After "a longtime partnership with Stanford University's Rural Education Action Program," OneSight is expanding into Rwanda and Brazil to continue our practice of providing free eyeglasses to those in critical need, explains author Julian Wyllie. 

"OneSight builds eye-examination centers and helps train ophthalmologists in dozens of countries and is expanding into new areas including Rwanda and Brazil."

Read the full story here.

Learn more about REAP's vision care research here. 

Liberal democracy is being challenged by populist nationalist leaders and they’re fanning the flames of identity politics. Instead of uniting over a shared sense of humanity, people are identifying in narrower ways based on things like religion, race, ethnicity, and gender. Francis Fukuyama , FSI Senior Fellow and CDDRL Mosbacher Director, believes that in order to support democracy, we must inculcate a greater sense of dignity into society. Fukuyama speaks with Elliot Gerson, executive vice president at the Aspen Institute. Listen here.

SPICE is proud to announce a new partnership with Oita Prefecture in Japan to develop an online course for high school students in Oita Prefecture. The new program, called Stanford e-Oita, will launch in the fall of 2019 and will introduce Japanese high school students to U.S. culture and society. The students will also have an opportunity to improve their English language skills, as the course will be conducted entirely in English.

To commemorate the new online course and partnership between Stanford University and Oita Prefecture, SPICE hosted a ceremony on Stanford campus last week with Oita Governor Katsusada Hirose and a large contingent of Japanese businessmen and government workers from Oita Prefecture, including representatives from the Development Bank of Japan and Japan Semiconductor. Also in attendance was Dr. Michael Armacost, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and an old friend of Governor Hirose.

“I am so honored to be here at the ceremony with my old schoolmate Ambassador Armacost,” commented Governor Hirose during his formal remarks. “I also extend my sincere gratitude to SPICE Director Dr. Mukai for your generous and continued support on this. It is a dream for our students to be able to take classes from Stanford University even in Oita, a regional city in Japan. I hope the agreement this time will be a great opportunity for students of both countries to learn from each other.”

Planning for the Stanford e-Oita online course is still at an early stage, but the main course topics are now being decided. Dr. Mukai moderated a discussion on possible topics for the new course, and several of those in attendance enthusiastically contributed suggestions for consideration. The SPICE staff shared their experiences teaching other online courses such as Stanford e-Japan, Stanford e-Tottori, Stanford e-Hiroshima, and the Reischauer Scholars Program (a course on Japan for U.S. high school students). Oita Prefectural Board of Education’s Keisuke Toyoda, who oversees the Stanford e-Oita online course, also offered his high-priority topics for the program, which includes entrepreneurship, Japan–U.S. relations, region-to-region partnerships, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Several others offered their suggestions, as well.

Ambassador Armacost also made formal remarks, commenting especially on the strong and natural modern partnership between the United States and Japan, but also how U.S.–Japan relations at the governmental level have evolved over time to become a more balanced relationship.

“Back in my days—in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s—the United States used to approach U.S.–Japan relations with a kind of instructional mindset. ‘How can we teach Japan to be more like us?’ I always disagreed with that approach,” shared Ambassador Armacost. “Nowadays, it seems to be much better—a more reciprocal mindset. ‘What can we learn from each other to build a better future?’”

Fittingly, it is in that same spirit of mutual respect, reciprocity, and hope for the future that SPICE and Oita Prefecture launch our new Stanford–Oita partnership and online course.

“I have a lot of expectations for the future,” commented Governor Hirose. “Thank you so much.”

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South Korea's decision to end its military agreement with Japan will damage the prospect of continued close security ties among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo because the pact has been a symbol of smooth trilateral military cooperation between them and regarded as a key deterrent against North Korea.

"It is a big mistake," Shin Gi-wook, a Korea studies expert at Stanford University, said in a recent interview adding Seoul's withdrawal from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) puts the "trilateral security framework at risk."

"The Japan-South Korea relationship may not have hit rock bottom, but it could further deteriorate in the coming months," Shin said. "This is all the more important with the continuing threat of North Korean WMD and the escalating conflict between the U.S. and China in the region. I am concerned that South Korea could be further isolated in the Northeast Asian region—the Moon administration should see the big picture," the professor said…

Read the full article in The Korea Times.

Democratic institutions worldwide have reached a unique and precarious turning point, said Larry Diamond on a recent episode of the World Class podcast by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

After the Cold War, the world became dominated by liberal values and a prevailing consensus for freedom, democracy and human rights, Diamond told World Class host and FSI Director Michael McFaul. During this time, the percentage of democratic states rose from making up about a quarter to more than half of all of the independent states in the world — which had never happened before in history. However, explained Diamond, who is senior fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, this trend may come to an end soon.

“It’s under severe challenge from Russia, China, Iran and from many other countries that were until recently democracies or are in danger of no longer being democracies soon,” Diamond said. “We are in a new and urgent situation.”

In 2018, Freedom House — a non-governmental organization that conducts research on democracy and political freedom — reported a decline in global freedom for the 13th consecutive year, reversing the post-Cold War trend between 1991 and 2006.
        
“We could be on the cusp of a democratic depression,” said Diamond. In his view, here are the four main causes of this worldwide shift. 

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Incremental Authoritarianism
The first cause, according to Diamond, is what he calls “incremental authoritarianism,” which usually occurs when elected populist rulers — such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Turkey’s Tayyip Erdoğan, for example — begin to spread conservative, anti-immigrant or anti-pluralist values in an attempt to “save” the nation from corruption or threatening international illiberal values.

“Of course, the corrupting influences are human rights, accountability, pluralism, the rule of law and anything that would constrain their power and eliminate all potential rivals,” Diamond explained.

Russian Rage
The second cause has to do with Russia’s status as what Diamond describes as a “fallen superpower.”. Russia has begun to intervene in the politics of European democracies, meddle with the politics of the U.S. electoral democracy, spread confusion and promote division — all actions that stem from “Russian rage.”

“I think Putin has become unleashed,” he said. “He’s much more aggressive and ambitious now that he has found a cost-effective way of inflicting damage on democracy through disinformation and the penetration of the electoral space of democracies that we thought was sacred and secure.”

Chinese Ambition
Since coming to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has tried to cultivate ties with “sympathetic actors” abroad — whether it be by sending Chinese citizens to U.S. graduate programs or to think tanks — but this effort has been ramped up and extended under Xi Jinping to a degree that hasn’t been seen before, according to Diamond.

“Chinese influence is extending into universities, corporations, Chinese-language media overseas, and certainly into aggressive — and I’d say illegal — technology practices that are boldly trying to create a new world of Chinese influence and even domination by the People’s Republic of China,” he explained.

American Complacency
Finally, Americans have become complacent about the security of their democracy, and many think that it doesn’t require their attention or participation in order to be upheld, said Diamond. In addition, some Americans have also become comfortable about the slow deterioration of their democracy through the polarization of U.S. politics. 

“People are becoming so intense in their feelings about parties and politicians that they won’t even talk to people from the other side at the Thanksgiving dinner table,” Diamond said. “Some of the statements of our own president are not consistent with democratic values…in which everyone is recognized as having the right to speak and in which violence can never be encouraged.”

Read more about Diamond’s thoughts on the state of global democracy in his new book, “Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency.”

In the past six weeks, I have been in mainland China, Hong Kong (three times), and Washington. From these trips and recent developments, I have concluded that Hong Kong is a huge tragedy in the making. Proactive and positive moves by all parties to this rapidly deteriorating situation are required.

Though Washington is not a principal party in these developments, it should be a constructive force rather than irrelevant or counterproductive...

The elements of the current crisis are many. In Hong Kong, there is a leaderless movement on the ground. There are rising levels of political and socio-economic frustration among many Hong Kong citizens stemming from mobility and economic considerations, as well as perceptions of political retrogression in the special administrative region.

There is a tone-deaf, neutered local leadership that is prideful and unwilling to admit that it made a huge strategic misstep pushing forward with an ill-conceived extradition bill. And there are local tycoons who curry favour with Beijing rather than protecting the rule of law that is in their own long-term interests...

Read the full article on South China Morning Post.

For more by Okseberg-Rohlen Fellow David M. Lampton, read our recently posted Q&A in which he analyzes the escalating U.S.-China conflict.

As a former business executive with IBM and a veteran policymaker, Bonnie Glick is well-equipped to bridge the Silicon Valley — Washington, DC divide.

It was a sunny day in mid-July when Glick, the deputy administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and her team touched down in the Bay Area. The group’s goal was to engage Silicon Valley leaders in USAID’s work, including a discussion with scholars from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) about threats to democracy from two key sources: authoritarian regimes and the abuse of social media.

I participated in a round table discussion at @Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in #California. We discussed how @USAID builds messaging, strategic programming, & donor partnerships to address global challenges posed by China’s authoritarian approach. pic.twitter.com/IJDNRn4Jyd

— Bonnie Glick (@USAIDBGlick) July 25, 2019

In back-to-back roundtable meetings, FSI scholars drew from their research and expertise to discuss with Glick about how USAID could combat these thorny challenges. The scholars also had the opportunity to learn more about USAID’s priorities and programs. Below are highlights from their discussion.

The Authoritarian Threat
Vulnerable democracies are facing increasingly political and economic interference from authoritarian regimes, particularly China and Russia. The One Belt, One Road Initiative — China’s global development strategy comprising infrastructure projects and investments in 152 countries — can lead to excessive debt and undermine sovereignty in borrower countries, for example. Meanwhile, countries like Ukraine struggle with election meddling and information manipulation at the hands of the Kremlin.

Implications of Social Media Abuse
The misuse of social media also poses a threat to democracies. While Russian efforts to spread disinformation and discord in the months leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election may be the best known example, social media abuse is now a global problem propagated both by foreign adversaries and domestic foes. The case of social media fanning the flames of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar is a prime example of domestically driven social media abuse.

Glick and the USAID team appreciated hearing the perspectives of the FSI scholars. “One of the things that’s resonating so clearly is that the Washington, DC beltway bubble is a powerful force of nature,” Glick said following the roundtables. “For us, to get outside of that bubble and to be challenged in our ideas is extremely valuable.”