FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.
They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.
FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.
FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
This unit introduces students to a variety of art forms that flourished during the Edo period. This unit will feature Japanese feudal art from the Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute at the Clark Center, Hanford, California.
Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a
force of global importance. Worldwide changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and
air are being driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than
six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations, and urban areas have expanded
in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Such changes in land use have
enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet's resources, but they
also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production,
maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate
infectious diseases. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate
human needs and maintaining the capacity of the biosphere to provide goods and
services in the long term.
Given that many decisions (such as choosing a stock in which to invest) involve high level cognitive processing, performance deficits in older adults may result from cognitive decline, but affective influences might also play a role. A study of performance on a dynamic investment game in younger and older adults reveals that older adults are not impaired on single trial choices, but are less able to explicitly identify optimal assets at the end of a block. However, neither younger nor older adults show a significant tendency toward a higher ratio of risk-seeking or risk-aversion mistakes.
Daniel I. Okimoto Conference Room
The Payne Lectureship is named for Frank E. Payne and Arthur W. Payne, brothers who gained an appreciation for global problems through their international business operations. Their descendants endowed the annual lecture series at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in order to raise public understanding of the complex policy issues facing the global community today and to increase support for informed international cooperation.
The S.T. Lee Lectureship is named for Seng Tee Lee, a business executive and noted philanthropist. Dr. Lee was director of the Lee group of companies in Singapore and of the Lee Foundation.
Dr. Lee endowed the annual lectureship at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in order to raise public understanding of the complex policy issues facing the global community today and to increase support for informed international cooperation.
Korea stands at a critical juncture, as it transitions from mid-level to advanced country status. Yet at this important time, Korea seems to have lost its sense of direction. Ideological confrontations, uncertainty about identity, mistrust of the political process and the government, reform fatigue, and, above all, lack of vision have become endemic. Such symptoms are not unique in this global "age of deconstruction," but they are more salient in Korea, where crushing ideological disputes, ongoing inter-Korean conflict, and fallout from of rapid, intensive modernization have put the country in crisis.
If Korea is to move forward, politics and government must regain the confidence of the people. The country cannot become an advanced nation if its ideological obsessions remain entrenched. Creative, pragmatic leadership will bring outcomes-oriented vision, inclusiveness, and focus to the goal of sustainable development on the Korean Peninsula.
A period of historic uncertainty often ushers in an era of progress, and the current crisis presents a tremendous opportunity. Now is the time for Korea's leaders to learn from the past, embrace pragmatism, and make history.
Goh served as the Acting President when the current President, Roh Moo Hyun, was indicted for impeachment by the National Assembly on March 12, 2004 and his powers, including those of Commander-in-Chief, were transferred to Prime Minister Goh until Roh was acquitted by the Constitutional Court in May of the same year. As Acting President, Goh was widely acclaimed for his crucial role in restoring South Korea's stability, handling foreign affairs skillfully, and managing the central government effectively.
Goh has served as the 30th Prime Minister (1997-1998), twice as the Mayor of Seoul, (1998-2002, 1988-1990), Minister of Home Affairs (1987), Member of the National Assembly (1985-1988), Minister of Agriculture and Marine Affairs (1981-1982), Minister of Transportation (1980-1981), and Chief Secretary of Political Affairs to the President (1979-1980).
He holds the record as the youngest Governor in South Korea. At the age of 37, he became the Governor of Jeonnam Province in 1975. He was appointed by the President to lead a national agricultural modernization program called the New Village Movement, which transformed South Korea's agricultural sector into one of the most modernized and productive in Asia.
Between government posts, Goh has served as the Chairman of Transparency International in Korea to fight corruption in South Korea, a life-long cause for Goh. He has also served as the Co-President of Korean Federation for Environment Movement and president of Myong Ji University. He is a 1960 graduate of the Seoul National University. He was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University in 1983 and a Visiting Professor at MIT in 1984. He is married with three sons.
Bechtel Conference Center
The appointment of a woman to the post of Minister of Justice in 2003 under the Presidency of Moo Hyun Roh drew attention to the emergence of women's leadership in Korea. The post of Minister of Justice has long been considered a central position of power in the Korean government. Madame Kum-Sil Kang will discuss the history of women's leadership in Korea, the features and limitations of such leadership, and its broader prospects, based on her experience.
Madame Kang - the first woman appointed Minister of Justice in Korea - initiated reforms within the Ministry to protect the independence and political neutrality of the offices of government prosecutors. She also implemented measures to solicit and reflect the views of different offices within the Ministry that operates Korea's prosecutorial system. Her goals were to improve the efficiency and fairness of prosecutorial proceedings and to improve the protection of individual civil liberties.
Since leaving office, Madame Kang has been chosen to be President Roh's special ambassador on women's human rights in Korea. Madame Kang is deeply interested in human rights issues, particularly those that concern women and people residing in North Korea. She is also committed to increasing government transparency, fighting corruption, improving Korea's education system, and nurturing future leaders.
West Vidalakis Dining Room
Schwab Residential Center
680 Serra Street
Stanford University Campus
Claude Barfield is a resident scholar and Director of Sciences and Technology Policy Studies at American Enterprise Institute. A former consultant to the office of the United States Trade Representative, Dr.. Barfield researches international trade policy (including trade policy in China and East Asia), the World Trade Organization, science and technology policy, and intellectual property.
Nam K. Woo is President of LG Electronics, Inc. (LGE), a $30 billion global leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile phones. Over the past five years, as President and CEO of LGE's Digital Display and Media Company, Mr. Woo led the transformation of LG Electronics into a global consumer electronics brand, while establishing the company as a world leader in flat-panel plasma and liquid-crystal displays, optical storage devices and digital television.
Anne Wu is a joint International Security Program/Managing the Atom Project research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Her current research focus is the cooperation among major powers in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. Prior to joining Harvard, she was a career diplomat in China, with focus on Asian Pacific security and political issues.
Scott Snyder is a Pantech Fellow at Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center and Senior Associate with the Pacific Forum CSIS and a Senior Associate at the Asia Foundation. Snyder has written extensively on Korean affairs and has also conducted research on the political/security implications of the Asian financial crisis and on the conflicting maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Scott Rembrandt is the Director of Research and Academic Affairs at KEI, having joined the institute in October 2004 after four and a half years in Asia. Prior to joining KEI, Scott most recently served as a consultant in China and as the Business Manager for the Chief Country Officer Group - Asia for Deutsche Bank.
Philippines Conference Room
Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in the Department of Sociology, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the founding director of the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) since 2001, all at Stanford University. In May 2024, Shin also launched the Taiwan Program at APARC. He served as director of APARC for two decades (2005-2025). As a historical-comparative and political sociologist, his research has concentrated on social movements, nationalism, development, democracy, migration, and international relations.
In Summer 2023, Shin launched the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), which is a new research initiative committed to addressing emergent social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in Asia. Across four research themes– “Talent Flows and Development,” “Nationalism and Racism,” “U.S.-Asia Relations,” and “Democratic Crisis and Reform”–the lab brings scholars and students to produce interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, policy-relevant, and comparative studies and publications. Shin’s latest book, The Four Talent Giants, a comparative study of talent strategies of Japan, Australia, China, and India to be published by Stanford University Press in the summer of 2025, is an outcome of SNAPL.
Shin is also the author/editor of twenty-seven books and numerous articles. His books include The Four Talent Giants: National Strategies for Human Resource Development Across Japan, Australia, China, and India (2025); Korean Democracy in Crisis: The Threat of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization (2022); The North Korean Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security (2021); Superficial Korea (2017); Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War (2016); Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (2015); Criminality, Collaboration, and Reconciliation: Europe and Asia Confronts the Memory of World War II (2014); New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan (2014); History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia: Divided Memories (2011); South Korean Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil Society (2011); One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era (2010); Cross Currents: Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia (2007); and Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (2006). Due to the wide popularity of his publications, many have been translated and distributed to Korean audiences. His articles have appeared in academic and policy journals, including American Journal of Sociology, World Development, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, Comparative Education, International Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, Journal of Democracy, and Foreign Affairs.
Shin is not only the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, but also continues to actively raise funds for Korean/Asian studies at Stanford. He gives frequent lectures and seminars on topics ranging from Korean nationalism and politics to Korea's foreign relations, historical reconciliation in Northeast Asia, and talent strategies. He serves on councils and advisory boards in the United States and South Korea and promotes policy dialogue between the two allies. He regularly writes op-eds and gives interviews to the media in both Korean and English.
Before joining Stanford in 2001, Shin taught at the University of Iowa (1991-94) and the University of California, Los Angeles (1994-2001). After receiving his BA from Yonsei University in Korea, he was awarded his MA and PhD from the University of Washington in 1991.
Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
Scott Snyder is a senior associate in the International Relations program of The Asia Foundation and Pacific Forum CSIS, and is based in Washington, DC. He spent four years in Seoul as Korea Representative of The Asia Foundation between 2000 and 2004. Previously, he served as a program officer in the Research and Studies Program of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and as acting director of the Asia Society's Contemporary Affairs Program. He has recently edited, with L. Gordon Flake, a study titled Paved With Good Intentions: The NGO Experience in North Korea (2003), and is author of Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior (1999).
Snyder received his BA from Rice University and an MA from the Regional Studies East Asia Program at Harvard University. He was the recipient of an Abe Fellowship, administered by the Social Sciences Research Council, in 1998-99, and was a Thomas G. Watson Fellow at Yonsei University in South Korea in 1987-88.
