Stanford Report: The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, spoke at SCPKU today and said study abroad allows students to realize that countries all have a stake in each other's success.  Following her remarks, she held a conversation with students on the Stanford campu via SCPKU's Highly Immersive Classroom. Read more.

The Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizes Stanford's top 10% of honors theses in the social sciences, science, and engineering among graduating seniors. Marco’s thesis is entitled, “When Democracy Counts: Testing the Demand-Side Micrologics of Backsliding with Evidence from Indonesia.” It poses the question, do Indonesian citizens fail to punish democratic backsliding at the ballot box? Over more than a decade of democratic decline, Indonesian voters have shown remarkably little alarm, continuing to reward leaders associated with democratic erosion while professing support for democracy. This thesis investigates the demand-side foundations of that puzzle, probing whether the content of democracy might itself be the problem. To pinpoint precisely where and how the accountability chain breaks down, Marco fielded an original nationally-representative survey experiment in February 2026 with Indikator Politik Indonesia (N = 1,566), randomly assigning Indonesian respondents to one of three definitions of democracy — electoral, liberal, or substantive — and tracking their responses across four hypothetical scenarios. To measure treatment comprehension and experimental manipulation, he scored open-ended responses using a novel multi-model LLM coding ensemble. Combined, this empirical design enabled him to discriminate between two candidate diagnoses of conceptual failure: that Indonesian citizens hold conceptions of democracy that simply diverge from those of scholars (the divergent conceptions argument), or that “democracy” itself carries too little evaluative content to differentiate governance failures of different kinds (the thinness argument). Ultimately, the evidence points overwhelmingly in support of the latter interpretation — that for many Indonesian citizens, “democracy” functions less as a thick descriptive concept than as a thin term of approval whose application tracks perceived governance quality. The divergent conceptions hypothesis, meanwhile, yields a robust null across thirteen specifications. In this era of backsliding, the conceptual thinning of “democracy” carries severe implications for the validity of cross-comparative survey research, for the elite strategies that exploit the term’s elasticity, and for the resilience of democracy in Indonesia and beyond.

Shayla’s thesis is entitled “Bound by the Ballot? Autocratic Compliance After Electoral Defeat.” When autocrats lose elections, what determines whether they comply with the electorate's judgment? And if they resist, what determines whether they succeed? Despite the frequency and consequences of autocratic electoral crises, electoral compliance decisions remain undertheorized. To address this gap, Shayla proposes a two-stage theory of incumbent compliance. At Stage 1, pre-election structural conditions — military control, elite unity, and international vulnerability — determine whether resistance is viable. At Stage 2, activated only if resistance occurs, two reactive forces — mass mobilization and activated international pressure — become salient. Drawing on an original dataset of elections held in autocratic regimes between 1970 and 2018, the results partially support and partially challenge this theory. While structural weakness reliably precludes resistance, structural strength does not reliably cause it; among cases where resistance occurs, high, cohesive international pressure emerges as the most consistent determinant of whether incumbents ultimately exit. This thesis posits that compliance is best understood as a process shaped by forces operating at different moments, and that this temporal distinction has both implications for how scholars and international actors understand and respond to electoral crises in electoral autocracies.

Honoring a Legacy of Community Building

Zoe Savellos, a Stanford graduate and member of CDDRL’s Fisher Family Honors Class of 2018, passed away in 2025 at the age of 29. She is remembered by those who knew her as brilliant, generous, and deeply committed to others. To honor her memory and the spirit she brought to the CDDRL community, the center has established the Zoe Savellos Memorial Award for Community Building.

“Zoe’s palpable passion for her thesis research and to make a genuine difference in the world inspired a sense of optimism and confidence in our CDDRL cohort to dream bigger and push through when we didn’t think we could,” shared her friend and classmate Kelsey Page ‘18. “As I struggled toward the thesis deadline, Zoe not only helped me with last-minute formatting questions long after she had completed her own thesis, but also brought me a blazer for my presentation when I forgot one. Zoe enthusiastically counting down the minutes to the completion of my thesis so we could celebrate together is just one example of how she placed shared joy over individual accomplishment — she was everyone's biggest cheerleader.”

Presented annually within CDDRL’s Fisher Family Honors Program, the award will recognize a student selected by their peers for their meaningful contributions to the strength of the honors cohort. The class of 2026 has selected Zoya Fasihuddin, an Economics major also studying Human Rights, as the first recipient of this award.

“I'm so honored, and this is entirely a reflection of the cohort we all got to be a part of, as well as Steve and María’s leadership,” shared Zoya. “While I didn't have the privilege of knowing Zoe, everything that’s been shared about her in terms of her warmth and empathy is exactly the kind of person I aspire to be.”

The cohort experience is central to the Honors Program. Students engage deeply with one another’s work and navigate the challenges of independent research together. The Zoe Savellos Memorial Award for Community Building recognizes the important role students play in shaping that experience and honors the individual whose support, enthusiasm, and community-building spirit help create a more connected and meaningful collective experience.

The Class of 2026

Marco, Shayla, and Zoya are part of a cohort of 12 graduating CDDRL honors students who have spent the past year working in consultation with CDDRL-affiliated faculty members and attending honors research workshops to develop their thesis projects. The theses this year covered topics as wide-ranging as democratic resilience and authoritarian elections, feminist mobilization in Pakistan, Indigenous reunification and identity in Oklahoma, net neutrality and regulatory politics, economic protectionism, collective memory in Spain, and the role of retired military leaders in American elections.

"We could not be prouder of this cohort of seniors in the Fisher Family Honors Program and the theses they produced," shared María Ignacia Curiel, a Research Scholar at CDDRL who co-teaches the Honors Program alongside Stephen Stedman. "Born from a year of scholarly perseverance and camaraderie, these projects genuinely advance our understanding of democracy, development, and the rule of law around the world."

In addition to the Firestone Medal, CDDRL Outstanding Thesis Award, and the Zoe Savellos Memorial Award for Community Building, members of the Class of 2026 have received several other honors heading into graduation:

• Anagali Duncan received the 2026 Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award, which recognizes distinctive contributions to undergraduate education and the quality of student life.
• Emma Wang and Marco Widodo are among the newest members elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic honors society.
• Anagali Duncan, Dani Gonzalez-Gaubecka, Emma Wang, Lila Batcheller, Lorraine Cioffi, and Rachel Owens have all received the Award of Excellence. Designed to recognize the top 10% of the class, this award honors graduating seniors who have demonstrated a sincere commitment to the university through involvement, leadership, and extraordinary Stanford spirit.
   

CDDRL's Fisher Family Honors Program trains students from any academic department at Stanford to write a policy-relevant research thesis with global impact on a subject related to democracy, development, and the rule of law. Honors students participate in research methods workshops, attend Honors College in Washington, D.C., connect to the CDDRL research community, and write their thesis in close consultation with a faculty advisor to graduate with a certificate of honors in democracy, development, and the rule of law.
 

Explore the rest of the thesis topics of the Fisher Family Honors Program Class of 2026 below:

Stanford e-Tottori is a distance-learning course sponsored by the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford University.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Stanford e-Tottori Program, a milestone that provides an opportunity to reflect on a decade of learning, cross-cultural exchange, and partnership between Stanford University and Tottori Prefecture.

Launched in 2016, Stanford e-Tottori was the first regional program in Japan developed by SPICE. The program was created through a partnership between SPICE and the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education with the goal of helping high school students in Tottori engage in global issues, deepen their understanding of the United States and U.S.–Japan relations, and strengthen their English communication skills.

When the program began, none of us could have imagined that it would still be thriving 10 years later. Over the past decade, approximately 250 students from across Tottori Prefecture have participated in the program. Through weekly assignments, online discussions, virtual classroom sessions, guest lectures, and independent research projects, students have explored topics ranging from education and entrepreneurship to sustainability, diversity, leadership, and U.S.–Japan relations.

Having taught every cohort since the program’s founding, I have had the privilege of working with an extraordinary group of students. Each year, I am impressed by their curiosity, thoughtfulness, and willingness to engage with complex issues. Although students enter the program with varying levels of English proficiency and different academic interests, they consistently demonstrate a desire to learn, challenge themselves, and better understand perspectives beyond their own.

One of the defining features of the program has been the students’ final research projects. At the end of each course, students select a topic of personal interest, conduct independent research, and present their findings in English. Over the years, they have investigated subjects as diverse as artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, education systems, cultural identity, social welfare, entrepreneurship, history, and international relations. These presentations have provided students with opportunities not only to strengthen their research and communication skills but also to share their passions and interests with others.

The success of Stanford e-Tottori also helped to lay the foundation for SPICE’s broader expansion of regional programs throughout Japan. What began as SPICE’s first regional program has grown into a network of educational partnerships that now serve students in prefectures and cities across the country. Today, SPICE offers regional programs in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Oita, Tottori, and Yamaguchi prefectures, as well as in the cities of Kagoshima, Kawasaki, and Kobe.

One of the greatest joys of the program has been seeing students experience California and Stanford University firsthand. Each year, two top-performing students are invited to Stanford as honorees in recognition of their outstanding achievement in the course. During their visits, students participate in award ceremonies, tour the Stanford campus, meet Stanford faculty and staff, and connect with fellow students from other SPICE regional programs.

These visits have also provided opportunities for students to glimpse into American high school life firsthand. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of accompanying students to local schools, where they have attended classes and met with American students. I am especially grateful to local educators, including Yoko Sase of The Nueva School in Hillsborough and Matt Hall of Gunn High School in Palo Alto, who have generously welcomed our students into their classrooms and school communities.

The Stanford e-Tottori Program would not exist without the vision, dedication, and support of many individuals and organizations. I am especially grateful to Takeshi Homma, whose passion for education, entrepreneurship, and international exchange helped inspire the creation of the program 10 years ago. Since its inception, Homma-san has remained a steadfast supporter, generously sharing his experiences and insights with students through annual guest lectures on entrepreneurship, innovation, and global citizenship.

I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Governor Shinji Hirai for his longstanding commitment to international education and global engagement. His support of educational exchange between Tottori and Stanford has helped create opportunities for hundreds of students to broaden their horizons and develop a deeper understanding of the United States and U.S.–Japan relations.

I am deeply grateful to the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education for its partnership and commitment to providing meaningful international educational opportunities for students. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with many dedicated educators and teacher consultants whose efforts have been essential to the program’s success, including Koji Tsubaki, Takuya Fukushima, Tomoya Minohara, Shuichi Hata, Natsu Odahara, and Satoru Hamahashi. Their enthusiasm, professionalism, and unwavering support have helped make the Stanford e-Tottori Program a rewarding experience for students throughout Tottori Prefecture. 

As I reflect on the past 10 years, what stands out most are not the individual lessons, assignments, or presentations, but the relationships that have developed through the program. Education is ultimately about people, and one of the greatest rewards of teaching Stanford e-Tottori has been the opportunity to learn from and work with so many talented students, teachers, and colleagues in both Japan and the United States.

As Stanford e-Tottori enters its second decade, I am excited to see what the future holds. I look forward to continuing to learn alongside future generations of students and to strengthening the bonds of friendship and understanding that have connected Stanford and Tottori over the past 10 years.

Congratulations to all of the students, educators, and partners who have been part of the Stanford e-Tottori story. Thank you for making the past 10 years such a remarkable journey.

Stanford e-Tottori is one of SPICE’s local student programs in Japan.

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This article was written by Dr. Larry Becker, Africa Project Coordinator at SPICE, 1982–1985, and Professor Emeritus of Geography at Oregon State University in Corvallis. This is the fourth of several articles—focusing on the 50-year history of SPICE—that will be posted this year. In its early years, SPICE comprised several separate area-focused projects.

Happy 50th birthday to SPICE! Those 50 years are a testament to the enduring value of the program and its ability to change with the times.

While enrolled in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) in 1982, I took David Grossman’s Global Education course and learned about the work of SPICE. It felt like a comfortable fit and welcome program following my upbringing in the integrated Berkeley public schools and undergraduate degree in geography. After the course, David approached me about the SPICE Africa Project Coordinator position. The coordinator at the time, Nebby Crawford, was leaving. Two years earlier, I had spent a summer in Mali with Operation Crossroads Africa. I gave a presentation at the Bay Area Global Education Program (BAGEP) Africa Summer Institute for teachers, plunging into the SPICE world of in-service teacher education at age 23.

Over the next three years, I had the privilege of working with the SPICE team, Stanford African Studies faculty and students, Bay Area K–12 teachers, and a network of African Studies outreach coordinators around the country. At the time, the Africa Project Coordinator position was partly funded by the Title VI Joint Center for African Studies at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley. I thus was exposed to rich academic African Studies educational resources while representing SPICE at annual conferences. I also established working relationships with members of the Stanford African Students Association. Graduate students from various countries contributed to the Summer Institute on Africa, visited precollegiate classrooms, and reviewed supplementary curriculum SPICE units that we developed with K–12 teachers. 

In the summer of 1984, I co-led a U.S. Department of Education-funded summer education trip for teachers to Nigeria. Together with co-leader, Dr. Faye McNair-Knox—with a background in Hausa linguistics and community organizing in East Palo Alto—we navigated a country recently under military rule with an overvalued currency on a limited budget. As the group travelled from a festival in the Gumel Emirate near the Niger border south to the metropolis of Lagos on the Gulf of Guinea, we stayed at university campuses where Bay Area teachers were exposed to Nigeria’s rich culture through professors from a variety of fields, local leaders, and artists. (Photo below of the Emir of Gumel’s entourage at the end of Ramadan, June 1984, in what is now Jigawa State, Nigeria, as seen during a summer education trip for teachers; courtesy of Larry Becker.)

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By the time I left SPICE, the Africa Project had five curriculum units: Analyzing the Press (1985), Development Decisions: Ghana’s Volta River Project (1985), What Is a Resource? (1985), Two Voices from Nigeria: Nigeria through the Literature of Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta by Nigeria trip participants Lyn Reese and Rick Clarke (1985), and Voici l’Afrique Francophone with Foster City French teacher Joan Henley (1986).

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Enriched by the work at SPICE, I completed a PhD in geography with research on agrarian change in Mali at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a postdoc at the Africa Rice Center in Cote d’Ivoire. I had a university career teaching geography, notably large enrollment world regional geography courses, that greatly benefited from what I learned while at SPICE. 

Over the years of teaching about Africa in the U.S., I saw how attention to the context, identity, and positionality of the instructor and students contributes to successful classroom strategies and curriculum development. My SPICE experience provided a base for understanding this evolving pedagogy. In touch with SPICE colleagues years later, former colleague Steve Thorpe contributed to a seminar series that I led at Oregon State University aimed at globalizing courses throughout the campus. The ideas of SPICE carry on in familiar ways in new teaching settings!

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The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2026 session of Introduction to Contemporary China, an intensive online course offered by the China Scholars Program (CSP). Designed for motivated U.S. high school students, this course introduces students to contemporary China through an interdisciplinary and discussion-based approach. The course is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders nationwide.

Fall 2026 China Scholars Program: Introduction to Contemporary China
Application period: May 6 to June 20, 2026
Tuition: $2500
Program dates: September 3 to December 19, 2026

As China’s global stature continues to rise, as it takes on leading roles in the clean energy transition and AI development, international trade, international security, and much more, it becomes more vital than ever to understand it. Through CSP, students explore the historical developments, domestic challenges, and global relationships that shape contemporary China and its interactions with the United States.

Throughout the semester, students participate in weekly Zoom sessions featuring leading experts from Stanford University and beyond as guest speakers. Coursework includes college-level readings, analytical discussions, and written assignments that encourage students to engage critically with current issues affecting China and the broader international community.

A central component of the program is an independent research project in which students investigate a topic of their choice related to contemporary China. Past research topics have included environmental policy, education, artificial intelligence, demographics, popular culture, public health, economic reform, and media. Students conclude the course by producing a substantive academic paper based on their research.

In addition to learning from experts and peers across the United States, CSP students will also have the opportunity to connect online with Chinese students in the Stanford e-China Program, fostering meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and exchange.

The course also offers students an opportunity to explore potential interests in fields such as international relations, political science, business, journalism, public policy, and Asian studies before entering college.

CSP provides students with the knowledge, diverse perspectives, and analytical skills needed to better understand one of the world’s most consequential countries and its evolving relationship with the United States.

For more information, please visit the course website or contact Tanya Lee with questions.

The China Scholars Program is one of several online courses offered by SPICE.

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This article was written by Dr. Steve Thorpe, former China Project Coordinator at SPICE in the 1980s and Professor Emeritus of Education at Southern Oregon University. This is the third of several articles—focusing on the 50-year history of SPICE—that will be posted this year.

Congratulations to Gary Mukai and his SPICE team upon the 50th anniversary of the SPICE program! Congratulations also to David Grossman and his colleagues who created the SPICE program in 1976!

Throughout my career in education, I have benefited from my connections to the SPICE program. I first met David Grossman and his SPICE group in 1976 when they made presentations at the Association for Asian Studies and the National Council for the Social Studies annual meetings. I was dazzled by the East Asian Studies curriculum units the SPICE team demonstrated. Their curriculum units were infused with high quality Asian Studies content and interactive instructional strategies that stimulated the interest of K–12 students. This indirect connection to SPICE gave me great curriculum resources for my Asian Studies outreach work in Texas, where I lived and taught at the time.

On a short-term basis, I joined David and the SPICE team in August 1978 for an East Asian Studies teacher in-service workshop in Utah. The joy and excitement among the SPICE group was inspiring to the workshop participants and to me. I gained new insights into the strengths of the SPICE curriculum units from the presentations. I also joined David for a live radio interview about historical and contemporary events in East Asia. I had just been in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for a three-week project in April 1978, and I was able to contribute my recent in-country China experience to the workshop sessions.

After I completed a two-year teaching stint in the PRC, David Grossman hired me in early 1981 for a half-time position as the China Project Coordinator at SPICE. I also enrolled in a graduate program in the Stanford School of Education. It was an exciting time at SPICE as we joined the newly formed Bay Area Global Education Program (BAGEP). In June 1981, Kay Sandberg, the Japan Project Coordinator, and I worked with David and the BAGEP leadership to coordinate the BAGEP East Asia summer institute for teachers and administrators. The results of the summer institute were stellar, and BAGEP continued on as a superior international and cross-cultural K–12 staff development program. I helped our China Project staff develop new curriculum units as well as the “Discovering Marco Polo” teacher guidebook that went along with the Marco Polo TV mini-series, which aired on NBC in 1982. (Photo below of Steve Thorpe, Penny Thorpe, and Paddy Booz at the 1982 Marco Polo TV mini-series reception at the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco; courtesy of Steve Thorpe.)

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In 1985, I participated in a research team that evaluated the results of the BAGEP program work. Our research verified that the BAGEP staff development projects were beneficial for K–12 teachers and their students. I graduated from Stanford and moved on to a university career in teacher education. Thanks to my work with the SPICE and BAGEP programs, I was well prepared to teach good curriculum and instruction strategies for both pre-service and in-service teachers.

I have maintained connections with my SPICE colleagues. The SPICE team has always been a tight-knit group, and we have all helped one another in our professional careers. I am forever grateful for that. Indeed, SPICE continues to be the leading light for international and cross-cultural outreach education across the USA and the Asia-Pacific region. Viva, SPICE!