Stanford University

Governance

FSI's research on the origins, character and consequences of government institutions spans continents and academic disciplines. The institute’s senior fellows and their colleagues across Stanford examine the principles of public administration and implementation. Their work focuses on how maternal health care is delivered in rural China, how public action can create wealth and eliminate poverty, and why U.S. immigration reform keeps stalling. 

FSI’s work includes comparative studies of how institutions help resolve policy and societal issues. Scholars aim to clearly define and make sense of the rule of law, examining how it is invoked and applied around the world. 

FSI researchers also investigate government services – trying to understand and measure how they work, whom they serve and how good they are. They assess energy services aimed at helping the poorest people around the world and explore public opinion on torture policies. The Children in Crisis project addresses how child health interventions interact with political reform. Specific research on governance, organizations and security capitalizes on FSI's longstanding interests and looks at how governance and organizational issues affect a nation’s ability to address security and international cooperation.

Bassam Haddad Analyzes the Root Causes and Dynamics of the Syrian Uprising [VIDEO]

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As part of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy's speaker series, George Mason University scholar Bassam Haddad explained the roots and dynamics of the tragic Syrian uprising, with particular attention to its background and to the recent Russian intervention, in a talk dated January 22, 2016. After nearly five years since the start of the uprising, Syria finds itself divided and embattled, with no end in sight. More significantly, more than half of the Syrian population is displaced and the death toll surpassed 300,000 by all counts. The Syrian tragedy persists and, more than any other case of mass uprising in the region, continues to be shrouded in political power-plays and contradictions at the local, regional, and international levels, Haddad explained.

 

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The Europe Center February 2016 Newsletter

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Event Recap: Human Rights and Refugees in Europe

 

Panel: Human Rights and Refugees in EuropePictured: Kenneth Scheve, Jenny Martinez, Emily Arnold-Fernàndez, and James Cavallaro.
Amidst the reimposition of border controls in some Schengen states, daily reports of new arrivals to Europe, and the marked rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric, the European refugee crisis poses significant challenges to Europe. In her January visit to Stanford, Founder and Executive Director of Asylum Access, Emily Arnold-Fernàndez discussed the crisis in the context of the global plight of refugees. She noted that with an estimated 20 million refugees worldwide, and an additional estimated 40 million internally displaced persons, we are witnessing the largest population displacement since World War II. Arnold-Fernàndez explained that the rights of refugees and state obligations to refugees are enshrined in international law. In addition to the protections against being returned to an unsafe country of origin ("non-refoulement"), she noted that the Refugee Convention provides refugees with many rights on par with "the most favorable treatment accorded to nationals of a foreign country" and, in some cases, on par with those granted to nationals of the receiving state. These rights include the right of association, access to courts, access to wage-earning and self employment, and the freedom of movement. She explained, however, that states frequently fail to provide many of these rights to refugees, something Arnold-Fernàndez attributes in part to insufficient enforcement. As a result, where refugees are routinely prohibited from participating in the first country of arrival, they are likely to move on to alternative destinations. This, in part, is driving the current influx of refugees to Europe. This reality, according to Arnold-Fernàndez, elucidates at least one method of both assisting refugees and alleviating the flows of refugees to Europe: promoting policy change to ensure that refugee rights are protected and upheld in countries of first arrival. This approach, she explained, is in marked contrast to the predominant approaches to refugee assistance, which include humanitarian aid and development solutions (such as on the job training). While the first is not a long-term solution, the second is only likely to be effective if refugees are first permitted to participate in society.

Following the talk, The Europe Center Director, Kenneth Scheve, led a discussion featuring commentary by Stanford Law professors James Cavallaro and Jenny Martinez. Cavallaro spoke of the need to think more broadly about human migration and the potential deleterious effects of state immigration controls on both human rights and security. Martinez noted the tension between the clarity of the non-refoulement principle and the ambiguity of safe third country principles, and questioned the ability of legal norms to compel states to change policy or reallocate resources. To watch this event in full, please visit our website.

Featured Faculty Research: Cécile Alduy

We would like to introduce you to some of The Europe Center's faculty affiliates. Our featured faculty member this month is Cécile Alduy, who is an Associate Professor of French literature and culture and the Director of the French and Italian Department at Stanford University.

Cécile AlduyCécile earned her Ph.D. in French Literature from the University of Reims in France in 2003 and joined the faculty at Stanford University that same year. Her research interests include the history and mythology of national and ethnic identities since the Renaissance, far right ideology and rhetoric, the relations between cultural, literary, and medical discourses on gender and the body in early modern Europe, poetry and poetics, narrative forms and their discontent, French cinema, and contemporary French literature. Cécile's most recent book, Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. Décryptage du nouveau discours frontiste [Marine Le Pen taken to her words. Decoding the new national front discourse], co-authored with Stephanie Wahnich, examines the rhetoric used by the National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, and compares it to that of her father and former National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Casual observation of far right politics in France suggests that there has been a significant change in the National Front program following the 2011 leadership change to Marine Le Pen from Jean-Marie Le Pen and his 2015 ouster from the party. Marine Le Pen has taken great efforts to distance herself from her father, who infamously and repeatedly characterized gas chambers as "a detail in the history of World War II." The party has also enjoyed increasing electoral support in recent years. Against this backdrop, the book examines two fundamental questions: what is Marine Le Pen actually saying, and why does her speech resonate with French society today? To answer these questions, Alduy and Wahnich have analyzed over 500 speeches given by Marine and Jean-Marie Le Pen. This analysis reveals that there is significant continuity between the political agenda and ideological content of the Le Pens. In contrast with her father's blatantly radical speech, however, the younger Le Pen employs careful phraseology, replete with allusions, ambiguities, and double entendres, in order to "de-demonize" the party and make its platform appear more palatable to a modern French audience. In spite of programmatic continuity, this rhetorical rebranding appears to have facilitated greater electoral support for the National Front. Marine Le Pen prise aux mots has received significant media coverage, including a feature in Le Monde [article in French] and on NPR. In her ongoing research, supported in part by The Europe Center, Cécile is building upon the methodologies devised for Marine Le Pen prise aux mots and examining the development of political discourse of French political parties across the ideological spectrum in the period leading up to the 2017 presidential election. The initial results of this study will be published by Seuil in 2017 in a book preliminarily entitled Les Mots des présidentiables. Sémantique d'une triangulaire annoncée [The words of presidential candidates. Semantics of a three-candidate race]. We invite you to visit our website for additional information about this research.

Publication Details: Alduy, Cécile, and Stephanie Wahnich. 2015. Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. Décryptage de nouveau discours frontiste. Paris: Seuil.

Featured Graduate Student Research: Camilla Mazzucato

We would like to introduce you to some of the graduate students that we support and the projects on which they are working. Our featured graduate student this month is Camilla Mazzucato (Anthropology). Camilla is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. Before beginning her Ph.D. studies at Stanford, Camilla earned a BA and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Bologna and an MSc in GIS and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology from the University College London.

Camilla MazzucatoCamilla is an anthropologist who is interested in using network analysis to examine the social arrangements "mega-sites" - large settlements that originated with small, settled hunter-gatherer communities - during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) and Pottery Neolithic periods. In her current research, Camilla is evaluating these social arrangements with new evidence from Çatalhöyük, a dense agglomeration of mudbrick houses occupied for 1,400 years and located in modern-day Turkey. Approximately the size of a town, Çatalhöyük lacks many of the characteristics of a modern town, including specialized areas, communal buildings, and centralized functions. Moreover, the spatial arrangement differs significantly from other PPNB settlements. In summer 2015, Camilla conducted field research, partially funded by The Europe Center, at the site of Çatalhöyük. During her four weeks at the site, she explored ways of modeling the site's networks by collecting data focused on patterns of similarity of material culture features. This data will be used to examine the site's internal organization as well as the arrangements of social relationships therein. In addition, she spent time studying some of the recently-excavated buildings, using architectural features to study ties among entities.

Reminder: The Europe Center will be accepting applications for the Graduate Student Grand Competition March 28, 2016 - April 15, 2016. For more information please visit our website.

The Europe Center Programs: Minor in European Studies

As previously announced, The Europe Center and Stanford Global Studies are offering a minor in Global Studies with a concentration in European Studies. The minor is designed for undergraduate students who have an interdisciplinary interest in the history, culture, politics, societies, and institutions of Europe, past and present. The requirements of the minor include coursework, advanced proficiency in a modern European language, and a capstone experience such as a research paper with a focus on European Studies, completion of an overseas study program in Europe, or completion of an overseas internship in Europe.

This quarter, Christophe Crombez, Consulting Professor at The Europe Center, is offering the minor's core seminar class: Introduction to European Studies. In this survey course, students are introduced to important themes in the study of European politics, economics, and culture. The course begins with a discussion of European identity and culture, focusing on what makes Europe unique and how recent history has shaped this identity. In the second section, students analyze European politics by learning about Europe's predominant political institutions - parliamentary government and proportional representation electoral systems - and examining the effect of these institutions on public policy. The course then turns to the economy and understanding the challenges and opportunities that European economies face today. The fourth section focuses on the European Union, including its history, functioning, and policies. In the final section, the class discusses transatlantic relations.

We invite you to visit our website for more information about the Minor in European Studies.

Visiting Student Researcher: Lina Eriksson

Lina ErikssonThe Europe Center is pleased to introduce to you Lina Eriksson, a Fulbright Scholar who is visiting Stanford University from the Department of Government at Uppsala University and the Center for Natural Disaster Science (CNDS), Sweden. Lina holds an MA in Ethnic Conflicts and Conflict Resolutions, Asylum Immigration and Integration from University of Waterloo, Canada and an MSc in Political Sciences, Economics and International Development from Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden. She is broadly interested in the politics of natural disasters. In her dissertation, entitled Natural Disasters and National Politics, Lina examines the electoral effects of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and the 2005 Storm Gudrun on Swedish parliamentary elections. Part of this research, forthcoming in Electoral Studies, finds that the Swedish Social Democratic Party's poor crisis response to Storm Gudrun resulted in a significant decrease in support for the Social Democratic Party in the affected regions, leading to the largest change in partisan support in Swedish history. We invite you to visit our website for additional information about this research.

Publication Details: Eriksson, Lina M. 2016. "Winds of Change: Voter Blame and Storm Gudrun in the 2006 Swedish Parliamentary Election." Electoral Studies 41(1): 129-142.

The Europe Center Sponsored Events

February 18-19, 2016 
8:00AM - 5:00PM 
Workshop: Heritage Bureaucracies: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives 
Stanford Archaeology Center 
This conference is co-sponsored by The Europe Center, Stanford Archaeology Center, Cantor Arts Center, Department of Anthropology, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, Stanford Humanities Center, The Europe Center, France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and The Mediterranean Studies Forum.
Please visit our website for more information.

March 28, 2016 
12:00PM - 1:30PM 
Adam Tooze, Columbia University 
NATO Expansion and the Swap Lines: the Unspoken Geopolitics of the Financial Crisis in Europe, 2007-2013
Reuben Hills Conference Room, Encina Hall East 
RSVP by 5:00PM March 24, 2016.

April 25, 2016 
11:30AM - 1:00PM 
Torben Iversen, Harvard University 
Workshop Title TBD 
Room 400 (Graham Stuart Lounge), Encina Hall West 
No RSVP required. 
This seminar is part of the Comparative Politics Workshop in the Department of Political Science and is co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

Save the Date: April 28-29, 2016 
9:00AM - 5:00PM 
Conference: Networks of European Enlightenment 
Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center 
This conference is co-sponsored by The Europe Center, the French Cultural Workshop, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages.

May 9, 2016 
11:30AM - 1:00PM 
Monica Martinez-Bravo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (CEMFI), Madrid 
Workshop Title TBD 
Room 400 (Graham Stuart Lounge), Encina Hall West 
No RSVP required. 
This seminar is part of the Comparative Politics Workshop in the Department of Political Science and is co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

May 16, 2016 
11:30AM - 1:00PM 
Daniel Stegmueller, University of Mannheim 
Workshop Title TBD 
Room 400 (Graham Stuart Lounge), Encina Hall West 
No RSVP required. 
This seminar is part of the Comparative Politics Workshop in the Department of Political Science and is co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

European Security Initiative Events

March 3, 2016 
12:00PM - 1:30PM 
Vygaudas Ušackas, European Union Ambassador to Russia 
Russia and the West: Handling the Clash of World Views 
CISAC Central Conference Room, Encina Hall 
RSVP by 5:00PM March 1, 2016.

March 10, 2016 
12:00PM - 1:30PM 
Kathryn Stoner, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University 
Resurrected? The Domestic Determinants of Russia's Conduct Abroad 
Room E008 (Ground Floor Conference Room), Encina Hall East 
RSVP by 5:00PM March 9, 2016.

 

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Tunisia’s Pathway to Democracy

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Abstract

After having witnessed the beginning of the Arab Spring in December 2010, and the ouster of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, Tunisia went through a period of intense political turbulence, including a rapid succession of governments and a paralyzing political gridlock in the summer of 2013. The Tunisian national dialogue quartet, which represented the major stakeholders in civil society and is the recipient of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, paved the way for a technocratic government that helped bring the country’s democratic transition back on track. After discussing the conditions that led to these developments, this presentation will focus on how the technocratic government managed the challenges of organizing the country’s first fully democratic presidential and legislative elections, re-establishing security, and restoring economic fundamentals. Finally, the presentation will discuss the prospects for democratic and economic development in Tunisia, one year after the appointment of the government that resulted from the 2014 elections.

 

Speaker Bio

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Kamel Ben Naceur is the Director for Sustainability, Technology, and Outlooks at the International Energy Agency and previously served as Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of Tunisia in a government that was tasked in 2014 with leading the country’s first fully democratic elections and resorting its economic fundamentals. He has more than thirty-four years of experience and knowledge in the energy and industry sectors around the world in both public and private service. Mr. Ben Naceur served in various leading positions at the energy multinational Schlumberger, including Chief Economist in Paris, President of the Schlumberger technology organization in Rio de Janeiro, and Senior Advisor and Vice President for technology. He has served on several boards of international businesses and organizations, and is the co-author of thirteen books and more than 120 articles. A French-Tunisian dual national, Mr. Ben Naceur is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Normale Supérieure of France, with an Agrégation de Mathématiques.

CISAC Central Conference Room
Encina Hall, 2nd Floor
616 Serra St
Stanford, CA 94305

Kamel Ben Naceur Director for Sustainability, Technology, and Outlooks International Energy Agency
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FSI scholars visit US Pacific Command Headquarters

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Seventeen faculty members and researchers from Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies were hosted at U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) Headquarters in Hawaii for an intensive orientation on Feb. 4-5. The visit aimed to advance collaboration and to offer a deeper understanding of USPACOM’s operations to Stanford scholars who study international security and Asia.

Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., Commander of USPACOM, together with his commanders and staff, welcomed the delegation. Harris’s meeting with Stanford faculty is the second in recent months. The USPACOM visit and earlier speech at Stanford Center at Peking University are part of a series of activities driven by the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative. Led by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, the Initiative seeks to provide constructive interaction between academic and governmental experts on the many and diverse security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region.

“Engaging deeply in conversations with those who are on the frontlines is incredibly valuable,” said trip participant Coit Blacker, FSI senior fellow and professor of international studies. “This is especially true for academics who focus much of their attention thinking about the prospects for international peace and security but not necessarily considering their direct application on a military-level.”

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Top: (Left) The Stanford delegation watches a demonstration of a 2-minute drill. / (Right) Karen Eggleston boards a UH-60 Blackhawk helpcopter enroute to the Lightning Academy with her colleagues. Bottom: The delegation takes a group photo on-site.

On the first day, FSI scholars spoke with military officers about the command’s strategies and challenges it faces, such as population aging and sovereignty disputes over the South China Sea. Discussions were followed with a tour of USS Michael Murphy, a guided missile destroyer which routinely conducts operations in the Western Pacific including the South China Sea.

Karen Eggleston, FSI senior fellow and director of the Asia Health Policy Program, was one of the discussants on the USPACOM trip. Her research focuses on health policy in Asia, specifically the effects of demographic change and urbanization.

“As a health economist, the visit yielded for me a behind-the-scenes sense of how members of the military respond to pandemics and humanitarian situations, and of the ongoing dialogue with their counterparts in Asian nations,” Eggleston said. “I think that kind of military-to-military engagement provides an area rich with questions and best practices that could in some ways be shared as a model among other nations.”

Other activities on the first day included a briefing by the U.S. Pacific Fleet command, informal presentations and dialogue between the Stanford participants and the USPACOM staff, and working with senior leaders of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces command.

On the second day, the group visited the U.S. Army’s installation at Schofield Barracks. There, they observed a command post simulation and field exercise including units of the 25th Infantry Division. Graduates from the U.S. Army’s jungle survival training school also shared their impressions of applying lessons in the field. Researchers from the Asia-Pacific Center for Strategic Studies (APCSS) joined the Stanford delegation later in the day. Both sides discussed research outcomes and avenues for future exchanges. The day concluded with an extensive tour of USS Mississippi, a Virginia-class attack submarine. FSI has long engaged military officers through a senior military fellows program. Started in 2009 by the Center for International Security and Cooperation, the program remains active today with five fellows conducting research at Stanford.

Lt. Col. Jose Sumangil, a 2015-16 U.S. Air Force Senior Military Fellow, participated in the Stanford delegation at USPACOM.

“The trip was an excellent opportunity to showcase how the U.S. ‘rebalance to Asia’ strategy is implemented on a day-to-day basis – for example, providing a look into the decision-making process that could occur should a situation arise in the South China Sea,” Sumangil said. “It’s incredibly important to build this kind of understanding among experts studying Asia, and I think we helped do that here.”

USPACOM is one of the largest U.S. military commands with four major service components (U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Army Pacific, U.S. Marine Forces); it is tasked with protecting U.S. people and interests, and enhancing stability in the Asia-Pacific Region.

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A Stanford delegation of 17 faculty members and researchers visited U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) Headquarters in Hawaii, Feb. 4-5, 2016.
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The US, China and the Balance of Influence in and around Southeast Asia

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The recent US-ASEAN summit at Sunnylands in California is just the latest high-profile instance of Washington's efforts to strengthen its relations with Asia. Through a MacArthur Foundation-supported project he is leading, Bates Gill has explored a range of old and new security ties between the US and its partners in the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Australia. Each of these governments seeks to strike the right balance between Washington and Beijing, but the domestic and foreign policies they employ for that purpose differ greatly. Basing his findings and analysis on extensive field research in these countries, Prof. Gill will offer recommendations for Washington and its regional partners as they look to engage with and hedge against a rising China.

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Bates Gill has a 30-year international career as a China watcher, having held teaching, research, and executive leadership positions in the United States, China, Europe, and Australia. He is currently a board director of China Matters, a not-for-profit advisory based in Sydney, Australia. In 2012-15 he was CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He directed the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute from 2007 to 2012 and previously held the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and served as the inaugural director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. 

Prof. Gill has authored or edited seven books including Rising Star: China's New Security Diplomacy and Asia's New Multilateralism: Cooperation, Conflict and the Search for Community (co-edited with Michael Green). His professional affiliations include service on the editorial boards of China Quarterly and the Journal of Contemporary China, the international advisory board of the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, and the board of governors of the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Singapore). His PhD is from the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia.

The US, China and the Balance of Influence in and around Southeast Asia
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Bates Gill Professor of Asia Pacific Strategic Studies, Australia National University
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US trade chief discusses TPP, unveils report on digital economy

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Globalization has lifted more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, but as inequality and barriers to trade remain worldwide, improved trade standards are needed and the Trans-Pacific Partnership promises to be a primary conduit of those standards, America’s top trade official told a Stanford audience on Tuesday.

Ambassador Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, spoke of the merits of the multilateral trade agreement, known as the ‘TPP,’ in a speech given at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

The TPP seeks to liberalize trade and investment between 12 Pacific Rim countries. Signed earlier this month, the document now faces the path to ratification through its members.

“In today’s rapidly globalizing world, the alternative to the TPP is not the status quo,” Froman told nearly one hundred affiliates and guests at the Bechtel Conference Center.

Froman cited efforts by various countries to build up alternative frameworks that promote free trade, but said they miss some components of stability and longevity that the TPP offers. For example, China’s 'one belt, one road' initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a negotiation between 16 Asian countries.

The TPP would serve as an important benchmark for countries seeking to expand economic gains from trade and to level up on common “rules of the road.” He said increase in exports to the United States alone is estimated at $350 billion a year.

“Smart trade agreements like the TPP are how we shape globalization the right way,” Froman said with a call for continued U.S. leadership on the matter.

President Obama has been a strong advocate of the agreement, in line with the administration’s ‘rebalance to Asia’ strategy. The rebalance is a regional strategy that aims to recognize the growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region to U.S. national interests.

Successful passage of the TPP will reassure allies in the region of American staying power, he said.

Countries outside of the TPP have begun to express interest in becoming a party to the agreement. South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia are among them. Application to join the TPP is now closed, but we can “expect over time” that its membership would grow, he said.

At a 2013 conference, FSI scholars examined the potential impact on Taiwan should it seek membership. Outcomes from the conference are published in this report.

Froman said the TPP supports “commerce without borders” among key sectors in the United States, in particular, those found in and around Silicon Valley.

“No state stands to benefit more from the TPP than California,” he said.

Froman announced the release of a report that details TPP provisions focused exclusively on technology and intellectual property.

The event was hosted by the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative in association with FSI, the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The Initiative aims to facilitate constructive interaction between academic and governmental experts on security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region.

Video from the event including Froman’s speech and the Q&A is available here.

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Ambassador Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, delivers remarks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership at Stanford on Feb. 16, 2016. | Rod Searcey
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LAD Course: Singapore Management University 2016

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This module addresses the challenges faced by public sector leaders as they foster economic growth in politically charged environments. Offered in partnership with the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, it uses case studies (mostly drawn from Asia) on how public policy can help the private sector be a constructive force for economic growth and development. A driving principle of the LAD module is that policy reform is not like engineering or other technical fields that have discrete skills and clear, optimal solutions. Instead, successful reformers must be politically aware and weigh a broad range of factors that influence policy outcomes. They must have a solid grasp of country-specific economic, financial, political and cultural realities. Most importantly, they must have a sense of how to set priorities, sequence actions and build coalitions. LAD provides participants with an analytical framework to build these leadership abilities and operate effectively under adverse conditions.  Major themes are 1) Providing public goods efficiently 2) Bypassing Bureaucratic Obstacles, 3) Facilitating private Investment, and 4) Strengthening the role of the state as economic catalyst.  
oster economic growth in
politically charged environments. Offered in partnership with the Leadership Academ
y for Development
(LAD) at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University School of Ad
vanced International Studies, it
uses case studies (mostly drawn from Asia) on how public policy can help the
private sector be a
constructive force for economic growth and development. A driving principl
e of the LAD module is that
policy reform is not like engineering or other technical fields that have disc
rete skills and clear, optimal
solutions. Instead, successful reformers must be politically aware and weigh a
broad range of factors that
influence policy outcomes. They must have a solid grasp of country-spec
ific economic, financial, political
and cultural realities. Most importantly, they must have a sense of how to set
priorities, sequence
actions and build coalitions. LAD provides participants with an analytical
framework to build these
leadership abilities and operate effectively under adverse conditions. Major themes a
re 1) Providing
public goods efficiently 2) Bypassing Bureaucratic Obstacles, 3) Facilitating priv
ate Investment, and 4)
Strengthening the role of the state as economic catalyst.
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Singapore Management University

Singapore

LAD Course: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

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This module addresses the challenges faced by public sector leaders as they foster economic growth in politically charged environments. Offered in partnership with the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, it uses case studies (mostly drawn from Asia) on how public policy can help the private sector be a constructive force for economic growth and development. A driving principle of the LAD module is that policy reform is not like engineering or other technical fields that have discrete skills and clear, optimal solutions. Instead, successful reformers must be politically aware and weigh a broad range of factors that influence policy outcomes. They must have a solid grasp of country-specific economic, financial, political and cultural realities. Most importantly, they must have a sense of how to set priorities, sequence actions and build coalitions. LAD provides participants with an analytical framework to build these leadership abilities and operate effectively under adverse conditions. 

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Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Singapore

Workshops

Traveling the world to train policy reformers

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The Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) is an innovative program at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law that trains mid-level government officials and business leaders to be more effective in promoting policy changes in developing countries.

In order to accomplish this goal, LAD teaches weeklong courses with partner institutions located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Former Soviet Union. The most recent workshop was held in Tbilisi, Georgia in partnership with a leading Georgian think tank.

LAD’s programs attract leaders from the private and public sector who are driving public policy in countries that are transitioning to democracy and strengthening their public institutions.  Since LAD’s launch in 2010, the Program has trained over 400 students hailing from nations as diverse as Timor-Leste, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.

The LAD teaching team is composed of faculty from Stanford, Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and Texas A&M.

At the core of LAD’s curriculum is a set of case studies that encourage students to think critically about the best methods for solving a policy problem. LAD’s case studies are developed by Stanford faculty and students, and are grounded in real-world scenarios drawn from many of the countries where the program is taught. Case studies reframe policy problems based on various scenarios that invite students to contribute their own perspectives and experience.

 

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As described by LAD co-founder and CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama, "The Leadership Academy for Development is unique in that by utilizing the case study method, it provides students with a hands-on, interactive framework for problem solving.” Fukuyama continued, “Students must put themselves in the shoes of the case study's protagonist and then devise a solution to the dilemma presented in the text." 

 

Case study authors are sent to the field where they conduct original interviews and research topics ranging from the funding of a vaccination program in Bangladesh to the challenge of administrative decentralization in Peru. To date, LAD has grown its case study library to over 20 cases that are publically available online for wider use and dissemination. 

Michael Goldfien, an alumnus of Stanford’s International Policy Studies master’s program, researched and wrote three case studies for LAD over the course of a year.

“While I was writing a case about wine export promotion in the Republic of Georgia, speaking with current and former government officials helped put the challenges facing the Georgian wine industry in a broader domestic and international political context, said Goldfien.”

Goldfien continued, “Researching and writing a LAD case study is about more than simply establishing the facts of a specific policy initiative, it’s about putting things in context and mapping out the constellation of stakeholders who stand to gain or lose from a particular reform to understand the political landscape that a would-be reformer must navigate to effect change.”

One of LAD’s more commonly employed case studies is Gifford Pinchot and Sustainable Forest Management, which introduces the student to Gifford Pinchot, who served as the chief forester in the US at the turn of

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 the 20th century. Grounded in the political history during this period, Pinchot faces the moral dilemma of whether he should expose the corrupt political patronage practices reaching all the way up to the office of President Taft, or keep his job and continue to fight for the relevance of the fledgling U.S. Forest Bureau. This case study exposes students to pivotal leadership decisions that they may have to face in their own professional careers.

 

Farai Maguwu, a prominent civil society leader in Zimbabwe who participated in the LAD workshop in Kenya last year summarized his experience, “The case study method was very effective as it made it easy for us to understand that Public-Private Partnerships (PPP’s) are a viable option if there is political will.” Maguwu continued, “For instance, we saw evidence of PPP in practice in one particular case that clearly demonstrated how the private sector could make a public park both beautiful and profitable.”

To learn more about the LAD program and access the case study library, please click here.

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CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama leads a lecture during the Leadership Academy for Development workshop in Tblisi, Georgia. January 2016.
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Stanford Scholar Examines Sectarianism and Urban Segregation in Baghdad [VIDEO]

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As part of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy speaker series, Director of The Markaz: Resource Center Mona Damluji examined the impact of the US-led occupation of Iraq on sectarian-based urban segregation in Baghdad. In a talk held on February 3, 2016, she argued that the sectarian-based segregation that has shaped urbanism in Baghdad is a direct outcome of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The "post"-occupied city is characterized by the normalization of concrete “security” blast-walls that choke urban circulation and sever communities. The notorious blast walls -- or "Bremer Walls" -- perpetuate and intensify conditions of urban segregation. As the summer's surge of anti-government protests in Baghdad demonstrate, the short-sighted nature of this militarized solution to sectarian-based violence has proven to be a superficial and unsustainable fix to the deep dilemma of sectarian segregation codified in Iraq’s political system. The presentation also examined the context for recent public dissent on the streets of Baghdad through the story of the capital city's fragmentation between 2006 and 2007.

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