Michael H. Armacost recently gave a talk, examining the "rise" of China, at a gathering of international affairs experts. "How should we think of China," asked Armacost, saying, "Some portray Beijing as a looming military threat; some regard it as our most promising global partner; some expect it to compete fiercely with us for global economic leadership." Armacost looked at China's military, trade, economics, and education in relation to the United States and shared thoughts for preparing the United States to become more competitive for the future.

 

 

 

Starting winter 2011, FSE will bring the world's leading policy experts in the fields of food and agricultural development to Stanford University to participate in an integrated seminar series on pro-poor growth and food security policy. The series, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will consist of twelve lectures delivered on the Stanford campus over the course of two years.

"Providing food security for a world that will be warmer, more populous, and continually developing requires the implementation of sound policies that enhance agricultural production, incomes, and resource stewardship," said FSE director Rosamond L. Naylor.

"New ideas and exchanges are needed to meet this challenge and this seminar series intends to facilitate that process."

Participants will address the major themes of hunger and rural poverty, agricultural productivity, resource and climate constraints on agriculture, and food and agriculture policy. The series will draw heavily from economics, and will embrace polices related to demand, supply, price formation, marketing, trade and development.

"We focus this series on policy because it has proven to be extremely difficult to develop successful projects for hunger and poverty alleviation without first ensuring that sound policies are in play," noted Walter P. Falcon, FSE deputy director and project director. "Even the best-designed programs and projects at the local scale often fail due to counter-productive national policies."

The specific challenges will be to supply sufficient food at reasonable prices, to provide economic access to that food by all segments of society, and to do so without destroying the environment in the process, said Naylor.

In addition to lecturing, participants will write a significant paper that brings together new, relevant thinking about a particular topic area. At the end of the series, a volume of edited papers on international food security and food policy issues will be published. The volume will be designed for M.A. programs and mid-career professionals-individuals who later in their careers will have policy responsibilities. All the materials, including the videotaped lectures, will be freely available on the FSE website.

"We see an important opportunity to complement other efforts that have been funded by the Gates Foundation," said Naylor. "For example, the lecture series and educational volume are expected to contribute to the curriculum of the new Collaborative Master of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE) program of the African Economic Research Consortium, partially funded by the foundation."

The lecture series will also target audiences in South Asia, and in particular India where there are more malnourished people than in all of sub-Saharan Africa.

The grant also provides funding to produce a specialized educational unit on food policy and food security for high school students. FSE will work closely with Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) to complete this project.

With the renewed interest in food, agriculture, and food security, it is important that the next generation have access to thoughtful commentary about global food issues, said Falcon.

This grant is part of the foundation's Agricultural Development initiative, which is working with a wide range of partners to provide millions of small farmers in the developing world with tools and opportunities to boost their yields, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families. The Foundation is working to strengthen the entire agricultural value chain-from seeds and soil to farm management and market access-so that progress against hunger and poverty is sustainable over the long term.

On July 25, WikiLeaks released a compendium of 91,000 U.S. field reports from Afghanistan covering the years 2004-2010. Thomas Fingar joined a panel of experts and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on France 24 for a televised debate, "War and Whistle-blowing," to discuss the significance of the documents. Fingar put the documents in context, stating that it is not the contents of the documents themselves but the sensationalism caused over them that will have an effect.

The fourth Korea-U.S. West Coast Strategic Forum was held on June 18th at Stanford to discuss current developments in North Korea and North Korea policy, the future of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, and a strategic vision for Northeast Asia. Former senior government officials and other leading experts from the United States and South Korea participated. The forum agenda and the executive summary available.

Participants from the United States included:

• Michael H. Armacost, Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University
• Michael Chinoy, Senior Fellow, University of Southern California, U.S.-China Institute; former CNN foreign correspondent
  
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Co-Director of Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University; and Professor (Research), Department of Management Science and Engineering; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• David C. Kang, Professor of International Relations and Business, University of Southern California; Director, USC Korean Studies Institute
  
• Stephen D. Krasner, Professor of International Relations and Business, Deputy Director of Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University
• John W. Lewis, William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, Emeritus, Stanford University; CISAC Faculty Member; FSI Senior Fellow, by courtesy
• Kyung-Ae Park, Associate Professor, Korea Foundation Chair, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia
• William J. Perry, Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor (at FSI and Engineering) and Co-director of the Preventive Defense Project at CISAC; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• Gi-Wook Shin, Director, Shorenstein APARC; Director, Korean Studies Program and Tong Yang, Korea Foundation, and Korea Stanford Alumni Chair of Korean Studies; Professor of Sociology; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• David Straub, Associate Director, Korean Studies Program, Shorenstein APARC; former Director, Office of Korean Affairs, U.S. State Department
  
• Philip W. Yun, Vice President for Resource Development, The Asia Foundation
  Participants from South Korea
  
• Yun Young Cho, Associate Professor, Chung-Ang University
• Ro Myung Gong, Chairman, The Sejong Foundation; former Foreign Minister
  
• Young Sun Ha, Professor, Seoul National University
  
• Yong Ho Kim, Professor, Inha University; former President of Korea Political Science Association
  
• Sangho Lee, Research Fellow, The Sejong Institute (Program Coordinator)
  
• Yong Ok Park, Governor, South Pyongan Province; former Vice Minister of Defense
  
• Sang Woo Rhee, Head, Presidential Commission for National Security Review; former President, Hallym University
  
• Gi Woong Son, Senior Research Fellow, Korea Institute for National Unification
  
• Dae Sung Song, President, The Sejong Institute