Stanford University

Do Parliaments Help or Hurt Economic Progress in Democratizing Countries? The Case of Myanmar, with Notes on Indonesia

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Political life in most democratic systems centers on the presidency or the parliament.  In countries that have begun to shift from authoritarian to democratic rule, American and Western aid programs typically place a high priority on strengthening the capacities of parliaments.  Superficial evidence in Myanmar and Indonesia suggests that these efforts by democratic donors have contributed to the emergence of legislatures that are more of an obstacle to economic progress than a driver of it.  Lex Rieffel will offer his perspective on this phenomenon in Myanmar and Indonesia with particular attention to Myanmar in the run-up to its November 8 election.  The two countries will also be compared with regard to geography, ethnic conflict, and communal tension, and their implications for the political process.

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Lex Rieffel has written widely on the political economies of Myanmar and Indonesia.  His latest publication is "Improving the Performance of the State Economic Enterprise Sector in Myanmar" (ISEAS Perspective #36, 2015).  Notable among his many other writings are:  Too Much Too Soon? The Dilemma of Foreign Aid to Myanmar/Burma (co-authored, 2013); Myanmar/Burma: Inside Challenges, Outside Interests (edited, 2010); and Out of Business and On Budget: The Challenge of Military Financing in Indonesia (co-authored, 2007).  His career prior to joining Brookings in 2002 included positions with the Institute of International Finance, the U.S. Treasury Department, and USAID.  Universities where he has taught courses in economics and finance include Johns Hopkins (SAIS), George Washington (Elliott School), and the University of Yangon.  His MA in law and diplomacy and his BA in economics are respectively from Tufts (Fletcher School) and Princeton.

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Lex Rieffel Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
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Watching Human Rights in Indonesia: A Verdict on President Jokowi’s First Year

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Indonesian President Joko (“Jokowi”) Widodo was inaugurated in October 2014.  He is the country’s seventh president, but only its second to be directly elected and its first from both a non-elite and non-military background.  He won the election by a narrow margin over a hard-line ex-general accused of violating human rights.

Human rights abuses have long marred Indonesian rule in western Papua.  Candidate Jokowi promised to improve conditions there.  He traveled to the area twice during the election campaign.  His predecessor visited Papua only three times during his entire ten-year presidency.  Jokowi also promised to protect religious minorities from violence, intolerance, and discrimination, and to help reconcile survivors of the mass bloodletting in 1965-66.  Has he kept these and other commitments to improve human rights conditions in Indonesia?  Or not?  And why?

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Andreas Harsono has covered Indonesia for Human Rights Watch since 2008. Organizations that he has helped to establish include a journalist-training organization, the Pantau Foundation (Jakarta, 2003); the South East Asia Press Alliance (Bangkok, 1998); and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Jakarta, 1994).  He began his career as a reporter for The Nation (Bangkok) and the Star newspapers (Kuala Lumpur), and has edited a monthly magazine on media and journalism, Pantau (Jakarta).  He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2000.

Andreas Harsono Indonesia Researcher, Human Rights Watch
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From Contracting to Collaborative Governance for Elderly Care and Beyond: Dynamic Evolution of Government-Nonprofit Relations in Shanghai

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This event has moved from the 4:30pm talk to a noon talk.

Nonprofit organizations are engaged in public sector management as service deliverers, and more recently, as governance partners. Such a role shift of nonprofits can be explained by a couple of spontaneous mechanisms that link service contracting to collaborative governance. The evolving elderly service contracting in Shanghai discloses that contracting may induce power sharing, consolidate mutual trust, reshape community governance networks, and spur nonprofit development. Contracting nonprofits thus may make decisions, enforce regulatory functions, set rules, and influence community governance. An evolutionary perspective provides a new angle on the changing government-nonprofit relations in China.

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Dr. Yijia Jing is a professor in Public Administration and associate director of foreign affairs at Fudan University. He is the editor-in-chief of Fudan Public Administration Review, and serves as the vice president of International Research Society for Public Management. He is associate editor of Public Administration Review and Co-editor of International Public Management Journal. He is also the founding co-editor of a Palgrave book series---Governing China in the 21 Century.

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Yijia Jing Professor in Public Administration and Associate Director of Foreign Affairs, Fudan University
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Call for applications: Postdoctoral fellowship in contemporary Asia

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The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University is now accepting applications for the Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellowship in Contemporary Asia, an opportunity made available to two junior scholars for research and writing on Asia.

Fellows conduct research on contemporary political, economic or social change in the Asia-Pacific region, and contribute to Shorenstein APARC’s publications, conferences and related activities. To read about this year’s fellows, please click this link.

The fellowship is a 10-mo. appointment during the 2016-17 academic year, and carries a salary rate of $52,000 plus $2,000 for research expenses.

For further information and to apply, please click this link. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2015.

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From Bhumibol to Vajiralongkorn: Neo-Royalist Ideology and the Future of the Thai Monarchy

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Prof. Pavin will explain the concept of “neo-royalism” that Thai royalists have promoted; relate it to the present twilight of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s long reign; and use it to forecast the future of the royal institution in Thailand. Pavin will assess the prospects of the king-in-waiting, Vajiralongkorn, and imagine the position of a new monarch in a new political environment. He will portray “neo-royalism” as a dangerous entrapment for Bhumibol’s successor and for the monarchy itself. The undemocratic nature of royal power is incompatible with the country’s changing political landscape. If Vajiralongkorn inherits the throne, he may try to consolidate top-down power, risking failure and rejection. Alternatively, he could reform the monarchy by placing it clearly within constitutional bounds. Recent evidence suggests that he may play an activist role.

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Pavin Chachavalpongpun is an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in Kyoto University. His many publications include Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin and His Foreign Policy (2010) and A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations (2005), and he is chief editor of the multilingual on-line Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia.  His PhD is from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.

Following Pavin’s fierce criticism of the May 2014 military coup in Thailand, the junta twice summoned him to Bangkok. He did not comply; instead, he reaffirmed his opposition to the coup. A warrant was eventually issued for his arrest, his Thai passport was revoked, and he was obliged to apply for refugee status in Japan.

Philippines Conference Room

Encina Hall, 3rd Floor central

616 Serra Street

Stanford, CA 94305

Pavin Chachavalpongpun 2015-16 Lee Kong Chian National University of Singapore-Stanford University Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia
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Timeline: Democracy in Recession

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Larry Diamond
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In an op-ed for The New York Times, Larry Diamond presents a timeline of democracy charting the spread, regression, and sometimes even collapse, of democracy in the last 40 years.

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Anti-government protesters wave national flags during a demonstration in Bangkok on November 25, 2013. | AFP Photo / Pornchai Kittiwongsakul
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Global Governance: What to Expect from the G20

Montek Singh Ahluwalia is an economist who trained at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He spent several years at the World Bank before returning to India to serve as the Economic Advisor to the Finance Minister. The Government of India then appointed him to several senior positions, including Secretary of Commerce and Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance. In 1998, he was appointed as a Member of the Planning Commission and Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. In 2001, he became the Director of Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund, resigning this position in 2004 to become the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

He has written widely about India and the world economy, co-authoring Redistribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy, and editing Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy: Issues for Reforming the Global Financial Architecture with Y.V. Reddy and S.S. Tarapore.

The Payne Distinguished Lectureship is named for Frank and Arthur Payne, brothers who gained an appreciation for global problems through their international business operations. This lectureship, hosted by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, brings speakers with an international reputation for leadership and visionary thinking to Stanford to deliver a major public lecture. 

This event is carried out in partnership with the Stanford Center for International Development (SCID).

A public reception will follow the lecture.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission 2004-2014, Government of India Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission 2004-2014, Government of India
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Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Lecture Series
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Karen Eggleston named FSI senior fellow

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Stanford health policy expert Karen Eggleston has been appointed as a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), effective Sept. 1, 2015, on a continuing term.

Eggleston, who leads the Asia Health Policy Program at Stanford’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC), is a recognized authority on comparative health policy and the economics of the demographic transition in Asia, especially China.

“FSI is delighted that Karen’s impressive scholarship and strong program leadership has earned her a promotion to the position of senior fellow,” FSI director Michael McFaul said. “It’s a well-deserved honor and the institute looks forward to working with her for many years to come.”

Trained as an economist, Eggleston first came to Stanford as a center fellow in 2007 to lead a program on Asian health policy in comparative perspective. Since then, the program has grown into an innovative hub of research, training and policy outreach.

Eggleston’s new appointment also carries membership in the University’s Academic Council and status as a principal investigator for research projects. Her research areas include population aging, healthcare productivity (“value for money”), insurance and payment incentives, and health system governance. Currently, she is leading a comparative study of “value for money” in diabetes care, with patient-level data from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

“Karen has been a pioneering force at our center, and in the area of Asia health policy,” said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Shorenstein APARC. “Her strong record of scholarly accomplishment has enriched the intellectual life at Stanford, and we look forward to continuing to support her research and teaching endeavors.”

Eggleston has led many crosscutting initiatives at Stanford including the organization of multiple international conferences in the United States and abroad. This past year, she co-organized a conference on China’s health reforms and primary care, held at the Stanford Center at Peking University.

She has testified on China’s health system before a U.S. congressional commission, and in 2014, spoke at the Jackson Hole Symposium of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Eggleston teaches students through Stanford’s East Asian Studies program and is an active author/editor of books and publications, including a special issue of the Journal of the Economics of Ageing (2014) focused on the economic implications of population aging in China and India. She expects to release two edited volumes through Shorenstein APARC’s publishing program shortly.

Eggleston is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research as well as affiliated with Stanford’s Center for Health Policy / Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research.

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Building Peace in a Fragile World

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Abstract

New President of the United States Institute of Peace, Nancy Lindborg, will discuss the global challenge of fragility and conflict, including a vision of the way forward. Ms. Lindborg’s remarks reflect a lifetime of working in the world’s most fragile regions and a time when the global humanitarian system is at a breaking point, with record numbers of people forcibly displaced globally.   

 

Speaker Bio

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Nancy Lindborg has served since February, 2015, as President of the United States Institute of Peace, an independent institution founded by Congress to provide practical solutions for preventing and resolving violent conflict around the world.   

Ms. Lindborg has spent most of her career working in fragile and conflict affected regions around the world.   Prior to joining USIP, she served as the Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) at USAID.  From 2010 through early 2015, Ms. Lindborg led USAID teams focused on building resilience and democracy, managing and mitigating conflict and providing urgent humanitarian assistance.   Ms. Lindborg led DCHA teams in response to the ongoing Syria Crisis, the droughts in Sahel and Horn of Africa, the Arab Spring, the Ebola response and numerous other global crises.

Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Lindborg was president of Mercy Corps, where she spent 14 years helping to grow the organization into a globally respected organization known for innovative programs in the most challenging environments.   She started her international career working overseas in Kazakhstan and Nepal. 

Ms. Lindborg has held a number of leadership and board positions including serving as co-president of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition; co-founder and board member of the National Committee on North Korea; and chair of the Sphere Management Committee. She is a member of Council on Foreign Relations.

She holds a B.A and M.A. in English Literature from Stanford University and an M.A. in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Nancy Lindborg President of the United States Institute of Peace President of the United States Institute of Peace
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