FSI researchers work to understand continuity and change in societies as they confront their problems and opportunities. This includes the implications of migration and human trafficking. What happens to a society when young girls exit the sex trade? How do groups moving between locations impact societies, economies, self-identity and citizenship? What are the ethnic challenges faced by an increasingly diverse European Union? From a policy perspective, scholars also work to investigate the consequences of security-related measures for society and its values.
The Europe Center reflects much of FSI’s agenda of investigating societies, serving as a forum for experts to research the cultures, religions and people of Europe. The Center sponsors several seminars and lectures, as well as visiting scholars.
Societal research also addresses issues of demography and aging, such as the social and economic challenges of providing health care for an aging population. How do older adults make decisions, and what societal tools need to be in place to ensure the resulting decisions are well-informed? FSI regularly brings in international scholars to look at these issues. They discuss how adults care for their older parents in rural China as well as the economic aspects of aging populations in China and India.
CDDRL Mosbacher Director Francis Fukuyama says for BBC we need national identities that unite rather than divide us. Watch here.
Improvements in medical treatment have clearly contributed to significant increases in medical spending, yet there is relatively little quantitative evidence on whether the rise in expenditure is “worth it” in the sense of producing health outcomes of commensurate value. This seminar will focus on empirical research assessing the net value of health care for patients with chronic disease, using the case of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Based on analysis of detailed longitudinal, patient-level data, the collaborating researchers from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and the US describe patterns in resource use and quality outcomes as measured by clinical markers and predicted risk of complications and death. In most of the studied cases, increases in spending were accompanied with improvements in outcomes of commensurate or greater value, given a range of values for a quality-adjusted life year. The authors conclude with a discussion of what the results imply about productivity of medical care, quality adjustment of price indices for healthcare, and policies for healthy aging in Asia (based on a forthcoming book).
Toshiaki Iizuka is Professor at Graduate School of Public Policy and Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo. Before joining the University of Tokyo in 2010, he taught at Vanderbilt University (2001-2005), Aoyama Gakuin University (2005-2009), and Keio University (2009-2010). He served as Dean of Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo, between 2016 and 2018. He is a recipient of Abe Fellowship (2018-2019).
His research interests are in the field of health economics and health policy. He has written a number of articles on incentive and information in the health care markets. His research articles have appeared in leading professional journals, including American Economic Review, RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of Health Economics, and Health Affairs, among others. Dr. Iizuka holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MIA from Columbia University, and an ME and BE from the University of Tokyo.Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
Karen Eggleston is a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Asia Health Policy Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at FSI. She is also a Fellow with the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Her research focuses on government and market roles in the health sector and Asia health policy, especially in China, India, Japan, and Korea; healthcare productivity; and the economics of the demographic transition.
Eggleston earned her PhD in public policy from Harvard University and has MA degrees in economics and Asian studies from the University of Hawaii and a BA in Asian studies summa cum laude (valedictorian) from Dartmouth College. Eggleston studied in China for two years and was a Fulbright scholar in Korea. She served on the Strategic Technical Advisory Committee for the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the WHO regarding health system reforms in the PRC.
It was a different Friday’s evening - as I traveled 20km in busy traffic from Beijing’s CBD area (Chaoyang) to its Silicon Valley (Zhongguancun). This time I did not come for any business dinner rather I came for the start of Stanford Ignite program, a mini-MBA for entrepreneurs, at Peking University (PKU).
As I walked from PKU's entrance to Stanford Center where the program was held, the city noise gradually diminished and stunning views began to appear - a peaceful lake alongside with many trees and a pagoda. Somehow, they reinforced each other to create a "Zen" atmosphere.
SCPKU sits deep inside the campus. It was an architectural masterpiece mixing with Chinese and Western styles. Simply by staying there, I could easily feel inspired. It was full of state-of-the-art facilities, especially its immersive tele-conferencing technologies.
Having a group of 40 entrepreneurial people in the same room guaranteed that there would be a great amount of energy. However, what intrigued me from the first day was the enormous interests and energy coming from the other side of the world - Stanford GSB faculty. Though we saw each other only through two big screens, it did not stop the continual interactions between both sides, thanks to the state-of-the-art facility. There was constant exchange of opinions, and the lectures were very engaging.
Great lecturers made learning effortless. From one lecture to another, block by block, I found myself easily forming a business-centered framework. Many credits to the GSB faculty - they told stories and jokes; played music and waved hands; smiled and laughed. It turned out that those memorable moments effectively glued the hard pieces of knowledge together into something solid. It was indeed a very enjoyable and satisfying learning experience.
In addition to the lectures, a large part of the program was the team venture project where five people worked on a venture idea together and pitched it to real investors at the end of the program. I learned a tremendous amount from this experience. Having five strangers from diffrent backgrounds coming together to suddenly work on a new project with tight deadlines was a huge challenge. These challenges also meant great opportunities to learn. The program set up weekly milestones for each team to reach. Those milestones were essentially project breakdowns that we could adopt to our own ventures. Weekly team check-ins and assigned mentors provided us feedback on areas we could improve and work on. As a team, we have achieved so much from the beginning to the end. Despite all the other excellent teams, we, in the end, won first place backed up by GSR venture!
Before I joined the Ignite Program, I was a full-time, solo entrepreneur. I brought my venture idea to the Ignite in hope of finding potential business partners, polishing my venture idea, and pitching it to potential VCs. With the exception of finding a business partner, I have achieved all of my targets. I would definitely recommend Ignite to other who are similarly interested around me.
Ignite Program has taught me a great deal (about business, teamwork etc.). Nevertheless, I think the core of Ignite is its people. When I close my eyes, what I remember are energetic lecturers, friendly classmates, always-smiling facilitators, inspiring speakers, and lovely team members. I can share all I learned to others around me, but they can’t get the rich experience that I have unless they join the program by themselves. Welcome to the Ignite family.
About the author: Zilong Wang is founder and CEO of Liblux Technology, a company that develops "interactive video" based social application for generation Z. He obtained PhD (Optoelectronics) and BEng (Electronics Engineering) from University of Southampton, UK.
Abstract:
Why were Islamists less polarizing in Tunisia than their counterparts in Egypt after the downfall of the autocratic regime in 2011? While the electoral processes that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt rapidly polarized society, the Muslim Brothers in Tunisia formed a coalition with secular groups to pry power from the old power centers immediately after the removal of Ben Ali. Different approaches focused on Tunisians’ liberal culture and their proximity to Europe. Scant attention paid to both the historical and political-strategic conditions that shaped boundaries of interactions between Islamists and non-Islamists. I argue that the historical relations between the state and Islamists affect the distribution of power between them on the one hand, and their secular opponents on the other. In Tunisia, Islamist and non-Islamist forces believed in the necessity of conciliation (or were forced to do so by political circumstances). They, therefore, reached across ideological lines and struck deals to hold democratic institutions.
Speaker Bio:
Abstract:
Severe polarization is a global threat that has detrimental effects on democracy and well-being. What can citizens and collective actors such as political parties do to reverse polarization and to sustain democracy in affected polities? The triggers of current polarizations across the world often are political and thus intentional: they exemplify various forms of “the politics of transforming through polarizing,” which are aimed at achieving wide-scale transformations in political-economic institutions and policies. Yet, as these polarizations take a life of their own, the causal mechanisms that render them pernicious gain a structural nature. They lock in both the incumbents and the oppositions in a downward spiral of polarization-cum-democratic erosion, generating many unintended consequences. With comparative examples from various polities, this talk will discuss a political and relational notion of polarization, the dilemmas faced by opposition actors who want to reverse polarization and democratic backsliding, and implications for theory and policy.
Speaker Bio:
Murat Somer is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Koç University and a Visiting Scholar at the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. His research on democratization and autocratization, polarization, ethnic conflicts, religious and secular politics, political Islam, and the Kurdish question have been published in books, book volumes and journals such as Comparative Political Studies and Democratization. His book on the Turkish and Kurdish Question won a Sedat Simavi Social Sciences Prize in 2015 and he recently co-edited two special journal volumes on polarization, democracy and democratic erosion across the world. Among other visiting appointments, Somer was a Democracy and Development Fellow at Princeton University, a Senior Visiting Scholar at Stockholm University, and a Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He has been a frequent contributor to Turkish and international media and he is working on a research and book project that explores the multiple paths through which polarizing politics lead to authoritarianism, and what pro-democracy citizens and political actors can and cannot do to sustain democracy.
Abstract:
Ever since the Millennium Message, Putin's first presidential speech on January 1, 2000, the Kremlin's political architects have cultivated a narrative of Russia as a unique nation on a righteous path toward restored greatness. The process of myth-making is intertwined with the policies involved in remaking Russia as a global power, as the regime builds legitimacy through careful messaging on Russian nationhood, history, morality, and geopolitical strength, using law and policy to embed those concepts as institutions and persuade citizens that Russia needs autocracy to survive. This talk traces the Kremlin's cooptation of culture and history to tell a certain story about Russia and its citizens, and examines public opinion polls to assess the degree to which the strategy is working, as well as street protests and radical performance art that attempts to claim spaces of agency for citizens who don't fit into the mythic mold.
Speaker Bio:
Alice E.M. Underwood is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. She is a Weiland Fellow at Stanford and a former Title VIII Fellow at the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and has published with Intersection, The Russia File, Russian Life, and Harvard International Review.Image
Abstract: The American Lab, published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2018, tells the story of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (the Lab) from the events leading to its founding in 1952 through its transfer to private status in 2008 (after 66 years of sole University of California management). It highlights the important episodes in that journey beginning with the invention of Polaris, the first submarine launched ballistic missile, continuing through the Lab’s controversial role in the Star Wars program, and helping lead the development of the stockpile stewardship program after the cessation of nuclear testing. It describes the intense focus on-laboratory-scale thermonuclear fusion with early work in magnetic fusion to the world’s largest effort on laser fusion that ultimately resulted in the construction of the National Ignition Facility. It includes a number of smaller projects ranging from its participation in founding the Human Genome Project (and its subsequent effort in biodefense) to its array of activities on global climate and basic research. Throughout, the book emphasizes the national security environment in which the Lab existed and the increasing role of politics in “big science”.
Bio: C. Bruce Tarter is a theoretical physicist with a BS from MIT and a PhD from Cornell. He began as a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1967 and eventually served as its Director from 1994-2002. Since that time as Director Emeritus he has served on a number of Boards and Task Forces including the National Academy study of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Abstract: Sagan and Valentino's path-breaking survey of public opinion American attitudes towards the laws of war found Americans are relatively insensitive to international norms and taboos against the use of nuclear weapons and the targeting of civilian populations. We replicated a key question on this study – where respondents were asked if they would support saturation bombing an Iranian city to end a war. We also introduced some variations into the experiment to disaggregate any potential influence of international norms and laws from the effect of historical analogies and interest-based frames embedded in the original experiment. Overall, our quantitative and qualitative findings are more optimistic about Americans' sensitivity to the civilian immunity norm. Nonetheless, our findings suggest much depends on whether legal/ethical considerations, rather than tactical ones alone, are part of any national conversation about war policy.
Charli's Bio: Charli Carpenter is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her teaching and research interests include the laws of war, protection of civilians, humanitarian disarmament, global advocacy networks, and the role of popular culture in global affairs. She has a particular interest in the gap between intentions and outcomes among advocates of human security. She has published three books and numerous journal articles, has served as a consultant for the United Nations, and contributed to Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Carpenter spends her time raising future members of the American electorate, snowboarding, and rambling about international politics and popular culture at Duck of Minerva.
Alexander's Bio: Alexander H. Montgomery is associate professor of Political Science at Reed College. He has a B.A. in Physics from the University of Chicago, an M.A. in Energy and Resources from UC-Berkeley, and an M.A. in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University. He has been a fellow at the Belfer Center, CISAC, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Woodrow Wilson Center. He has published articles on nuclear proliferation and on the effects of social networks of international organizations on interstate conflict, and is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Political Networks (2017).
Abstract:
Existing scholarship attributes various political and economic advantages to democratic governance. These advantages may make more democratic countries prone to financial crises. Democracy is characterized by constraints on executive authority, accountability through free and fair elections, protections for civil liberties, and large winning coalitions. These characteristics bring important benefits, but they can also have unintended consequences that increase the likelihood of financial instability and crises. Using data covering the past two centuries, I demonstrate a strong relationship between democracy and financial crisis onset: on average, democracies are about twice as likely to experience a crisis as autocracies. This is an empirical regularity that is robust across a wide range of model specifications and time periods.
Speaker Bio:
On November 22, Dr. Delphine Red Shirt lectured on “The History of Native Americans” at the Stanford Center at Peking University.
The lecture started with George Sword and described the “colonizing process” from a free life to one of constant negotiation with the federal government and the pressures on the Native Americans to give up their way of life, but most importantly their land. She also talked about his wife who still despite pressure to "colonize", in the photograph maintained her long hair (in two long neat braids) and traditional attitude in the way she dressed. This is important because women are the "culture keepers" who often teach language to children and maintain the traditional ways.
The photographs included “Chief” Red Shirt, her ancestor whom her grandfather is descended from. A leader for Chief Red Cloud, he was often recognized as a "chief" by the federal government but in reality he was a military/police officer who served at the right hand of one of our greatest chiefs. Her maternal grandfather, Standing Buffalo, whom Kevin Costner in his film, "Dances with Wolves" depicted our culture with great reverence. In the museum Costner established in Deadwood, South Dakota (in the heart of our homelands, the Black Hills), Costner displayed Standing Buffalo in the entry way. Standing Buffalo is the "Kaka (children's word for grandfather)" in her first book, Bead on an Anthill: A Lakota Childhood" which was also translated and available in Mandarin. Her second book, Turtle Lung Woman's Granddaughter is about Standing Buffalo's daughter, her mother; the second book is also translated into Mandarin.
The photographs ended with the Wounded Knee massacre (often called a "battle" in American History) showing the killing site, the loading of the bodies, and the mass grave that was dug for the over 146 men, women, and children killed by the 7th Cavalry. In history, our people, the Lakota had defeated this same cavalry at what is called "The Battle of the Little Big Horn" or "Custer's Last Stand".
The talk ended with the early 1970 "Occupation of Wounded Knee" by the American Indian Movement (AIM). The two events reflect: one a "killing of a dream" as Black Elk, one of our spiritual leaders who witnessed the aftermath called the massacre. And the occupation of young Native Americans in February of 1973 when they symbolically took a stand against oppression. A map showing the Occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco during the 1960's. The beginning of an era that coincided with the American Civil Rights era. The last events reflected the fact that we are still here.
One question by the non-Chinese student from Minnesota had to do with renaming parks in Minneapolis to reflect the Native Americans who still live in the city. Another had to do with voting rights for Native Americans in the U.S. The answers to both questions affirmed the "renaming" as Stanford this fall (2018) decided, with insistence from Native American students, that Juniper Serra be renamed on campus (road could not be as it is a county road) but the Serra Mall will be renamed to Jane Stanford Mall. With regard to voting rights, in her home state of South Dakota the voters are very young. The majority of the population on the Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota is close to the age of 18. These young voters have elected the youngest (2nd youngest) tribal president at Pine Ridge (age 31). They have also elected two state representatives in South Dakota. Nationally we have two women representatives going to the House of Representatives this year (Democrats).
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