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Governance

FSI's research on the origins, character and consequences of government institutions spans continents and academic disciplines. The institute’s senior fellows and their colleagues across Stanford examine the principles of public administration and implementation. Their work focuses on how maternal health care is delivered in rural China, how public action can create wealth and eliminate poverty, and why U.S. immigration reform keeps stalling. 

FSI’s work includes comparative studies of how institutions help resolve policy and societal issues. Scholars aim to clearly define and make sense of the rule of law, examining how it is invoked and applied around the world. 

FSI researchers also investigate government services – trying to understand and measure how they work, whom they serve and how good they are. They assess energy services aimed at helping the poorest people around the world and explore public opinion on torture policies. The Children in Crisis project addresses how child health interventions interact with political reform. Specific research on governance, organizations and security capitalizes on FSI's longstanding interests and looks at how governance and organizational issues affect a nation’s ability to address security and international cooperation.

Was Globalization At Work?: Realigning the Economic Bureaucracy and the Korean State in Transition

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One of the most important scholarly issues in political economy during the last decade has been economic globalization.

A powerful case for the penetrating power of globalization on the nation states was the Asian financial crisis in 1997, which drove South Korea, once an exemplary success case of state-led economic development, to the brink of national bankruptcy.

The economic crisis and the following structural reform process of South Korea seem to clearly demonstrate the limit of state-centric developmental model and the converging effect of neoliberal capitalism even on a nonliberal state-led economy.

While recent scholarly discussions on the "globalization and the state" thesis have mostly focused on changes in the non-state actors or the state-market relationship, Ms. Jung draws our attention to the transformation of the state bureaucratic institutions.

In her talk, she uses South Korea as a critical case and traces the dramatic institutional changes of the Economic Planning Board (EPB) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) between 1994 and 1999. Ms. Jung unpacks the black box of why and how specific decisions on key bureaucratic institutional changes were made in Korea, tests how globalization affected the transformation process, and then analyzes the consequences of such changes for the role and authority of the South Korean state in economic development and reform.

Buffet lunch will be provided to those who RSVP to Jasmin Ha at jaha@stanford.edu by Tuesday, April 12.

Philippines Conference Room

Joo-Youn Jung PhD Candidate Stanford University
Seminars

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2005-2006

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Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2005-2006

One or two research fellow candidates will be selected in Korean Studies for the 2005-2006 academic year. All fellows are expected to be in residence during the duration of the fellowship and participate in various activities of the rapidly expanding Korean Studies Program at Stanford.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can collaborate on various projects of the Program, including social activism and political elite formation, historical injustice and reconciliation, Asian regionalism, US-Korean relations, North Korea, etc.

The award carries a twelve month stipend of $40,000-45,000, commensurate with experience, with benefits and research fund. Applicants should receive a doctoral degree by August 31, 2005.

Applicants must submit a C.V., two letters of recommendation and two writing samples. The search committee will review the applications and conduct interviews at the upcoming meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Chicago.

Submission Deadline: March 25, 2005

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Pantech Fellowships for Mid-Career Professionals

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Pantech Fellowships for Mid-Career Professionals

This fellowship is intended to cultivate a diverse international community of scholars and professionals committed to and capable of grappling with challenges posed by developments in Korea. We invite individuals from the United States, Korea and other countries to apply.

Up to three fellows will be selected from among applicants currently working in the public or private sector, including government policymaking, business, journalism/mass media, non-government organizations, and other public services.

By supporting individual research projects and facilitating participation in KSP workshops and other collaborative activities at Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC), this program seeks to enhance each fellow's ability to engage and resolve issues related to Korea. Each fellow is expected to be in residence and produce a working paper or book on issues related to Korea (both North and South).

The length of the fellowship can range from three to nine months (between September and June). Fellows will be provided a monthly stipend of up to US $5,000 depending on experience and length of stay.

Applicants must submit a C.V., two letters of recommendation, and a research proposal (of no more than 1,000 words).

Submission Deadline: April 15, 2005

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North Korea 2005 and Beyond

The Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) at the Stanford Institute for International Studies is hosting a conference on North Korea.

With the distraction of the U.S. Presidential election behind us and uncertainty over the direction of a second Bush Administration before us, this conference will attempt to take stock of what is happening in North Korea as of 2005 and to get a snapshot of how the United States, South Korea and other interested parties now view this particularly enigmatic and problematic country.

For this conference, we will bring together specialists in security, economics, politics and human rights to encourage a broad-based inquiry as well as facilitate a sharing of ideas among those who may not normally come into contact.

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Bechtel Conference Center

Conferences

U.S. Policy toward the Korean Peninsula

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This program is co-sponsored by The Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) and Stanford Institute for International Studies (SIIS).

It will be held in Seoul, Korea to discuss U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Korean Peninsula. Coit Blacker, Director of SIIS, William Perry, Senior Fellow of SIIS, Gi-Wook Shin, Director of Korean Studies Program and Dan Okimoto, Director Emeritus, Shorenstein APARC will be presenting in this timely conference.

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Ruby Hall Guest House
The Shilla Hotel
Seoul, Korea

Coit D. Blacker Speaker
William J. Perry Speaker

Gi-Wook Shin

Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall E301
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
(650) 724-8480 (650) 723-6530
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor of Sociology
William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea
Professor, by Courtesy, of East Asian Languages & Cultures
Gi-Wook Shin_0.jpg PhD

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-six books and numerous articles. His books include 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.

Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL)

Explore SNAPL

Shin's Reflections on Korea

A monthly column in the Korean magazine Sindonga
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Reengaging North Korea

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Stanford Asia-Pacific Innovation

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Selected Multimedia

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Director of the Korea Program and the Taiwan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
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Gi-Wook Shin Speaker
Daniel I. Okimoto Speaker
Tae-Kyu Han Chancellor Moderator IFANS
Seo-hang Lee Dean of Research Moderator IFANS
Conferences

Korean Studies Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

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Heather Ahn
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The Asia Pacific Research Center of the Stanford Institute for International Studies at Stanford University is seeking one or two research fellow candidates in Korean Studies for the 2005-2006 academic year.

All fellows are expected to be in residence during the duration of the fellowship and participate in various activities of the rapidly expanding Korean Studies Program at Stanford. We are particularly interested in candidates who can collaborate on various projects of the Program, including social activism and political elite formation, historical injustice and reconciliation, Asian regionalism, US-Korean relations, North Korea, etc.

The award carries a twelve month stipend of $40,000-45,000, commensurate with experience, with benefits and research fund. Applicants should receive a doctoral degree by August 31, 2005.

To apply, please send C.V., two writing samples, and two letters of reference to

Professor Gi-Wook Shin

Asia Pacific Research Center

Encina Hall, Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305-6055

The application deadline is by March 10, 2005.

The search committee will review the applications and conduct interviews at the upcoming meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Chicago. For more information, contact Jasmin Ha.

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Forgotten Lessons of Helsinki: Human Rights and U.S.-North Korean Relations

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In developing a strategy toward North Korea, many human rights activists and members of U.S. Congress have mistakenly applied experiences drawn from East-West relations during the Cold War. The recent culmination of this strategy, the congressional passage of the North Korea Human Rights Act, has only compounded this mistaken interpretation. Unlike Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union of the 1970s and 80s, North Korea possesses no civil society, critical intelligentsia, or significant variant of "reform communism." There are no opportunities for civil society actors to connect with indigenous democratic movements. Furthermore, attempts to "link" any security or arms control deals with North Korea to improvements in the human rights realm -- as the recent legislation tries to do -- will likely result in neither greater security nor improved human rights conditions.

John Feffer is a Pantech Fellow at the Korea Studies Program at Stanford University and the author of North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis (Seven Stories Press, 2003) and Shock Waves: Eastern Europe After the Revolutions (South End Press, 1992).

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Director's Welcoming Remarks

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Gi-Wook Shin
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Director, Gi-Wook Shin welcomes the new members to the Korean Studies Program at the beginning of 2004-2005 academic year.

Dear members of the Korean Studies community,

I trust that all of you have had a great summer and are now ready for the beginning of a new academic year. I welcome all of you back to campus and to another exciting year for the Korean Studies Program (KSP) at Stanford University.

First of all, I welcome the new members to our program this year. Philip Yun and John Feffer are our inaugural Pantech Fellows and will conduct research related to Korea, both North and South. Both Philip and John have distinguished careers and will be great assets to all of us at KSP. Philip has held high-level positions at the State Department and worked closely with former Secretary of Defense, Dr. William Perry, in addition to practicing law in both Korea and the U.S. John is an accomplished writer and editor, and his most recent publication is North Korea/South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis. I would also like to welcome Jasmin Ha, who will serve as our new Program Coordinator and assistant to me. She worked previously at The Korea Society in New York City and brings to us both her experience and vision for Korean studies at Stanford. Soyoung Kwon, a North Korean expert, will also be staying at APARC as a Shorenstein Fellow for the coming year.

Hong Kal and Chiho Sawada, post-doctoral research fellows, will remain with us for another year. Hong has accepted a tenure-track assistant professorship at York University, but will not start her appointment until the 2005-06 year. Rakhi Patel, our student assistant, will continue to work part-time to assist Jasmin and myself.

We will resume our popular luncheon seminars on October 15 with a presentation by Eric Larson of the Rand Corporation on his project on South Korean attitudes towards the United States. There will also be numerous other exciting events and programs on Korea-related issues throughout the coming year. Please visit our website for more detailed and continuously updated information.

KSP is also now home to the Journal of Korean Studies for which Chiho and I serve as associate editor and co-editor, respectively, of the journal. In addition, we have been engaged in a number of exciting projects. I have just finished my overdue book on Korean ethnic nationalism and am currently working with Kyu Sup Hahn, a doctoral student in Communications, on a project on U.S. media coverage of Korea and South Korean media coverage of the U.S. from 1992-2004. We will also continue on-going projects such as "Globalization in Korea" and "Historical Injustice, Reconciliation, and Cooperation." I appreciate the assistance of the many students and researchers who have been working with me on these projects over the years.

This year we will do an international search to fill the William Perry Chair in contemporary Korea. This is an extremely important appointment for the Korean Studies Program at Stanford, and you will have the opportunity to meet candidates throughout the year.

Thanks again for your continued support of the Korean Studies Program at Stanford. I look forward to seeing you at the various KSP events and programs throughout the year.

Cordially,

Gi-Wook Shin,

Director

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