"The idea that the big internet platforms are not media companies has never really been tenable, and the contradictions in their public protestations of neutrality have become ever more apparent over time," writes Francis Fukuyama in The American Interest. Read the article here. 

"In my previous post, I noted how public policy education needs to shift its focus from training policy analysts to training leaders who are capable of actually implementing good policies. In our experimentation both at my Center’s Leadership Academy for Development and in the new Stanford Masters in International Policy, case teaching has become an integral part of the approach," writes CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama. Read the article here. 

"Public policy education is ripe for an overhaul. Rethinking how it should be done has been one of my major preoccupations over the past decade, and is the focus of work that we are doing now at Stanford in restructuring our Masters in International Policy (MIP) Program. It is also at the core of several mid-career programs we run at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), such as the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD). The essence of the needed transformation is to shift the focus from training policy analysts to educating leaders who can accomplish things in the real world," writes CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama. Read here.

"What is different today is the speed and extraterritorial reach of disinformation. Over-restriction on content undermines our democratic values, but understanding the mechanisms of manipulation opens up the solutions." Our Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of CDDRL's Global Digital Policy Incubator, said in the podcast "Digital Media: Combatting Threats in the Era of Fake News." Listen here.

To recognize his exceptional contributions to political science, FSI Director Michael McFaul has been named the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, effective June 14, 2018.

“As a scholar here at Stanford and in the policy realm in Washington, DC, Mike has shown exceptional leadership,” said Ann Arvin, Stanford University’s vice provost and dean of research.

As a Stanford student, McFaul was mentored by the original Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, Coit “Chip” Blacker. Following in his mentor’s footsteps, McFaul also split his time between Stanford and the White House.

McFaul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Stanford in 1986. After completing a PhD in international relations at Oxford University, he joined Stanford’s faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor in political science. In 2009, he lent his expertise in Russian affairs to the Obama administration, first as special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council, then as U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2012 to 2014. He returned to Stanford as director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

“Mike’s distinction as a scholar of international affairs together with his experience as an ambassador to Moscow make him the perfect choice for this chair,” said Richard Saller, dean of Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, which oversees the political science department.

McFaul’s new appointment as chair was approved by the Stanford Advisory Board of the Academic Council and President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. It was made possible through the generosity of Kenneth E. Olivier and Angela Nomellini.

“Ken and Angela have been close partners in our success at FSI and in the work being done across Stanford,” said McFaul. “Their support for our initiatives, this chair, and the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellowship, now held by Francis Fukuyama, have been instrumental in supporting FSI’s research, teaching and policy. I am deeply honored to be named the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies.”

Olivier is a member of the Stanford Board of Trustees and the FSI Council. He graduated from Stanford in 1974 and is the former chairman and CEO of Dodge & Cox.

Nomellini is the former chair and a current member of the Stanford Graduate School of Education Advisory Council. She graduated from Stanford in 1975.