Stanford University

International Development

FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.

They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.

FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.

FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.

Assisting the Escape from Persistent Ultra-Poverty in Rural Africa

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Christopher Barrett reviews the evidence on persistent poverty with a focus on rural Africa. He emphasizes the importance of asset accumulation, productivity growth, risk management and the sociopolitical institutions that govern economic activity. Barrett's talk synthesizes lessons learned about what works, what doesn't and why, and identifies key topics in need of further investigation.

William Masters, Professor of Food Policy in the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University, will join the conversation as a discussant following Barrett's presentation. 

Biography

Christopher Barrett is the Stephen B. & Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and International Professor of Agriculture at Cornell University. He teaches and does research primarily in poverty and international development. His research program also has strong links to international, agricultural, environmental and micro economics as well as to applied econometrics. He is a Faculty Fellow and Associate Director, Economic Development Programs, at the new Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future. The Center is a major Cornell initiative aimed at promoting cutting-edge research on sustainable development in collaboration with key external partners to achieve significant real-world impact. He is also the Director of Cornell's Food Systems and Poverty Reduction IGERT program.

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Bechtel Conference Center

Christopher Barrett Stephen B. & Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, International Professor of Agriculture Speaker Cornell University
William Masters Professor of Food Policy Commentator Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts
Symposiums
Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series

Why Has Africa Been Slow in Developing its Agriculture?

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Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa at IFPRI, will talk about the investment and policy strategies needed for a dynamic agricultural sector, and how conditions in Africa differ from those in Asia.

Peter Timmer, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus, at Harvard University, will join the conversation as a discussant following the main presentation.

Biography

Dr. Ousmane Badiane is the Africa Director for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). In this role, he coordinates IFPRI's work program in the areas of food policy research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications in Africa. He is also in charge of IFPRI's partnerships with African institutions dealing with the above areas.

Dr. Badiane, a national of Senegal, was Lead Specialist for Food and Agricultural Policy for the Africa Region at the World Bank from January 1998 to August 2008. He previously worked at IFPRI as Senior Research Fellow from 1989 to 1997, when he led the institute's work on market reforms and development. While at IFPRI, he taught, as adjunct professor, at Johns Hopkins' School of Advance International Studies from 1993 to 2003. Dr. Badiane received a Masters Degree and PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Kiel in Germany.

Bechtel Conference Center

Ousmane Badiane Director for Africa Speaker IFPRI

Peter Timmer

Center on Food Security and the Environment
Encina Hall East, E400
Stanford, CA 94305

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Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University
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C. Peter Timmer was a visiting professor at Stanford's Center on Food Security and the Environment in 2007. He is a leading authority on agriculture and rural development who has published widely on these topics. He has served as a professor at Stanford, Cornell, three faculties at Harvard, and the University of California, San Diego, where he was also the dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. A core advisor on the World Bank's World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, Timmer also works with several Asian governments on domestic policy responses to instability in the global rice market. In 1992, he received the Bintang Jasa Utama (Highest Merit Star) from the Republic of Indonesia for his contributions to food security. He is an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on agricultural development issues.

Timmer's work focuses on three broad topics: the nature of "pro-poor growth" and its application in Indonesia and other countries in Asia; the supermarket revolution in developing countries and its impact on the poor (both producers and consumers); and the structural transformation in historical perspective as a framework for understanding the political economy of agricultural policy. 

Peter Timmer Speaker
Symposiums
Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series
Date Label

Teaching Human Rights : Embedding Human Rights Practice in Education

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Susan Roberta Katz and Shabnam Koirala-Azad teach International and Multicultural Education at USF, and are on the founding faculty for the School of Education's doctorate with an emphasis in human rights education.

Reuben W. Hills Conference Room

Susan Roberta Katz Professor of International and Multicultural Education Speaker University of San Francisco
Shabnam Koirala-Azad Assistant Professor of International and Multicultural Education Speaker University of San Francisco
Seminars
Human Rights Education

Max Preglau

The Europe Center
Encina Hall E103
616 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 724-8020 (650) 725-2592
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Professor of Sociology at University of Innsbruck, Austria
Distinguished Austrian Visiting Chair Professor, 2011
max_preglau.jpg PhD

Max Preglau is a professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, School of Political Science and Sociology of the University of Innsbruck in Austria. His work focuses on Critical Social Theory and on the comparative Study of Contemporary Societies, Social Inequalities, Welfare Regimes and Social Policies (Austria and EU-Memberstates).

In 2006-07 Preglau was a Joseph Schumpeter Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Until 1991 he was associate professor, until 1986 assistant professor at the Department of Sociology at the School of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Preglau received his doctoral degree in the Social and Economic Sciences from the Vienna Business School, a post-graduate Diploma in Sociology from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna and his qualification for university teaching (Habilitation) of Sociology from the University of Innsbruck.

Professor Preglau's current research projects include "Comparative Analysis of Social Structures: Austria, Europe and the USA," and "Comparative Analysis of Welfare States and Social Policies: Austria, Europe and the USA."

Courses:
SOC 252: Current Social Change: Austria, Europe and the US
Term: Winter, 3-5 units
Tue/Thur 3:15 - 5:05 PM, 160-127

SOC 253: Rise, Current Challenges and Transformations of the Welfare State
Term: Spring, 3-5 units
Tue/Thur: 3:15 - 5:05 PM, 160-127

The Shah and Ayatollahs: Continuities and Ruptures

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Abbas Milani is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University and a visiting professor in the department of political science. In addition, Dr. Milani is a research fellow and co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Milani was a professor of history and political science and chair of the department at Notre Dame de Namur University and a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Milani was an assistant professor in the faculty of law and political science at Tehran University and a member of the board of directors of Tehran University's Center for International Studies from 1979 to 1987. He was a research fellow at the Iranian Center for Social Research from 1977 to 1978 and an assistant professor at the National University of Iran from 1975 to 1977.

Dr. Milani is the author of Eminent Persians: Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, (Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, 2 volumes, November, 2008); King of Shadows: Essays on Iran's Encounter with Modernity, Persian text published in the U.S. (Ketab Corp., Spring 2005); Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Persian Modernity in Iran, (Mage 2004); The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution (Mage, 2000); Modernity and Its Foes in Iran (Gardon Press, 1998); Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir (Mage 1996); On Democracy and Socialism, a collection of articles coauthored with Faramarz Tabrizi (Pars Press, 1987); and Malraux and the Tragic Vision (Agah Press, 1982). Milani has also translated numerous books and articles into Persian and English.

Milani received his BA in political science and economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970 and his PhD in political science from the University of Hawaii in 1974.

CISAC Conference Room

Abbas Milani

615 Crothers Way,
Encina Commons, Room 128A
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

(650) 721-4052
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Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
abbas_milani_photo_by_babak_payami.jpg PhD

Abbas Milani is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University and a visiting professor in the department of political science. In addition, Dr. Milani is a research fellow and co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Milani was a professor of history and political science and chair of the department at Notre Dame de Namur University and a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Milani was an assistant professor in the faculty of law and political science at Tehran University and a member of the board of directors of Tehran University's Center for International Studies from 1979 to 1987. He was a research fellow at the Iranian Center for Social Research from 1977 to 1978 and an assistant professor at the National University of Iran from 1975 to 1977.

Dr. Milani is the author of Eminent Persians: Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, (Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, 2 volumes, November, 2008); King of Shadows: Essays on Iran's Encounter with Modernity, Persian text published in the U.S. (Ketab Corp., Spring 2005); Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Persian Modernity in Iran, (Mage 2004); The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution (Mage, 2000); Modernity and Its Foes in Iran (Gardon Press, 1998); Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir (Mage 1996); On Democracy and Socialism, a collection of articles coauthored with Faramarz Tabrizi (Pars Press, 1987); and Malraux and the Tragic Vision (Agah Press, 1982). Milani has also translated numerous books and articles into Persian and English.

Milani received his BA in political science and economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970 and his PhD in political science from the University of Hawaii in 1974.

Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies
Co-director of the Iran Democracy Project
CDDRL Affiliated Scholar
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Abbas Milani Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies; Visiting Professor in the department of Political Science; Co-director of the Iran Democracy Project; CDDRL Affiliated Faculty Speaker
Seminars

Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the Roles for Firms and Foundations

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Video clips (12 min)

February 10th marked the launch of FSE's new Global Food Policy and Food Security symposium series. The opening session featured Jeff Raikes (CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Greg Page (CEO, Cargill), who presented their views on global food security and the roles of the private sector and foundation community. Stanford President John Hennessy provided the opening remarks. Click herefor a news summary of the event.


Speaker biographies

Greg Page, CEO Cargill Corporation

Greg Page serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Cargill. Cargill, a leader in agribusiness, is one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, with 131,000 employees in 66 countries, and with 2010 revenues of $108 billion. He was elected chairman of the board on Sept. 11, 2007, and CEO on June 1, 2007. He continues to hold the office of president, a position to which he was elected in June 2000. He was elected to the Cargill Board of Directors in August 2000.

Page joined Cargill in 1974 as a trainee assigned to the Feed Division. Over the years, he held a number of positions in the United States and Singapore. Page worked with the start-up of a poultry processing operation in Thailand, the beef and pork processing operations of Cargill's Excel subsidiary in Wichita, Kansas, and the Financial Markets Group in Minneapolis.

Page serves as a member of Eaton Corporation's board of directors. He serves as chair of the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Page received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of North Dakota. He was born in Bottineau, N.D.

Corporate Responsibility at Cargill

Jeff Raikes, CEO Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer, leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three of our program groups.

Before joining the foundation, Raikes was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Raikes was president of the Microsoft Business Division and oversaw the Information Worker, Server & Tools Business and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. He previously served as group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group, where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership for Microsoft's sales, marketing, and service initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president of Microsoft North America.

Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 as a product manager and was instrumental in driving Microsoft's applications marketing strategy. Promoted to director of applications marketing in 1984, Raikes was the chief strategist behind the company's success in graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system and the creation of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications. Before joining Microsoft, he was a software development manager at Apple Computer Inc.

Raikes, a Nebraska native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He and his wife, Tricia, have three children. They are founders of the Raikes Foundation and are active members of the United Way of King County, where they served as co-chairs of the 2006-2007 fundraising campaign. Raikes also serves on the board of directors for Costco Wholesale Corp. and the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, where he is chair of the board.

Adding special relevance to his participation today, Raikes is an active owner of a large farming and cattle-feeding operation in Nebraska.  For the last three years, he has also been a guest lecturer in Stanford's "World Food Economy" course, and he is slated to perform in that role again tomorrow.

Gates Foundation Agricultural Development Program

Mackenzie Conference Room
Room 300, Huang Building

Greg Page CEO Speaker Cargill Corporation
Jeff Raikes CEO Speaker Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Symposiums
Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series

Original Ownership of the Earth: A Contemporary Approach

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Mathias Risse is Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy. He works mostly in social and political philosophy and in ethics. His primary research areas are contemporary political philosophy (in particular questions of international justice, distributive justice, and property) and decision theory (in particular, rationality and fairness in group decision making, an area sometimes called analytical social philosophy.)

His articles have appeared in journals such as Ethics; Philosophy and Public Affairs; Nous; the Journal of Political Philosophy; and Social Choice and Welfare. Risse studied philosophy, mathematics, and mathematical economics at the University of Bielefeld, the University of Pittsburgh, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Princeton University. He received his BA, BS and MS in mathematics from Bielefeld, and his MA and PhD in philosophy from Princeton. Before coming to Harvard he taught in the Department of Philosophy and the Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale.

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Graham Stuart Lounge

Mathias Risse Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy Speaker Harvard University
Workshops
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