FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.
Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.
FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.
Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.
Applications for Travel Awards: Conference on Future Visions in Korean Studies
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
The Korea Program invites junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to apply for travel awards to attend an upcoming two-day conference organized by the Korea Program at Stanford' Asia-Pacific Research Center. The workshop titled "Future Visions: Challanges and Possibilities of Korean Studies in North America" will be held on November 1st and 2nd, 2018 at Stanford University.
The awards will cover accepted applicants' lodging, domestic airfares, and/or ground transportation. To apply for the travel awards, please submit your CV and 2-page statement as a single file by July 15 here.
About the conference:
“Future Visions: Challenges and Possibilities of Korean Studies in North America,” is designed to bring together leading scholars in the fields of language education, literature, history, social sciences, and library studies. Each panel will consist of three-four scholars who will be tasked with presenting a report on the state of the field. The purpose of the panels is to generate discussion around some of the following questions:
- What are the research trends in each field?
- What kinds of directions can we expect in the near future?
- What are some of the disciplinary or other challenges in each field?
- How does each field interact with related fields?
- What are some of the limitations and possibilities around graduate student training?
- How can faculty with graduate students cultivate supportive and critical scholarly communities?
- How are junior faculty encouraged, and what institutional structures may offer better support?
Accepted applicants are expected to actively participate in discussion sessions and to engage in networking with other scholars during the 2-day conference.
Please direct questions on the conference to hjahn@stanford.edu.
Hero Image
All News button
1
Integrating global issues into community college curricula
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
During the 2017–18 academic year, SPICE’s Jonas Edman worked with six community college instructors from Las Positas College and Foothill College on their plans for integrating global issues into their classrooms. These six instructors were among ten Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Fellows to work collaboratively with colleagues at Stanford on projects aimed at internationalizing course curricula and producing innovative curricular materials for use in community college classrooms.
On May 19, 2018, an EPIC Symposium, “Integrating Global Issues into Community College Curricula,” was held at Stanford University that featured presentations by the EPIC Fellows as well as presentations from Stanford faculty. Community college faculty and administrators from across California gathered at Stanford University to discuss ways to prepare students for a world that is increasingly interconnected.
The six EPIC Fellows, with whom Edman worked, and their presentation topics are:
- Brian Evans, Foothill College: The Latin American Lost Decade
- Ann Hight, Las Positas College: Using Global Lifestyles as a Platform to Teach Gene Expression and Longevity
- Natasha Mancuso, Foothill College: Using Online Games to Teach Business and Marketing from a Global Perspective
- Kali Rippel, Las Positas College: Internationalizing the Research Project Using Wikipedia
- Colin Schatz, Las Positas College: Globalized and Inclusive: Redesigning a Community College Honors Program
- Antonella Vitale, Las Positas College: Global Voices in American History
Since 2010, Stanford Global Studies (SGS) has partnered with community colleges through innovative projects such as the Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative (SHREI) and EPIC to bring together faculty and administrators committed to developing global and international studies. Fellows join a growing network of EPIC alumni from across the state who are developing innovative programs to internationalize curricula. SPICE as well as Stanford’s Lacuna Stories have been working with SGS National Resource Centers—Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies—on these efforts.
Hero Image
2017–18 EPIC Fellows Colin Schatz, Antonella Vitale, and Kali Rippel (Las Positas College) with SPICE Director Gary Mukai
All News button
1
The Hoover Institution's Area 45 Podcast: anticipating global insecurity with Amy Zegart
News Type
Q&As
Date
Paragraphs
In a world complicated by terrorism, cyber threats and political instability, the private sector has to prepare for the unexpected. Amy Zegart, CISAC co-director, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Family Senior Fellow, and co-author (along with Condoleezza Rice) of Political Risk: How Businesses And Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity, explains lessons learned in keeping cargo planes moving, hotel guests protected – and possibly coffee customers better served.
Hero Image
All News button
1
Stanford researchers release risk-management roadmap to denuclearization in North Korea
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
Immediate denuclearization of North Korea is dangerous to both North Korean and American interests, say Stanford scholars in a new research report. Instead, they advocate for phased denuclearization to take place over 10 years or more, allowing the United States to reduce the greatest risks first and address the manageable risks over time.
Immediate denuclearization of North Korea is unrealistic, said Stanford scholars in an in-depth report released by the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).
Instead, denuclearization should be phased over a 10-year period to allow the United States to reduce and manage risks, said Siegfried Hecker, who authored the study with his research assistant Elliot Serbin and Robert Carlin, a visiting scholar at CISAC.
In the report, the scholars laid out a “roadmap” for denuclearization, recommending what they call a “halt, roll back and eliminate” approach. Their advice – which includes informative color charts and detailed, qualitative analysis – emerged from a longer-term project about the nuclear history of North Korea between 1992 and 2017.
According to the research, the most important steps toward denuclearization include halting nuclear tests, stopping intermediate or long-range missile tests, stopping the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, and banning all export of nuclear weapons, materials or technologies to North Korea.
“The roadmap lays out a reasonable timeline for denuclearization, but politics may delay final denuclearization as much as 15 years,” said Hecker, who worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for almost two decades, where he served as its directors for 11 of those years. He joined CISAC as a senior fellow in 2005.
Building trust and interdependence
In the short term, North Korea and the United States should take steps to build trust and interdependence, which the researchers believe are pivotal for a viable long-term solution like complete demilitarization of North Korea’s nuclear program. North Korea, they argue, will likely want to retain some parts of its nuclear program as a hedge should any potential agreement fall apart. This is a manageable risk, they said.
The scholars also encourage Pyongyang to front-load its concrete plan towards permanent nuclear dismantlement to make a phased approach more appealing to the US administration. This would include actions like halting nuclear and missile tests for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
According to Hecker, North Korea’s recent demolition of its nuclear test site is a significant step in that direction.
“The so-called ‘Libya model’ – complete and immediate denuclearization – is not a viable solution,” Hecker said. “Our approach leaves each party with a manageable level of risk. Even though it takes longer, it is safer for the world.”
Hecker also encouraged the US to recognize North Korea’s desire for civilian programs, including energy production, the use of radioactive substances in medical research, diagnosis and treatment, and a peaceful space program. These types of civilian programs can also foster opportunities for a collaborative relationship between the United States and North Korea. Further, increased cooperation –including with South Korea – can help make efforts for verification and monitoring with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) more reliable. The verification process that will confirm to what extent North Korea dismantles and destroys its military nuclear program is a big issue for negotiations, the scholars said.
Recent reconciliation
Critically, the researchers note that recent détente between North Korea and South Korea provides a window of opportunity to accomplish denuclearization – and that the US should take advantage of that window smartly. They said they hope that the risk-management approach outlined in the report can maximize chances for a successful agreement.
“In the past, the US has missed opportunities to manage incremental risk,” Hecker said. “Now is the time to pay attention to that history and be prepared to implement a risk-management approach to denuclearization.”
Hero Image
Siegfried Hecker meets with members of North Korea’s nuclear scientific community during a visit to Yongbyon.
Courtesy Siegfried Hecker
All News button
1
Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity
Paragraphs
From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it.
The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company's business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today's globalized world, there are no "safe" bets.
POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don't get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Books
Publication Date
External Purchase Links
External URL
Anna Grzymala-Busse Appointed New Director of The Europe Center
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
The Europe Center is pleased to announce that Professor Anna Grzymala-Busse will assume its directorship on September 1, 2018. Founded in 1997 and jointly sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and Stanford Global Studies (SGS), The Europe Center (TEC) provides an interdisciplinary platform for collaboration among scholars who teach and conduct research on the histories, cultures, institutions, and people of Europe. Grzymala-Busse will succeed Kenneth Scheve, a senior fellow at FSI and professor of political science, who has led the center since 2013.
“I’m delighted and honored to be appointed as the new director of TEC,” says Grzymala-Busse, who joined Stanford in 2017 as an FSI senior fellow, a professor of political science, and the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies. “My research focuses on European, and especially post-communist, politics, so this is a great opportunity. TEC has been doing an outstanding job of supporting research, undergraduate education, and programming on Europe. I’m looking forward to working with faculty and programs across the disciplines to further make TEC a prominent hub of all things European at Stanford.”
At a time of heightened scholarly interest in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, a renewed focus on Europe’s lessons and experiences can greatly enhance our knowledge of both contemporary global affairs and Europe itself. With that end in mind, The Europe Center promotes productive intellectual exchange about Europe from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and through an array of programs. The undergraduate program in European studies affords students opportunities to inculcate a broad understanding of the history, culture, politics and societies of Europe. Its grants and visitor programs support innovative research by scholars from both Stanford and academic institutions in Europe.
Hero Image
All News button
1