Stanford University

Human Rights

Democratic Transitions and Development in Africa: Beyond Prebendalist Systems

-

 Abstract:

Systemic corruption undermines state capacity, imperils socio-economic development, and diminishes democracy. In his Nairobi speech as a U.S. senator in August 2006, Barack Obama described the struggle to reduce corruption as "the fight of our time". An international conference in Lagos, Nigeria, in September 2011 was devoted to Richard Joseph's influential 1987 book, Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic.Transforming prebendalist systems must be at the center of strategies to strengthen democracy and achieve poverty-reducing economic growth in Africa and other regions.

 Speaker Bio: 

Richard Joseph is John Evans Professor of International History and Politics at Northwestern University and Non resident Senior Fellow in Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution. As a Fellow of The Carter Center, he participated in democracy and peace initiatives in Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia, Liberiaand Sudan. He has written extensively on issues of democracy, governance and political economy. His books include Radical Nationalism in Cameroun (1977), Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria (1987) and edited books, Gaullist Africa: Cameroon under Ahmadu Ahidjo (1978), State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa (1999), and (with Alexandra Gillies), Smart Aid for African Development (2009). He served as Principal Investigator of the Research Alliance to Combat HIV/AIDS (REACH), a collaborative program in Nigeria, 2006–2011. His current writing and policy projects concern growth, democracy and security. To address these issues, he is designing a collaborative project, AfricaPlus (http://africaplus.wordpress.com/), whose first focus country is Nigeria.

Here is the link to Richard Joseph remarks and the PowerPoint for the talk.

http://africaplus.wordpress.com/author/africaplus/

CISAC Conference Room

Richard Joseph John Evans Professor of International History and Politics Speaker Northwestern University
Seminars

How to build a world free of slaves

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

On March 6, Justin Dillon, musician, film director and consultant to the State Department Office to combat human trafficking, spoke about open source activism and the work of slaveryfootprint.org to build a world free of slaves. Mr. Dillon presented at the eighth installment of the Program on Human Rights Sanela Diana Jenkins International Speakers Series at Stanford’s Bechtel Center.

Mr. Dillon recounted how he was deeply moved and decided to take action against trafficking after he and his band, Tremolo, toured Russia in the 90s and came across scores of young women lured abroad with the promise of a better life and bogus job offers. “As a musician, in the middle of chaos, I want to bring order,” he explained. “When I returned, I wanted people to feel what I feel,” Mr. Dillon added. He explained that the roots of his music, soul and jazz, are also products of slavery and the cry for recognition and help. He understood that it was natural to use music against modern day slavery.

Mr. Dillon explained that his first efforts were to help raise awareness of the problem and help organizations in the US that were addressing the issue of human trafficking. He hosted benefit concerts and came with the idea of a documentary that combined both critically acclaimed artists and social luminaries. “Although I am not a celebrity, I was impressed by the people that agreed to talk to me,” Mr. Dillon said. He also advised students “don’t ask for permission to change the world.” The result of this work, the film Call+ Response, was sold out in the theaters and widely acclaimed.

Explaining that open source activism is a thought and a value, Mr. Dillon suggested that organizations working against trafficking need to think more innovatively. They can learn from the environmental platform and adapt it to fight slavery. He reminded the audience that businesses spend a lot of money trying to work out what consumers want and that we live in a historically important time when consumers can tell companies what they want: a world free of slaves.

Hero Image
dillon Logo
Justin Dillon
NM
All News button
1

One Year Later: International Responses to the Crisis in Syria

-

 

In commemoration of the Syrian revolution's one year anniversary, STAND and CDDRL are

proud to host a panel discussion about international responses to the crisis in Syria.  

Join us in the Arrillaga Study Room from 6:00-7:30pm on Thursday, March 15th.

 

Co-sponsored by:  MSAN

 

Download pdf

Study Room at Arrillaga Family Dining Commons

Larry Diamond

CDDRL
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C147
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 724-6448 (650) 723-1928
0
Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science and Sociology
diamond_encina_hall.png MA, PhD

Larry Diamond is the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is also professor by courtesy of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford, where he lectures and teaches courses on democracy (including an online course on EdX). At the Hoover Institution, he co-leads the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region and participates in the Project on the U.S., China, and the World. At FSI, he is among the core faculty of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, which he directed for six and a half years. He leads FSI’s Israel Studies Program and is a member of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. He also co-leads the Global Digital Policy Incubator, based at FSI’s Cyber Policy Center. He served for 32 years as founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy.

Diamond’s research focuses on global trends affecting freedom and democracy and on U.S. and international policies to defend and advance democracy. His book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency, analyzes the challenges confronting liberal democracy in the United States and around the world at this potential “hinge in history,” and offers an agenda for strengthening and defending democracy at home and abroad.  A paperback edition with a new preface was released by Penguin in April 2020. His other books include: In Search of Democracy (2016), The Spirit of Democracy (2008), Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (1999), Promoting Democracy in the 1990s (1995), and Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria (1989). He has edited or coedited more than fifty books, including China’s Influence and American Interests (2019, with Orville Schell), Silicon Triangle: The United States, China, Taiwan the Global Semiconductor Security (2023, with James O. Ellis Jr. and Orville Schell), and The Troubling State of India’s Democracy (2024, with Sumit Ganguly and Dinsha Mistree).

During 2002–03, Diamond served as a consultant to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and was a contributing author of its report, Foreign Aid in the National Interest. He has advised and lectured to universities and think tanks around the world, and to the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other organizations dealing with governance and development. During the first three months of 2004, Diamond served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. His 2005 book, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, was one of the first books to critically analyze America's postwar engagement in Iraq.

Among Diamond’s other edited books are Democracy in Decline?; Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World; Will China Democratize?; and Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy, all edited with Marc F. Plattner; and Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran, with Abbas Milani. With Juan J. Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset, he edited the series, Democracy in Developing Countries, which helped to shape a new generation of comparative study of democratic development.

Download full-resolution headshot; photo credit: Rod Searcey.

Former Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
Faculty Chair, Jan Koum Israel Studies Program
Hide publication sections
Off
Date Label
Larry Diamond CDDRL Director, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and the Hoover Institution Speaker
Lina Khatib Co-founder and Program Manager Moderator Program of Arab Reform, CDDRL
Nabeel Khoury Director of the Office of Political Analysis for the Middle East Speaker US State Department
Anas Qtiesh Syrian Human Rights activist and a blogger Speaker
Conferences

Bay Area law enforcement adopt victims-based approach to combat human trafficking

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

The Program on Human Rights presented the seventh installment of the Sanela Diana Jenkins International Speakers Series on February 28, which focused on anti-trafficking measures in the Bay area. Lt. John Vanek and Sgt. Kyle Oki from the San Jose Police Department Human Trafficking Task Force and Captain Antonio Parra from the San Francisco Police Department Human Trafficking Task Force spoke about their unit’s recent implementation of a victims-based approach in law enforcement, speaking frankly about its importance and the challenges it presents.

Lt. Vanek explained how the San Jose Police Department had transitioned from a criminal approach to prostitution to a multi-disciplinary model to combat modern-day slavery. The San Jose human trafficking task force was created in 2005 but the victim-centered approach is still developing. He spoke about some of the ongoing challenges, namely that all police officers need training on program management and victim assistance, and also deeper expertise on criminal investigations of human trafficking cases.

Sgt. Oki argued that a victim-centered approach is often restricted to identifying and rescuing victims of human trafficking. He noted that while it would be ideal to prosecute offenders, that is often not possible because police officers must ensure that they respect the victims’ agency and also guarantee their safety and confidentiality. He mentioned that sometimes trafficked children are safer in juvenile hall than in shelters, where they could be repeatedly exposed to traffickers. 

Although the San Francisco Special Victims Unit (SVU) is relatively new – it was created in October 2011— it already includes 60 members. “The SVU represents a philosophical transition that shifts from enforcement to investigation,” explained Captain Parra. “The SVU maintains a proactive stance and integrates related disciplines to investigate specialized crimes such as: human trafficking, elder abuse, internet crimes against children, financial crimes, missing persons, domestic violence and sex crimes,” he continued.

The three presenters agreed that cooperation and coordination is key for a successful victim-based approach. There is need for coordination mechanisms established to stimulate deeper reflection and cooperation in dealing with the problem among different counties, states and countries.

Hero Image
Vanek Oki Parra Logo
Sgt. Kyle Oki, Helen Stacy, Captain Antonio Parra and Lt. John Vanek.
NM
All News button
1

The Voice of Palestinian Civil Society: A Call for Non-Violent Resistanace

-

Dear members of the Arab Studies Table, 

You are cordially invited to a private informal networking event with  world-renowned Palestinian activist, MP, and former presidential candidate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee  

 Dr. Mustafa Barghouti  

on Monday March 5, 6-7pm   

at CISAC central conference room, Encina Hall 2nd floor

followed by a speech at

Cubberley Auditorium

at 7:00pm

The event is an exclusive opportunity for the members of the Arab Studies Table to meet and network with Dr. Barghouti, who will be delivering a speech afterwards at the Cubberley Auditorium (at 7pm) on non-violent activism in Palestine. Please see attached flyer for further details. The Cubberley talk is a public event.  

We hope you can join us for the informal networking event with Dr. Barghouti on March 5 at 6pm. Coffee, refreshments, and cookies will be served!  

Please RSVP by replying to Arab Studies Table coordinator Brian Johnsrud (johnsrud@stanford.edu) with your name and affiliation. Non-Arab Studies Table guests are welcome if they are accompanied by a Table member (please send their names when you RSVP). Please RSVP by Sunday March 4.

Dr. Barghouti's bio:

Member of the Palestinian parliament; former Minister of Information under the 2007 National Unity Government; 2005 presidential candidate; General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative; physician; social, political, human rights and peace activist; one of the most active grassroots leadersin Palestine; campaigner for the development of Palestinian civil society and grassroots democracy; outspoken advocate of internal reform; international spokesperson for the Palestinian cause; leading figure in the non-violent, peaceful struggle against the Occupation; and organizer of international solidarity presence in the Palestine, Mustafa Barghouthi has made an extraordinary contribution to initiatives to peacefully challenge the ongoing Israeli Occupation of Palestine and bring it to end, as well as efforts to build the institutional framework of Palestinian civil society and promote the principles of internal democracy and good governance.  He writes extensively for local and international audiences on civil society and democracy issues and the political situation in Palestine, as well as on health development policy in Palestine. In 2010 Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Co-founder of the Peace People. 

In 2002, Dr. Barghouthi co-founded Al Mubadara (the Palestinian National Initiative, PNI), along with Dr. Edward Said, Dr. Haider Abdel-Shafi and Mr. Ibrahim Dakak, and currently serves as its General Secretary.  Al Mubadara is a democratic opposition movement that provides a reformist, inclusive, democratic alternative to both autocracy and corruption, and to fundamentalist groups.  It looks to achieve this by promoting an accountable and transparent democratic system in Palestine, and by strengthening contacts between Palestinians in the Territories and those in the Diaspora.  It also seeks to develop mass non-violence and international solidarity as the preferred means of ending the Israeli Occupation and achieving lasting peace, and to mobilize public opinion by making the Palestinian story visible in the international media.  

 Latest article on non-violent activism in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/opinion/peaceful-protest-can-free-palestine.html?ref=opinion

  Arab Studies Table at Stanford: http://www.stanford.edu/group/arabstudiestable/index.html

 



 

Download ppt

Cubberley Auditorium
459 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA, 94305

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti Co-founder of the Palestinian National Initiative and the Union of Palestinian Medical Committees Speaker
Conferences

Addressing the supply and demand side of the sex trafficking industry

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

Jean Enriquez, executive director of the coalition Against Trafficking of Women Asia-Pacific, presented at the sixth installment of the Sanela Diana Jenkins International Speaker Series at Stanford’s Bechtel Center on February 21. Enriquez focused on the problem of sex trafficking in the Asia-Pacific countries, arguing that prostitution is incompatible with dignity and respect for human rights. Enriquez emphasized the importance of considering both the supply and demand side when individuals, organizations and governments address human trafficking.

“There are well-known push factors on the supply side,” noted Enriquez as she listed causes of vulnerabilities such as unemployment, poverty, lack of education and information, socialization of women and children as sexual objects, history of abuse, displacement due to natural calamities or conflict, liberalization of tourism, opening up of mining areas, conversion of agricultural lands and labor exports.

On the demand side, she suggested that militarism, pornography, cybersex and a corrupted idea of masculinity are drivers for commercial sex and sex trafficking. Enrique added that the supply and demand equation results in considerable profits. According to Enriquez, the sex industry accounts for 4.4% of Korea’s GDP, approximately the same portion as the agriculture and fishery industry.  

Enriquez also highlighted the link between militarism and sex trafficking citing data collected from victims of the Burmese junta and of soldiers stationed or in passage in the bases of Okinawa and Korea.

Addressing the difficulties of enforcing accountability, she highlighted the need for a cross-border and multi-sectoral cooperation that shifts punishment from victims to “buyers” and businesses. She added that her organization, in addition to working to strengthen and support victims, also devotes special attention to sensitizing men towards the plight of women and children forced into prostitution.

Hero Image
Enriquez Logo
Jean Enriquez
NM
All News button
1

New Stanford summer course to bring leading human rights actors inside the classroom

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

The Program on Human Rights at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, together with Stanford Summer Session are proud to offer a special session on human rights June 25 - July 25, 2012.  The new course entitled, New Global Human Rights presents the question of human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective, taking into account the 21st century context, which requires that both state and non-state actors are included in the movement for rights for all. The course will examine emerging trends in international human rights with an analysis of new categories of human rights victims, actors, and technologies. Other related courses will be offered to allow students to build a summer schedule that allows them to engage in the academic study of human rights in a truly transformative way.

Helen Stacy, director of the Program on Human Rights will teach the course which draws on the expertise of leading figures in the field of human rights. Keynote speakers include Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the former solicitor-general, attorney-general, and Minister of Justice of The Gambia. Last December, Bensouda was elected as the new ICC chief prosecutor and is the first African to hold a top position at the ICC. According to Stacy, “Her (Bensouda's) visit to Stanford is a unique opportunity for the Stanford community to learn about the continuity of the work of the ICC from someone who is genuinely concerned about human rights issues,” said Stacy.

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), speaking at Stanford on June 27, 2012 

Philip Gourevitch, an American author and journalist will also speak at the summer course. Gourevitch has written feature stories and books documenting global human rights abuses, including; the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia, the dictatorships of Mobutu Sese Seko in Congo and Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe; the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka; and the abuses committed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “Gourevitch has reported on some of the major and current human rights issues across the globe, " said Stacy, "To hear him speak is the closest we can get the primary account on these situations.”

This course is cross-listed in POLISCI, IPS, and INTNLREL, and open to registered Summer Session students (including Stanford students who register for units in the summer) who wish to explore courses outside their major, or simply accelerate their degree program. They will be joined by students from around the world who are invited to experience campus life at Stanford. To find out more information or to apply, please visit summer.stanford.edu.

All News button
1

Local Law Enforcement Human Trafficking Task Forces

-

In 2005, California enacted its first anti-trafficking law to make human trafficking a felony in this state and assist victims in rebuilding their lives. Speakers Lt. John Vanek and Sgt Kyle Oki from the San Jose Human Trafficking Task Force, and Deputy Chief Antonio Parra from the San Francisco Human Trafficking Task Forece will speak about identifying cases and victims. They offer a unique perspective on the extent of the problem in California as well as if we are doing enough to protect and assist victims, prosecute traffickers and prevent this violation of human rights.

Bechtel Conference Center

Lt. John Vanek Anti-Human Trafficking Consultant Speaker
Sgt. Kyle Oki Speaker San Jose Human Trafficking Task Force
Chief Deputy Antonio Parra Speaker San Francisco Human Trafficking Task Force
Seminars
Human Trafficking

Rape in War Time. A History to Be Written

-
Isabelle Delpla is assistant professor of philosophy, HDR in philosophy and political science, University Montpellier III, and member of the Research Center Triangle (UMR CNRS 5206). Her research focuses on the relation between philosophy and anthropology and on international ethics and justice. She has carried out fieldwork in postwar Bosnia (with victim associations; warcrime trial prosecution and defense witnesses; and convicted war criminals). Her work on postwar Bosnia deals with the Srebrenica massacre, the reception of the International criminal tribunal (ICTY) and the status of victim and witnesses (see Peines de la guerre, La justice pénale internationale et l’ex-Yougoslavie, coedited with M. Bessone, EHESS, 2010 et Investigating Srebrenica, coedited with X. Bougarel et J.-L. Fournel, Berghahn, forthcoming in 2012; Viols en temps de guerre, Paris, Payot, 2011, coedited with R. Branche, F. Virgili,  J. Horne, P. Lagrou, D Palmieri). On this basis, she is developing a (philosophical) attempt at moving beyond moral and political solipsism in a general theorizing of international ethics and justice (See Le mal en procès. Eichmann et les théodicées modernes, Hermann, 2011).

Richard and Rhoda Goldman Conference Room

Isabelle Delpla Professor of Philosophy Speaker University of Montpellier III
Norman Naimark Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies Moderator Stanford University, FSI Senior Fellow by courtesy
Helen Stacy Director Moderator Program on Human Rights
Seminars
Globalization and Human Rights

Will human rights dominate the international stage by 2022?

Authors
News Type
Commentary
Date
Paragraphs

In a piece for Global Brief magazine, Helen Stacy makes predictions about the state of international human rights norms and criminal prosecutions by the year 2022. Director of the CDDRL Program on Human Rights, Stacy anticipates that the U.S. will join the International Criminal Court after it has acquired a firm record of indictment on a global level, emboldening new actors on the human rights scene. According to Stacy in twenty years time, human rights will be the only legitimate game in town and the litmus test for international and domestic credibility.

Hero Image
ICC Logo
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo arrives at a news conference to comment on the arrest warrant issued for Libyan leader Gaddafi in The Hague on June 28, 2011
Reuters: Jerry Lampen
All News button
1
Subscribe to Human Rights