Stanford University

Policy Analysis

Desha Girod

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CDDRL Postdoctoral Fellow 2008-2009
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Desha Girod is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law at Stanford University where she manages the program Evaluating International Influences on Democratic Development.  Her research focuses on the influence of external actors on political and economic development.  In 2009, she will join the faculty of the Department of Government at Georgetown University.

Policing Politicians: Experiments on Democratic Accountability in Africa

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Jeremy Weinstein is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University and an affiliated faculty member at CDDRL and CISAC. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he directed the bi-partisan Commission on Weak States and US National Security. While working on his PhD, with funding from the Jacob Javits Fellowship, a Sheldon Fellowship, and the World Bank, he conducted hundreds of interviews with rebel combatants and civilians in both Africa and Latin America for his forthcoming book, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. He has also worked on the National Security Council staff; served as a visiting scholar at the World Bank; was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and received a research fellowship in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution. He received his BA with high honors from Swarthmore College, and his MA and PhD in political economy and government from Harvard University.

CISAC Conference Room

Jeremy M. Weinstein Professor Speaker CDDRL
Seminars

Reykjavik Revisited: Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

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Twenty-one years ago, at the October 1986 Reykjavik Summit, President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev entered into an unprecedented dialogue regarding their desire to eliminate their countries' nuclear weapons; in 2006 a conference at the Hoover Institution attempted to rekindle the vision of that historic meeting; now, in the fall of 2007, this policy brief published collaboratively by the World Security Institute and Lawyers Alliance for World Security seeks to reinforce the goals of those who seek a world without nuclear weapons.

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Is India a Knowledge Economy?

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What are the underpinnings of India's vibrant technology sector? Dr. Dossani will look at the causes and prospects of the sector, including the role of the diaspora, education, familiarity with the English language, entrepreneurship and economic and political reforms.

Rafiq Dossani is a senior research scholar at Shorenstein APARC, responsible for developing and directing the South Asia Initiative. His research interests include South Asian security, and financial, technology, and energy-sector reform in India. He is currently undertaking projects on political reform, business process outsourcing, innovation and entrepreneurship in information technology in India, and security in the Indian subcontinent.

Dossani holds a BA in economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, India; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India; and a PhD in finance from Northwestern University.

His latest book, India Arriving: How This Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business, will be available at the seminar.

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Philippines Conference Room

Rafiq Dossani

No longer in residence.

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R_Dossani_headshot.jpg PhD

Rafiq Dossani was a senior research scholar at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) and erstwhile director of the Stanford Center for South Asia. His research interests include South Asian security, government, higher education, technology, and business.  

Dossani’s most recent book is Knowledge Perspectives of New Product Development, co-edited with D. Assimakopoulos and E. Carayannis, published in 2011 by Springer. His earlier books include Does South Asia Exist?, published in 2010 by Shorenstein APARC; India Arriving, published in 2007 by AMACOM Books/American Management Association (reprinted in India in 2008 by McGraw-Hill, and in China in 2009 by Oriental Publishing House); Prospects for Peace in South Asia, co-edited with Henry Rowen, published in 2005 by Stanford University Press; and Telecommunications Reform in India, published in 2002 by Greenwood Press. One book is under preparation: Higher Education in the BRIC Countries, co-authored with Martin Carnoy and others, to be published in 2012.

Dossani currently chairs FOCUS USA, a non-profit organization that supports emergency relief in the developing world. Between 2004 and 2010, he was a trustee of Hidden Villa, a non-profit educational organization in the Bay Area. He also serves on the board of the Industry Studies Association, and is chair of the Industry Studies Association Annual Conference for 2010–12.

Earlier, Dossani worked for the Robert Fleming Investment Banking group, first as CEO of its India operations and later as head of its San Francisco operations. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of a stockbroking firm on the OTCEI stock exchange in India, as the deputy editor of Business India Weekly, and as a professor of finance at Pennsylvania State University.

Dossani holds a BA in economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, India; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India; and a PhD in finance from Northwestern University.

Senior Research Scholar
Executive Director, South Asia Initiative
Rafiq Dossani Senior Research Scholar Speaker Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Seminars

Workshop on the Status of Agricultural Policy Reform in the US, the EU, and the WTO

Session I: Analytical Frameworks for Studying Farm Policy Reform

Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College

Discussant: Christophe Crombez, University of Leuven and Stanford University

Session II: The Evidence of a Hallian Paradigm Shift in Farm Policy

Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University

Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech

Session III: Experience with Farm Policy Reform, 1990-1995

Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University (GATT/WTO: UR up to Heysel, 1990)

Discussant: Stephen Tangermann, University of Gottingen; Lee Ann Patterson, UCSF

Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (US 1990 Farm Bill)

Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech

Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University (Blair House, 1992-1993 and URAA, 1994)

Discussant: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (EU 1992 CAP Reform)

Session IV: Farm Policy Reform, 1996-2000

Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (US 1996 Fair Act)

Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech

Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (EU Agenda 2000)

Discussant: Stefan Tangermann, University of Gottingen; John Gillingham, University of Missouri

Session V: Future of Farm Policy Reform

Speaker; Tim Josling, Stanford University (WTO 2000 Round)

Speaker: David Orden, Virginia Tech (US Farm Policy Futures)

Speaker: Stefan Tangermann, University of Gottingen (CAP Reform Possibilities)

Discussant: All

Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room

Workshops

Symposium on Trans-Atlantic Trade Conflicts: Understanding and Resolving the Banana Problem

Session I: The World Banana Market

Speaker: Tom Spreen, University of Florida

Discussant: Micky Paggi, Congressional Budget Office

"The World Banana Market"

Session II: Bananas and the EU

Speaker: Stephan Tangermann, University of Gottingen

Discussant: Jo Swinnen, Leuven and EU Commission

"Bananas and the EU"

Session III: Bananas and Multinationals

Speaker: Tim Taylor and Xavier Abufele, University of Florida

Discussant: Micky Paggi, Congressional Budget Office

"Bananas and Multinationals"

Session IV: Bananas and the Caribbean

Speaker: Tim Taylor, University of Florida; Patrick Antoine, RNM, Barbados

Discussant: John Stovall, NCFAP, Washington

"Bananas and the Carribbean"

Session V: Bananas and the WTO

Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University

Discussant: Stephan Tangermann, University of Gottingen

"Bananas and the WTO"

Session VI: Lessons for Trade Policy

Session VII: Group discussion about the completion and publication of the book "Going Bananas"

Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room

Symposiums

Just Supply Chains

Globalization, with its volatile mix of economic opportunity and social disruption, is reorganizing production, redefining work, and provoking fundamental changes in the institutions of economic governance. In a world of global supply chains - with links extending across cultural and political boundaries - corporations, unions, NGOs, national governments, and even international labor, trade and financial organizations are all casting about, searching for new strategic directions and/or novel institutional arrangements.

Labeling Products of Food Biotechnology: Panacea or Hidden Trade Barrier?

In the debates surrounding genetically modified organisms in the food supply, the issue of labeling has become ever more salient. The EU is developing regulations to require labeling and traceability for all foods containing or derived from GMOs. Other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and Thailand are also in the process of developing voluntary labeling guidelines. In January of 2000, 130 countries adopted the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety which calls for bulk shipments of GMO commodities, such as corn or soybeans that are intended to be used as food, feed or for processing, to be accompanied by documentation stating that such shipments "may contain" living modified organisms and are "not intended for intentional introduction into the environment." Will these labeling systems prevent trade disruptions and enhance the international trading system established by the WTO? Or will they act as non-tariff barriers that obfuscate consumer decisions and lead to greater expense, confusion and ultimately to new trade wars?

Any GMO labeling debate must take into consideration the political, economic, legal, operational and administrative aspects of such labeling. The political considerations include the maintenance of confidence in the food system and how policy makers balance the demands of domestic constituencies against their various international obligations, such as under WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. The economic questions focus on a cost/benefit analysis of segregation and identity-preservation and whether labels provide information or capture a premium for producers. The legal issues include the possible challenge of discrimination in trade and the extent of liability under domestic law for misleading or incorrect labels. Operational adn administrative questions center on whether to make labels mandatory, whether to take a product or process approach, how feasible and costly are particular approaches and whether it is necessary it is necessary to require full traceability.

The workshop will be hosted by the European Forum of the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. The goal of the workshop is to make a significant contribution to the ongoing policy debate. Participants will include academic, government and private sector specialists and bring expertise in economics, law and political science.

Seminars

The Spiral of State-Building and Confucian Revolution in Choson Korea

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On March 18, 1871, Taewongun (Grand Prince) who held real power when King Kojong (r. 1863-1907) assumed power at the age of 12, issued a historical order that was enforced nationwide: All Confucian private academies ever built, except for the forty-seven royal-chartered ones, were to be destroyed. To justify this unprecedented repression, Taewongun argued that the academies were "the fundamental causes for the decaying nation." During the period from 1865 to 1871, over 800 academies were abolished and these intermediate organizations largely disappeared from the central scene of the Korean history and politics. Taewongun's startling regulation of private academies was rather surprising. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Choson monarchs enthusiastically encouraged and sponsored the establishment of the academies on the ground that the academy growth would contribute to country's moral reform and state-building. Why did the dramatic change of governmental policy on the academies occur? How can we resolve this historical enigma? To answer these questions, Koo situates this historical drama in a broader -structural- sociological context involving political competition between the state and nascent civil society, in association with his aim of overcoming the current historical explanations emphasizing more imminent causes of the abolition, such as military and fiscal abuses of the academies.

Jeong-Woo Koo is a visiting scholar at the department of sociology, Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University in 2007. His interests include comparative-historical sociology, organizations, sociology of education, political sociology, quantitative method, and East-Asian studies. His dissertation explores a long term political competition between state and civil society in Choson Korea. He is currently working on two projects, one on the worldwide expansion of international human rights and its impact on nation-states (with John Meyer and Francisco Ramirez), and the other on the formation of regionalism in East Asia (with Gi-Wook Shin). His publications include "The Origins of the Public Sphere and Civil Society: Private Academies and Petitions in Korea, 1506-1800," Social Science History 31: 3 (Fall 2007), and "World Society and Human Rights: Worldwide Foundings of National Human Rights Institutions, 1978-2004," Korean Journal of Sociology 41: 3 (Spring 2007).

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Philippines Conference Room

Jeong-Woo Koo Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology, Stanford University Speaker
Seminars
Korean Studies Colloquium Series
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