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.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Bin Wang is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13. 

 From 1993 to 98, Wang worked for the Ministry of Electronic Industry of China (MEI).  At MEI, he was in charge of managing the Electronic Industry Development Fund, which invested in companies engaged in information technology in China.  He also participated in the research and formulation of industrial policy.  In 1999, Wang set up a high-tech company and served as its CEO.  The company specialized in developing embedded software and finally became the only provider of mobile payment solutions for China UnionPay.  This company was acquired in 2010 as a price of $47.5 million USD and generated over 100x returns for the initial investors.  Wang joined Infotech Ventures, a leading venture investment company in China, as a venture partner in 2010.  His current responsibilities include identifying potential investment projects in the IT industry and doing research in venture investment and entrepreneurship.  Wang received his bachelor's degree in management engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology and his master's degree in public administration from Sichuan University. 

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Toshihiko Takeda is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  He was born in Shizuoka prefecture, the "home of Mt. Fuji," and has worked for the Shizuoka Prefectural Government for over 10 years.  His numerous roles have included city planning, community development, and multicultural affairs, and he has also lent his expertise to the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations in Tokyo and London.  During his fellowship at Shorenstein APARC, his research will focus on American immigration policy since World War II.  Takeda earned his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Taisho University, Japan.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Masashi Suzuki is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012–13.  Suzuki has over 11 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 system development, project management, sales, business development and strategy planning. While at Stanford, Suzuki is researching the difference in the profitability and structure of IT businesses between the United States and Japan.  Suzuki is interested in applying his knowledge gained here to his work and overall helping to revive the economy in Japan.  Suzuki graduated from Chuo University with a degree in business administration.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Kenta Sakurai is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  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 physical sensors and sensor networks.  From 2009 to 2011, he was also in charge of the policy planning of electronic commerce at METI.  Sakurai received his master of science degree in physics from Tohoku University in 2001.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Kazuaki Osumi is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  Osumi has held positions at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for about 10 years, where he has led policy making projects.  He has worked in the Electricity and Gas Industry Department; Information and Communication Electronics Division; Industrial Finance Division; and the Nara Prefectural Government (temporary transfer).  His latest position at METI was as deputy director for the Policy Evaluation and Public Relations Division.  He received a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master of science from the University of Tokyo.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Ryo Masuda is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  Masuda has more than six years of experience in media markets working for Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's major trading and investment conglomerates.  Most recently, Masuda worked for Japan's largest CATV operator, one of Sumitomo Corporation's affiliated companies, where he was responsible for business development.  Masuda graduated from Hitotsubashi University with a bachelor's degree in commercial science.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Chengbao He is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  Since 2005, He has been the vice deputy director of the Science and Technology Management Department of PetroChina.  He is responsible for the R&D management of the refining and chemical businesses of PetroChina and for the intellectual property management.  He graduated from Tianjin University with a master's degree in chemical engineering in 1990.  After graduating, he worked at the Dalian Petrochemical Company (DPC) for 16 years, serving as the vice president in 2002.  DPC became the largest refinery in China which had a crude oil capacity of 400kBPSD.  During the period from 2002 to 2005, He was responsible for the technology of DPC's capacity expansion project.  In 2012, He graduated from the University of Houston with an Executive MBA degree.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Yasuaki Hanai is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  Hanai has more than eight years of experience in energy markets working for NEC Corporation.  Most recently, Hanai was responsible for business development in the areas of environmental protection and energy management systems.  Hanai graduated from Meiji University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering informatics.

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow
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Mitsunori Fukuda is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2012-13.  He has held positions at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) for about 10 years, where he has been in charge of policy making.  His latest position at METI was as deputy director for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.  He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from Kyoto University.

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When Kofi Annan announced his plans to step aside as special envoy for the conflict in Syria by the end of the month, he put much of the blame on the United Nations Security Council for the failure to make peace in the war-ravaged country.

"When the Syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger pointing and name calling in the Security Council," Annan said. "It is impossible for me or anyone to compel the Syrian government and also the opposition to take the steps to bring about the political process. As an envoy, I can't want peace more than the protagonists, more than Security Council or the international community, for that matter."

The uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in March 2011 and rights activists say it has left more than 19,000 dead. Annan became the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria in February, with the goal of getting both sides to put down their weapons. He designed a six-point plan for peace, which was never fully implemented.

Stephen J. Stedman, FSI's Freeman Spogli Senior Fellow, and Larry Diamond — a senior fellow at FSI and the Hoover Institution as well as director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law — offer their analysis of the impact of Annan's resignation.

Does the resignation of Annan, who is well respected among diplomats, signal that there is no hope for peace in Syria?

Diamond: I think it's been apparent for several weeks, at least, that the peace mission was doomed, that the Assad regime was not prepared to negotiate, and that the refusal of Russia and China to agree to any kind of meaningful pressure on the Assad regime has left violent resistance by the opposition and the society as the only option.

Syria is sinking deeper and deeper into all-out civil war, and only an escalation of military pressure and economic sanctions on the Assad regime and its principal leaders and supporters offers any hope of resolution. Sometimes, when one or both parties refuse to negotiate, the only way to end a civil war is for one side to win. Libya provides the most recent example of that. If Assad and his allies are going to negotiate a peaceful exit, it will only be because they are staring at the prospect of fairly imminent military defeat.

Could Annan have done something differently?

Diamond: It is very difficult to negotiate with a regime that is bent on repression and total domination, especially when you can't credibly threaten to impose formidable costs on the regime if it refuses to compromise. I don't think there was anything more that Annan could have done, because he had no leverage, no tools to work with, as a result of the inability of the Security Council to agree on tough sanctions.

Will the failure to make peace in Syria tarnish Annan's legacy?

Stedman: The failure to make peace in Syria should not and will not tarnish Annan's legacy. First, he is already a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and one failure in an extraordinarily difficult case does not diminish the rest of his diplomatic successes. With regards to Syria, no one expected him to succeed, but he needed to try and he needed to be seen to try. His position was special envoy of the Security Council, and if anyone is looking for a scapegoat they should start looking at the council.

Diamond: No, I don't think this will tarnish Annan's legacy. He had a nearly impossible mission; everyone knew that. The failure was a collective failure of the international system, not the failure of an individual mediator. Annan is a great man who has made major contributions to world peace and security. It's not his fault that a brutal regime, backed by the world's two most powerful authoritarian states, refused to negotiate.

Brooke Donald is a writer for the Stanford News Service.

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