International Relations

FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.

FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.

Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.

Extreme weather events and climate variability threaten crop production, food prices, food security, and human lives at local and global scales. Ten years ago, a record heat wave killed over 30,000 people and seriously damaged crop yields in France and northern Italy; summertime heat waves and associated droughts have subsequently decimated maize and soy yields in the U.S. and wheat yields in Russia, causing global food prices to soar.

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Research Affiliate at PESD
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Ognen Stojanovski has been affiliated with PESD since 2005 (while still a student at Stanford Law School) and returned to the program in 2012. He is charged with leading PESD’s research platform on low-income energy services, which studies the kinds of economic and institutional arrangements that can deliver modern energy services to the poor at scale and in a durable way (as opposed to whether a specific technology can be made to work on a one-off basis).

His current research focuses on measuring and quantifying the economic and social welfare impacts of solar PV products in developing countries, as well as identifying innovations in the off-grid solar industry that can improve business performance and maximize end-user benefits. He is also keenly interested in investigating the theory and practice of impact investing in social enterprises intended to both promote development and deliver financial returns. Stojanovski was previously part of PESD's research on national oil companies and authored the chapter on Pemex and the Mexican oil sector in the book Oil and Governance: State-owned Enterprises and the World Energy Supply.

Stojanovski has designed and carried out multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other field research projects in challenging environments. He has also been responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with both commercial and research partners that have enabled PESD to perform effective research in these settings. He authored successful research grant proposals to support this work.

Stojanovski developed the curriculum for Economics 121: “Social Science Field Research Methods,” a new course he has co-taught (along with Frank Wolak and Mark Thurber) since 2015. The course aims to equip students with strong foundations in research design and rigorous data analysis, along with the practical skills required for successful fieldwork implementation and project management. In the summer of 2015, he organized and led a group of selected students from the course to conduct an RCT in Puebla, Mexico. They explored how households use electricity and tested whether information about electricity pricing and conservation leads to changes in behavior.

Stojanovski’s research at the nexus of energy and development is motivated and informed by working, living, and traveling through over 20 developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, central and eastern Europe, and South America for four years (October 2007-October 2011).

Additionally, Stojanovski has extensive experience in the autonomous vehicles industry, starting as a competitor in the first DARPA Grand Challenge while in graduate school in 2003-04. Most recently, he helped launch Otto (a startup later acquired by Uber) where he spearheaded policy, internal research, and external advocacy efforts. He developed the company’s policy position and compiled research probing the potential safety, fuel-efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and productivity benefits of self-driving commercial motor vehicles. He also organized and led a team undertaking a detailed econometric analysis on the possible impacts of this technology on the trucking labor market (available here).

Stojanovski has worked closely with policymakers, regulators and law enforcement at the federal, state, and international levels to develop and implement autonomous vehicle policies. He cleared a regulatory path forward for major milestones, including: (1) the first-ever commercial delivery by an autonomous truck ; (2) the first series of interstate shipments by (SAE level 2) self-driving trucks; and (3) the first framework for the development and testing of self-driving trucks in California. Stojanovski continues to actively advise on policy and legal issues related to autonomous vehicles.

Stojanovski has a background is in law and engineering. He received his J.D. from Stanford (with distinction) and also holds masters and bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (with highest honors). He is an active member of the State Bar of California and has advised clients on a wide range of corporate legal issues.

 

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Wei Wang is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  She has worked at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for 18 years. Currently, she is the Deputy General Manager of the Corporate Banking Deptartment II of ICBC's head office and a member of both the Senior Credit Review Committee and Senior INvestment Review Committee.  Wang holds a certification of Certified Public Accountants, received her master's degree in industrial management engineering from the Harbin Institute Technology of China, and an IMBA degree from the University of Hong Kong.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Tun Wang is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  Wang has worked at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for 17 years.  Currently, he is the deputy head of the Global Market Department in the head office in Beijing.  He received his bachelor's degree in Electronics and IT Systems from Ocean University of China and his master's degree in Finance from the Graduate School of People's Bank of China. His work experience and research activities focus on financial market trading business.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, 2013-14
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Huihong Cai is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  Cai has worked at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for 17 years - participating in a majority of the projects of IT infrastructure construction such as the project of Data Consolidation and the project of Recovery Data Center Construction.  Currently, he is the Section Chief of the System Management Division of the IT Department at ICBC's head office in Beijing.  Previously, he worked in other divisions & branches and served as the Deputy Mayor of Wanyuan in the Sichuan Province for one year. Cai received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering form Zhejiang University and his MBA from the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).

Through periods of colonial expansion, New World emigration, postcolonial immigration, and Eurozone migration, Europe has been shaped and reshaped by the constant movement of people and communities within and across its borders. The Europe Center supports scholarship that explicates the socio-political, economic, and cultural consequences of migration for both states that receive immigrants and states that send emigrants.

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Political Science professors Kenneth Scheve (Stanford) and Michael Bechtel's (University of Gallen) article on global climate agreements looks at how costs and distribution, participation, and enforcement affects the public support needed to sustain international efforts over the long run.

For a full synopsis and a PDF of the complete article, please visit the publication website by clicking on the article title below.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Satoshi Ogawa is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  He has been working since 2003 for the Japan Patent Office, one of the external agencies of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, as a patent examiner handling applications for car engines and production machinery.  From 2011 to 2013, he was also in charge of the policy planning of space industry at METI.  He received his master of engineering degree in aerospace from Tokyo University in 2003.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, 2013-14
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Katsunori Komeda is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  Komeda has been working at Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's major trading and investment conglomerates.  Komeda has approximately 10 years of experience in business development in the cinema and broadcasting business.  Komeda graduated for The University of Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in economics.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Kensuke Itoh is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013-14.  Itoh has over eight years of experience in the information technology arena at Sumitomo Corporation, one of the major trading and investment conglomerates in Japan, and its subsidiaries.  His experience in the IT industry includes sales, strategy planning, M&A process and administration.  While at Stanford, Itoh is researching the difference in the profitability and structure of IT businesses between the United States and Japan.  Itoh is interested in applying his knowledge gained here to his work and overall helping to revise the economy in Asia.  Itoh graduated from the Graduate School of Energy Science at Kyoto University with a degree in energy science and technology. 

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