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.
Korea and Vietnam: The Bilateral Relationship
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Ambassador Joon-woo Park, the 2011–12 Koret Fellow and a former senior diplomat from Korea, will give a historical review of Korea-Vietnam bilateral relations, including the effects of Korea's participation in the Vietnam War; bilateral relations today including diplomatic, economic and cultural exchanges; and prospects for future developments and cooperation for East Asian integration.
As a career diplomat, Ambassador Park served in numerous key posts, including those of Ambassador to the European Union and to Singapore and Presidential Advisor on Foreign Affairs. Park worked closely for over 20 years with Ban Ki-moon, the former Korean diplomat who is now the United Nations Secretary-General.
This event is made possible by the generous support from the Koret Foundation.
Oksenberg Conference Room
Joon-woo Park
Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall C324
616 Serra Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
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jwpark78@stanford.edu
2011-2012 Koret Fellow
Joon-woo Park, a former senior diplomat from Korea, is the 2011–12 Koret Fellow with the Korean Studies Program (KSP).
Park brings over 30 years of foreign policy experience to Stanford, including a deep understanding of the U.S.-Korea relationship, bilateral relations, and major Northeast Asian regional issues. In view of Korea’s increasingly important presence as a global economic and political leader, Park will explore foreign policy strategies for furthering this presence. In addition, he will consider possibilities for increased U.S.-Korea collaboration in their relations with China, as well as prospects for East Asian regional integration based on the European Union (EU) model. He will also teach a course during the winter quarter, entitled Korea's Foreign Policy in Transition.
In 2010, while serving as ambassador to the EU, Park signed the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Brussels. That same year he also completed the Framework Agreement, strengthening EU-South Korea collaboration on significant global issues, such as human rights, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and climate change. Park’s experience with such major bilateral agreements comes as the proposed Korea-U.S. FTA is nearing ratification.
Park holds a BA and an MA in law from Seoul National University.
The Koret Fellowship was established in 2008 through the generosity of the Koret Foundation to promote intellectual diversity and breadth in KSP, bringing leading professionals in Asia and the United States to Stanford to study U.S.-Korea relations. The fellows conduct their own research on the bilateral relationship, with an emphasis on contemporary relations, with the broad aim of fostering greater understanding and closer ties between the two countries.
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Energy Geopolitics in East Asia: Challenges for South Korea
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Energy geopolitics in East Asia have reflected strong competition among major energy consuming countries (China, Japan and Korea) despite the alleged necessity of energy cooperation to cope with uncertainties in the global energy market and to prevent potential conflicts regarding energy supply. Lacking abundant energy resources, South Korea has to face the tough challenges of energy supply and climate change as well as the North Korean energy and nuclear crisis. In recent years, South Korea has actively pursued overseas energy development to guarantee the stable procurement of hydrocarbon energy resources and introduced a Green Growth policy to deal with the challenges of climate change and clean energy. The Green Growth policy symbolizes a paradigm shift to cope with climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and global economic recession by creating new engines of economic growth through green technology and clean energy. Based on strong political support and policy measures, it has showed noticeable progress in a short period of time, but the transition from a hydrocarbon-based to a renewable-based economy faces enormous uncertainties and challenges. South Korea has also been active in participating East Asian energy cooperation, which is also important in dealing with the serious North Korean energy crisis.
Jae-Seung Lee is a visiting scholar with the Korean Studies Program (KSP) for the 2011–12 academic year, and he is also currently a professor of international studies at Korea University. Before joining the faculty of Korea University, he had served as a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His current research includes energy security and energy diplomacy of Korea.
Jae-Seung Lee has authored a series of books and articles on East Asian energy security. He is a Managing Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) at Korea University and has organized the Korea Energy Forum (KEF) since 2005. Professor Lee is editor-in-chief of Korea Review of International Studies and serves as a Member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Presidential Secretariat (Foreign and Security Affairs) and Vice Director of Ilmin International Relations Institute (IIRI). Professor Lee holds a BA in political science from Seoul National University and an MA and a PhD in political science from Yale University. He has taught at Yale University, Seoul National University, and Korea University.
This event is made possible by the generous support from the Koret Foundation.
Philippines Conference Room
Jae-Seung Lee
Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
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jaselee@stanford.edu
2011-2012 Visiting Scholar
Jae-Seung Lee is a visiting scholar with the Korean Studies Program (KSP) for the 2011–12 academic year, and he is also currently a professor of international studies at Korea University. Before joining the faculty of Korea University, he served as a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
As a scholar in international political economy, Lee has authored a number of books and articles on Korea, East Asia, and Europe. His current research also includes the energy security and energy diplomacy of Korea, among others. During his time with KSP, he will conduct a research project on the geopolitics of East Asian energy relations.
Lee is currently an editor-in-chief of the Korea Review of International Studies and he also serves as a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Presidential Secretariat (Foreign and Security Affairs) and as vice director of Ilmin International Relations Institute (IIRI). He was selected as an Asia Society Young Leader in 2006 and as a Young Leader by the InterAction Council, a group of former heads-of-state, in 2008. He has contributed op-ed articles to major Korean newspapers and has commented on international affairs for BBC, CNN, and Korean broadcast stations.
Lee holds a BA in political science from Seoul National University (1991), and an MA (1993) and PhD (1998) in political science from Yale University. He also earned a certificate from the Institut D’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1995). He has taught at Yale University and Seoul National University.
* His on-line expert interview with World Politics Review on South Korea's energy diplomay is available here.
* His on-line interview with BBC World on the Korean DMZ is available here.
Seminars
Japan Studies Program launches inaugural year
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The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center’s (Shorenstein APARC) Japan Studies Program kicked off its inaugural academic year with a lineup of major events and meetings at Stanford and in Japan.
Here are some highlights from the autumn:
Corporate Affiliates Alumni Reunion in Tokyo
In early September, Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliates Program alumni from 1997 to 2011 gathered for a lively reunion in Tokyo. Participants introduced their current positions and jobs, and outlined how their experience at the Center has enhanced their work and life. Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow Michael H. Armacost, associate director for research Daniel C. Sneider, and Takahashi Research Associate Kenji E. Kushida hosted the event on behalf of Shorenstein APARC.
U.S.-Japan Strategic Exchange with Japanese Policymakers
On October 10, a delegation of Japanese Diet members from several different parties and representatives from the Japan Institute of International Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the San Francisco Consulate of Japan visited Shorenstein APARC. The delegates exchanged views with Stanford and Center scholars, focusing on the U.S. political situation and the strategic environment facing Japan. David Kennedy, a Stanford professor of American history, presented a luncheon keynote on U.S. politics.
Japanese Academic Delegation Speaks with Shorenstein APARC China and Japan Experts
A delegation of Japanese scholars spoke on October 11 with Shorenstein APARC experts on China and Japan. The scholars were part of a group invited by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and included professors from Aoyama Gakuin University and research fellows at JIIA. Shorenstein APARC participants included China scholars Scott Rozelle, Jean C. Oi, and Xueguang Zhou along with international relations and Japan experts Phillip Lipscy and Kenji Kushida.
Post-Catastrophe Japan: Economic and Political Prospects
Richard Katz, editor of the Oriental Economist Report, gave a seminar on November 14 about the broader global economic and political prospects for Japan after the March 11 triple disaster. He also presented lessons from Japan for U.S. policymakers fighting the current slump.
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Economic, social, and security implications of East Asia's demographic transition
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Asia’s demographic landscape is changing in a big way. Japan’s population is shrinking, as people are living longer, marrying later, and choosing to have fewer or no children. Korea is moving in the same direction, while China and the countries of South and Southeast Asia face similar issues in the coming decades. As this takes place, more people are moving to, from, and across Asia for job, education, and marriage opportunities.
These demographic changes present policymakers with new challenges and questions, including: What are the interrelationships between population aging and key macroeconomic variables such as economic growth? How will it impact security? What are the effects on employment policy and other national institutions? How have patterns of migration affected society and culture? What lessons can Asia, the United States, and Europe learn from one another to improve the policy response to population aging?
The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) focused its third annual Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue on addressing the possible economic, social, and security implications of Asia’s unprecedented demographic transition. Thirty scholars, government figures, journalists, and other opinion leaders from Stanford, the United States, and countries across the Asia-Pacific region gathered September 8–9, 2011, in Kyoto, Japan, to discuss key issues related to the question of demographic change.
Comparative Demographics and Policy Responses
Japan’s shrinking workforce calls for labor policy changes, stressed presenters during the opening Dialogue session. Stanford Center for Population Research director Shripad Tuljapurkar stated that Japan’s population could decrease by as much as 25 percent and that its government has a window of approximately 40 years in which to act. In describing Japan’s demographic shift, Ogawa Naohiro, director of the Nihon University Population Research Institute, also emphasized the importance of good financial education for individuals as life expectancy increases.
Macroeconomic Implications
Economists Masahiko Aoki and Cai Fang addressed changes to East Asia’s economic landscape. Aoki, an FSI senior fellow, spoke of the transition from agriculture to industry that has occurred at different stages in Japan, Korea, and China and of the increasing cost of human capital that has followed. Cai, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences labor and population expert, stated that after several decades of industrial growth China is now at a turning point in terms of its global competitiveness.
Labor and Migration
Scott Rozelle, codirector of Stanford’s Rural Education Action Program (REAP), opened the next day with a discussion of China’s rural human capital investment. Offering Mexico’s situation after the mid-1990s peso crisis as a comparison, he emphasized the immediate need for allocating more health and education resources to China’s rural areas. Ton-Nu-Thi Ninh, president of Tri Viet University, discussed the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of labor migration—a growing trend in Asia—and advocated that governments factor it more into their foreign policy development.
Security
The security impact of Asia’s demographic transition will take several decades to understand, but it will eventually lead to the need for significant policy re-strategization, stated Yu Myung Hwan, Korea’s former minister of foreign affairs and trade, during the closing Dialogue session. He suggested focusing on impacts that could result from the major changes taking place in fertility, urbanization, and migration. Concurring with many of Yu’s views, Stanford’s Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow Michael H. Armacost also noted the current lack of literature on the link between security and demography. In addition, he emphasized the need for the United States to continue pursuing good relations with China and Russia during this time of transition.
“Low fertility rates are not because women are all out there working. In fact, a number of countries have lots of females in the labor force and have achieved a resurgence of fertility. Achieving work-life balance is important, not just for women, but for men as well, and might play a role in lessening the gap in life expectancy between men and women.”
-Karen Eggleston, Director, Asia Health Policy Program
Throughout the event, Dialogue participants unanimously acknowledged the serious challenges facing policymakers as they look for ways to meet the evolving needs of individuals, families, and organizations. The demographic outlook is not entirely gloomy, however. Numerous participants also pointed to the potential for exciting advances and innovations in technology and international cooperation.
As in previous years, the event concluded with a lively public symposium and reception attended by students from Stanford and local universities, Shorenstein APARC guests and affiliates, and members of the general public. Speaking during the reception, Kadokawa Daisaku, mayor of Kyoto, and Kim Hyong-O, member and former speaker of the Korean National Assembly, acknowledged the significance of the Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue as a forum for addressing issues of mutual importance to the United States and Asia.
The Dialogue is made possible through the generosity of the City of Kyoto, FSI, and Yumi and Yasunori Kaneko. To read the final report from this and previous Dialogues, visit the event series page below.
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Broken Promises: Cambodia Today
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Venue Changed to the Philippines Conference Room
In 1992, Cambodia became a United Nations (UN) protectorate—the first and only time the UN tried something so ambitious. What did the new, democratically-elected government do with this unprecedented gift? Cambodians today live in the grip of a venal government that refuses to provide even the most basic services without a bribe. Nearly half of the Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A malnourished populace still lives as Cambodians did 1,000 years ago, while government officials are the only overweight people in a nation where the hungry waste away. These conditions have not, however, dissuaded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from acceding the Cambodian regime's desire to chair ASEAN in 2012. Prof. Joel Brinkley will turn an unsparing analytical eye on these and related aspects of Cambodian history, political economy, and foreign policy.
Joel Brinkley joined Stanford in the fall of 2006 after a 23-year career with The New York Times. At the Times he served as a reporter, editor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent. At Stanford, he writes a weekly column on foreign affairs that appears in some 50 newspapers and web sites in the United States and around the world. He also writes on foreign affairs for Politico, and maintains an active public-speaking career. His research interests include American foreign policy and foreign affairs in general. Over the last 30 years, he has reported from 46 American states and more than 50 foreign countries. The latest of his five books is Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land (2011), already lauded by a reviewer in The American Interest as a "compelling" and "revealing tale of delusion and corruption" told with "panache." Copies of the book will be available for sale at the talk.
Philippines Conference Room
Joel Brinkley
Professor of Journalism
Speaker
Stanford University
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Fighting hunger in Africa with new methods of irrigation
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Rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa live under risky conditions. Many grow low-value cereal crops that depend on a short rainy season, a practice that traps them in poverty and hunger.
But reliable access to water could change the farmers' perilous situation. Stanford scientists are calling for investments in small-scale irrigation projects and hydrologic mapping to help buffer the growers from the erratic weather and poor crop yields that are expected to worsen with climate change in the region.
The potential for increased irrigation is there, said Jennifer Burney, a fellow at Stanford's Center on Food Security and Environment at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Burney's team partnered with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) to measure economic and nutritional impacts of solar-powered drip-irrigated gardens on villages in West Africa's Sudano-Sahel region. Burney will present the group's work on small-scale irrigation Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
"Irrigation is really appealing in that it lets you do a lot of things to break this cycle of low productivity that leads to low income and malnutrition," said Burney.
Modern irrigation often means multi-billion-dollar projects like damming rivers and building canals. But Burney says that these projects have not reached sub-Saharan Africa because countries lack the capital and ability to carry out big infrastructure projects.
A different approach, gaining popularity in sub-Saharan Africa, involves cooperation. Individuals or groups, called smallholders, organize to farm small plots and ensure their access to irrigation. These projects allow farmers to grow during the dry season and produce profitable, high-nutrition crops like fruits and vegetables in addition to the cereal crops they already grow.
Still, only 4 percent of cropland in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated.
Smallholder irrigation
Burney and her colleagues' work in two northern Benin villages is an example of successful investment in smallholder irrigation. They worked with women's cooperative agricultural groups to install three solar-powered drip irrigation systems. Drip irrigation conserves water by delivering it directly to the base of plants. The technique also reduces fertilizer runoff.
The team surveyed 30 households in each village and found that solar drip irrigation increased standards of living and increased vegetable consumption to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended daily allowance. By selling the vegetables, households were able to purchase staples and meat during the dry season.
Successful smallholder irrigation projects have high investment returns, said Burney. Her team has seen real success from irrigation projects – like those in Benin – that provide enough returns for women to send kids to school or buy small business equipment like a sewing machine or market stall.
"That's when I think it really becomes a ladder out of poverty," Burney said.
Lessons for success
For solar technology projects to be successful, Burney said, just dropping in and giving people irrigation kits doesn't work. Communities need access to a water source and need to see the benefits of a project.
"You need the technology and management and the water access, all together," said Burney. "Our solar project incorporates all of that."
According to Burney, smallholders need not limit themselves to solar irrigation systems. "Solar is great if you have an unreliable fuel," she said. "But if you're someplace that's connected to the grid, an electrical pump would more economical."
"There are a lot of different solutions that involve many different kinds of water harvesting," Burney said. "Groundwater, rainwater, surface water, and there are a lot of places in the Sahel, like Niger, for example, where there are artesian wells." The Sahel is a transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the savannas further south.
Given the diversity of water resources in West Africa, Burney suggests that nongovernmental organizations and governments prioritize detailed hydrologic mapping in the region. Otherwise, the cost of geophysical surveys and finding water sources, especially unseen groundwater, could become an insurmountable barrier for farm communities.
"It needs to be really detailed, comprehensive, usable information that's out there for everybody to be able to take advantage of," she said.
Burney says that both of the benefits that farmers get from irrigation systems –growing outside of the rainy season and producing more diverse, profitable crops – are important for adapting to climate change.
"You can produce more value on less land in most cases and not be as beholden to the whims of the rainy season," she said. Having more disposable income also will reduce vulnerability to hunger and malnutrition. "Economic development can be a form of adaptation," she said.
Rosamond L. Naylor, director of Stanford's Center on Food Security and the Environment, and Sandra Postel of the Global Water Policy Project were collaborators on the project.
Sarah Jane Keller is a science-writing intern at the Stanford News Service.
Jennifer Burney is scheduled to speak at the fall meeting of the AGU in San Francisco on Dec. 7 in Room 2008 (Moscone West), in Session B32B, Feeding the World While Sustaining the Planet: Building Sustainable Agriculture Within the Earth System II, which runs from 10:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Her talk, "Smallholder Irrigation and Crop Diversification Under Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence and Potential for Simultaneous Food Security, Adaptation and Mitigation," is scheduled from 12:04 to 12:17 p.m.
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The Transition to Afghan Sovereignty: Assessing Progress and Identifying Challenges
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Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, Payne Distinguished Lecturer Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and the former Commander of the American-led Coalition Forces there, set out to examine the transition to Afghan sovereignty. Eikenberry laid out three broad sets of questions: How well are we doing in the campaign in Afghanistan, what are the significant challenges we’ll face in achieving our goals and objectives, and what are the implications for American power and influence in the 21st century.
Watch the video below.
Bechtel Conference Center
Karl Eikenberry
Payne Distinguished Lecturer; Retired United States Army Lieutenant General; Former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
Speaker
Lectures
Korean Medical Sales Regulation: Preventing Illegal Rebates
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KSP visiting scholar Hyun Jeoung Lee, a South Korean attorney and former public prosecutor, will analyze the problem of rebates by pharmaceutical companies. She will provide background on the Korean pharmaceutical industry and review the Korean government's efforts to combat the problem, including the latest legislation, regulation, and prosecution.
Hyun Jeoung Lee is an attorney at the leading Korean law firm of Kim & Chang, in the White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group. Before joining the firm in 2007, she served as a public prosecutor for 10 years, developing expertise in a wide range of criminal law matters and was awarded honors by the Korean government, including the titles of Public Prosecutor General (2003) and Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of Justice (2006).
Lee completed her master's work in competition and antitrust laws at the Graduate School of Legal Studies at Korea University in 2006. She has extensive experience in white collar criminal defense, primarily in the areas of securities fraud, insider trading, and other corporate crimes, including fair trade regulation.
Philippines Conference Room
Hyun Jeoung Lee
Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
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hyunjlee@stanford.edu
Visiting Scholar
Hyun Jeoung Lee is currently a visiting scholar with the Korean Studies Program. She is an attorney at Kim & Chang, in the White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group, in Seoul, Korea.
Before joining the firm in 2007, Lee served as a public prosecutor for 10 years. In that capacity, she developed expertise in a wide range of criminal law matters and was awarded honors by the Korean government, including the titles of Public Prosecutor General (2003) and Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of Justice (2006).
Lee completed her master's work in competition and antitrust laws at the Graduate School of Legal Studies at Korea University in 2006. She has extensive experience in white collar criminal defense, primarily in the areas of securities fraud, insider trading, and other corporate crimes, including fair trade regulation.
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Hyun_Jeoung_Lee-CV.pdf
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Hyun_Jeoung_Lee-CV.pdf
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U.S. visit to Myanmar a major step
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Southeast Asia is home to half a billion people, and the United States has significant political and economic interest in the region. In response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Myanmar -- the first major U.S. visit in more than 50 years -- Donald K. Emmerson spoke with the International Business Times and LinkAsia about what the trip potentially means for the United States, for Southeast Asia, and for China.
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