Students learn real-world policy skills
How do you effectively
advise senior-level policymakers when a political crisis emerges? Stanford
students taking the course U.S. Policy
Towards Northeast Asia (IPS 244), sponsored by the Walter H. Shorenstein
Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC), are learning and putting into
practice these very skills. Over the ten weeks of the 2011 winter quarter,
students will learn about contemporary U.S. policy towards Japan, China, and
Korea, and about how to write and present policy-style memoranda to top-level
government decision makers. They will also take part in an in-class simulation
of a Six-Party meeting to negotiate North Korea's nuclear program.
Students cover a great deal of content in a short amount of time. "Ten weeks
goes by pretty quickly," says course leader Michael H. Armacost, the Shorenstein
Fellow at FSI and a former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the Philippines. The
real-world approach to the course is similar to what you would find in a
professional international relations school, he explains. In previous years,
Armacost has taught the course both alone and as part of a team with other
former U.S. senior-level policy officials. The current course has been offered in the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies (IPS) for the last
three years. It is co-taught with Daniel C. Sneider, the associate director for
research at Shorenstein APARC and a former long-time foreign correspondent in
Asia; David Straub, the associate director of the Stanford Korean Studies
Program and a former U.S. senior foreign service officer; and Thomas Fingar,
the Oksenberg/Rohlen Distinguished Fellow at FSI and a former Chairman of the
National Intelligence Council.
In addition to providing a strong understanding of the U.S. foreign
policymaking process, each week of the course is dedicated to a different
aspect of the relationship of the United States with the countries of Northeast
Asia, including Taiwan and the Russian Federation. Students will closely
examine the history and dynamics between the great powers of the region; U.S.
security relations with Japan and China; East Asian regionalism;
democratization in South Korea; the North Korean nuclear crisis; and economics
and human rights in China.
Although the case studies that the policy-writing exercises are based upon are
hypothetical, they are closely tied to real-world issues and events. A previous
year's case study dealt with tensions between China and Japan over rival claims
to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, anticipating the September 2010 conflict between
Japan and China in the waters around these islands. The simulation exercise,
another highlight of the course when students have the opportunity to
collaborate with one another, is also closely tied to current regional events.
In addition to the rich content of the course and the expertise of its
instructors, the diverse background of the students lends itself to the overall
learning experience. Some of the students are pursuing a master's degree
through IPS or the Center for East Asian Studies, while others come from the
Graduate School of Business and various other Stanford units. Each year, there
are always a few undergraduate students, who Armacost describes as "very
strong," as well as early-career foreign affairs and military officials from
Northeast Asia.
Interest in the course remains strong each year, and Shorenstein APARC will
continue to offer it in order to provide solid, real-world policy training for
the next generation of scholars and government officials.