Stanford University

Global Challenges & Responses to Democratic Erosion

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DAL Launch Event

Two decades after the close of the Third Wave of democratization, scholars and practitioners alike continue to grapple with the question of why some democracies erode while others endure. To advance this critical inquiry, Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) is launching the Democracy Action Lab (DAL), a new initiative devoted to rigorous, comparative, and conceptually grounded research on the conditions of democratic backsliding and resilience. DAL will provide an academic home for refining definitions, testing theories, and generating knowledge that informs both scholarly debates and practical responses to the challenges facing democracy worldwide.

The launch will feature a roundtable, “Global Challenges & Responses to Democratic Erosion” with leading voices in the field — Kathryn Stoner, Beatriz Magaloni, Anna Grzymala-Busse, and Didi Kuo — moderated by María Ignacia Curiel. Panelists will reflect on conceptual clarity and contestation around “backsliding,” its relationship to fragile statehood, populism, and authoritarian resilience, and the mechanisms through which institutions weaken or recover. Drawing on comparative cases across Latin America, Europe, and beyond, the discussion will also chart new directions for research: refining metrics, mapping mechanisms of erosion, and theorizing pathways of democratic renewal. The event marks DAL’s commitment to placing cutting-edge academic work at the center of global conversations about democracy’s future.

Following the panel, attendees are invited to a celebratory reception.

SPEAKERS:

  • Anna Grzymala-Busse
  • Didi Kuo
  • Beatriz Magaloni
  • Kathryn Stoner
     

MODERATOR: María Ignacia Curiel

About the Speakers

Anna Grzymala-Busse

Anna Grzymala-Busse

Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies, Professor of Political Science; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Director of The Europe Center
Link to bio

Anna Grzymała-Busse is a professor in the Department of Political Science, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the director of The Europe Center. Her research interests include political parties, state development and transformation, informal political institutions, religion and politics, and post-communist politics. Anna's most recent book, Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State argues that the medieval church was a fundamental force in European state formation.

Didi Kuo

Didi Kuo

Center Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Link to bio

Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. She is a scholar of comparative politics with a focus on democratization, corruption and clientelism, political parties and institutions, and political reform. She is the author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) and Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy: the rise of programmatic politics in the United States and Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

She has been at Stanford since 2013 as the manager of the Program on American Democracy in Comparative Perspective and is co-director of the Fisher Family Honors Program at CDDRL. She was an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America and is a non-resident fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received a PhD in political science from Harvard University, an MSc in Economic and Social History from Oxford University, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a BA from Emory University.

Beatriz Magaloni

Beatriz Magaloni

Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations, School of Humanities and Sciences; Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Director, Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab
Link to bio

Beatriz Magaloni is the Graham Stuart Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science. Magaloni is also a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, where she holds affiliations with the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). She is also a faculty affiliate at Stanford’s King Center for Global Development. Magaloni has taught at Stanford University for over two decades.

She leads the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab (PovGov). Founded by Magaloni in 2010, PovGov is one of Stanford University’s leading impact-driven knowledge production laboratories in the social sciences. Under her leadership, PovGov has innovated and advanced a host of cutting-edge research agendas aimed at reducing violence and poverty and promoting peace, security, and human rights.

Kathryn Stoner

Kathryn Stoner

Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law; Senior Fellow; Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Link to bio

Kathryn Stoner is the Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and a Senior Fellow at CDDRL and the Center on International Security and Cooperation at FSI. From 2017 to 2021, she served as FSI's Deputy Director. She is Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford and she teaches in the Department of Political Science, and in the Program on International Relations, as well as in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Program. She is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution.

Maria Curiel

Maria Ignacia Curiel

Research Scholar, CDDRL; Research Affiliate, Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab
Link to bio

María Ignacia Curiel is a Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and Research Affiliate of the Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab at Stanford University. Curiel is an empirical political scientist using experimental, observational, and qualitative data to study questions of violence and democratic participation, peacebuilding, and representation.

Her research primarily explores political solutions to violent conflict and the electoral participation of parties with violent origins. This work includes an in-depth empirical study of Comunes, the Colombian political party formed by the former FARC guerrilla, as well as a broader analysis of rebel party behaviors across different contexts. More recently, her research has focused on democratic mobilization and the political representation of groups affected by violence in Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

María Ignacia Curiel
María Ignacia Curiel

Panel: William J. Perry Conference Room, Encina Hall 2nd Floor 
Reception: Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab, Encina Hall Garden Level S051

Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to the William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person. Registration is required.

Anna Grzymała-Busse

Encina Hall
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA  94305

 

(650) 723-4270
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies
Professor of Political Science
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
anna_gb_4_2022.jpg

Anna Grzymała-Busse is a professor in the Department of Political Science, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the director of The Europe Center. Her research interests include political parties, state development and transformation, informal political institutions, religion and politics, and post-communist politics.

In her first book, Redeeming the Communist Past, she examined the paradox of the communist successor parties in East Central Europe: incompetent as authoritarian rulers of the communist party-state, several then succeeded as democratic competitors after the collapse of these communist regimes in 1989.

Rebuilding Leviathan, her second book project, investigated the role of political parties and party competition in the reconstruction of the post-communist state. Unless checked by a robust competition, democratic governing parties simultaneously rebuilt the state and ensured their own survival by building in enormous discretion into new state institutions.

Anna's third book, Nations Under God, examines why some churches have been able to wield enormous policy influence. Others have failed to do so, even in very religious countries. Where religious and national identities have historically fused, churches gained great moral authority, and subsequently covert and direct access to state institutions. It was this institutional access, rather than either partisan coalitions or electoral mobilization, that allowed some churches to become so powerful.

Anna's most recent book, Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State argues that the medieval church was a fundamental force in European state formation.

Other areas of interest include informal institutions, the impact of European Union membership on politics in newer member countries, and the role of temporality and causal mechanisms in social science explanations.

Global Populisms

A new project examining the global surge in populist movements and what it means for established democratic rules and institutions.
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Director of The Europe Center
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Anna Grzymala-Busse Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies and Senior Fellow Panelist Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Didi Kuo

Encina Hall, C150
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305

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Center Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. She is a scholar of comparative politics with a focus on democratization, corruption and clientelism, political parties and institutions, and political reform. She is the author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t (Oxford University Press) and Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy: the rise of programmatic politics in the United States and Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

She has been at Stanford since 2013 as the manager of the Program on American Democracy in Comparative Perspective and is co-director of the Fisher Family Honors Program at CDDRL. She was an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America and is a non-resident fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received a PhD in political science from Harvard University, an MSc in Economic and Social History from Oxford University, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a BA from Emory University.

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Beatriz Magaloni

Dept. of Political Science
Encina Hall, Room 436
Stanford University,
Stanford, CA

(650) 724-5949
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations
Professor of Political Science
beatriz_magaloni_2024.jpg MA, PhD

Beatriz Magaloni Magaloni is the Graham Stuart Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science. Magaloni is also a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, where she holds affiliations with the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). She is also a Stanford’s King Center for Global Development faculty affiliate. Magaloni has taught at Stanford University for over two decades.

She leads the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab (Povgov). Founded by Magaloni in 2010, Povgov is one of Stanford University’s leading impact-driven knowledge production laboratories in the social sciences. Under her leadership, Povgov has innovated and advanced a host of cutting-edge research agendas to reduce violence and poverty and promote peace, security, and human rights.

Magaloni’s work has contributed to the study of authoritarian politics, poverty alleviation, indigenous governance, and, more recently, violence, crime, security institutions, and human rights. Her first book, Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and its Demise in Mexico (Cambridge University Press, 2006) is widely recognized as a seminal study in the field of comparative politics. It received the 2007 Leon Epstein Award for the Best Book published in the previous two years in the area of political parties and organizations, as well as the Best Book Award from the American Political Science Association’s Comparative Democratization Section. Her second book The Politics of Poverty Relief: Strategies of Vote Buying and Social Policies in Mexico (with Alberto Diaz-Cayeros and Federico Estevez) (Cambridge University Press, 2016) explores how politics shapes poverty alleviation.

Magaloni’s work was published in leading journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Criminology & Public Policy, World Development, Comparative Political Studies, Annual Review of Political Science, Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, Latin American Research Review, and others.

Magaloni received wide international acclaim for identifying innovative solutions for salient societal problems through impact-driven research. In 2023, she was named winner of the world-renowned Stockholm Prize in Criminology, considered an equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of criminology. The award recognized her extensive research on crime, policing, and human rights in Mexico and Brazil. Magaloni’s research production in this area was also recognized by the American Political Science Association, which named her recipient of the 2021 Heinz I. Eulau Award for the best article published in the American Political Science Review, the leading journal in the discipline.

She received her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and holds a law degree from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.

Director, Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab
Co-director, Democracy Action Lab
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Kathryn Stoner

FSI
Stanford University
Encina Hall C140
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 736-1820 (650) 724-2996
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Satre Family Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
kathryn_stoner_1_2022_v2.jpg MA, PhD

Kathryn Stoner is the Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and a Senior Fellow at CDDRL and the Center on International Security and Cooperation at FSI. From 2017 to 2021, she served as FSI's Deputy Director. She is Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford and she teaches in the Department of Political Science, and in the Program on International Relations, as well as in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Program. She is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution.

Prior to coming to Stanford in 2004, she was on the faculty at Princeton University for nine years, jointly appointed to the Department of Politics and the Princeton School for International and Public Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School). At Princeton she received the Ralph O. Glendinning Preceptorship awarded to outstanding junior faculty. She also served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at McGill University. She has held fellowships at Harvard University as well as the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. 

In addition to many articles and book chapters on contemporary Russia, she is the author or co-editor of six books: "Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective," written and edited with Michael A. McFaul (Johns Hopkins 2013);  "Autocracy and Democracy in the Post-Communist World," co-edited with Valerie Bunce and Michael A. McFaul (Cambridge, 2010);  "Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia" (Cambridge, 2006); "After the Collapse of Communism: Comparative Lessons of Transitions" (Cambridge, 2004), coedited with Michael McFaul; and "Local Heroes: The Political Economy of Russian Regional" Governance (Princeton, 1997); and "Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order" (Oxford University Press, 2021).

She received a BA (1988) and MA (1989) in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Government from Harvard University (1995). In 2016 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Iliad State University, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

Download full-resolution headshot; photo credit: Rod Searcey.

Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
Professor of Political Science (by courtesy), Stanford University
Senior Fellow (by courtesy), Hoover Institution
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Panel Discussions
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Conference Abstract — Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv

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Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv

Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv" was a two-day conference at Stanford University on May 29–30, 2025. The conference, hosted by the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Environmental Social Sciences department at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, explored how Los Angeles and Tel Aviv are addressing climate resilience through local policy, equity, and innovation.

Table of Contents:


Day 1:


Opening Session: Los Angeles and Tel Aviv-Yafo: The Urgency of Climate Resilience

  • Introduction: Alon Tal, Conference Chair, Stanford University / Tel Aviv University (p. 3)
  • Presentations:
    • Nancy Sutley, Los Angeles City Council’s Deputy Mayor of Energy and Sustainability (p. 6)
    • Prof. Noah Efron, Tel Aviv City council member; Chair, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipal Environmental Protection Committee (p. 12)


Panel 1: Water Management in Water Scarce Cities: Combatting Droughts and Ensuring Supply (p. 18)

Panel 2: Health, Trees, and Thermal Comfort: Urban Strategies (p. 19)

Panel 3a: Financing Climate Resilience in Local Government (p. 20)

Panel 3b: Preparing for Sea Level Rise – Local Strategies (p. 21)

Panel 4: Forest Fire Prevention, Cities and the Climate Crisis  (p. 23)

Day 2:


Panel 5: Climate Justice: Identifying and Protecting Vulnerable Populations in Urban Environments (p. 25)

Panel 6a: Civil Society’s Role in Promoting Climate Resilience (p. 27)

Panel 6b: The Role of Climate Technologies in Local Climate Adaptation Strategies (p. 29)

Panel 7: Urban Climate Resilience Programs and Public Policy: What’s Next? (p. 30)

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Katherine Monahan

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Visiting Scholar at APARC, Japan Program Fellow 2025-2026
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Katherine (Kemy) joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as a visiting scholar, Japan Program Fellow, for the 2025-2026 academic year. Ms. Monahan has completed 16 assignments on four continents in her 30 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State.  She recently returned from Tokyo, where she was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Japan, following roles as Charge d’affaires for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, and Deputy Chief of Mission to New Zealand, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Niue.  She was Director for East Asia at the National Security Council from 2022 to 2023.  Previously, she worked for the U.S. Department of Treasury in Tokyo, as Economic, Trade and Labor Counselor in Mexico City, Privatization lead in Warsaw after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Advisor to the World Bank, and Deputy Executive Director of the Secretary of State’s Global Health Initiative, among other roles.  As lead of UNICEF’s International Financial Institutions office, Ms. Monahan negotiated over $1 billion in funding for children. A member of the Bar in California and DC, Ms. Monahan began as an attorney in Los Angeles. 

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America in One Room: Pennsylvania Executive Summary

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Over the weekend of June 5-9, a representative sample of registered Pennsylvania voters gathered in Philadelphia to deliberate in depth about issues facing the state and the nation. When first contacted, they answered an extensive questionnaire about policy proposals from across the political spectrum that could possibly address key issues facing the state and the nation. At the end of the weekend they completed the same questionnaire. 175 voters from across the state were successfully recruited to participate in the discussions. Another 502 were assigned to a control group that completed the same questionnaires over the same period, but did not deliberate. The process is called Deliberative Polling® and followed the format of 160 previous projects around the world. Like the other America in One Room events, this experiment was sponsored and convened by Helena, a global problem solving organization working with the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University, and Public Opinion Strategies, a leading public opinion research firm that conducted the recruitment and selection of the samples and administered the survey questionnaires.

What would the voters of Pennsylvania really think about the issues if they discussed them in depth in a civil and evidence-based environment for a long weekend? Summary results are sketched below.

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Pennsylvania Voters Bridge Deep Political Divides, Reduce Polarization in Groundbreaking Deliberative Polling® Event

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America in One Room: Pennsylvania, a Deliberative Poll coordinated by global problem-solving organization Helena and the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University, today announced results revealing what Pennsylvania voters really think about pressing local and national issues ranging from the state of democracy and elections, to immigration, housing, and foreign affairs.

The landmark Deliberative Polling® experiment gathered a representative sample of 175 registered Pennsylvania voters for a weekend of civic engagement and civil discourse in Philadelphia. The participants answered a questionnaire about 65 policy proposals across domestic and foreign issue areas before and after engaging in deep deliberation on the topics. The deliberations included small group discussions, question-and-answer sessions with bipartisan and nonpartisan issue experts, and plenary sessions featuring leading state and federal policymakers and experts from both sides of the aisle.

The Deliberative Polling® process at America in One Room goes beyond snapshot opinions to reveal an authentic will of the people,  giving policymakers access to data about what voters actually think when given balanced information and the opportunity for meaningful discussion. Policymakers who engage with the data can craft policies that truly reflect what constituents want based on an understanding of the tradeoffs and stakes involved. At America in One Room: Pennsylvania, Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton committed to leveraging data related to voting proposals as she works to advance election reform policy in the commonwealth.

“America in One Room is designed to help policymakers understand the true ‘will of the people,’ said Henry Elkus, founder and CEO of Helena, a global problem-solving organization and co-creator of America in One Room. “What happened over four days in Pennsylvania was a deeply practical demonstration of democracy in action, both for Pennsylvania and national legislators to implement policy. Helena will continue working toward a future where deliberative democracy can play a bigger and bigger role in shaping decision-making in the US and abroad.”
 

What happened over four days in Pennsylvania was a deeply practical demonstration of democracy in action, both for Pennsylvania and national legislators to implement policy.
Henry Elkus
Founder and CEO, Helena


The results show dramatic opinion shifts and notable consensus-building across party lines. Most notably, dissatisfaction with American democracy dropped 21 points overall—from 75% to 54%—with Republicans, Democrats, and independents all showing significant improvement in democratic confidence at the end of the weekend.

"When Pennsylvanians were given the space for informed, civil conversation, they consistently depolarized on issues that dominate cable news narratives as hopeless partisan battles," said James Fishkin, Director of Stanford's Deliberative Democracy Lab. "This experiment proves that America's political divisions and opinions are not as intractable as they might seem. Voters, when presented with balanced information and the opportunity to listen to one another, emerged with considered judgments about what needed to be done as well as greater respect for those they disagree with. The results offer a look at what really matters to voters when they think in depth about the issues. In my view, it also offers an inspiring picture of how democracy could actually work better.”
 

This experiment proves that America's political divisions and opinions are not as intractable as they might seem. Voters emerged with considered judgments about what needed to be done as well as greater respect for those they disagree with.
James Fishkin
Director, Deliberative Democracy Lab


Key findings:
 

  • Immigration: Support for increasing visas for low-skilled workers doubled from 25% to 50%, with Democrats moving from 41% to 69% support and Republicans increasing from 9% to 30%. State-level DACA protections gained significant Republican backing, rising from 18% to 38%.
  • Voting Rights: Support for broad voter enfranchisement jumped to 96% (up from 83%), with Republicans increasing their support by 22 points. Democrats increased their support for voter ID requirements, increasing from 48% to 57%.
  • Election Integrity: An overwhelming majority of participants supported increases in election integrity, with 77% supporting random ballot audits, and 87% supporting criminal penalties for voter intimidation.
  • Healthcare: Rural healthcare initiatives achieved near-unanimous support, with 94% backing loan forgiveness for healthcare workers in underserved areas and 88% supporting tax credits for rural facilities.
  • Foreign policy: Support for providing military support to Taiwan in case of Chinese invasion doubled from 35% to 69%, with massive bipartisan increases among both Democrats (40-point jump) and Republicans (30-point jump).
  • Education: While trade school subsidies gained overwhelming support (81%), free college tuition support dropped from 59% to 47% as participants weighed budget realities.
  • Transformed relationships & Understanding: Perhaps most significantly, 91% of participants reported respecting opposing political viewpoints (up from 72%) following their experience at America in One Room: Pennsylvania and 90% expressed willingness to compromise with political opponents (up from 80%). As a whole, 97% of participants reported that A1R: PA was valuable in helping them clarify their positions on key public policy issues debated.


America in One Room: Pennsylvania is the fifth Deliberative Polling® event organized by Helena in collaboration with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab. Public Opinion Strategies conducted outreach, selected the representative samples, and administered the questionnaires.

Full results and executive summary are available below:

About America in One Room:
America in One Room inspires communities to ignite civic engagement, fostering collaborative solutions for their most pressing challenges. Since 2019, America in One Room has conducted groundbreaking Deliberative Polling® experiments across the country.

About Helena:
Helena is a global problem-solving organization that seeks to implement solutions to critical societal challenges through nonprofit, for-profit, and legislative actions. Helena’s nonprofit projects include America in One Room, which garnered the attention of President Barack Obama and The New York Times; Biosecurity in the Age of AI, which focuses on risks emerging at the intersection of AI and biotechnology; and The COVID Project, which supplied tens of millions of units of medical supplies and personal protective equipment to frontline responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its founding in 2020, Helena Special Investments has supported innovations in grid-scale energy storage (Energy Vault), AI controls to dramatically reduce energy consumption in industrial processes (Phaidra); and an innovation in Digital Twin technology enabling chronic disease reversals (Twin Health), among others. Helena operates its projects alongside a diverse group of multidisciplinary leaders called Helena members.

About the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University:
The Deliberative Democracy Lab (formerly the Center for Deliberative Democracy), housed within the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, is devoted to research about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling®. 

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America in One Room: The Youth Vote
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Historic America in One Room Deliberative Poll Releases Data on First-Time Voters' Political Attitudes Ahead of Presidential Election

Innovative project brings together first-ever representative sample of first-time voters from across the country to debate the key issues of our time.
Historic America in One Room Deliberative Poll Releases Data on First-Time Voters' Political Attitudes Ahead of Presidential Election
A voter casts their ballot in the Kentucky Primary Elections at Central High School on May 16, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.
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New National Deliberative Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Polarizing Issues Affecting American Democracy

"America in One Room: Democratic Reform" polled participants before and after deliberation to gauge their opinions on democratic reform initiatives, including voter access and voting protections, non-partisan election administration, protecting against election interference, Supreme Court reform, and more. The results show many significant changes toward bipartisan agreement, even on the most contentious issues.
New National Deliberative Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Polarizing Issues Affecting American Democracy
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America in One Room: Pennsylvania brings together a representative sample of registered Pennsylvania voters for a statewide Deliberative Poll in this crucial swing state, revealing surprising common ground and public opinion shifts on issues from immigration to healthcare to democratic reform.

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Unfinished Business: A Tribute to Marcel Fafchamps

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Virtual participation available via Zoom using the link above. Zoom Meeting ID: 997 4878 4037, Passcode: 998456

We invite our virtual participants to join in celebrating Marcel Fafchamps' distinguished career. Following the keynote address, at 10:00 AM PST, there will be an opportunity for online attendees to offer brief remarks or words of appreciation to honor Professor Fafchamps and his many contributions to scholarship, mentorship, and our academic community. Your reflections are a valued part of this special occasion.

Unfinished Business: A Tribute to Marcel Fafchamps

Join us for a full-day academic symposium celebrating the career and contributions of economist Marcel Fafchamps, Satre Family Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, on the occasion of his retirement. Featuring a keynote by Marcel himself, this tribute brings together colleagues, collaborators, and students to engage with the themes and ideas that have shaped his influential work in development economics, labor markets, and social networks.

The day will feature in-depth paper presentations, rapid-fire research talks, and engaging discussions with scholars, including Stefano Caria (University of Warwick), Pascaline Dupas (Princeton University), and Simon Quinn (Imperial College London), with more speakers to be announced soon. Topics span management practices, persuasion and diffusion, strategic reasoning, and mutual aid—from field experiments to economic theory.

Come celebrate the distinguished research career of Marcel Fafchamps with us.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

The symposium will be held in person, by invitation only. Professor Fafchamps' keynote will be livestreamed via Zoom.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the King Center on Global Development.

8:30 AM  —  Continental Breakfast available in 2nd Floor Lobby, Encina Hall Central

8:45 AM — General Welcome, Kathryn Stoner

9:00 AM — Keynote Address, Marcel Fafchamps: Behavioral Markets

10:00 AM — Virtual Attendees may join to share brief remarks and words of appreciation

10:15 AM — Morning Break

10:45 AM — Session Speaker: Stefano Caria, Competition and Management

11:45 AM — Rapid Fire Speaker: Tom Schwantje, Management Style Under the Spotlight: Evidence from Studio Recordings

12:15 PM — Lunch Break

1:15 PM — Session Speaker Pascaline Dupas: Keeping Up Appearances: Socioeconomic Status Signaling to Avoid Discrimination

2:15 PM — Rapid Fire Speaker: Deivy Houeix, Eliciting Poverty Rankings from Urban or Rural Neighbors

2:45 PM — Afternoon Break

3:00 PM — Session Speaker: Simon Quinn, Matching, Management and Employment Outcomes: A Field Experiment with Firm Internships

4:00 PM — Special Presentation

4:15 PM — Concluding Remarks: Kathryn Stoner, Marcel Fafchamps

4:30 PM — Event Concludes

 

Kathryn Stoner
Kathryn Stoner
Melanie Morten
Katherine Casey
Katherine Casey

In-person session open to invited guests; registration is required. 

William J. Perry Conference Room, Encina Hall, Second floor, Central, S231
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305

Marcel Fafchamps

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

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Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor, by courtesy, of Economics
marcel_fafchamps_2025.jpg

Marcel Fafchamps is a Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and a member of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. Previously, he was the Satre Family Senior Fellow at FSI. Fafchamps is a professor (by courtesy) for the Department of Economics at Stanford University. His research interests include economic development, market institutions, social networks, and behavioral economics — with a special focus on Africa and South Asia.

Prior to joining FSI, from 1999-2013, Fafchamps served as professor of development economics in the Department of Economics at Oxford University. He also served as deputy director and then co-director of the Center for the Study of African Economies. From 1989 to 1996, Fafchamps was an assistant professor with the Food Research Institute at Stanford University. Following the closure of the Institute, he taught for two years at the Department of Economics. For the 1998-1999 academic year, Fafchamps was on sabbatical leave at the research department of the World Bank. Before pursuing his PhD in 1986, Fafchamps was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for 5 years during his employment with the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency that oversees employment, income distribution, and vocational training in Africa.

He has authored two books: Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Evidence (MIT Press, 2004) and Rural Poverty, Risk, and Development (Elgar Press, 2003), and has published numerous articles in academic journals.

Fafchamps served as the editor-in-chief of Economic Development and Cultural Change until 2020. Previously, he had served as chief editor of the Journal of African Economies from 2000 to 2013, and as associate editor of the Economic Journal, the Journal of Development Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the Revue d'Economie du Développement.

He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an affiliated professor with J-PAL, a senior fellow with the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development, a research fellow with IZA, Germany, and with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, UK, and an affiliate with the University of California’s Center for Effective Global Action.

Fafchamps has degrees in Law and in Economics from the Université Catholique de Louvain. He holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. 

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Marcel Fafchamps Satre Family Senior Fellow; Professor, by courtesy, of Economics Keynote Speaker Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stefano Caria Professor of Economics Speaker University of Warwick
Pascaline Dupas Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Princeton University
Deivy Houeix Prize Fellow, Center for History and Economics Panelist Harvard University
Simon Quinn Associate Professor, Department of Economics & Public Policy Speaker Imperial College Business School
Tom Schwantje Postdoctoral Research Fellow Panelist Bocconi University
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At Stanford, experts talk ‘climate resilience’ from Tel Aviv to L.A.

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Both Southern California and Israel suffered disastrous wildfires this year.

In January, the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles killed 29 people and destroyed thousands of buildings, spurring a United Nations report titled “Once-in-a-generation events now happen frequently.”

In late April, a huge wildfire in central Israel threatened Jerusalem, caused nearby towns to evacuate and led to a national emergency.

The fires are just one example of the devastating effects of climate change experienced by California and Israel, said Alon Tal, an environmental scholar, former Knesset member and part of the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, which co-hosted the conference.

Read the full story from J. The Jewish News of Northern California.

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More than 200 academics and political leaders met last week at Stanford for “Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv,” a groundbreaking conference organized by CDDRL's Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program.

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Persisting in Hard Times

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Persisting in Hard Times

We are living through challenging times — but not for the first time. History reminds us that in our struggle, we are not alone. Across generations, people have risen to meet hardship with courage, community, and conviction — organizing for justice, teaching with purpose, advocating for change, and imagining a better future.

Join us for a powerful, moderated conversation with today’s changemakers — leaders, educators, and activists who are carrying forward this legacy of resilience and hope. Together, we’ll explore how they stay grounded, what inspires their work, and how each of us can play a part in building a more just and compassionate world. 

Event organized by Hakeem Jefferson and Gillian Slee.

MODERATORS: Hakeem Jefferson, Karina Kloos

SPEAKERS:

  • Alison Kamhi
  • Antonio López
  • DeCarol Davis
  • Pam Karlan

About the Speakers

Hakeem Jefferson

Hakeem Jefferson

Assistant Professor of Political Science & Director, Program on Identity, Democracy, and Justice, Stanford University
Link to bio

Hakeem Jefferson is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University and faculty director of the Program on Identity, Democracy, and Justice at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. His research centers on questions of race, identity, and political behavior in the United States. He is currently completing a book based on his award-winning dissertation that explores why members of stigmatized groups sometimes engage in policing and punishing their own. His academic work has been published in The American Political Science Review, Public Opinion Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, and Electoral Studies. In addition to his scholarly work, Jefferson is a frequent contributor to public conversations about race and American politics, with writing appearing in outlets such asThe New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, The Washington Post, and The San Francisco Chronicle. He is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and South Carolina public schools.

Karina Kloos

Executive Director, Stanford Democracy Hub
Link to bio

Karina Kloos is the Executive Director for the Democracy Hub and the newly launched ePluribus Stanford initiative.

Karina has also co-led the design and implementation of other emergent programs at Stanford, including the signature faculty fellowship, postdoctoral fellowship, PhD fellowship and Scholars in Service programs with Stanford Impact Labs, and the RAISE (Research, Action and Impact through Strategic Engagement) Doctoral Fellowship with the Vice Provost of Graduate Education.

She has professional experience in the domestic nonprofit, international development, and philanthropy sectors, and has published in both academic and media outlets on land rights; women’s rights; indigenous rights; sustainability; nonprofit evaluation; social movements; and democracy, including co-authorship with Doug McAdam of the 2014 book Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America.

Having spent more than a decade at Stanford – the place where she met her husband and has brought two wee ones into the world – Karina is invested in the vibrancy and health of our community, as well as leveraging the immense talent and resources we have to engage and contribute positively beyond the university. She received her PhD in Sociology from Stanford in 2014.

Alison Kamhi

Alison Kamhi

Legal Program Director, Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Alison Kamhi is the Legal Program Director based in San Francisco. Alison leads the ILRC's Immigrant Survivors Team and conducts frequent in-person and webinar trainings on naturalization and citizenship, family-based immigration, U visas, and FOIA requests. She also provides technical assistance through the ILRC's Attorney of the Day program on a wide range of immigration issues, including immigration options for youth, consequences of criminal convictions for immigration purposes, removal defense strategy, and eligibility for immigration relief, including family-based immigration, U visas, VAWA, DACA, cancellation of removal, asylum, and naturalization and has co-authored a number of publications on the same topics. Alison facilitates the nine member Collaborative Resources for Immigrant Services on the Peninsula (CRISP) collaborative in San Mateo County to provide immigration services to low-income immigrants in Silicon Valley. Prior to the ILRC, Alison worked as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic. Before Stanford, she represented abandoned and abused immigrant youth as a Skadden Fellow at Bay Area Legal Aid and at Catholic Charities Community Services in New York. She clerked for the Honorable Julia Gibbons in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alison received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Stanford University.

Antonio López

Antonio López

Poet Laureate, San Mateo County & Stanford Doctoral Candidate Modern Thought & Literature Program
Link to bio
Antonio López is a poetician working at the intersections of art, politics, and social change. Raised in East Palo Alto by Mexican immigrants from Michoacán, he is a first-generation college graduate with degrees from Duke University, Rutgers-Newark, and the University of Oxford, where he was a 2018 Marshall Scholar. His poetry and essays have appeared in Poetry Foundation, The Slowdown, Poetry Daily, and Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology. His debut poetry collection, Gentefication, won the 2019 Levis Prize from Four Way Books. In 2024, he received a Pushcart Prize. From 2020 to 2024, López served on the East Palo Alto City Council and also as its mayor, grounding his scholarship in community leadership and public service. He is completing his PhD in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford University. His dissertation, Hood Playin’ Tricks on Me: Gentrification, Grief, and the Ghosts of East Palo Alto, won the Stanford Humanities Center Dissertation Book Prize. Structured as a Netflix-style miniseries, the project blends memoir, theory, oral history, and archival work to explore how gentrification haunts communities of color. López is the 5th Poet Laureate of San Mateo County (2025–2027). In fall 2025, he will be a Residential Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center. He also serves as Associate Director of Research and Advocacy at ALAS, a nationally recognized Latinx cultural arts and justice organization working along the coastside of San Mateo County.
DeCarol Davis

DeCarol Davis

Director, Community Legal Services Program, Legal Aid at Work
Link to bio

DeCarol Davis is the Director of the Community Legal Services program, which provides free legal services to low-wage workers at Workers’ Rights Clinics throughout California. Prior to joining Legal Aid at Work in 2020, Davis, in addition to bartending and managing house at Shotgun Players, Ashby Stage, conducted international legal research with the University of Sydney, Australia on the exploitation of migrant workers. Prior to her research, Davis litigated as a plaintiff-side employment attorney at Bryan Schwartz Law.

As a Truman Scholar, Davis received her J.D. from Berkeley Law in 2017, where she served as a student director of the Workers’ Rights Clinic, was a two-time mock trial national champion, including regional and national titles in the ABA Labor and Employment Law Competition, and earned the Francine Marie Diaz Memorial Award for distinguished public service.

Before becoming an attorney, Davis was an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.  Davis, who graduated top of her class at the Coast Guard Academy in 2008 with a degree in Electrical Engineering, served as a marine inspector, the author of Coast Guard field regulations, and a law enforcement officer. During her service, she was awarded the Judge Advocate General Field Regulations Award, Meritorious Team Commendation, and the Department of Defense STEM Role Model Award.
In 2022, she received the Berkeley Law Kathi Pugh Award for Exceptional Mentorship.

Pam Karlan

Pamela Karlan

Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, Stanford Law School
Link to bio

Pamela Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. She has argued ten cases before the Court and worked on over one hundred.

Pam’s primary scholarship involves constitutional litigation. She has published dozens of articles and is the co-author of three leading casebooks as well as a monograph on constitutional interpretation—Keeping Faith with the Constitution. She has received numerous teaching awards.

Pam’s public service including clerking for Justice Harry Blackmun, a term on California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, and two appointments as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She was also an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Pam is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute, where she serves on the ALI Council. In 2016, she was named one of the Politico 50 — a group of “thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics”; earlier in her career, the American Lawyer named her to its Public Sector 45 — a group of lawyers “actively using their law degrees to change lives.”

Hakeem Jefferson
Hakeem Jefferson
Karina Kloos
Gillian Slee
(and co-organized by Gillian Slee.)

Psychology Building 420 — Main Quad, Classroom 041 (Lower Level)
450 Jane Stanford Way, Bldg. 420-041, Stanford

This event is in-person and open to the public. Registration is required.

Alison Kamhi Supervising Attorney & Trustee Panelist Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Palo Alto Unified School District
Antonio López Poet Laureate & Doctoral Candidate Panelist San Mateo County; Modern Thought & Literature Program, Stanford
DeCarol Davis Director, Community Legal Services Program Panelist Legal Aid at Work
Pamela Karlan Professor of Law & Former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Panelist Stanford Law School; U.S. Department of Justice
Panel Discussions
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Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv

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The Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies program at CDDRL and the Environmental Social Sciences department of the Doerr School of Sustainability

present a two-day conference

Climate Resilience and Local Governmental Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles and Tel Aviv

Los Angeles and Tel Aviv-Yafo are vibrant cultural and cosmopolitan centers characterized by significant demographic diversity. They are also home to disparate ethnic, religious, and cultural groups and are marked by stark contrasts in wealth and poverty. Despite their differences in size and geography, both cities face similar challenges in fashioning their responses to the anticipated adverse impacts of rapid climate change. To enhance climate resilience and ensure the effective implementation of climate policies, it is essential to consider not only the technical integrity of adaptation programs but also the socio-economic and cultural diversity unique to each city.

Studying these two cities side by side can shed light on how climate strategies can be adapted across scales and contexts. It can provide insights into navigating the complex interactions between central and local governments in designing climate adaptation programs. It can aid in prioritizing resource utilization to achieve the greatest possible reduction in climate-related risks. And, it can foster creative thinking about how equity-focused climate actions can be tailored to the unique needs, capacities, and values of diverse communities within each city.

Day 1 — Evaluation of Past Environmental Cooperation Initiatives


8:15 - 9:00 am — Breakfast, Gathering, and Registration

 

9:00 - 9:15 am — Welcome: Global Contexts – Local Action
 

WELCOME

  • Chair: Alon Tal, Visiting Fellow in Israel Studies, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University


 INTRODUCTION

  • Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University
  • Vicki Veenker, Vice Mayor, City of Palo Alto

 

9:15 - 10:15 am — Opening Keynote: Los Angeles and Tel Aviv-Yafo: The Urgency of Climate Resilience


PRESENTERS

  • The Honorable Nancy Sutley, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Energy and Sustainability
  • Noah Efron, Tel Aviv City Council member; Chair, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipal Environmental Protection Committee

 

10:15 - 11:30 am — Panel 1: Water Management in Water Scarce Cities: Combatting Droughts and Ensuring Supply
 

  • Chair: Bruce Cain, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University


PRESENTER

  • Felicia Marcus, William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow, Water in the West Program, Stanford University


PANELISTS

  • Dror Avisar, Head of the Water Research Center, Tel Aviv University
  • Maya Crabtree, Director of the Environment, Forum of 15, Israel
  • Gregory Pierce, Co-Executive Director, Luskin Center for Innovation, UCLA
     

11:30 - 11:45 am — Break

 

11:45 am – 1:00 pm — Panel 2: Health, Trees, and Thermal Comfort: Urban Strategies
 

  • Chair: Neta Lipman, Professional Director, The New Environmental School, Tel Aviv University; Former Deputy Director, Natural Resources and Climate Resilience, Israel Ministry for Environmental Protection


PANELISTS

  • Eitan Ben Ami, Director, Environment & Sustainability Authority, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality
  • Rachel Malarich, City Forest Officer, Los Angeles Public Works
  • David Pearlmutter, Professor, Ben Gurion University
  • Marta Segura, Chief Heat Officer & Director, Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, City of Los Angeles
  • Leeor Carasso, Tel Aviv University
     

1:00 - 2:00 pm — Lunch

 

2:00 - 3:30 pm — PARALLEL SESSIONS

Panel 3a (East Wing): Financing Climate Resilience in Local Government
 

  • Chair: Blas L. Pérez Henríquez, Founding Director, The California Global Energy, Water & Infrastructure Innovation Initiative, Stanford University


PANELISTS

  • Hend Halabi, Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, Climate Adaptation Division
  • Dr. Michael Roth, Energy-Water Resilience Support Specialist, Golden Colorado
  • Tamar Zandberg, Director of Climate Policy Center, Ben Gurion University; Past Minister of Environmental Protection, Israel
  • Abby Edwards, CA Governor's Office of Land Use and Innovation
  • Snir Schwartz, Tel Aviv University Law School

 

Panel 3b (West Wing): Preparing for Sea Level Rise – Local Strategies
 

  • Chair: David Behar, Climate Program Director, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Chair, Practitioner Exchange for Effective Response to Sea Level Rise (PEERS)


PANELISTS

  • Udi Carmely, Architect & Urban Planner, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality
  • Galit Cohen, Senior Researcher, Israel Institute for National Security Studies; Director, Jewish Climate Trust
  • Daniella Hirschfeld, Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Utah State University
  • Eric Klinenberg, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences, New York University
     

3:30 - 3:45 pm — Break

 

3:45 - 5:00 pm — Panel 4: Forest Fire Prevention, Cities and the Climate Crisis
 

  • Chair: Chris Field, Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies; Perry L. McCarty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University


PRESENTERS

  • Frank Bigelow, Community Wildfire Preparedness & Mitigation Deputy Director, Cal Fire
  • Colin Price, Professor, Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University; Chair, Planet Zero Initiative
  • Yoav Perlman, Director of Birdlife Israel, Society for Protection of Nature in Israel 

 

5:00 - 6:30 pm — Stanford Campus Sustainability Tours — Optional, Pick Up to One 
 

  • Stanford Central Energy Facilty (Energy Efficiency “Living lab” with three heat recovery tanks, micro-grid and novel heat recovery system)
    • Host: Dr. Lincoln Bleavans, Executive Director, Sustainability Utilities & Infrastructure, Stanford University
  • Ecoloigcal walking tour (Biodiversity and Conservation projects on campus)
    • Host: Dr. Alan Launer, Director, Conservation Planning, Stanford University
  • O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm (Exceptional Environmental Educationl Center and Garden develoing agroecological relationships and natural diversity to grow over 200 varieties of vegetables, flowers, herbs, field crops and fruit)
    • Host: Gordon Bloom, Director, Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Lab (SE Lab)- Human & Planetary Health; Founder, Social Entrepreneurship Collaboratory (SE Labs), Stanford University

 

6:15 - 7:00 pm — Reception in Courtyard

 

7:00 - 9:00 pm — Dinner and Keynote Address in Auditorium
 

  • Moderator: Larry Diamond, Mosbacher Senior Fellow of Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Professor, by courtesy, of Sociology and of Political Science


KEYNOTE ADDRESS

  • Professor Steven Chu, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Energy Science and Engineering, Stanford University; 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics; U.S. Secretary of Energy 2009-2013


Return to top, click FRIDAY, MAY 30 for Day 2 agenda 

FAQ
 

  • Can I attend only one day of the conference?
    Yes. Please note this in your registration.
  • Will meals be served? What if I have allergies or dietary needs?
    Yes, we will provide all meals listed on the schedule. Please indicate in your registration what your dietary restrictions are.
  • Where should I park?
    The closest parking to Paul Brest Hall is the Wilbur Field Garage (560 Wilbur Dr, Stanford). Permits are required and enforced Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please visit the Stanford Transportation website for information about parking at Stanford and how to pay for parking.
  • Can I bike to and from the conference?
    Yes! Stanford is a bike-friendly campus. Moreover, there are plenty of spots to park bikes all over campus.
  • Is there a cost to attend the conference?
    No. However, once you sign up, we expect you to attend.
  • I am coming from out of town. Where can I stay?
    We have reserved a room block at the Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel with a negotiated rate. Let them know you are with our conference to receive that rate.
  • I have other questions. Who should I ask?
    Email Aleeza Schoenberg, Israel Program Manager at CDDRL.
  • I am a member of the media interested in covering this event. Who should I reach out to?
    Please send an email to CDDRL Communications and provide your name, outlet, number of people you will be traveling with, and what equipment you plan to bring.
     

We are grateful to Tel Aviv University, The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation, the Jewish Climate Trust, and Hillel@Stanford for their support in making this conference possible.

The conference was held at Paul Brest Hall on Stanford's campus. Two-hundred people attended. Read about it in the news.

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Developments in China and Japan-China-U.S. Relations

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15Jan2025 "Developments in China and Japan-China-U.S. Relations" Webinar event graphic featuring headshot photos of Akio Takahara, Thomas Fingar, and Kiyoteru Tsutsui

 

How stable is politics in today's China? Many observers inside and outside the country were stunned by the sudden dismissal in December of Miao Hua, the head of the powerful political work department of the PLA and a member of the Central Military Commission. Takahara will discuss the state of Chinese politics and look into what we can expect of China's response to the 2nd Trump Administration.

This webinar event is co-hosted by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Japan Program and the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco

 

Speaker:

square headshot photo of Akio Takahara

Akio Takahara is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and former Professor of Contemporary Chinese Politics at the Graduate School of Law and Politics at The University of Tokyo. From April to July 2024, he is also serving as Senior Fellow of the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). He received his DPhil in 1988 from Sussex University, and later spent several years as Visiting Scholar at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, Harvard University, Peking University, the Mercator Institute for China Studies, and the Australian National University. Before joining The University of Tokyo, he taught at J. F. Oberlin University and Rikkyo University. He served as President of the Japan Association for Asian Studies, and as Secretary General of the New Japan-China Friendship 21st Century Committee. Akio was Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo from 2018 to 2020, and Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development from 2020 to 2023. He currently serves as Senior Adjunct Fellow of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, Distinguished Research Fellow of the Japan Forum on International Relations, Senior Research Adviser of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, and Trustee of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. His publications in English include The Politics of Wage Policy in Post-Revolutionary China, (Macmillan, 1992), Japan-China Relations in the Modern Era, (co-authored, Routledge, 2017), and “How do smaller countries in the Indo-Pacific region proactively interact with China? An introduction”, Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2024.2309439, 26 January 2024.

 

Discussant:

Thomas Fingar

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the inaugural Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow from 2010 through 2015 and the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford in 2009.

From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and, concurrently, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Fingar served previously as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-01 and 2004-05), principal deputy assistant secretary (2001-03), deputy assistant secretary for analysis (1994-2000), director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific (1989-94), and chief of the China Division (1986-89). Between 1975 and 1986 he held a number of positions at Stanford University, including senior research associate in the Center for International Security and Arms Control.

Moderator:

Square portrait photo of Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at Shorenstein APARC, the Director of the Japan Program and Deputy Director at APARC, a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Professor of Sociology, all at Stanford University. Tsutsui received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kyoto University and earned an additional master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford’s sociology department in 2002. Tsutsui’s research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. His most recent publication, Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Realities of International Politics (Iwanami Shinsho, 2022), was awarded the 2022 Ishibashi Tanzan Award and the 44th Suntory Prize for Arts and Sciences.

 

 

Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Online via Zoom Webinar

Akio Takahara Distinguished and Visiting Professor Main Speaker Tokyo Woman's Christian University

Thomas Fingar

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C-327
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 723-9149 (650) 723-6530
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Shorenstein APARC Fellow
Affiliated Scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions
tom_fingar_vert.jpg PhD

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the inaugural Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow from 2010 through 2015 and the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford in 2009.

From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and, concurrently, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Fingar served previously as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-01 and 2004-05), principal deputy assistant secretary (2001-03), deputy assistant secretary for analysis (1994-2000), director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific (1989-94), and chief of the China Division (1986-89). Between 1975 and 1986 he held a number of positions at Stanford University, including senior research associate in the Center for International Security and Arms Control.

Fingar is a graduate of Cornell University (A.B. in Government and History, 1968), and Stanford University (M.A., 1969 and Ph.D., 1977 both in political science). His most recent books are From Mandate to Blueprint: Lessons from Intelligence Reform (Stanford University Press, 2021), Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security (Stanford University Press, 2011), The New Great Game: China and South and Central Asia in the Era of Reform, editor (Stanford University Press, 2016), Uneasy Partnerships: China and Japan, the Koreas, and Russia in the Era of Reform (Stanford, 2017), and Fateful Decisions: Choices that will Shape China’s Future, co-edited with Jean Oi (Stanford, 2020). His most recent article is, "The Role of Intelligence in Countering Illicit Nuclear-Related Procurement,” in Matthew Bunn, Martin B. Malin, William C. Potter, and Leonard S Spector, eds., Preventing Black Market Trade in Nuclear Technology (Cambridge, 2018)."

China and the World

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