Abe Administration’s “womenomics,” she will discuss the progress on women’s empowerment in Japan and the road ahead.

 

Bechtel Conference Center
Encina Hall
616 Serra St., 1st floor
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

Masako Mori Member of House of Councillors of Japan's Diet
Seminars
Japan Colloquium Series

New Tools for Genome Editing and the Future of the Earth

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Abstract: CRISPR-Cas9 and other new tools are making genome editing faster, cheaper, and more accurate. When coupled with cheaper sequencing and our more slowly increasing understanding of the effects of DNA sequencing, this breakthrough technology may bring within our reach the power to transform, fundamentally, all of life.  Most of the attention so far has focused on human germ line genome editing, but the implications stretch much farther. This talk will explore some of the issues for the use of this technology, in humans (germ line or somatic cell) and in other life-forms. It will also note the limits of our current understanding and regulatory framework.

About the Speaker: Hank Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics at Stanford University.  He specializes in ethical, legal, and social issues arising from advances in the biosciences, particularly from genetics, neuroscience, and human stem cell research.  He directs the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences and the Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society; chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research; and serves on the Neuroscience Forum of the Institute of Medicine, the Advisory Council for the National Institute for General Medical Sciences of NIH, the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law of the National Academy of Sciences, and the NIH Multi-Council Working Group on the BRAIN Initiative. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007.

Professor Greely graduated from Stanford in 1974 and from Yale Law School in 1977.  He served as a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom on the United States Court of Appeals and for Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court.  After working during the Carter Administration in the Departments of Defense and Energy, he entered private practice in Los Angeles in 1981 as a litigator with the law firm of Tuttle & Taylor, Inc.  He began teaching at Stanford in 1985.  

Encina Hall (2nd floor)

Hank Greely Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law Speaker Stanford Law School
Seminars
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