Stanford University

International Relations

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.

The End of an Era: Can the Consensus on Constructive Engagement with China be Sustained? Should it?

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James Steinberg is Dean of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law.  Prior to becoming Dean on July 1, 2011, he served as Deputy Secretary of State, serving as the principal Deputy to Secretary Clinton.  From 2005-2008 Steinberg was Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.  From 2001 to 2005, Steinberg was vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he supervised a wide-ranging research program on U.S. foreign policy.  Steinberg served as deputy national security advisor to President Clinton from 1996 to 2000.  During that period he also served as the president’s personal representative to the 1998 and 1999 G-8 summits. 

Prior to becoming deputy national security advisor, Steinberg served as director of the State Department’s policy planning staff, and as deputy assistant secretary for analysis in the bureau of Intelligence and Research.  Previously, Steinberg was Senator Edward Kennedy’s principal aide for the Senate Armed Services Committee and minority counsel, U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

The Oksenberg Lecture, held annually, honors the legacy of Professor Michel Oksenberg (1938–2001). A senior fellow at Shorenstein APARC and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Professor Oksenberg served as a key member of the National Security Council when the United States normalized relations with China, and consistently urged that the United States engage with Asia in a more considered manner. In tribute, the Oksenberg Lecture recognizes distinguished individuals who have helped to advance understanding between the United States and the nations of the Asia-Pacific.

At times beginning in 2009 the decision was made to expand this series from its original lecture format to a workshop in order to bring scholars and policy makers together to discuss the ever-changing role China is playing in today's world. This new format allows for the exchange of ideas and opinions amongst today's top experts.

 

James Steinberg Keynote <i>Former Deputy Secretary of State; Dean of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law</i>

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
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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)."

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Commentator <i>Former Chairman, National Intelligence Council; Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University</i>
Commentator <i>Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow, Stanford University</i>

Kathleen Stephens

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William J. Perry Fellow
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Kathleen Stephens was the William J. Perry Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center from 2015 to 2017

Kathleen Stephens, a former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea, is the William J. Perry Fellow in the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). She has four decades of experience in Korean affairs, first as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Korea in the 1970s, and in ensuing decades as a diplomat and as U.S. ambassador in Seoul.

Stephens came to Stanford previously as the 2013-14 Koret Fellow after 35 years as a U.S. Foreign Service officer. Her time at Stanford, though, was cut short when she was recalled to the diplomatic service to lead the U.S. mission in India as charge d'affaires during the first seven months of the new Indian administration led by Narendra Modi.

Stephens' diplomatic career included serving as acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in 2012; U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2008 to 2011; principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2005 to 2007; and deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2003 to 2005, responsible for post-conflict issues in the Balkans, including Kosovo's future status and the transition from NATO to EU-led forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

She also served in numerous positions in Asia, Europe and Washington, D.C., including as U.S. consul general in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1995 to 1998, during the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement, and as director for European affairs at the White House during the Clinton administration, and in China, following normalization of U.S.-PRC relations.

Stephens holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University, in addition to honorary degrees from Chungnam National University and the University of Maryland. She studied at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University, and was an Outward Bound instructor in Hong Kong. She was previously a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

Stephens' awards include the Presidential Meritorious Service Award (2009), the Sejong Cultural Award, and Korea-America Friendship Association Award (2013). She is a trustee at The Asia Foundation, on the boards of The Korea Society and Pacific Century Institute, and a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

She tweets at @AmbStephens.

 

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Panel Discussions
Oksenberg Conference

Managing Open Innovation: Lessons from Harnessing Silicon Valley

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For firms around the world, the question of how to harness Silicon Valley's innovation engine is increasingly important. The answers are not obvious, since the entrepreneurial dynamism and disruptive innovations and business models of Silicon Valley are often at odds with large firms' internal dynamics and processes. This is especially the case for firms that grew up outside Silicon Valley and began as outsiders here.

This panel brings together expertise from multiple vantages-- SAP from Germany, which has a major presence in Silicon Valley, World Innovation Lab (WiL) which works with large Japanese companies in a variety of ways, and Core Venture Group, a boutique San Francisco venture capital firm co-founded by a Japanese and our panelist with extensive experience working with Japanese firms.

Please join us to get both broad perspectives and specific insights into how large outside firms can harness Silicon Valley.

PANELISTS:

Joanna Drake Earl, General Partner, Core Ventures Group

Joanna has been creating next-generation digital experiences at the intersection of media and technology for over 20 years. Currently Joanna is a General Partner at Core Ventures Group, a seed stage technology start-up fund, investing in serial entrepreneurs who are solving big problems with advanced technologies. Until December 2012, Joanna served as Chief Operating Officer for DeNA West. She oversaw operations outside of Asia for this $5B Japanese public mobile content company, working closely with the Founder and Board of Directors on international expansion and global operations.

After joining Vice President Gore and Joel Hyatt to co-found Current TV in 2001, Joanna spent 11 years with the company including stints as President of New Media, pioneering the world's first social media platform, as well as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing Sales, Marketing, Distribution, Technology, and International Operations. Earlier Joanna held executive positions at several leading technology and media start-ups, including MOXI and ReacTV. She started her career at Booz Allen & Hamilton in the Media, Entertainment and Technology consulting practice, working closely with the world's leading entertainment conglomerates and the largest Silicon Valley technology companies.

Gen Isayama, Co-Founder and CEO, World Innovation Lab

Gen is the CEO and Co-Founder of WiL, LLC (World Innovation Lab), an organization dedicated to accelerating and promoting open innovation in large corporations across Japan. Funded by enterprises from various industries, WiL provides investment capital and strategic guidance to Japanese startups entering the global market as well as overseas ventures entering the Japanese market. In addition, WiL incubates new businesses by leveraging unused IP and resources in large corporations, facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship. Born and raised in Tokyo, Gen joined IBJ (now Mizuho Financial Group) after graduating Tokyo University and moved to Silicon Valley in 2001 to attend Stanford Business School. After graduation, Gen joined DCM Ventures, one of the top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firms, and worked as a partner until the summer of 2013.

Kenji Kushida, Research Associate, Stanford University

Kenji E. Kushida is a Japan Program Research Associate at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and an affiliated researcher at the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy. Kushida’s research interests are in the fields of comparative politics, political economy, and information technology. He has four streams of academic research and publication: political economy issues surrounding information technology such as Cloud Computing; institutional and governance structures of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster; political strategies of foreign multinational corporations in Japan; and Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s. Kushida has written two general audience books in Japanese, entitled Biculturalism and the Japanese: Beyond English Linguistic Capabilities (Chuko Shinsho, 2006) and International Schools, an Introduction (Fusosha, 2008). Kushida holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. His received his MA in East Asian studies and BAs in economics and East Asian studies, all from Stanford University.

David Swanson, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, SAP SuccessFactors

David Swanson has over 25 years of human resources management experience. He is currently the executive vice president of human resources for SAP SuccessFactors partnering with the company’s sales organization to showcase how SAP is using SAP HR. Most recently he was the CHRO for North America and prior to that the global head of HR for SAP’s products and innovation organization where he delivered the people strategy to drive business performance. In addition he has held executive human resources roles at a number of technology companies supporting global development, marketing, sales and service organizations. 

Swanson is a keynote speaker and panelist on the Future of HR focusing on how HR can make an impact in the business through analytics and big data not just activity reporting. He is actively involved in the human resources community as a board member of the Bay Area Human Resources Executive Council (BAHREC), on the innovation advisory board of HULT the global business school, an adjunct lecturer with the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension, and a regular presenter and facilitator with the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and the Northern California Human Resources Association (NCHRA).

AGENDA:

4:15pm: Doors open
4:30pm-5:30pm: Panel Discussion
5:30pm-6:00pm: Networking

RSVP REQUIRED
 
For more information about the Silicon Valley-New Japan Project please visit: http://www.stanford-svnj.org/

 

Panel Discussions
Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project

Experimental Studies and Japanese Politics

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Japanese political science community has generally been slow in adopting an experimental approach in the study of Japanese politics. In the areas of public opinion research, however, there have been some new attempts that take advantages of the methodological merits of experiments in investigating the Japanese political attitudes and behaviors. In this presentation, Professor Kohno will introduce three studies that he and his colleagues have embarked on, which relate to three major issues that Japan faces: constitutional revision, national security policy, and people's attitudes under natural disasters.

 

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Professor Kohno received his Bachelor of Laws in 1985 from Sophia University, M.A. (International Relations) in 1987 from Yale University, Ph.D. (political science) in 1994 from Stanford University, and is currently Professor at School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University. Before joining Waseda, he taught at University of British Columbia (1994-98) and at Aoyama Gakuin University (1998-2003), and he was a national fellow at the Hoover Institution (1996-97). Outside Waseda, Professor Kohno served as Senior Officer at Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2013-16). He has published extensively in both English and Japanese on Japanese politics and Japan's foreign policy, including Japan's Postwar Party Politics (Princeton University Press, 1997) and Seido [Institutions] (University of Tokyo Press, 2002).

Masaru Kohno Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University
Seminars
Japan Colloquium Series

Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain

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  • Winner of the Paul Birdsall Prize from the American Historical Association
  • Winner of the Fraenkel in Contemporary History from the Wiener Library, London
  • Winner of the Keller-Sierra Prize from the Western Association of Women’s Historians  

 

The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 shocked the world. Ever since, the image of this impenetrable barrier between East and West, imposed by communism, has been a central symbol of the Cold War.

Based on vast research in untapped archival, oral, and private sources, Burned Bridge reveals the hidden origins of the Iron Curtain, presenting it in a startling new light. Historian Edith Sheffer's unprecedented, in-depth account focuses on Burned Bridge-the intersection between two sister cities, Sonneberg and Neustadt bei Coburg, Germany's largest divided population outside Berlin. Sheffer demonstrates that as Soviet and American forces occupied each city after the Second World War, townspeople who historically had much in common quickly formed opposing interests and identities. The border walled off irreconcilable realities: the differences of freedom and captivity, rich and poor, peace and bloodshed, and past and present. Sheffer describes how smuggling, kidnapping, rape, and killing in the early postwar years led citizens to demand greater border control on both sides--long before East Germany fortified its 1,393 kilometer border with West Germany. It was in fact the American military that built the first barriers at Burned Bridge, which preceded East Germany's borderland crackdown by many years. Indeed, Sheffer shows that the physical border between East and West was not simply imposed by Cold War superpowers, but was in some part an improvised outgrowth of an anxious postwar society.

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How Asia Works: Two Kinds of Economics and the Rise of a Divided Continent

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Can Northeast Asia’s developmental sequence help explain – and even prescribe – economic development worldwide? Joe Studwell, former journalist for The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the Financial Times, argues that the East Asian story holds the key to development for other countries. The sequential implementation of household farming to maximize agricultural yields; an acute focus on export-manufacturing; and financial repression and controlled capital accounts is key to promoting accelerated economic development. Emphasizing the role of politics to shape markets, Mr. Studwell notes that there are at least two kinds of economics: the “economics of development” and the “economics of efficiency,” which countries, after achieving a certain level of development, must pursue.

 

Joe Studwell has worked as a freelance writer and journalist in East Asia for over twenty years. He has written for the Economist Intelligence Unit, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Observer Magazine and Asia Inc. From 1997 to 2007, Mr. Studwell was the founding editor of the China Economic Quarterly and also founder and director of the Asian research and advisory firm Dragonomics, now GaveKal Dragonomics. Joe Studwell’s previous books include Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and South-East Asia (2007) named one of the year’s ten best books on Asia by the Wall Street Journal. His latest book is How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region, which was placed by both the Financial Times and The Economist on their “books of the year” lists. Mr. Studwell is currently completing his mid-career Ph.D. at Cambridge University, U.K.

Joe Studwell former journalist for The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the Financial Times
Seminars

Introducing our 2016 Draper Hills Summer Fellows

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Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law is proud to announce the 2016 class of Draper Hills Summer Fellows who were selected for their outstanding contributions to advancing democratic development in some of the most challenging regions of the world. 

From Afghanistan to Venezuela, this group of 25 courageous leaders are working to root out corruption, advance freedom of expression, pioneer new technology for social change, and reform government institutions. Many have been imprisoned and victimized for their work, and struggle with great odds to defend democracy and human rights in closed societies. Fellows will arrive at Stanford in July to begin the three-week academic training program taught by Stanford faculty, policymakers, and thought-leaders in the technology sector.

The 2016 class will mark the 12th cohort of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program and the fellows will join the Omidyar Network Leadership Forum, an alumni community of over 270 alumni in 70 countries worldwide.

 

 

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Sub-Saharan Africa

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Rafael Marques de Morais is an award-winning journalist and human rights activist in Angola, working to investigate corruption and abuse of power by the country’s ruling family. He founded Makaangola, a watchdog website dedicated to exposing corruption and human rights abuses in Angola. 

 

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Astère Muyango is a human rights lawyer working to strengthen the rule of law in Burundi, and serves as the country program director of International Bridges to Justice. His organization represents indigents accused of crimes, and has represented many of the young protestors who were arrested during Burundi’s recent political violence. 

 

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Kasha Nabagesera is the executive director of Kuchu Times Media Group, the first LGBTI media platform in Africa. She is known as the “founding mother” of the LGBTI movement in Uganda - where homosexuality is illegal - advocating for equal rights and the eradication of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation. 

 

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Oluseun Onigbinde is a social entrepreneur in Nigeria and co-founder of BudgIT, which develops civic technology tools to advance greater public sector transparency and accountability. Their technology campaigns have reached over 625,000 Nigerians on issues of public sector accountability.  

 

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Glowen Wombo Kyei-Mensah is the managing director of Participatory Development Associates, a development consultancy working to support governance and community development in Ghana. She brings over a decade of experience in the development sector, leading nationwide research projects with considerable impact on social and policy reform. 

 

 

Asia

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Atishi Marlena is a young Indian politician, who is part of the Aam Aadmi Party, which emerged from a nationwide anti-corruption movement. She serves as the advisor to the Deputy Chief Minister working on educational reform and participatory governance efforts in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, where the political party is in power. 

 

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Wai Wai Nu is the director and founder of Women Peace Network-Arakan, an organization building a platform for peace and understanding among Burma’s diverse ethnic groups. Nu was a political prisoner for seven years under the Burmese military government, and emerged to serve as a national – and international – voice for Burma’s human rights and democracy movement.

 

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Rajamanohar Somasundaram is a technology entrepreneur from India who co-founded Hexolabs, a company building technology solutions for basic mobile handset users in emerging markets. Somasundaram pioneers the use of mobile technology for the development of healthcare, education, and governance services to support inclusive development at the base of the pyramid.

 

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Nguyen Duc Thanh is a Vietnamese economist, and president of the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank that advocates for market economy reform, civil society empowerment, and the implementation of the rule of law. Thanh was a member of the Economic Advisory Group to the Vietnamese Prime Minister from 2011-2016. 

 

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Chandralal Majuwana is a human rights lawyer in Sri Lanka. He serves as the head of the Human Rights Program for the Forum for Human Dignity, a Colombo-based NGO. The program provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses and focuses on education and advocacy.

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

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Olga Aivazovska is head of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA, a civil-society organization catalyzing change in Ukraine by engaging citizens in decision-making, and fighting for the protection of voting rights and transparent electoral processes. An active participant in Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, Aivazovska has been working to transform Ukraine into a democratic and prosperous country. 

 

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Giorgi Kadagidze is a professor at Ilia State University, one of the leading research and educational institutions in Georgia. From 2009-2016, Kadagidze served as Chairman of the Board and Governor of the Central Bank of Georgia, leading the country’s economic transition from a planned to a market-based economy. 

 

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Edmon Marukyan is a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and serves as the chairman of the Council of Bright Armenia, an opposition party. Before assuming public office, he worked as a human rights lawyer helping to strengthen democracy and civil society in Armenia. 

 

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Natalia Yudina is a researcher and vice-director at the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, a Russian-based nonprofit organization that conducts research on nationalism and racism, relations between the churches and secular society, and political radicalism. Yudina’s work has contributed to a growing awareness of the government’s anti-extremist measures on the Internet and how these actions harm freedom of expression. 

 

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Elizaveta Osetinskaya is a media manager, editor and business journalist. She was responsible for the editorial operations at RBC Media Holding until May 2016. RBC Media Holding is the leading independent Russian media outlet, which includes a TV channel, the largest news portal in the country, a newspaper and magazine. 

 

 

 

Arab World

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Houssem Aoudi is a Tunisian entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in media, civic engagement, and social innovation. He is the founder of Wasabi, a company that builds platforms to promote open expression. Aoudi served as the director of the Media Center for the 2014 Tunisian parliamentary and presidential elections, and is the co-founder of a hub and community space for entrepreneurs. 

 

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Asos Askari is a lawyer who serves as a legal advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, drafting new laws and regulations to govern natural resource, human rights, and public sector reform. He also co-founded the Iraq Legal Education Initiative, a partnership between the American University of Iraq Sulaimani and Stanford Law School, which seeks to advance legal education in the Kurdistan region.

 

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Belabbes Benkredda is an award-winning social innovator and the founder of the Munathara Initiative, the Arab world’s largest online and television debate forum highlighting voices of youth, women, and marginalized communities. Operating in 11 Arab countries, Munathara’s monthly prime- time TV debates are the only civil society-run, independent political talk program on Arabic television. 

 

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Abdelrahman Mansour is an Egyptian political activist and entrepreneur in the field of media and journalism. He has played a key role in several Egyptian and Arab initiatives committed to advancing citizen’s rights to knowledge and access to information. 

 

 

 

Latin America

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Mauricio Alarcón Salvador is an Ecuadorian lawyer, and human rights and transparency activist. He is currently the executive director of Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, a non-profit organization that works on citizen participation and transparency, and serves as the program director of Fundamedios, Ecuador’s leading organization in the promotion and defense of freedom of expression. 

 

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Lisseth Boon is a Venezuelan investigative journalist with over 20 years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital media. She is currently an investigative reporter at RunRun.es, an independent news website.

 

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Lucila Crexell is a national senator of Argentina and represents the province of Neuquén, located in the Patagonia region. She has two decades of experience working in different areas of the public administration - both at the national and local level. As a senator, she defends the decentralization of power and the protection of provincial autonomy.

 

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Maria Llorente is the executive director of the Fundacion Ideas para la Paz, an independent think tank working on peace and security issues, and actively involved in the peace process in Colombia. Her work has contributed to evidence-based policy recommendations to increase citizen security and the reform of the Colombian police.  

 

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Jana Macedo is a public policy manager at the Brazilian Federal Government where she works at the Ministry of Planning coordinating initiatives on participatory planning and civic engagement. Previously, Macedo worked on human rights issues, which gave her a multidisciplinary perspective to develop public policy serving vulnerable populations.

 

 

 

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China's strategy in the South China Sea

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In an editorial for The Asan Forum, Stanford scholar Donald Emmerson portrays China’s building of infrastructure on land features in the South China Sea as a strategy to gain control over the area incrementally, without triggering actual war. He says the strategy has, so far, succeeded in large part due to Beijing’s effective use of ambiguity and because fears of unwanted escalation have tended to outweigh fears of Chinese expansion. He argues in this context that a recent incident in Indonesian waters involving China’s coast guard is unlikely to cause a significant hardening of Jakarta’s posture toward Beijing.

The full editorial may be viewed by clicking here.

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Indonesia’s Fishing Boat Incident and Tensions in the South China Sea: A View from the United States

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China’s building of infrastructure on land features in the South China Sea is a strategy to gain control over the area incrementally, without triggering actual war. That strategy has, so far, succeeded in large part due to Beijing’s effective use of ambiguity and because fears of unwanted escalation have tended to outweigh fears of Chinese expansion. A recent incident in Indonesian waters involving China’s coast guard is unlikely to cause a significant hardening of Jakarta’s posture toward Beijing.

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Donald K. Emmerson

Organization of Disaster Aid Delivery: Spending Your Donations

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This article examines how different organizational structures in disaster aid delivery affect house aid quality. We analyze three waves of survey data on fishermen and fishing villages in Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 tsunami. We categorize four organizational structures based on whether and to whom donors contract aid implementation. Compared to bilateral contracting between donors and implementers, donors that vertically integrate and do their own implementation offer the highest-quality housing as rated by village heads and have fewer counts of faults, such as leaky roofs and cracked walls, as reported by fishermen. However, they shade in quality as they lose dominance as the leading aid agency in a village. Domestic implementers and the government agency that was responsible for significant portions of aid delivery provide significantly lower-quality aid. We also examine how the imposition of shared ownership, the primary social agenda for boat aid agencies, affects boat aid quality. We find that village and fishing leaders steer poor-quality boats toward those whom shared ownership was imposed upon, often lower-status fishermen.

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Economic Development and Cultural Change
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Yong Suk Lee
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4
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