CISAC Senior Fellow Scott Sagan and Affiliated Faculty Member Allen Weiner of the Stanford Law School teach "Rules of War," a Thinking Matters course that investigates the legal rules that govern the resort to, and conduct of war, and study whether these rules affect the conduct of states and individuals. The class will confront various ethical, legal, and strategic problems as they make decisions about military intervention and policies regarding the threat and use of force in an international crisis. The class culminates in one of CISAC's signature simulations in which students are assigned roles within the presidential cabinet.

Siegfried Hecker, a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and Research Professor of Management Science and Engineering, has been awarded the National Academy of Engineering's Arthur M. Bueche Award "for contributions to nuclear science and engineering and for service to the nation through nuclear diplomacy."

The award recognizes an engineer who has shown dedication in science and technology, as well as active involvement in determining U.S. science and technology policy. Bueche was a world-renowned chemist who helped pioneer engineered plastics at General Electric Research and led one of the most innovative industrial research centers in the world.

"He was also an astute student of science and technology policy and one of our country's most effective advisors," Hecker said of Bueche upon accepting the award on Sept. 28 during the NAE's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Hecker,  CISAC co-director from 2007-2012, is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction and nuclear security.

You can read the NAE's full announcement here.

Hecker talked about the significance of working with Russian scientists at the end of the Cold War and what he has learned during his 49 trips to the former Soviet states.

"The bottom line is that 22 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, nothing really terrible has happened in the Russian nuclear complex - contrary to the expectations of most people in the West," said Hecker, who is currently working on a book about his diplomacy with Russia. "Critical to the success of our cooperation was what Bueche called the `international bonding' that technology provides."

But he noted that the relationship between Moscow and Washington are worse than at any time since the Gorbachev era. While he and his Russian colleagues have made great progress together over the last two decades, that their work is far from done.

"Indeed, the need for scientists and engineers to cooperate internationally is more important than ever. It is especially important in all things nuclear," he told the audience. "Since nuclear energy can electrify the world or destroy the world, the consequences of doing things right or doing them wrong are enormous. What we have learned over the years is that nuclear cooperation is essential - it promotes the benefits of nuclear energy - be it electricity, nuclear medicine or research. Nuclear isolation breeds suspicion and conflict."

Hecker noted he has also visited nuclear facilities and developed relationships with key scientists and engineers in the UK, France, China, India, North and South Korea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and has held substantive discussions with nuclear specialists from Pakistan and Iran.

"Dialogue and cooperation are essential," he said. "The same holds true for other major societal issues such as energy, climate change, water and natural resources, infectious diseases, the future of the Internet. These challenges are truly international, and solutions are often prevented by political and ideological differences. That is why institutions like the NAE and the National Academies are crucial."

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Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Academic Institution: Harvard University

Discipline and date of graduation: Ph.D. in Government, Summer 2014

Research Interests: Politics and economics in non-democracies, political economy of development, political violence, food security

Manuscript working title: Political Survival and the Modern Prince

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? The opportunity to be surrounded by other scholars with similar substantive interests but diverse geographic expertise is extremely exciting to me. I think it's precisely what I need at the moment.

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? I will spend most of the year preparing the book manuscript for submission. The dissertation asked how modern African autocrats survive nominally democratic institutions. To focus on the elites who comprise the regime -- as well as their political parties and the elections in which they compete -- the dissertation focused exclusively on the Republic of Congo, ruled by President Denis Sassou Nguesso for all but five years since 1979. I expect to spend much of the year ascertaining to what extent the arguments are generalizable to other parts of autocratic Africa and beyond.

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I really enjoy cooking. A lot. I've cooked through most of The French Laundry Cookbook and am now cooking through the Eleven Madison Park Cookbook. Honestly, I spend way too much time cooking. It's sort of absurd.

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Hometown: Beirut, Lebanon

Academic Institution: Yale University

Discipline and expected date of graduation: Ph.D. in Political Science, expected May 2015

Research Interests: Authoritarianism; Elite Networks; Coalitional Politics; Social Exclusion; Middle East Politics

Dissertation Topic/Title: The Ties that Bind: Making and Breaking Authoritarian Ruling Coalitions

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? My research fits well with CDDRL’s substantive focus on democratization. Opening the black box of authoritarian coalitional formation and evolution is essential for understanding how ruling coalitions may come apart. I am also eager to collaborate with scholars in The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, especially at a time when the Arab uprisings and coalitional breakdowns have unfortunately moved towards reconfigured authoritarian arrangements.

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? As a fellow at CDDRL, I plan to complete my dissertation and begin revising it for publication. I also plan to produce an article on the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting archival research and elite interviews in authoritarian settings.

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I’m a catless cat lady.

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Hometown: Thousand Oaks, CA

Academic Institution: Stanford University

Discipline and expected date of graduation: Ph.D. in Political Science, expected June 2015

Research Interests: statebuilding, state weakness, international security, conflict, political development

Dissertation Topic/Title: The International Sources of Sovereignty and State Weakness

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? My research is broadly focused on the understanding the causes of incomplete governance and political underdevelopment. These are among the core themes in CDDRL's research programs, and CDDRL brings together both rigorous scholarship and a sensitive to policy-relevant research in these thematic areas. For that reason, I am excited about joining CDDRL's community of researchers, particularly those engaged in scholarship in the Governance Project and in the Program on Poverty and Governance. I look forward to productive conversations around the Center, and to helpful guidance and advice.

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? During my residency at CDDRL, I plan to complete my dissertation writing. I am also eager to begin a new project with another CDDRL pre-doctoral fellow in which we examine the relationship between statebuilding and democracy in developing countries.

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I make an excellent cheesecake!

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Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya

Academic Institution: Stanford University 

Discipline and expected date of graduation: PhD in Political Science, expected June 2015

Research Interests: Institutions, Legislative Studies, Political Economy of Development, Elections and Governance, Natural Resource Management and Regional Cooperation

Dissertation Topic/Title: Institutions and Political Change: The Case of African Legislatures

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? I was attracted to CDDRL because of the centers strong emphasis on the need to link academic research with policy. I am interested in the ways in which institutional change impact development outcomes through the evolution of better, accountable governance and public policies. My research on legislatures includes analyses of how levels legislative institutionalization impact public finance management in African states.

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? I hope to finish writing my dissertation, to publish at least two chapters of the dissertation as stand alone papers, and to continue contributing to the policy world through my writing and consultancies.

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I run half marathons. Because I am Kenyan.

Gustavo Robles

Hometown: Guadalajara, Mexico

Academic Institution: Stanford University

Discipline and expected date of graduation: PhD in Political Science, expected 2015 

Research Interests: Economics of Crime and Violence, Legislative Studies, Political Economy of Development.

Dissertation Topic/Title: Three Essays on the Political Economy Drug-Related Violence in Mexico

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? CDDRL is a great place for students doing comparative work since it has a unique and vibrant community of faculty, visiting scholars, and policy makers from all over the world, including an important number of specialists in Latin American politics.

Moreover, the Center’s research agenda substantially aligns with my work on the relationship between democracy, partisanship, and governments’ efforts to contain and reduce crime and violence.

Finally, the work of the Program on Poverty and Governance at CDDRL on criminal violence and citizen security throughout Latin America has significantly shaped my PhD dissertation and research agenda.

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? I would like to complete the part of my dissertation that explores the relationship between Mexico’s democratization, criminal violence, and the government’s enforcement of the rule of law. In addition, the pre-doctoral fellowship will facilitate the completion of different ongoing research projects I am involved with at the Center. 

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I’m a good salsa dancer, jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, and amateur beach volleyball player.

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Hometown: Bremen, GA

Academic Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Discipline and expected date of graduation: Ph.D. in Political Science, expected May 2015

Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Policing, Governance, Rule of Law, and Chinese Politics 

Dissertation Topic/Title: Policing China: Struggles of Law, Order, and Organization for Ground-Level Officers

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? CDDRL's mission to understand how the rule of law and government institutions operate speaks directly to my work on the police bureaucracy. The Center's multidisciplinary approach brings together.scholars and intellectuals, making it an excellent forum for grappling with issues of institutional reform and local state security. As one of the newest additions to CDDRL, I look forward to engaging this community as I continue to investigate the weaknesses and strengths of the institutional apparatus China employs to carry out state priorities of reform and control.  

What do you hope to accomplish during your year-long residency at the Center? While at CDDRL I will finish my dissertation and prepare two chapters for publication. I also plan to lay the groundwork for my next project on the rapidly evolving relationship between police and media.  

Please state a fun fact about yourself! I'm a terrible gardener.