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.
CISAC Senior Fellow Scott Sagan and Affiliated Faculty Member Allen Weiner of the Stanford Law School teach "Rules of War," a Thinking Matters course that investigates the legal rules that govern the resort to, and conduct of war, and study whether these rules affect the conduct of states and individuals. The class will confront various ethical, legal, and strategic problems as they make decisions about military intervention and policies regarding the threat and use of force in an international crisis. The class culminates in one of CISAC's signature simulations in which students are assigned roles within the presidential cabinet.
As the new academic year gets underway, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center’s Corporate Affiliates Program is excited to welcome its new class of fellows to Stanford University.
The 2014-15 fellows and their affiliations are listed below:
Liang Fang, China Sunrain Solar Energy Co., Ltd.
Wataru Fukuda, Shizuoka Prefectural Government
Zhao Han, PetroChina
Yoshihiro Kaga, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan
Tsuyoshi Koshikawa, Ministry of Finance, Japan
Jaigeun Lim, Seoul Metropolitan Government
Yun Bae Lim, Samsung LIfe Insurance
Feng Lin, ACON Biotechnology
Yasunori Matsui, Mitsubishi Electric
Tatsuru Nakajima, Sumitomo Corporation
Shingo Nakano, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan
Ryuichi Ohta, Japan Patent Office
Jong Soo Paek, Samsung Electronics
Rajeev Prasad, Reliance Life Sciences
Ryuichiro Takeshita, Asahi Shimbun
Ryo Wakabayashi, Sumitomo Corporation
Changbao Zhang, PetroChina
At Stanford, the fellows will audit classes, work on English language skills, and conduct individual research projects. At the end of the year, they will give formal presentations on their research findings. At the Center, they will have the opportunity to consult with Shorenstein APARC's scholars and attend events featuring visiting experts from around the world. The fellows will also participate in special events and site visits to gain a firsthand understanding of business, society and culture in the United States.
Hero Image
The 2014-15 Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows stand on the front steps of Encina Hall.
Professors Morris, Ober, and Scheidel examine the long-term institutional constraints on economic development. The panel will discuss their GDP project and how “big history” can inform the effectiveness and impact of foreign aid and technical innovation in developing countries and how their might provide insights for policy makers about the conditions under which particular aid projects and innovations will have a positive payoff.
Encina Hall 616 Serra Street Stanford, CA 94305-6165
0
irmgard.marboe@univie.ac.at
Visiting Scholar at The Europe Center, 2014-2015
marboe.jpg
Irmgard Marboe is a visiting scholar at The Europe Center and an Associate Professor of International Law in the Department of European, International and Comparative Law, Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna. She is the head of the Austrian National Point of Contact for Space Law (NPOC) of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL). Between 2008 and 2012, she was the chair of the working group on national space legislation of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space which drafted the most recent UN General Assembly resolution relating to outer space activities (Res 68/74 of 11 December 2013).
Another research focus is international investment law where Professor Marboe specializes on the issue of compensation and damages. A second edition of her book Calculation of Compensation and Damages in International Investment Law (Oxford University Press, 2009) is currently in preparation. In addition, she works on Islamic law in the context of international law. She has been the director of the bi-annual Vienna International Christian-Islamic Summer University (www.vicisu.com) since 2008.
While at Stanford, Professor Marboe will work on a research project comparing US and European policies and legislation on data collected by Earth observation satellites.
******* LOCATION CHANGE******* New Location - Philippines Conference Room , 3rd Floor, Encina Hall
ABSTRACT
After China’s new leadership took office in 2012, rule of law, as a powerful tool to re-shape state governance, was back to the stage as a focus of the ruling Party of China. There are a number of reform steps taken, and the political implication behind the veil is significant. This presentation will analyze the major reform steps to strengthen the rule of law and the debates in recent two years, especially judicial reform and anti-corruption. In addition, it will interpret the reform blueprint on rule of law issued by both the 3rd and 4th plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Congresses.
SPEAKER BIO
Qing Gu is the Team Leader of the Poverty, Equity and Governance Team of the United Nations Development Programme in China. She manages the governance, poverty reduction and equity portfolio of UNDP’s development assistance to China. She ensures that the portfolio brings transformational change at the request of China in democratic governance, civil society development, rule of law, public administration reform as well as poverty reduction and equity. She bridges the government, think tanks, civil society and the private sector in absorbing the best international expertise, knowledge and policy advice, to fulfill UNDP’s mission to make the Chinese people live better lives in a strengthened governance system, and enjoy democratic, equitable and sustainable development. Qing was previously a division director responsible for international cooperation at the Ministry of Justice of China. She was a Chevening scholar and received her Master Degree with overall distinction at the Faculty of Law of Oxford University in 2006. She assisted the research on organized crime at the Center for Criminology of Oxford University in 2007 and 2008. Qing was a Draper Hills Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law in 2013.
Philippines Conference Room
3rd Floor , Encina Hall Central
Gu Qing
Team Leader in Poverty, Equity and Governance, United Nations Development Programme
Stanford’s Program on Human Rights in the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is collaborating with U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health to present the Children’s Human Rights Seminar Series for 2014-2015.
This monthly series will bring together UNICEF representatives, academic experts, and global civil society leaders to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing children today. Each event will highlight one of UNICEF's main programmatic areas, in the following order: emergency response, HIV/AIDS, disabilities, child protection, nutrition, water and sanitation, health and immunizations, and education.
CISAC Central, 2nd Floor, Encina Hall
Erica Kochi
UNICEF Innovation
Eric Talbert
Director
Emergency USA
Brad Adams
Director
Human Rights Watch Asia
Eric Weiss
Emergency Medicine
Moderator
Stanford Medical Center
FSI's Francis Fukuyama and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, a William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at CISAC, write in the Financial Times that President Barack Obama's stance on ISIS is "overpromising" and that the United States should follow lessons from British history and pursue a more sustainable strategy known as "offshore balancing."
FSI's Francis Fukuyama and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, a William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at CISAC, write in the Financial Times that President Barack Obama's stance on ISIS is "overpromising" and that the United States should follow lessons from British history and pursue a more sustainable strategy known as "offshore balancing."
Please note that this CDDRL seminar will be held on Wednesday.
Abstract:
Recent estimates place half of the world’s poorest people in fragile and conflict-affected states by 2015. As the world moves towards the next phase of global development goals, which includes a central emphasis on eradicating extreme poverty, it will be necessary to understand the challenges for countries in the most difficult contexts. Is addressing and resolving fragility a condition (or precondition) for successfully addressing poverty? Or, are there ways to significantly and sustainably reduce poverty even while countries remain fragile?
USAID is seeking to answer these questions as it recommits to working with its partners to end extreme poverty by 2030. And while we acknowledge that ending extreme poverty will not be easy, progress and gains already achieved over the past couple of decades have made us certain that it is possible. As the global community coalesces around this goal, USAID seeks to increase shared understanding of the nature of extreme poverty, where there has been success and why, and what we are already doing and will need to do differently to catalyze and invest in global solutions.
Speaker Bio:
Alex Thier
Alex Thier is USAID’s assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL). The PPL Bureau is USAID’s center for policy development, strategic planning, learning and evaluation, and partner engagement. From June 2010‐ June 2013, Thier served as assistant to the administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs, overseeing USAID’s two largest missions in the world.
Before joining USAID, Thier served with the U.S. Institute of Peace as senior rule of law adviser and director for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2005‐ 2010. While at the Institute, he co‐authored The Future of Afghanistan (2009) as well as The Next Chapter: The United States and Pakistan, the 2008 report of the Pakistan Working Group. Thier also served as director of the Institute’sConstitution Making, Peacebuilding, and National Reconciliation project, during which he advised numerous governments and civil society organizations engaged in ongoing constitutional drafting and national reconciliation exercises. Thier was also a principal staffer on the Institute’s Genocide Prevention Task Force, and a coauthor of its final report, Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers. The recommendations from this report formed the backbone of President Barack Obama’s 2011 Directive on Mass Atrocities.
Thier previously served as director of the Project on Failed States at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. From 2002 to 2004, he was legal adviser to Afghanistan’s Constitutional and Judicial Reform Commissions in Kabul, where he assisted in the development of a new constitution and judicial system. He has also worked as a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, a legal and constitutional expert to the British Department for International Development, and as an adviser to the Constitutional Commission of Southern Sudan.
From 1993 to 1996, Thier worked as a U.N. and NGO official in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Afghan civil war. He also served as coordination officer for the U.N. Iraq Program in New York.
An attorney, Thier was a Skadden fellow and a graduate fellow at the U.S. National Security Council’s Directorate for Near‐East and South Asia. He received the Richard S. Goldsmith award for outstanding work on dispute resolution from Stanford University in 2000.
Thier has a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Brown University.
Discussion Paper: Ending extreme poverty in fragile contexts
Encina Hall, 3nd Floor 616 Serra St Stanford, CA 94305
Alex Thier
Assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning
Assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning
United States Agency for International Development
The China Program’s "New Approaches to China" series features scholars and practitioners who are focused on policy-relevant research questions that offer a fresh examination of enduring themes in the study of contemporary China. These themes include the sustainability of China's growth model, resilience of the Chinese party-state, frictions in Chinese state-society relations, and China's evolving relationship with a dynamic region and global system.
The 3rd Plenum of the 18th Party Congress unveiled details of the reforms to come under Xi Jinping’s rule of China. But how significant are they? Are the proposed reforms sufficient to tackle the challenges that China faces? Can they be achieved? Are they contradictory? These questions are all the more pressing given Xi Jinping’s seemingly divergent policy directions in the economic and political realms.
Alex Thier