Japan is known as a "non-litigious" or a "harmonious" society for its extremely low litigation rates per capita as an industrial country. Yet the nation commenced a large-scale judicial reform project in the 1990s that triplicates the number of lawyers, establishes graduate law schools, adopts a jury-like system to the criminal trials, and more. What is the cause of this reform? Has the nation transformed into the litigious society? This presentation will analyze the political economic aspect of this reform process and identify the main reason for the nation to commence this reform project in the 1990s.

Kaori Daimon is currently an assistant judge of Tokyo District Court in Japan and a J.S.M. candidate at Stanford Law School (Stanford Program in International Legal Studies). She got her LL.B. from University of Tokyo in 1998 and joined the civil case division of Tokyo District Court in 2000. Prior to coming to Stanford, she earned her LL.M. degree from Yale Law School in 2003.

Singapore has become widely known as a successful experiment in multiracialism and meritocracy. The apparently successful management of ethnic relations in Singapore has been attributed to the ostensibly race-blind vision of its leaders. In his talk, Eugene Tan will challenge this orthodox interpretation. He will argue instead that Singapore's rulers have not only been acutely aware of ethnicity and its importance. They have intentionally mobilized race, culture, and language as key political resources to ensure that Singapore remains a sophisticated, authoritarian, developmental state.

Eugene Tan has been researching multiracialism in Singapore at Stanford on a Fulbright fellowship while on study leave from the Singapore Management University, where he is a lecturer in law.

This seminar is co-hosted by the Southeast Asia Forum at Shorenstein APARC and the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies, Stanford Law School. This is the eleventh SEAF seminar of the 2003-2004 academic year.

America has done more than any other country to change the world. Yet, paradoxically, America is one of the countries least prepared to handle the world that it has changed. America has sprinkled magical stardust into the eyes of billions. It has made them believe that they too can succeed and thrive. Yet the world order remains frozen in time. The multilateral architecture is a fossilization of the 1945 power structure. The world has changed. But its structures have not. Global contradictions are emerging. America should begin to prepare itself for them. Ambassador Mahbubani will explore and discuss these and related ideas drawn from his latest book (forthcoming in 2005). Kishore Mahbubani modestly describes himself as ?a student of philosophy.? Others, less modest, have called him ?an Asian Toynbee, preoccupied with the rise and fall of civilizations? (The Economist) and a ?Max Weber of the new ?Confucian ethic?? (Washington Post). Without question he is one of Asia?s leading public intellectuals. His many publications include the provocatively titled Can Asians Think? (1998). His thirty-year career as a diplomat has included postings in Cambodia, Malaysia, and the United States. He was president of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002 and a fellow at Harvard University in 1991-92. He holds degrees in philosophy from Dalhousie University (1976) and the University of Singapore (1971). This is the tenth Southeast Asia Forum seminar of the 2003-2004 academic year.

How do states know what lies in their national interest? Hironaka explores this issue through examination of colonial expansion, and other domains of state security and power. Given the critical role of interests in many social theories, surprisingly little research has been done on the question. Scholars routinely avoid the issue by inferring interests from observed action in a post-hoc and often tautological manner. Instead, Hironaka draws on organizational sociology as a starting point: Large organizational actors like states often experience great ambiguity regarding their interests. States function in a complex political and social world in which both state interests and the means of achieving those interests are often unclear. Hironaka proposes that states respond to this ambiguity by attending to and participating in discourses in the international community. Collective interaction revolving around interpretation of the "Great Powers" and significant international events (such as the outcome of major wars) provide the grist for an evolving international consensus regarding appropriate state strategies and behavior. When faced with ambiguity, states draw upon the international consensus to inform their interests. Consequently, the international community plays a critical role in shaping state policies -- and thus the conflicts that are likely to arise in the international system. Ann Hironaka is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Taiwan is a world premier manufacturing center, with many products leading in world market share, such as IC foundry (72.8%), Mask ROM (81.8%), WLAN (91%), CD-R Disc (79%), DVD-R Disc (82%) and others. In recent years, it has also performed well in patent productivity and S&T infrastructure. Currently, the challenge for Taiwan is to enter a new stage for economic development - to transform from a manufacturing-based economy in an innovation-based economy. What is the current status and prospects of Taiwan's industry technology innovation system? How does it perform? What are the gaps? What lessons have been learned from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs policies for public and private, university and industry networking?

As director general of the Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, Dr. Hwang is responsible for formulating industrial policy to upgrade technology levels in Taiwan. The DOIT works with research institutions, private companies and universities to implement Taiwan's annual Technology Development Program. Supported by a more than $5 billion annual budget, this program focuses on stimulating the development and transfer of knowledge-intensive technologies, upgrading R&D capabilities of research institutions, and promoting international scientific and technological cooperation across such key industries, as IT, biotech, materials, machinery, aerospace, communications and others. Since 1990, Dr. Hwang has led a distinguished career in government service in Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs. He received a PhD in Information Engineering and MS in Computer Engineering from National Chiao-Tung University and a BS in Electronics Engineering from Chung Yuan Christian University.

Mr. Siew began his civil service career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1962. He was soon appointed vice consul at the ROC?s Consulate General in Kuala Lumpur and then appointed Consul. He held the position of consul for 3 years. Once home, he became a section chief in the East Asian & Pacific Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1972 he rose to department director-general. Trade negotiations and market promotion were two areas to which he was particularly dedicated. As member of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Mr. Siew was elected in July 1988 to the KMT Central Committee. In June 1990 a new premier was appointed and the cabinet was reshuffled. Mr. Siew was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs. In November 1992, he helped to secure formal observer status for the ROC in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization.) In August 1997, soon after the National Assembly had completed a revision of the Constitution, the government reorganized the cabinet. President Lee Teng-hui appointed Mr. Siew premier. He took office in September of that year and held the position until May 2000. Mr. Siew has since retired from government office and spends his time as an ordinary citizen devoting his efforts to education and social welfare.