APARC Research
![A speaker delivering a talk in front of an audience at APARC's Asia Health Policy Program 2015 conference at the Stanford Center at Peking University. Photo credit: Wentworth Lee. A speaker delivering a talk in front of an audience at APARC's Asia Health Policy Program 2015 conference at the Stanford Center at Peking University.](https://fsi9-prod.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/480x270/public/r1.2_ahpp_2015conference_dsc_3006_cropped.jpg.png?h=24e6d4f0&itok=0IWZfqBH)
Shorenstein APARC Research
Our Approach
APARC research is grounded in the social sciences, interdisciplinary in nature, and policy-relevant.
Our research is organized around specific projects as well as broader scholarly activities. Use the drop-down tabs to explore current research topics and projects.
The Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL) is committed to addressing emergent social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in Asia through interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, policy-relevant, and comparative studies and publications. We provide evidence-based policy recommendations to help implement structural reforms that foster a “Next Asia” characterized by social, cultural, and economic maturity. Our research delves into areas such as educational and economic institutions, immigration policies, and cultural attitudes to identify the necessary changes for nurturing innovation-driven societies that propel dynamism and growth in the global system of the 21st century. The lab functions as a platform that facilitates network-based collaboration with academic and policy research institutions in Asia.
SNAPL is directed by sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. It is an extension of the past “New Asia” research cluster, also led by Professor Shin.
Asia drives the global economy, but there are worrying signs that the engine of growth is slowing. The major economies of the region—China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—all see diminishing returns from the model of manufacturing-based, export-oriented development. They also grapple with societal challenges related to low birth rates, aging populations, brain drain, environmental pollution, political corruption, and low cultural tolerance.
The problem these societies face is how to create their own version of innovation-driven economies that will allow them to remain at the center of dynamism and growth in the twenty-first-century global ecosystem. To do so, they must find a new engine of economic growth by attracting foreign talent, upgrading pertinent social values of cultural diversity and social tolerance, and effectively reflecting and transmitting such values through social institutions.
Recognizing that countries throughout Asia lag behind in these efforts compared to more advanced, technologically innovative Western economies, the New Asia multi-year research cluster advocates for and pursues a “New Asia” of social, cultural, and economic maturity. This research cluster includes the two projects listed below. For the new extension of this research cluster, explore the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab above.
Select APARC research projects that have been completed or archived are listed below. You can also view a more comprehensive list of completed projects.
PI: Gi-Wook Shin
Engaging North Korea
Tailored Engagement: Toward an Effective and Sustainable Inter-Korean Relations Policy
Divided Memories and Reconciliation
History Textbooks and the War in Asia
Reconciliation and Cooperation in East Asia
Migration, Cultural Diversity, and Tolerance
Nationalism and Regionalism in Northeast Asia
Trends in U.S. and Korean Media Coverage of the Alliance, 1992-2004
Stanford Korea Democracy Project
New Beginnings: Post-Election Prospects for U.S.-ROK Relations
PI: Karen Eggleston
Comparative Policy Responses to Demographic Change in East Asia
Health Improvement Under Mao and Its Implications for Contemporary Aging in China
Health Service Delivery in the Asia-Pacific
Historical Development of Healthcare Institutions in East Asia
Population Aging, Child Health, and Control of Infectious Diseases
PI: Karl Eikenberry
U.S.-Asia Security Initiative
PI: Donald Emmerson
Late Democratization in Pacific Asia
Worker Identities and the Origins of Capital in Vietnam
PI: Takeo Hoshi
From Crisis to Opportunity: Japan's Post 3-11 Disaster Experience and Energy Reform
Information Technology in Japan and Asia
Japan's Transforming Political Economy and Finance
Political Change in Japan
The Political Economy of Japan Under the Abe Government
Stanford Silicon Valley - New Japan Program
Womenomics: Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the Workplace
PI: Matthew Kohrman
Global Tobacco Prevention Research Initiative
PI: Yong Suk Lee
Digital Technologies and the Labor Market
Education and Development in the Digital Economy
Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Economic Development
New Media and Political Economy
Socio-Political-Economic Consequences of COVID-19
PI: Jean Oi
Corporate Restructuring and Governance in China
Economics and Political Decision-Making in China's Villages
PI: Andrew Walder
Social Stratification in China during an Era of Transition
Politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution