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.
The Need for Sectoral Reform of the South Korean Economy
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Although South Korea is recovering relatively quickly from the worldwide recession in the wake of the U.S. financial sector crisis, it must address major structural weaknesses if it is to sustain growth over the long term. The Korean manufacturing sector is one of the world’s strongest and most efficient, but the services and (much smaller) agriculture sectors remain weak. Former senior South Korean economic policy official Byongwon Bahk argues that only by benchmarking the near miraculous success of its manufacturing sector can Korea convert traditionally weak sectors into new sources of job creation and foreign currency earnings. He will explain the necessity of, and obstacles to, inducing capital, technologies, and marketing from advanced companies in advanced countries; supporting R&D activities and education and training in weak sectors; and opening weak sectors to domestic and foreign competition.
Byongwon Bahk, a former senior South Korean government official, is the Korean Studies Program’s 2009-2010 Koret Fellow. During the past decade, he was in charge of the management of Korean macro-economic policy at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, including as vice minister. Most recently, he served in the Blue House as the senior economic advisor to President Lee Myung-bak. He received a BA and an MA in Law from Seoul National University, an MA in Industrial Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Korea, and an MA in Economics from University of Washington.
This event is supported by a generous grant from the Koret Foundation.
Philippines Conference Room
Byongwon Bahk
Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
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bahk0924@stanford.edu
2009-10 Koret Fellow
Byongwon Bahk, former Senior Advisor to President Lee Myung-bak of Korea, joined the Korean Studies Program as the recipient of the Koret Fellowship for 2009-10 academic year.
Mr. Bahk served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy in Korea and was a senior advisor to President Lee Myung-bak briefly. While at the Center, he will lead a reach project on economic affairs of Korea in relations to the U.S.
The Koret Fellowship, generously funded by the by Koret Foundation of San Francisco, was established at the Center in 2008 to bring leading professionals in Asia and the United States to Stanford to conduct research on contemporary U.S.-Korean relations, with the broad aim of fostering greater understanding and closer ties between the two countries.
Seminars
How I Write
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Philip Taubman is a consulting professor at CISAC and the author of Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage. He is currently working on a book project about nuclear threats and the joint effort of Sid Drell, Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, Bill Perry and George Shultz to reduce nuclear dangers. Professor Taubman worked at the New York Times as a reporter and editor for nearly 30 years, specializing in national security issues, including intelligence and defense policies and operations. At the Times, Taubman served as a Washington correspondent, Moscow bureau chief, deputy editorial page editor, Washington bureau chief and associate editor.
Taubman was a history major at Stanford, Class of 1970, and served as editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily in 1969. Before joining the New York Times, he worked as a correspondent for Time magazine and was sports editor of Esquire.
The Terrace Room
Margaret Jacks Hall
(building 460, third floor)
Philip Taubman
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Affiliate
Philip Taubman is affiliated with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Before joining CISAC in 2008, Mr. Taubman worked at the New York Times as a reporter and editor for nearly 30 years, specializing in national security issues, including United States diplomacy, and intelligence and defense policy and operations. He served as Moscow bureau chief and Washington bureau chief, among other posts. He is author of Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage (2003), The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb (2012), In the Nation's Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz (2023), as well as co-author (with his brother, William Taubman) of McNamara at War: A New History (2025).
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Seminars
Engineers of Jihad: The Interpretation
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Diego Gambetta is a sociologist at Nuffield College, Oxford, working on theories of trust and signals. He is known for his book The Sicilian Mafia and his edited volume, Making Sense of Suicide Missions. While at Stanford, he will discuss his recent manuscript, "Engineers of Jihad" as well as his recently published book, Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate.
Diego Gambetta will be visiting Stanford from late March to late April, 2010.
Abstract
Among violent Islamists individuals with an engineering education are four times more frequent than we would expect given the share of engineers among university students in Islamic countries. We argue that a combination of two factors – engineers’ relative deprivation in the Islamic world and mindset – is the most plausible explanation. In this second talk I will focus on the mindset.
This talk is the final of a two part series presented by Dr. Gambetta. His first talk, "Engineers of Jihad: The Facts," will be presented at noon on Friday, April 2, at the Stanford Humanities Center.
Reuben W. Hills Conference Room
Diego Gambetta
FSI-Humanities Center International Visitor; CISAC Affiliate
Speaker
Seminars
First Curriculum unit "U.S.-South Korean Relations" in U.S. High Schools
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"Despite the long and established alliance, U.S.-South Korean relations and Korean history are not adequately taught in American secondary schools. The first curriculum unit, "U.S-South Korean Relations," seeks to fill the gap by exposing students to four core pillars of the alliance: democracy, economic prosperity, security, and socio-cultural interaction," says Gary Mukai, director of the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE).
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Pious Words, Puny Deeds: The "International Community" and Mass Atrocities
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Rajan Menon is the Monroe J. Rathbone Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University. He was an Academic Fellow and Senior Advisor at the Carnegie Corporation of New York for two years, where he played a key role in developing the Corporation's Russia Initiative. Dr. Menon was also a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as Director for Eurasia Policy Studies at the Seattle-based National Bureau for Asian Research. He is the author of Soviet Power and the Third World (Yale University Press, 1986) and co-editor of Limits to Soviet Power (Lexington Books, 1989). He is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and has also written for The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Newsday, and World Policy Journal, among other publications. Dr. Menon received his doctorate in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Menon's latest book, The End of Alliances, was published by Oxford University Press in 2007. He is working on his next book, Hubris: The Anatomy of Military Disasters. Dr. Menon's other areas of research and writing include Russian politics and foreign policy; the international relations of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, South Asia, and the Asia-Pacific; energy development in the Caspian Sea zone; security issues in Asia; globalization, and the comparative study of empires.
Encina Ground Floor Conference Room
Rajan Menon
Professor, International Studies
Speaker
Lehigh University
Workshops