Stanford University

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.

The European Union and "Chindia"

The rise of China and India is unparalleled in human history because never before has the world witnessed the simultaneous and consistent takeoffs of two nations, accounting for more one third of the planet’s population, which have been consistently registering high growth rates for two decades. Their rise has profound implications for the world economy and world politics. Both China and India – the two new big kids on the block – have no difficulty with a rule-based world order, what they want is “a different set of rules”.

European political elites seem to be indulging in a degree of scapegoating about the danger from “ChinIndia”, since the roots of European angst really lie, among others, in European difficulties in managing globalization, declining competitiveness, fear of change, and an unsustainable health, pension and social welfare system. The Europeans tends to perceive the Chinese juggernaut as a direct immediate threat to European jobs in some manufacturing sectors whereas India is seen as a latent and potential threat taking away service-sector jobs, though pressures would increase as both move up the value chain.

The European Union’s strategic partnership with China and India is essentially driven by trade and commerce. India has too much of catching up to do with China. India is clearly in the Commonwealth Games league whereas China is in the Olympic Games league.

The rise of China and India represents both challenges and opportunities for Europe. Rising powers like China and India are challenging the European Union. They will be in a position to shape and influence global agendas and decisions to a greater extent than at present. For both, Europe will remain an indispensable partner since it is a vital source of trade, advanced technology and foreign direct investment. China and India do pose challenges for Europe, but they also provide opportunities since their growth contributes to greater growth worldwide, which means more exports, especially to a swelling consumerist middle class, which will make more demands of European goods, technology, and services.

Rajendra K Jain is Professor of European Studies and Chairperson, Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is Secretary-General, Indian Association for European Union Studies. He has been Visiting Professor at Leipzig and Tuebingen university and at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris. He is the author/editor of over two dozen books and has published 70 articles/chapters in books. He has most recently published India and the European Union: Building a Strategic Partnership (2007) (editor).

Philippines Conference Room

Rajendra K. Jain Professor of European Studies and Chairperson, Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Speaker
Seminars

Muslim Politics in Southeast Asia: Democratic Islam Hijacked? Or Re-invigorated?

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Civil Islam - Beyond the Headlines     

A lecture and three seminars by Robert W. Hefner, 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University 

April 28 - May 1, 2008 

Media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially since 9/11, has featured violence and the threat of violence.  In his opening lecture and three seminars to follow, Prof. Hefner will explore a different reality "beyond the headlines."  Is there a "civil Islam"?  Are Islam and democracy compatible?  Is "Islamism" always radical, or can it be democratic?  How does Muslim schooling affect the answers to these questions?  Prof. Hefner will also look beyond the media's focus on the Middle East to examine the interactions between Islam, Muslims, and democracy in Southeast Asia.  

This is the third and final seminar in this series scheduled with Dr. Hefner.

Robert W. Hefner's latest books include Schooling Islam (co-ed., 2007); Remaking Muslim Politics (ed., 2005); and Civil Islam (2000). He is the invited editor of the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.  He directs the program on Islam and civil society at Boston University since 1991. 

All four events are co-sponsored by the the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Southeast Asia Forum in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University.

The Board Room
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Robert W. Hefner

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia
Website_Headshot.jpg PhD

Robert William Hefner, professor of anthropology and associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, is the inaugural Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia.

Professor Hefner has been associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991. Hefner has carried out research on religion and politics in Southeast Asia for the past thirty years, and has authored or edited a fourteen books, as well as several major policy reports for private and public foundations. His most recent books include, Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (edited with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton 2007); ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization (Princeton 2005), ed., and Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton 2000). Hefner is also the invited editor for the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.

Hefner is currently writing a book on Islamic education, democratization, and political violence in Indonesia. The research and writing locate the Indonesian example in the culture and politics of the broader Muslim world. His book also revisits the the question of the role of religious and secular knowledge in modernity.

Hefner will divide his time between Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and Stanford, where he will teach a seminar during the spring quarter.

Robert W. Hefner 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Speaker
Conferences
Southeast Asia Program

Schooling Islam: Madrasas and the Remaking of Muslim Modernity

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Civil Islam - Beyond the Headlines     

A lecture and three seminars by Robert W. Hefner, 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University 

April 28 - May 1, 2008 

Media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially since 9/11, has featured violence and the threat of violence.  In his opening lecture and three seminars to follow, Prof. Hefner will explore a different reality "beyond the headlines."  Is there a "civil Islam"?  Are Islam and democracy compatible?  Is "Islamism" always radical, or can it be democratic?  How does Muslim schooling affect the answers to these questions?  Prof. Hefner will also look beyond the media's focus on the Middle East to examine the interactions between Islam, Muslims, and democracy in Southeast Asia.  

This is the second of the three seminars scheduled with Dr. Hefner.  

The third and final seminar in this series will be on Thursday, May 1 and is titled Muslim Politics in Southeast Asia: Democratic Islam Hijacked? or Re-invigorated? 

Robert W. Hefner's latest books include Schooling Islam (co-ed., 2007); Remaking Muslim Politics (ed., 2005); and Civil Islam (2000). He is the invited editor of the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.  He directs the program on Islam and civil society at Boston University since 1991. 

All four events are co-sponsored by the the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Southeast Asia Forum in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University. 

The Board Room
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Robert W. Hefner

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia
Website_Headshot.jpg PhD

Robert William Hefner, professor of anthropology and associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, is the inaugural Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia.

Professor Hefner has been associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991. Hefner has carried out research on religion and politics in Southeast Asia for the past thirty years, and has authored or edited a fourteen books, as well as several major policy reports for private and public foundations. His most recent books include, Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (edited with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton 2007); ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization (Princeton 2005), ed., and Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton 2000). Hefner is also the invited editor for the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.

Hefner is currently writing a book on Islamic education, democratization, and political violence in Indonesia. The research and writing locate the Indonesian example in the culture and politics of the broader Muslim world. His book also revisits the the question of the role of religious and secular knowledge in modernity.

Hefner will divide his time between Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and Stanford, where he will teach a seminar during the spring quarter.

Robert Hefner 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Speaker
Conferences
Southeast Asia Program

Varieties of Islamism: From Radical to Democratic

-

Civil Islam - Beyond the Headlines     

A lecture and three seminars by Robert W. Hefner, 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University 

April 28 - May 1, 2008 

Media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially since 9/11, has featured violence and the threat of violence.  In his opening lecture and three seminars to follow, Prof. Hefner will explore a different reality "beyond the headlines."  Is there a "civil Islam"?  Are Islam and democracy compatible?  Is "Islamism" always radical, or can it be democratic?  How does Muslim schooling affect the answers to these questions?  Prof. Hefner will also look beyond the media's focus on the Middle East to examine the interactions between Islam, Muslims, and democracy in Southeast Asia.  

This is the first of the three seminars scheduled with Dr. Hefner.  

The second seminar of this series is on Wednesday, April 30 and is titled Schooling Islam: Madrasas and the Remaking of Muslim Modernity. 

The third seminar will be on Thursday, May 1 and is titled Muslim Politics in Southeast Asia: Democratic Islam Hijacked? or Re-invigorated? 

Robert W. Hefner's latest books include Schooling Islam (co-ed., 2007); Remaking Muslim Politics (ed., 2005); and Civil Islam (2000). He is the invited editor of the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.  He directs the program on Islam and civil society at Boston University since 1991. 

All four events are co-sponsored by the the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Southeast Asia Forum in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University. 

The Board Room
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Robert W. Hefner

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia
Website_Headshot.jpg PhD

Robert William Hefner, professor of anthropology and associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, is the inaugural Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia.

Professor Hefner has been associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991. Hefner has carried out research on religion and politics in Southeast Asia for the past thirty years, and has authored or edited a fourteen books, as well as several major policy reports for private and public foundations. His most recent books include, Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (edited with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton 2007); ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization (Princeton 2005), ed., and Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton 2000). Hefner is also the invited editor for the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.

Hefner is currently writing a book on Islamic education, democratization, and political violence in Indonesia. The research and writing locate the Indonesian example in the culture and politics of the broader Muslim world. His book also revisits the the question of the role of religious and secular knowledge in modernity.

Hefner will divide his time between Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and Stanford, where he will teach a seminar during the spring quarter.

Robert W. Hefner 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Speaker
Conferences
Southeast Asia Program

Entrepreneurship in Japan: New Patterns After Post-Bubble Reforms

After the end of the bubble economy in Japan in the early 1990s, policymakers legislated an ambitious program to reform corporate governance, finance, and education. One aim was to improve the climate for fostering successful start-ups.

The Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship's spring seminar series will focus on the efficacy of these reforms and ask the question: Is a new habitat for entrepreneurship and innovation being created in Japan?

Civil Islam Revisited: Prospects and Meanings of Muslim Democracy

-

Civil Islam - Beyond the Headlines

A lecture and three seminars by Robert W. Hefner, 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University

April 28 - May 1, 2008

Media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially since 9/11, has featured violence and the threat of violence. In his opening lecture and three seminars to follow, Prof. Hefner will explore a different reality "beyond the headlines." Is there a "civil Islam"? Are Islam and democracy compatible? Is "Islamism" always radical, or can it be democratic? How does Muslim schooling affect the answers to these questions? Prof. Hefner will also look beyond the media's focus on the Middle East to examine the interactions between Islam, Muslims, and democracy in Southeast Asia.

The evening program on Monday, April 28 with Dr. Hefner will begin with a public reception at 6:15 p.m.

The lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m.

The following three seminars are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and will take place in the Board Room of the Stanford Humanities Center. Reservations are not required for the seminars.

The seminar on Tuesday, April 29 is titled Varieties of Islamism: From Radical to Democratic.

The seminar on Wednesday, April 30 is titled Schooling Islam: Madrasas and the Remaking of Muslim Modernity.

The seminar on Thursday, May 1 is titled Muslim Politics in Southeast Asia: Democratic Islam Hijacked? or Re-invigorated?

Robert W. Hefner's latest books include Schooling Islam (co-ed., 2007); Remaking Muslim Politics (ed., 2005); and Civil Islam (2000). He is the invited editor of the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800. He directs the program on Islam and civil society at Boston University since 1991.

All four events are co-sponsored by the the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Southeast Asia Forum in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University.

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Levinthal Hall
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Robert W. Hefner

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia
Website_Headshot.jpg PhD

Robert William Hefner, professor of anthropology and associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, is the inaugural Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia.

Professor Hefner has been associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991. Hefner has carried out research on religion and politics in Southeast Asia for the past thirty years, and has authored or edited a fourteen books, as well as several major policy reports for private and public foundations. His most recent books include, Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (edited with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton 2007); ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization (Princeton 2005), ed., and Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton 2000). Hefner is also the invited editor for the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.

Hefner is currently writing a book on Islamic education, democratization, and political violence in Indonesia. The research and writing locate the Indonesian example in the culture and politics of the broader Muslim world. His book also revisits the the question of the role of religious and secular knowledge in modernity.

Hefner will divide his time between Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and Stanford, where he will teach a seminar during the spring quarter.

Robert W. Hefner 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Speaker
Conferences
Southeast Asia Program

The Outlook for Japanese Startups--Perspectives from a Japanese Firm's CEO

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About the talk
SPRIE's spring seminar series on the emerging environment for entrepreneurship in Japan has examined the state of venture capital (Michael Korver), changes in corporate governance (Robert Eberhart), and the division within Japanese society on the future of the Japanese economy (Yoko Ishikura).

Now, to conclude the series, Brian Nelson will provide his views on the outlook for Japanese startups--a unique perspective from the (non-Japanese) CEO of a Japanese Internet sales and marketing company.

About the speaker
As CEO of ValueCommerce, Brian Nelson negotiated and completed a TOB (Tender Offer Bid) with YAHOO! Japan in 2005. In 2006, he led ValueCommerce to a successful IPO resulting in a market capitalization of more than $300 million.

Prior to ValueCommerce, Nelson was Director of Sales and Marketing for the Gallup Organization in Japan. He also worked in Business Development with a non-life insurer, Tokyo Marine and Fire Insurance, and as a sales executive for Ashisuto, a Japan computer software company. Nelson has a degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. He has been a resident of Japan since 1990 and is a fluent Japanese speaker.

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Philippines Conference Room

Brian Nelson CEO Speaker ValueCommerce
Seminars
Entrepreneurship in Japan: New Patterns After Post-Bubble Reforms

Insurgent State-Building

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Jeremy Weinstein is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University and an affiliated faculty member at CDDRL and CISAC. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he directed the bi-partisan Commission on Weak States and US National Security. While working on his PhD, with funding from the Jacob Javits Fellowship, a Sheldon Fellowship, and the World Bank, he conducted hundreds of interviews with rebel combatants and civilians in both Africa and Latin America for his forthcoming book, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. He has also worked on the National Security Council staff; served as a visiting scholar at the World Bank; was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and received a research fellowship in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution. He received his BA with high honors from Swarthmore College, and his MA and PhD in political economy and government from Harvard University.

Patrick Johnston is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University and a CISAC predoctoral fellow. His dissertation, "Humanitarian Intervention and the Strategic Logic of Mass Atrocities in Civil Wars," asks why ethnic cleansing and genocidal violence frequently increase dramatically after international actors threaten to intervene militarily or deploy significant numbers of troops in coercive interventions. Johnston received a BA in history and a BA in political science, both with distinction, from the University of Minnesota, Morris and an MA in political science from Northwestern University.

Reuben W. Hills Conference Room

Jeremy M. Weinstein Assistant Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; CDDRL and CISAC Faculty Member Speaker
Patrick Johnston predoctoral fellow, CISAC; PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University Speaker
Seminars
Conflict Resolution

Manipulating the Peace: Government Strategy in the Sudanese Peace Processes

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Patrick Johnston is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University and a CISAC predoctoral fellow. His dissertation, "Humanitarian Intervention and the Strategic Logic of Mass Atrocities in Civil Wars," asks why ethnic cleansing and genocidal violence frequently increase dramatically after international actors threaten to intervene militarily or deploy significant numbers of troops in coercive interventions. Johnston received a BA in history and a BA in political science, both with distinction, from the University of Minnesota, Morris and an MA in political science from Northwestern University.

Stephen J. Stedman joined CISAC in 1997 as a senior research scholar, and was named a senior fellow at FSI and CISAC and professor of political science (by courtesy) in 2002. He served as the center's acting co-director for the 2002-2003 academic year. Currently he directs the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies at Stanford and CISAC's Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies. His current research addresses the future of international organizations and institutions, an area of study inspired by his recent work at the United Nations. In the fall of 2003 he was recruited to serve as the research director of the U.N. High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. Upon completion of the panel's report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Annan asked Stedman to stay on at the U.N. as a special advisor with the rank of assistant secretary-general, to help gain worldwide support in implementing the panel's recommendations. Following the U.N. world leaders' summit in September 2005, during which more than 175 heads of state agreed upon a global security agenda developed from the panel's work, Stedman returned to CISAC. Before coming to Stanford, Stedman was an associate professor of African studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He has served as a consultant to the United Nations on issues of peacekeeping in civil war, light weapons proliferation and conflict in Africa, and preventive diplomacy. In 2000 Scott Sagan and he founded the CISAC Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies. Stedman received his PhD in political science from Stanford University in 1988.

Reuben W. Hills Conference Room

Patrick Johnston Predoctoral Fellow Speaker CISAC

Stephen J. Stedman

CDDRL
Encina Hall, C152
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 725-2705 (650) 724-2996
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science
Stedman_Steve.jpg PhD

Stephen Stedman is a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), an affiliated faculty member at CISAC, and professor of political science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. He is director of CDDRL's Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development and Rule of Law, and will be faculty director of the Program on International Relations in the School of Humanities and Sciences effective Fall 2025.

In 2011-12 Professor Stedman served as the Director for the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy, and Security, a body of eminent persons tasked with developing recommendations on promoting and protecting the integrity of elections and international electoral assistance. The Commission is a joint project of the Kofi Annan Foundation and International IDEA, an intergovernmental organization that works on international democracy and electoral assistance.

In 2003-04 Professor Stedman was Research Director of the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change and was a principal drafter of the Panel’s report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility.

In 2005 he served as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary- General of the United Nations, with responsibility for working with governments to adopt the Panel’s recommendations for strengthening collective security and for implementing changes within the United Nations Secretariat, including the creation of a Peacebuilding Support Office, a Counter Terrorism Task Force, and a Policy Committee to act as a cabinet to the Secretary-General.

His most recent book, with Bruce Jones and Carlos Pascual, is Power and Responsibility: Creating International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2009).

Director, Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development and Rule of Law
Director, Program in International Relations
Affiliated faculty at the Center for International Security and Cooperation
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