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A Stanford student and four recent alumni who served as research assistants at the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab will begin doctoral studies at top institutions in fall 2025. At the lab, which is committed to rigorous, policy-relevant research and student mentorship, they gained hands-on experience and honed skills valuable for the next stage of their academic journeys.
A co-authored study by a team including Stanford political scientist Jean Oi traces how the Chinese central government’s shifting policies during the COVID pandemic exposed its fiscal fault lines and created a local government liquidity crisis.
As Asian economies grapple with aging populations, rising healthcare demands, and rapid technological change, APARC’s 2024-25 Asia Health Policy Program Postdoctoral Fellows Mai Nguyen and Jinseok Kim study large-scale health care structural and policy challenges from the lens of individual decision-making.
Bangladesh-Focused Investigative Media Outlet Netra News Wins 2025 Shorenstein Journalism Award
Sponsored by Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the 24th annual Shorenstein Journalism Award honors Netra News, Bangladesh's premier independent, non-partisan media outlet, for its unflinching reportage on human rights abuses and corruption in Bangladesh and its efforts to establish and uphold fundamental freedoms in the country.
As geopolitical uncertainty deepens and traditional alliances are tested, APARC’s Japan Program and the United States-Japan Foundation convened thought leaders at Stanford to explore the shifting bilateral cooperation across areas spanning global democracy, economic resilience, civil society and governance, and the unexpected power of baseball diplomacy.
Political Signaling in an Uncertain World: Brandon Yoder’s Empirical Lens on Chinese Foreign Policy
Brandon Yoder, APARC’s 2024–25 Stanford Next Asia Policy Fellow, focuses on a central challenge in international politics: how states can credibly signal their intentions and avoid war. His work investigates this question in high-stakes contexts, such as during power shifts, amid strategic uncertainty, and in multi-actor settings where traditional signaling models often fall short.
President Trump's tariff policy will serve no one's interests, says Thomas Fingar, a Shorenstein APARC Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
US Research in Retreat?
Zealous measures to defend against foreign exploitation of university-based research would be inadequate to preserve US preeminence in science and technology without much greater effort to strengthen US capabilities.
At a fireside chat hosted by APARC's Southeast Asia Program, Kim Aris, the son of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, called for humanitarian aid to Myanmar, his mother’s release, and freedom for the Burmese people.
Tsutsui, whose research focuses on globalization, human rights, social movements, and political sociology, currently serves as deputy director of the center, and has been the director of the Japan Program since 2020.
At its first convening in Taiwan, APARC’s Taiwan Program gathered scholars and industry experts to consider policy measures and practices for tackling the technological, economic, social, and demographic forces shaping the island nation’s future and strategies for ensuring its continued growth and success.
In an interview with the Chinese newspaper The Paper, Gi-Wook Shin, the director of APARC and the Korea Program, discusses the risks posed by South Korea’s division and polarization following President Yoon’s impeachment, the global trend of democratic decline, and actionable reforms to advance and secure South Korea’s democratic future.
WATCH | Center Fellow Oriana Skylar Mastro testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
We are deeply saddened to share that our friend and colleague, Michael Armacost, passed away on Saturday, March 8, 2025. A former U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and Japan, Mike was a Shorenstein APARC fellow until his retirement in 2021.
APARC’s 2024-25 Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia Shilin Jia researches the careers of high-level Chinese political elites during the economic reform period from 1978 to 2011. Using a quantitative approach, Jia explores how China's party-state orchestrated elite circulation as a governance tool during a time of significant economic and political transformation.
APARC's 2025 Oksenberg Symposium explored how shifting political, economic, and social conditions in China, Russia, India, and the United States are reshaping their strategies and relationships. The discussion highlighted key issues such as military and economic disparities, the shifting balance of power, and the implications of these changes for global stability, especially in the Indo-Pacific region.
At a discussion hosted by APARC’s Southeast Asia Program, Thai politician and democracy advocate Pita Limjaroenrat assessed the challenges facing Thailand and provided a hopeful vision for its future, one that relies on perseverance, strategic electoral victories, and the pursuit of a more just and equitable political system.
Drawing from her book "Upstart," Oriana Skylar Mastro joins Michael McFaul on World Class to discuss what the United States is getting wrong about its strategy toward China, and what America should do differently to retain its competitive advantage.
The martial law episode — and all that followed — “reflects a broader global pattern of democratic erosion but also showcases Korea’s unique strengths," Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin says in an interview with The Diplomat magazine.
Rethinking Racial Formations and Race Relations in Singapore: A Conversation with Alisha Cherian
APARC 2024-25 Predoctoral Fellow Alisha Cherian studies race relations in Southeast Asia, focusing on the lived experience of Indian Singaporeans and their interactions with state-defined racial categories.
The award recognizes Shin’s contributions to advancing Korean studies and strengthening U.S.-Korea relations through scholarship and bridge-building.
It became clear, certainly by 1978, that educational exchanges, access to training, and export controls — these were going to be litmus tests of U.S.-China relations.
The TikTok ban case exposes a new reality: Contrary to widespread predictions that globalization would lead to the statelessness of large corporations, weaponized interdependence has heightened the salience of questions about corporate identity and control, as well as informal channels of state influence over commercial enterprises. TikTok’s identity crisis reveals the limitations of standard corporate law doctrines in satisfying policymakers focused on national security and geopolitical rivalry.