The following papers will be presented. Dinner will be served. "Selling the Chinese State: Bureaucratic transformation in the Post-Deng Era" Martin Dimitrov, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, Stanford University "The Unmaking of the Chinese Proletariat: Xiagang, Its Origins, and Effects" William Hurst, Ph.D., Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley "Political Office, Kinship, and Household Wealth in Rural China" Andrew Walder, Director, Shorenstein APARC; Professor of Sociology, Stanford University

During the past decade, multinational companies (MNCs) have made radical institutional changes: instead of generating research and development (R&D) knowledge solely in central laboratories in home countries, they have shifted their strategy to developing the capability to absorb and utilize cutting-edge technologies worldwide. Based on over 80 interviews with mainly electronics and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, Japan and the United States, this presentation addresses the question: How have MNCs developed their capability to evaluate, internalize, and utilize external R&D knowledge from abroad? Still a work in progress, this research provides an understanding of the evolutionary process of internationalization of R&D as well as the various strategies of Japanese and European high technology MNCs to absorb new technologies from US and Europe.

Biography: Seiko Arai is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, UK, and currently a visiting scholar at Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University. She obtained a bachelor's degree in law and political science from the University of Tokyo, Japan, and a Masters in public policy from Harvard University. She has worked for the Japanese government and the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), France, in the areas of science and technology and education policies.

PLEASE NOTE: Limited seating, RSVP required via email to Conan Carey About the speaker:

The Korean peninsula has been at the center of Cold War politics ever since its 1945 territorial division, and remains so even after the demise of the Soviet empire. After half a century of intense conflict and tensions -- including a major war -- the leaders of North and South Korea held their first summit in summer 2000, creating hope and enthusiasm for peace and unification on the peninsula. However, the current stalemate in inter-Korean relations and the recent tension over North Korea's nuclear program clearly indicate that a peaceful conflict resolution, let alone unification, will not come easily. The current situation also attests to the urgent need for a new forum that can address various issues related to inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S./Japan relations at the nonofficial, nonpolitical level.

We believe that early 2003 will be a critical moment in inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S./Japan relations. The new South Korean government will take office in late February 2003 and the newly created special economic zone in Shin-ui-ju is expected to be at work in a few months. Also, the recent visit of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi to North Korea could lead to a new relationship between the two countries, and the Bush administration will be entering the second half of its term in early 2003.

All these developments, along with the recent revelation of North Korea's nuclear program, make the proposed policy conference timely and essential for (re) formulating new North Korean policies by South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The proposed conference will discuss policy issues toward North Korea among scholars and policymakers from the United States, Japan, China, and Russia, as well as South Korea. We seek to produce a policy proposal to be presented to the new South Korean government, as well as to the governments in Tokyo and Washington, D.C.

In "Gender Militarized" Frhstck deals with how masculinity is created, constituted, and negotiated in present-day Japan. She describes how Japanese "militarized masculinity" constantly evolves, is culturally specific, contested, debated and resisted. In this talk, she argues that "militarized masculinity" draws from various kinds of manhood, depends on the subordination of alternative modes of manhood, cuts itself off from other modes of gender and is informed by past and present Japanese and non-Japanese militarisms as well as American militarism on its soil. At the core of Frhstck's analysis are the processes of institutional coercion and the expectations and struggles of enlisted personnel and officers in Japan's armed forces to create a "militarized gender" that is distinct from other types of manhood.

About the speaker:

Sabine Frhstck is an associate professor of modern Japanese cultural studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her publications include Colonizing Sex: Sexology and Social Control in Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2003); "Managing the Truth of Sex in Imperial Japan" in the Journal of Asian Studies (2000); and (with Eyal Ben-Ari) "Now We Show It All! Normalization and the Management of Violence in Japan's Armed Forces" in the Journal of Japanese Studies (2002), among other articles and book chapters. She is currently working on a book about military-societal relations in modern and contemporary Japan entitled "Avant-garde: The Army of the Future."

Japanese pop culture has gained a global following in recent years, with recognition that now extends far beyond the stereotypes of oriental exotica. With the reach of pop culture comes tremendous economic potential. Nakamura, whose varied experiences in rock, art, and multimedia have been applied to policymaking and education, gives a preview of a new research project he is coordinating on the impact of pop culture on politics, society, and the economy. Japan's economic troubles have taken center stage during the last decade. But has Japan's "lost decade" really been a "glorious decade"?

The era of Three Kims is passing away. Three Kims dominated Korean politics for the past three decades. Two Kims (Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung) led democratization movement in the 70s and 80s, and another Kim (Kim Jong Pil) represented a moderate alternative to Park Chung Hee's dictatorship within an authoritarian ruling circle. Together, they presided over democratic transition in the 1980s and were leading players in restored democratic competition since 1987.

Now the era of Three Kims is expected to terminate with the presidential election of December 2002. The exit of Three Kims signifies the end of the first generation of democracy. The presidential election will decide who will lead the country in Post-Three Kims era. The outcome of presidential election would surely be the turning point for Korean democracy. Will Korean democracy move forward to democratic deepening or begin to erode?

Professor Im will review conceptual issues in discussing democratic consolidation and then analyze the achievements, failures, and unfinished jobs that the leaders of the first generation of Korean democracy have to their credit. He will also discuss the future of Korean democracy in the post-Three Kims era.