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.

Facebook's Faces

Facebook's Faces event flyer on blue and red background with photo of Chinmayi Arun
Join us on Tuesday, March 1 from 12 PM - 1 PM PT for a panel discussion on “Facebook’s Faces” featuring Chinmayi Arun, Resident Fellow at the Yale Law School in conversation with Nate Persily of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. This weekly seminar series is jointly organized by the Cyber Policy Center’s Program on Democracy and the Internet and the Hewlett Foundation’s Cyber Initiative.

About The Seminar: 

Scholarship about social media platforms discusses their relationship with states and users. It is time to expand this theorization to account for differences among states, the varying influence of different publics and the internal complexity of companies. Viewing Facebook’s relationships this way includes less influential states and publics that are otherwise obscured. It reveals that Facebook engages with states and publics through multiple, parallel regulatory conversations, further complicated by the fact that Facebook itself is not a monolith. Arun argues that Facebook has many faces – different teams working towards different goals, and engaging with different ministries, institutions, scholars and civil society organizations. Content moderation exists within this ecosystem.
 
This account of Facebook’s faces and relationships shows that less influential publics can influence the company through strategic alliances with strong publics or powerful states. It also suggests that Facebook’s carelessness with a seemingly weak state or a group, may affect its relationship with a strong public or state that cares about the outcome.

To be seen as independent and legitimate, the Oversight Board needs to show its willingness to curtail Facebook’s flexibility in its engagement with political leaders where there is a real risk of harm. This essay hopes to show that Facebook’s fear of short-term retaliation from some states should be balanced out by accounting for the long-term reputational gains with powerful publics and powerful states who may appreciate its willingness to set profit-making goals aside in favor of human flourishing.

About the Speakers:

Chinmayi Arun
Chinmayi Arun is a resident fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, and an affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center of Internet & Society at Harvard University. She has served on the faculties of two of the most highly regarded law schools in India for over a decade, and was the founder Director of the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi. She has been a Human Rights Officer with the United Nations and is a member of the United Nations Global Pulse Advisory Group on the Governance of Data and AI, and of UNESCO India’s Media Freedom Advisory Group.

Chinmayi serves on the Global Network Initiative Board, and is an expert affiliated with the Columbia Global Freedom of Expression project. She has been consultant to the Law Commission of India and member of the Indian government’s multi stakeholder advisory group for the India Internet Governance Forum in the past.

Nate Persily
Nathaniel Persily is the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, with appointments in the departments of Political Science, Communication, and FSI.  Prior to joining Stanford, Professor Persily taught at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and as a visiting professor at Harvard, NYU, Princeton, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Melbourne. Professor Persily’s scholarship and legal practice focus on American election law or what is sometimes called the “law of democracy,” which addresses issues such as voting rights, political parties, campaign finance, redistricting, and election administration. He has served as a special master or court-appointed expert to craft congressional or legislative districting plans for Georgia, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.  He also served as the Senior Research Director for the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. His current work, for which he has been honored as a Guggenheim Fellow, Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, examines the impact of changing technology on political communication, campaigns, and election administration.  He is codirector of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, Stanford Program on Democracy and the Internet, and the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project, which supported local election officials in taking the necessary steps during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide safe voting options for the 2020 election. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a commissioner on the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age.

 

Seminars

Russia, Ukraine and NATO: The View from Paris

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 All CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone. 
 

SEMINAR RECORDING

YouTube

 

About the Event: Europe's attention has been transfixed for more than two months by the Russian military build-up near Ukraine, efforts to coordinate a trans-Atlantic response, and contacts with Russia and Ukraine.  France has been closely involved in shaping the West's policy and diplomacy, and President Macron in February visited both Moscow and Kyiv.  Sylvie Kauffmann, editorial director, leader writer and columnist for Le Monde, will discuss how the crisis has been viewed in Paris and the French government's policy response.

 

About the Speaker: Sylvie Kauffmann is Editorial Director, Leader Writer and Columnist for Le Monde, writing a weekly column on global affairs. Her opinions on European and international politics have also appeared in the New York Times. Previously, she was the first female Editor-in-Chief of Le Monde, including during the Wikileaks collaboration with El País, the Guardian and the New York Times. She has reported from Asia, Eastern Europe and the United States, where she wrote a prize-winning series of articles about life in America following the 9/11 attacks. Kauffmann graduated from the Institut d’Études Poltiques Aix-en-Provence and the faculty of law at the University of Provence Aix-Marseille.

Virtual only.

Sylvie Kauffmann
Seminars
European Security Initiative

India’s Century? A Conversation with Indrani Bagchi

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Time:  7:30am-8:45am  California, USA 2 March 2022 
9:00pm-10:15pm New Delhi, India 2 March 2022
 

India’s international position has evolved sharply in the first two decades of the 21st century, and it is poised to become only more consequential in coming decades. Its strategic interests and influence have now stretched into the distant reaches of the Indo-Pacific, it has emerged as a central actor in managing global governance challenges like climate change, and it may have the capacity to take a commanding position in some key leading-edge technologies. In this webinar, veteran journalist Indrani Bagchi, who spent nearly two decades covering India’s foreign relations for the Times of India, will reflect on India’s recent trajectory and its prospects. Through the prism of some key episodes and issues of India in the 21st century, the webinar will examine India’s capacity and approach to manage international issues, as well as the constraints and challenges Indian policymakers must face. 

Speaker: 

Headshot photo of Indrani Bagchi
Indrani Bagchi is CEO-designate at Ananta Aspen Centre, India. She was Associate Editor with the Times of India, where she reported and analyzed foreign policy issues for the newspaper from 2004 until 2022. As Diplomatic Editor, Indrani covered the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on her news beat, and interpreted and analyzed global trends with an Indian perspective. Earlier, Indrani worked with India Today, the Economic Times and The Statesman, and has held fellowships at Oxford University and the Brookings Institution. She is a Fellow of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship Class 3 of the Ananta Aspen Centre and a member of Aspen Global Leadership Network. She graduated from Loreto College, Calcutta University with English honors. 

Moderator:

Photo Portrait of Arzan Tarapore
Arzan Tarapore is the South Asia research scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he leads the newly-restarted South Asia research initiative. He is also a senior nonresident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research. His research focuses on Indian military strategy and contemporary Indo-Pacific security issues. Prior to his scholarly career, he served as an analyst in the Australian Defense Department. Arzan holds a PhD in war studies from King’s College London. 

 

This event is co-sponsored by Center for South Asia

Via Zoom  Register at:
https://bit.ly/3HXiwTy

Indrani Bagchi, CEO-designate, Ananta Aspen Centre, India<br> Panelist

Arzan Tarapore

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Research Scholar at CISAC
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Arzan Tarapore is a Research Scholar whose research focuses on Indian military strategy and regional security issues in the Indo-Pacific. In academic year 2024-25, he is also a part-time Visiting Research Professor at the China Landpower Studies Center, at the U.S. Army War College. Prior to his scholarly career, he served for 13 years in the Australian Defence Department in various analytic, management, and liaison positions, including operational deployments and a diplomatic posting to the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC.

His academic work has been published in the Journal of Strategic Studies, International Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, Asia Policy, and Joint Force Quarterly, among others, and his policy commentary frequently appears on platforms such as Foreign Affairs, the Hindu, the Indian Express, The National Interest, the Lowy Institute's Interpreter, the Brookings Institution’s Lawfare, and War on the Rocks.

He previously held research and teaching positions at Georgetown University, the East-West Center in Washington, the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, and the RAND Corporation.

He earned a PhD in war studies from King's College London, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA (Hons) from the University of New South Wales. Follow his commentary on Twitter @arzandc and his website at arzantarapore.com.

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Seminars

The Policy Implications of Web3

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collage showing cory doctorow, Dr. Tomicah Tillemann and Michelle Finck

Join us on Tuesday, February 22 from 12 PM - 1 PM PT for a panel discussion on “The Policy Implications of Web3”, featuring Tomicah Tillemann of KRH Partners, Cory Doctorow of Craphound.com, and Michèle Finck of the University of Tübinge in conversation with Marietje Schaake of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. This weekly seminar series is jointly organized by the Cyber Policy Center’s Program on Democracy and the Internet and the Hewlett Foundation’s Cyber Initiative.

The year 2021 marked an important moment for web3. Proponents believe the potential of web3 to democratize, decentralize and improve the internet is huge. Others argue that evangelists have yet to deliver results, and that web3 will inevitably tend towards centralization. Few however have explored the policy and political implications of the concept: how should regulators approach a potential web3 explosion? How should lawmakers think about the wider internet infrastructure? Is web3 an opportunity to reimagine the internet, or will it present even more challenges to policymakers? This webinar will explore these angles and foster a reflection on public policy by leading technologists and academics. The session is open to the public, but registration is required.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

 

cory doctorow
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway. He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Michele Finck
Dr. Michèle Finck is Professor of Law and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Tübingen, an Affiliated Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich and the Centre for Blockchain Technologies at University College London as well as a Visiting Professor at LUISS University in Rome. She previously worked at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics.

 

 

 

tomicah tillemann
Dr. Tomicah Tillemann is a partner and Global Chief Policy Officer at KRH Partners, a new crypto venture fund led by former a16z General Partner Katie Haun, where he builds public policy architecture to support the next generation of the Internet. Until recently, he was the Global Head of Policy for an arm of Andreessen Horowitz. He worked in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, MIT, and governments around the world to develop a new generation of open source technology platforms to power the public sector. He also oversaw the work of the Blockchain Trust Accelerator and the Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative.

Marietje Schaake
Marietje Schaake (Moderator) is international policy director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center and international policy fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Between 2009 and 2019, Marietje served as a Member of European Parliament for the Dutch liberal democratic party where she focused on trade, foreign affairs, and technology policies. Marietje is an (Advisory) Board Member with a number of nonprofits including MERICS, ECFR, ORF and AccessNow. She writes a monthly column for the Financial Times and a bi-weekly column for the Dutch NRC newspaper.

Seminars

Mi Jin RYU

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Mi Jin is a Master’s in International Policy candidate at Stanford, where she specializes in International Security. Prior to Stanford, she has been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea for six years. In 2016, she dealt with the North Korea’s 5th nuclear test. Working at the South Korean Embassy to Hungary in 2019, she was responsible for handling the ferry accident in which thirty-three South Koreans involved. From 2020 to 2021, she was in charge of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation program as well as the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions on the DPRK. She holds a B.A. in Chinese Culture and in Economics from Sogang University, Seoul, Korea. She speaks English, Korean, and Mandarin. At Stanford, she hopes to reinforce her ability and expertise to approach the complicated and ever-changing landscape of international politics. Her academic interests include North Korean issues, arms control and disarmament, cyber security, and emerging technologies. In her free time, she loves playing golf and hiking.

 

 

Master's in International Policy Class of 2023

Ben Zuercher

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Ben Zuercher studied International Relations at Stanford University as an undergraduate and was inspired to come back as a coterm student to continue learning from the professors at Stanford. At Stanford, Ben worked with the Office of Student Engagement to help rethink alcohol policy to encourage a safer social environment for students. Additionally, he worked as a research assistant for Professor Francis Fukuyama researching the Belt and Road Initiative and collecting information for the California 100 Initiative. Outside of class, Ben also enjoyed leading the student section at men's basketball games and playing club baseball. He looks forward to continuing all these activities when he returns to campus, as well as introducing his cohort to all the opportunities Stanford has to offer. Ben plans to specialize in Governance and Development, continuing to explore effective models for sustainable development that interested him in undergrad. In his free time, Ben enjoys watching baseball and attending any Stanford sporting event on campus.

Master's in International Policy Class of 2023

Luis Sanchez

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Luis comes to Stanford after several years in politics. Over the last decade, he has served as an advisor to two US presidential candidates and to the Vice-President of El Salvador and has helped develop policy plans around climate and immigration justice. In 2014, the President of El Salvador appointed Sanchez to serve as a policy advisor to the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington, DC. In the middle of the 2014 American Immigration Crisis, Sanchez led a task force that ended up reuniting more than 2,800 unaccompanied minors with their families. He left his post at the Embassy to join a newly created Impact Venture Capital firm in Palo Alto focused on environmental resilience and social justice. Sanchez left after backing more than 30 companies and raising $1.1B in equity. In 2017, Sanchez joined the Tom Steyer Presidential campaign as Special Assistant to the candidate, and then as Deputy Political Director. When Steyer dropped out of the race, Sanchez joined the Biden campaign as Deputy Coalitions Director. Luis is a professional of high integrity and a strong sense of social justice - always ensuring values and purpose are at the core of all decisions. A native of El Salvador, Sánchez Tejada earned his bachelor’s in political science with an emphasis in international relations from UC Berkeley. He speaks Spanish and English. In his spare time, he enjoys running, playing handball, exploring the US and watching FC Barcelona play.

Master's in International Policy Class of 2023

Me Me Khant

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Me Me Khant, from Yangon, Burma, is pursuing a Master’s in International Policy at Stanford University as a Knight-Hennessy scholar. Me Me comes to Stanford with an interest in the intersection of conflict, democracy, and economic development. As an exiled poet and activist, Me Me works on promoting the fight for freedom and democracy in Burma and had led thousands from the Burmese diaspora in protests and political campaigns. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Students for Free Burma (SFB), a policy-driven advocacy group of Burmese students, scholars, and professionals in the United States. In this capacity, she routinely works with top members of the Myanmar civilian government, US Congressional offices, federal agencies, and various civil society leaders regarding US-Burma policy. At Stanford, she is also expanding her interest in cyber policy and security, exploring how issues of conflict and democracy manifest in trust and safety, privacy issues, and platform policies, especially in the Southeast Asian context. Before coming to Stanford, she graduated in the top 5% of her class from Centre College with a B.A. in International Studies and French. She had previously worked for Camino Seguro in Guatemala, the Delegation of the European Union in Myanmar, JFP Holdings in China, and the Asia Foundation. Outside of class, she loves experimenting with her poetry reading and writing, dancing (heels, modern and contemporary techniques), and traveling. Learning to fly is her new life goal, and she is currently completing her ground training at Stanford Ground School, preparing to sit for FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Exam.

Master's in International Policy Class of 2022
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