Stanford University

Christian von Luebke

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 726-0685 (650) 723-6530
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Visiting Scholar, 2009-12
CvL_APARC_Photo_-_Oct_2010_2.jpg MA, PhD

Christian von Luebke is a political economist with particular interest in democracy, governance, and development in Southeast Asia. He is currently working on a research project that gauges institutional and structural effects on political agency in post-Suharto Indonesia and the post-Marcos Philippines. During his German Research Foundation fellowship at Stanford he seeks to finalize a book manuscript on Indonesian governance and democracy and teach a course on contemporary Southeast Asian politics.

Before coming to Stanford, Dr. von Luebke was a research fellow at the Center of Global Political Economy at Waseda (Tokyo), the Institute for Developing Economies (Chiba), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Jakarta). He received a JSPS postdoctoral scholarship from the Japan Science Council and a PhD scholarship from the Australian National University.

Between 2001 and 2006, he worked as technical advisor in various parts of rural Indonesia - for both GTZ and the World Bank. In 2007, he joined an international research team at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) analyzing the effects of public-private action on investment and growth.

Dr. von Luebke completed his Ph.D. in 2008 in Political Science at the Crawford School of Economics and Government, the Australian National University. He also holds a Masters in Economics and a B.A. in Business and Political Science from Muenster University.

His research on contemporary Indonesian politics, democratic governance, rural investment, and leadership has been published in the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Contemporary Southeast Asian Affairs, Asian Economic Journal, and ISEAS. He regularly contributes political analyses on Southeast Asia to Oxford Analytica.

The Economics of Tobacco Control and Healthcare Reforms in China

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Teh-wei Hu is a Professor Emeritus of health economics at the University of California, Berkeley.  At Berkeley, he served as associate dean (1999-2002) and department chair (1990-1993) in the School of Public Health.  He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.  

During the past 40 years, Professor Hu has been teaching and conducting research in health economics, particularly in healthcare financing and the economics of tobacco control.  Hu was a Fulbright scholar in China. He has served as consultant or advisor to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine, the Rand Corporation, the Ministry of Health in the People's Republic of China, Department of Health and Welfare in Hong Kong, Department of Health in the Republic of China (Taiwan), and many private research institutions and foundations. 

Professor Hu will speak to us immediately after an April trip to China, sharing his research and perspectives on the economics of tobacco control and the debate about healthcare system reforms in China (including a possible link between the two through financing expansions in coverage through increased tobacco taxation).

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Teh-wei Hu Professor Emeritus Speaker University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health
Seminars
Asia Health Policy Program

Uncivil War: North Korea Policy Factionalism in the U.S. and South Korea

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Differences of perspective between the United States and its South Korean ally on North Korea policy have often been on public display in recent years. The roots of such disagreement, however, extend far beyond the personalities and philosophies of individual American and Korean presidents or even differing national interests.

Fundamentally, extreme factionalism within both the United States and South Korea has made it next to impossible for each to develop a coherent North Korea policy and implement it consistently, much less maximize allied cooperation. The situation has become so political—so uncivil—that like-minded factions in the two countries increasingly are working together to counter policy opponents in their home countries.

The presentation will recount the history of this phenomenon, analyze its implications, and offer suggestions as to how it might be overcome.

David Straub is a 2007-2008 Pantech Fellow at The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University. A former U.S. State Department Korean affairs director and senior official at the U.S. embassy in Seoul, he has taught U.S.-Korean relations at leading U.S. and South Korean universities and is a frequent commentator on U.S. policy toward Northeast Asia.

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David Straub

No longer in residence.

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Associate Director of the Korea Program
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David Straub was named associate director of the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) on July 1, 2008. Prior to that he was a 2007–08 Pantech Fellow at the Center. Straub is the author of the book, Anti-Americanism in Democratizing South Korea, published in 2015.

An educator and commentator on current Northeast Asian affairs, Straub retired in 2006 from his role as a U.S. Department of State senior foreign service officer after a 30-year career focused on Northeast Asian affairs. He worked over 12 years on Korean affairs, first arriving in Seoul in 1979.

Straub served as head of the political section at the U.S. embassy in Seoul from 1999 to 2002 during popular protests against the United States, and he played a key working-level role in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program as the State Department's Korea country desk director from 2002 to 2004. He also served eight years at the U.S. embassy in Japan. His final assignment was as the State Department's Japan country desk director from 2004 to 2006, when he was co-leader of the U.S. delegation to talks with Japan on the realignment of the U.S.-Japan alliance and of U.S. military bases in Japan.

After leaving the Department of State, Straub taught U.S.-Korean relations at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in the fall of 2006 and at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University in spring 2007. He has published a number of papers on U.S.-Korean relations. His foreign languages are Korean, Japanese, and German.

David Straub Pantech Fellow, Stanford University Speaker
Seminars
Korean Studies Colloquium Series
Korea Program

Call for papers: Conference on Korean democratization and social movements

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The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, with a generous grant from the Academy of Korean Studies, will host "From Democracy to Civil Society: The Evolution of Korean Social Movements," a conference on Korean democratization and social movements, on October 23-24, 2008.

This conference seeks to examine two paths through which Korean democratic movements have evolved: institutionalization and diffusion. Regarding institutionalization, we focus on the increasing legitimacy of the democracy movement’s ideals and organizations as well as a shift toward political institutions as a central locus for movement activity. Regarding diffusion, we explore how democratization has facilitated a variety of new social movements such as the environmentalist movement, women’s movement, and peace movement.

We encourage paper submission from interdisciplinary approaches and junior scholars including graduate students. The deadline for submitting proposals or papers (preferred) is May 15, 2008. We will pay all expenses for travel and accommodation and offer an honorarium for those who will present their papers at the conference. We will only accept electronic submissions.

» Apply via email

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From Democracy to Civil Society: The Evolution of Korean Social Movements

This conference will explore the role of social movements in South Korea both before and after the democratic transition of 1987, in which they played a leading part. While South Korea is one of many countries that democratized during the “third wave” of democratization from the early 1979s until the late 1990s, it represents one of the smoothest and most successful cases of democratization. Thus, analysis of its experience, particularly the role played by social movements, may offer useful insights into the practice and theory of democratic transition and consolidation processes elsewhere.

This conference is supported by the generous grant from the Academy of Korean Studies in Korea.

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Conferences
Stanford Korea Democracy Project
Korea Program

Japan-China Relations in 2008: "Cautiously Friendly"

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In April China's President Hu Jintao will visit Japan, only the second ever visit by a Chinese head of state to Japan. Both parties are enthusiastic about recovering from nearly a decade of tension since President Jiang Zemin's disastrous 1998 visit. Tokyo and Beijing appear ready to place priority on areas of common interest, such as resolving the North Korean nuclear problem, responding the challenge of climate change, coping with economic turmoil, and maintaining peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region. They strive to minimize differences over history and address competition for natural gas that inflames territorial disputes in the East China Sea. Yet other irritants remain, which can flare up to reveal deeper conflicts in national interest and an enduring rivalry for regional preeminence. While optimistic, both sides recall the dashed hopes of the Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development, prepared before Jiang's visit, and are proceeding with "cautious friendliness."

Prior to joining the Henry L. Stimson Center in 1998, Benjamin Self conducted extensive fieldwork in Japan. He spent two years as a visiting research fellow at Keio University in Tokyo on a Fulbright Graduate Research Fellowship. He has lectured at Temple University Japan and interned at the Research Institute for Peace and Security in Japan. Mr. Self has served as a program associate in the Asia Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Mr. Self attended Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his MA, and holds a BA from Stanford University.

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Benjamin Self Senior Associate Speaker The Henry L. Stimson Center
Seminars

Should Japan Revise its Postwar Constitution? Historical Origins and Security Options for the Future

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Professor Mito will offer a critical analysis of the constitutional revision debate in contemporary Japan and its implications for Japan's foreign relations. He argues that the justification for constitutional revision is based on political myth rather than historical reality. It is strongly felt that a militarized Japan will not enhance its independence or its international prestige. Some fear that a new Japan will end up as part of the American defense mechanism supporting US hegemony and its global strategy. Mito argues that any constitutional revision and the resultant remilitarization can affect the balance of power in the international system beyond its national borders. His major objective is to critically assess the argument for constitutional revision and the implications of the current revision debate.

Takamichi Tam Mito is professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Japanese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A graduate of International Christian University (B.A.), he studied also at the Universities of Keele, Toronto, London, and Tsukuba (M.I.A. & Ph.D. in Law). Prior to his current appointment, he taught at the Universities of Cambridge, London, and Toronto and at Monash and Kyushu Universities. At Kyushu he was Foundation Professor of International Japanese Studies and Study Abroad Program. He also worked as a manager in the Department of Financial Engineering at Citicorp Investment Bank Ltd in London.

His major publications include: State Power and Multinational Oil Corporations: a Study of Market Intervention in Canada and Japan (Fukuoka: Kyushu University Press, 2001); The Political Economy of the Oil Market: A Comparative Study of Japan and Canada (Fukuoka: Kyushu University Press, in Japanese 2006); Sengo Nihon Seiji to Heiwa Gaiko (Postwar Japanese Politics and Peace Diplomacy) (Kyoto: Horitsubunkasha, 2007). His 2001 publication received an award by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Currently, he is completing six books on Japanese studies in the Asia-Pacific Region as a co-editor and contributor (forthcoming in 2008 and 2009) and also a book length study of the impact of government policy on the industrial growth, structure, and performance of the oil industry in modern Japan as a single author. He is the recipient of many research grants from various prestigious bodies including the governments of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan.

He has served for many professional and governmental bodies including Japan Agency for International Cooperation as a visiting professor of Japanese studies, Public Policy Studies Association in Japan, as the founding director; and the Japan Association of International Students' Education, as a founding vice president.

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Takamichi Tam Mito Professor, International Political Economy, Department of Japanese Studies Speaker Chinese University of Hong Kong
Seminars

Strategic Abandonment: Alliance Relations in Northeast Asia in the Post-Iraq Era

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This chapter is part of a yearly publication that compiles the edited and revised versions of papers presented at the Korea Economic Institute's (KEI) most recent Academic Symposium.

The chaper considers the security alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) as the foundation for the architecture of strategic stability in Northeast Asia that has endured for more than a half century. Along with the U.S. alliance with Japan, this security architecture has maintained the balance of power despite vast geopolitical changes, not least the end of the global Cold War. It provided an environment that fostered spectacular economic growth and the institutionalization of democratic governance.

The stability created under this strategic architecture is now challenged by a unique combination of three developments—the rise of China, North Korea’s bid to become a nuclear power, and the weakening of the United States in the wake of the Iraq War. These events disturb the carefully crafted balance of power that was created during the Cold War era. China’s growth as an economic and military power, combined with its aspirations for regional leadership, creates an alternative pole of power to the United States. The defiant decision of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to test a nuclear device threatens the security of Korea and Japan and opens the door to further proliferation in the region.

These two developments have been widely discussed among policymakers and experts in the region and in the United States. But there has been little examination of the dangerous dynamic between these events and the Iraq War. The deteriorating military and political situation in Iraq and in the Middle East more broadly has significantly weakened the United States in East Asia. It has swung public opinion against the United States and, as collateral damage, undermined support for the alliances. The focus of U.S. attention and resources on the Middle East feeds a perception that U.S. interest in East Asia is declining. More profoundly, it encourages powers such as China and Russia to assert more frequently and more boldly their desire for a more multipolar power structure.

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Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies in "U.S. and Rok Policy Options"
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