Foreign Policy
Paragraphs

While power asymmetry typically defines security relationships between allies, there exist other forms of asymmetry that influence alliance politics. In order to illustrate how they can shape policy outcomes that cannot be explained solely through the lens of power capabilities, the authors examine the role of relative attention that each side pays to the alliance. It is their central argument that since the client state has a greater vested interest in the alliance and given that attention depends on interest/need, the client state can leverage attention to get its way. By analysing two specific cases, the 2002 South Korean schoolgirls tragedy and the 2008 beef protests—instances where the South Koreans succeeded in compelling U.S. concessions—the authors show that because the alliance was more central to the client state’s agendas, there existed an asymmetry of attention that offered leveraging opportunities for the weaker ally. In this study, the authors emphasise the role of media attention as a key variable, and seek to contribute to debates on weaker party leverage in asymmetrical alliances.

All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Journal Publisher
Australian Journal of International Affairs
Authors
Gi-Wook Shin
News Type
Commentary
Date
Paragraphs

In a recent interview with Yonhap News, David Straub, associate director of the Korea Program, says "Although the United States and the PRC certainly have differences [in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue], they pale in copmarison to U.S.-Soviet differences."

Yonhap News article in English (February 12, 2016)

 

Straub also offers, in an extended interview with South Korea's Segye Ilbo newspaper, his thoughts on Pyongyang's motivations for pursuing nuclear weapons. He argues that the appropriate policy response is to continue to increase pressure on the regime to convince it that nuclear weapons will bring more costs than benefits, while holding open the door to good-faith negotiations to resolve peninsular issues. 

Segye Ilbo article in Korean (January 8, 2016)

 

 

All News button
1
-

Abstract

Under Secretary Sewall will deliver remarks on Countering Violent Extremism, the U.S. Government’s comprehensive approach for preventing the spread of ISIL and emergence of new terrorist threats. The Under Secretary will describe how the evolution of violent extremism since the 9/11 attacks necessitates a “whole of society” approach to prevent people from aligning with terrorist movements and ideologies in the first place. Drawing on recent travel to Indonesia, India, and Egypt, the Under Secretary will describe the vital role of actors outside government in this approach, including women, youth, religious leaders, businesses, and researchers. She will also elaborate on new steps the U.S. Government is taking to intensify its CVE efforts around the world. The Under Secretary will also take questions from the audience.

Speaker bio

Image
sarah sewall

Dr. Sarah Sewall is the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights at the U.S. State Department, and is a longtime advocate for advancing civilian security and human rights around the world. Dr. Sewall was sworn in on February 20, 2014. She serves concurrently as the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. Over the previous decade, Dr. Sewall taught at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she served as Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and directed the Program on National Security and Human Rights.

Dr. Sewall has extensive experience partnering with the U.S. armed forces around civilian security. At the Kennedy School, she launched the MARO (Mass Atrocities Response Operations Project) to assist the U.S. military with contingency planning to protect civilians from large-scale violence. She was a member of the Defense Policy Board and served as the Minerva Chair at the Naval War College in 2012. She also led several research studies of U.S. military operations for the Department of Defense and served as the inaugural Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance in the Clinton Administration. Prior joining the executive branch, Dr. Sewall served for six years as the Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell and earned a Ph.D at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

This event is co-sponsored by Stanford in Government and CISAC

 

[[{"fid":"222126","view_mode":"crop_870xauto","fields":{"format":"crop_870xauto","field_file_image_description[und][0][value]":"Sewall Flyer","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_credit[und][0][value]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_related_image_aspect[und][0][value]":"","thumbnails":"crop_870xauto"},"type":"media","attributes":{"width":"870","class":"media-element file-crop-870xauto"}}]]

Dr. Sarah Sewall Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights U. S. State Department
Lectures
-

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, America’s top trade official and a member of the President’s cabinet, will discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a groundbreaking new trade agreement with countries throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. During his final State of the Union address last month, President Obama urged Congress to pass this legislation during the current session.  Winning congressional approval of the TPP is one of the Obama Administration’s leading priorities for 2016.

Ambassador Froman will highlight both how exporting Made-in-America products benefits the California economy as well as how the TPP will strengthen America’s economy and its relationships with key partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

Image

Ambassador Michael Froman is President Barack Obama’s principal advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues.  He leads the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for America’s exports, enforce U.S. rights in the global trading system, and foster development through trade.

Key initiatives under Ambassador Froman’s leadership include the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia-Pacific Region; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; the negotiation of agreements on services, information technology and trade facilitation at the World Trade Organization; and monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade rights, including through the Interagency Trade and Enforcement Center (ITEC).

Prior to becoming USTR, Ambassador Froman served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, responsible for coordinating policy on international trade and finance, energy security and climate change, and development and democracy issues.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Ambassador Froman served in a number of roles at Citigroup, as a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, and a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

For Ambassador Froman’s complete biography, click here.

Conditions for Entry:

  • Current Stanford student or valid photo ID required
  • All bags, backpacks and purses subject to search
  • No signs are allowed
  • No noisemakers are allowed

This event is co-sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Please direct media inquires to Ms. Lisa Griswold, lisagris@stanford.edu

Seminars

Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6165
 

0
Visiting Scholar at The Europe Center, 2015-2016
foto_jd.png

Julia Dahlvik is a sociologist and interpreter. She earned her PhD in Sociology in 2014 as an external fellow to the Initiative College "Empowerment through Human Rights" (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Human Rights) at the University of Vienna. Her thesis investigated everyday professional and bureaucratic practices of administrating asylum applications in Austria and was honored with the Dissertation Prize for Migration Research of the Austrian Academy of Science and the Dissertation Prize of the Austrian Sociological Association. She is currently editing her thesis into a publication Inside Asylum Bureaucracy with IMISCOE Springer.

Julia currently holds a lecturer position at the University of Vienna and is a project researcher at the Austrian Academy of Science in a project on "Interethnic Coexistence in European Cities". Before that, she coordinated a project on "Health Literacy of Migrants in Austria" at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Health Promotion Research. From 2009 to 2014, she coordinated the "Platform on Migration and Integration Research" at the University of Vienna. Julia is the local program coordinator for the Research Committee Sociology of Law for the ISA Forum 2016.

Paragraphs

Divided Lenses: Screen Memories of War in East Asia is the first attempt to explore how the tumultuous years between 1931 and 1953 have been recreated and renegotiated in cinema. This period saw traumatic conflicts such as the Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War, and the Korean War, and pivotal events such as the Rape of Nanjing, Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all of which left a lasting imprint on East Asia and the world. By bringing together a variety of specialists in the cinemas of East Asia and offering divergent yet complementary perspectives, the book explores how the legacies of war have been reimagined through the lens of film.

This turbulent era opened with the Mukden Incident of 1931, which signaled a new page in Japanese militaristic aggression in East Asia, and culminated with the Korean War (1950–1953), a protracted conflict that broke out in the wake of Japan's post–World War II withdrawal from Korea. Divided Lenses explores how the intervening decades have continued to shape politics and popular culture throughout East Asia and the world. Essays in part I examine historical trends at work in various "national" cinemas, including China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Those in part 2 focus on specific themes such as comfort women in Chinese film, the Nanjing Massacre, or nationalism, and how they have been depicted or renegotiated in contemporary films. Of particular interest are contributions drawing from other forms of screen culture, such as television and video games.

This book is an outcome of the conference, Divided Lenses: Film and War Memory in Asia, that the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center hosted in December 2008, part of the Divided Memories and Reconciliation research project.

All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Books
Publication Date
Journal Publisher
University of Hawai'i Press
Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

On January 21, 2016, an inquiry report ordered by the British government was released detailing the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Chairman of the inquiry, retired judge Sir Robert Owen, concluded that there is a strong probability that the Russian security service FSB directed the killing of Litvinenko and the operation was probably approved by President Vladimir Putin.

Michael McFaul, FSI director and former US Ambassador to Russia, discussed his initial reactions to the report findings on PBS NewsHour.

View full interview and transcript at PBS NewsHour.

Read Litvinenko report at the UK Home Office.

Hero Image
litvinenko report jan 21 2016
All News button
1
Subscribe to Foreign Policy