The terrorist attacks on September 11 threw Afghanistan back into the international spotlight. This time, the events impacted not only Afghanistan's relationship with the United States and Russia, but also its relations with Pakistan. Dr. Amin Tarzi will work to put this change in relations between Afghanistan, her neighbors, the United States, and Russia into a perspective that will allow for a discussion on the current situation in the region and the future geopolitical role of Afghanistan. Amin Tarzi is a U.S. national of Afghan origins. His academic and professional expertise is in the history and politics of the Middle East and Central Asia, with a particular focus on the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, as well as Iran and Afghanistan. Dr. Tarzi has written extensively on topics related to the proliferation and politics of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, the politics of oil, the United States vis a vis the Arab world, and current affairs in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan -- including the Taliban and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Press reports of rising anti-Americanism and Muslim militance in several Southeast Asian countries have fueled speculation that the United States may be planning to intervene against terrorist groups in that part of the world. How credible are these reports? In Indonesia, which has more Muslim citizens than any country with the possible exception of India, Islamist activists have demanded the severing of U.S.-Indonesian relations and threatened to expel Americans. There has been speculation that American advisers may soon arrive in the southern Philippines to help Manila root out ostensibly Islamist rebels operating there. While criticizing the bombing of Afghanistan, Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad has accused his Muslim opposition of links to Islamist subversion. Meanwhile, Malaysian jihadist elements are alleged to have been in touch with Osama bin Laden's network. How real are these perceived dangers? What do they imply for stability and democracy in Southeast Asia, and for the future of America's global coalition against terror? Bambang Harymurti has long been associated with Tempo, the leading newsweekly in Indonesia. He served on its editorial board from 1987. When the magazine was banned in 1994, he moved to the daily newspaper Media Indonesia. He returned to Tempo following its reappearance in printed form in 1998. He has held fellowships at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the East-West Center, among other institutions. He was also a finalist in Indonesia's astronaut program. Fortunately for journalism, he did not make the cut. Don Emmerson convenes the Southeast Asia Forum in the Asia/Pacific Research Center, a unit of Stanford's Institute for International Studies.

Shorenstein APARC is delighted to announce the presentation of the first annual Shorenstein Journalism Award, a prize awarded jointly by Harvard and Stanford.

The Award goes to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stanley Karnow, and the program begins at 7:30PM, January 17th, 2002, in McCaw Hall, Arrillaga Alumni Center, 356 Galvez Street, Stanford University. The program is free and open to the public. It will open with music and a light buffet reception, followed by a formal presentation of Mr. Karnow and a review of his contributions. Mr. Karnow will then deliver an address featuring personal reflections on the state of his craft, and on fifty years of change and continuity in Asia. He will also take questions from the audience.

At 10:00AM, January 18th, 2002, in the Asia-Pacific Scholars Room on the third floor of Encina Hall, there will be a seminar discussion of Mr. Karnow's remarks. The discussants will include members of the Award Jury (Jim Thompson of the Neimann Foundation, David Greenway of the Boston Globe, and Donald K. Emmerson of Shorenstein APARC). Mr. Karnow will be therespondent.

Mr. Karnow has been hailed by Newsweek as "perhaps the best journalist writing on Asian affairs." Among his assignments, he traveled with Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson, and accompanied President Nixon to China in 1972. He was in Vietnam in 1959 when the first Americans were killed, and covered the war to its conclusion. In 1990, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "In Our Image," a history of America's dealings with the Philippines. His other prizes include six Emmys, three Overseas Press Club awards, and Dupont, Peabody, and Polk awards for his role as chief correspondent to PBS.

The Shorenstein Award, which carries a cash prize of $10,000, honors a journalist not only for a distinguished body of work, but also for the particular way it has helped an American audience understand the complexities of Asia. It is presented jointly by the Shorenstein Forum at Stanford, and the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University.

Physically aligned as they are toward Mecca, the daily prayers and lifetime pilgrimages of Muslims around the world--hundreds of millions of spokes of religious practice--surround and sustain the Arabian hub of Islam as religious practice. Yet the demographic center of gravity of the Muslim world could hardly be farther from the Middle East. For it is in the vast arc of Asia, in countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia, that the great majority of the world's Muslims live. How, if at all, does this striking difference between ritual focus and social fact affect the outlooks and actions of Asian Muslims? What, roughly, is the balance of militancy and toleration in this Asian context, especially in ethnically and religiously plural societies such as Malaysia? Is it realistic to think that Asian attitudes and behaviors could form the basis for a 21st-century reformation and renaissance of Islam in which the jihadist passions of Al Qaeda and the purist strictures of the House of Saud would be refuted and shunned in favor of intercultural cooperation and liberal democracy? Or has the American-Afghan crisis, on the contrary, ignited a chain reaction of sympathy for Arab (and Pashtun) resentments that will inflame Asian Muslims against unbelievers? Finally, what relevance do these questions have for the people and policies of the United States? Karim Raslan is one of Southeast Asia's leading public intellectuals. His diverse interests run from constructing fictional plots to restructuring all-too-real bankruptcies. When he is not writing short stories and newspaper commentaries, or appearing on CNN or the BBC, he partners a highly regarded Malaysian law firm, Raslan Loong. His first novel, Desire--the first of four planned volumes about a family of Malay Muslims--will be published next fall. A third collection of his short stories should be out next spring. His syndicated column, "Eye in Asia," appears weekly in newspapers in Malaysia and Singapore, and is often reprinted elsewhere in Asia and Australia. The specialties of his law firm include corporate finance, capital markets, and information technology. He is presently a visiting scholar at Columbia University. When he is not traveling, Mr. Raslan lives in Malaysia.

This seminar addresses developing an analytical framework for a comparative study of the emergence and growth dynamics of regions of high tech industrial clusters in different national contexts. We review the empirical and theoretical literature on determinants of national and regional competitiveness in high tech industries. We conclude that, while innovation and entrepreneurship have both been given increasing attention in various international benchmarking studies in recent years, their interaction and joint effects on economic dynamism -- especially at the regional and specific industrial cluster level -- have not been well-investigated. Moreover, while the number of empirical studies of specific high-tech regions has increased, especially in the United States, the influence of different national contexts and international linkages has received inadequate attention. To address these gaps, we propose the development of conceptual measures and empirical benchmark indicators that focus specifically on the regional nexus of innovation and entrepreneurship, and identify possible secondary data sources and primary data collection methodology for deriving these indicators. Some preliminary benchmarking findings comparing a number of Asian nations/regions with Silicon Valley are presented.

Poh-Kam Wong is an associate professor at the Business School, National University of Singapore, where he directs the Centre for Management of Innovation and Technopreneurship. He obtained his BSc., MSc. and Ph.D. from MIT. His current research interests include management of technological innovation, S&T policy, and high tech entrepreneurship. His publications have appeared in, among others, Information Systems Research, International Journal of Technology Management, Journal of Asian Business, and Industry and Innovation, as well as chapters in books published by Stanford University Press, MIT Press, and Oxford University Press. He has consulted widely for international agencies, government agencies in Singapore, and high tech firms in Asia. He has co-founded three technology companies and currently serves on the advisory board or board of directors of several high tech start-ups in Singapore and Malaysia. He is an advisor to two VC funds and chairman of the Business Angel Network (South East Asia). He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley in 1984 and is currently on sabbatical leave as a visiting scholar at Shorenstein APARC.

Professor Nye spoke as a special guest lecturer of the Walter H. Shorenstein Forum for Asia-Pacific Studies.

A one-day conference organized by Shorenstein APARC brought together 110 distinguished participants from India, the United States, Israel, Taiwan, Europe, and Latin America. The program's objective was to inform and educate India's IT policymakers and practitioners on India's enabling environment with respect to regulation, governance, access to capital, and technological capabilities. The proceedings of this conference are available as an Shorenstein APARC publication, prepared by Dr. Rafiq Dossani.

This talk will look at the policy options for the Indian government as it deals with the slowdown of the Indian economy, sanctions following the nuclear tests, and internal security following the recent increase in tension between castes and attacks on minorities. Before assuming his post as Ambassador of India to the United States in April 1996, Ambassador Naresh Chandra, was Secretary to the Ministries of Water Resources, Defense, Interior and Justice from 1987 to 1990 in the Federal Indian Government. In December 1990, he became Cabinet Secretary, the highest post in the Indian Civil Service. He retired from that position in July 1992. He was also a Member of the Indian Space Commission and the Indian Atomic Energy Commission from 1990 to 1992. In August 1992, he was appointed a Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister of India. His last assignment was as the Governor of the State of Gujarat. He was the Indian Co-chairman of the US-India Technology Group, and Member of the Indo-US Economic Sub-Commission, which lent him valuable insight into the broad range of Indo-US relations. Following the economic liberalization program in India, he led the first official delegation to the US in 1992 to promote US investments in India. For more information about the program please call (650) 723-8387.

Fidel Ramos' term as President of the Philippines was marked, among other things, by the highest economic growth since the Republic's independence, massive investments in infrastructure, and a peace agreement with the Southern Muslim secessionist movement. In 1998 he was awarded the UNESCO Peace Award for his role in promoting stability in the Southeast Asian region. Following his term of office, Mr. Ramos has continued to exercise a significant influence on Filipino politics. In January 2000 he led a pivotal march demanding the resignation of his successor, Joseph Estrada, which occurred two days later. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he now serves as Special Roving Ambassador for the current president, Gloria Arroyo.

In August 1997, after financial crisis had broken out in Thailand, Japanese officials proposed the establishment of an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF). The proposal encountered a number of obstacles, the most formidable of which was opposition by the United States and the IMF. Consequently, Japanese officials aborted the initiative. However, the notion of an AMF resurfaced in a variety of forms thereafter,. Most recently, a network of bilateral currency swap arrangements has begun to emerge among the ASEAN + 3 nations under the auspices of the May 2000 Chiang Mai Initiative. This talk will examine the political dynamics surrounding the Japanese Government's initial proposal for the creation of an AMF in 1997, and the arrangements that have emerged in its place. In doing so, the talk will attempt to draw out the significance of the AMF idea, its institutional evolution for the U.S.-Japan bilateral relationship, and for U.S. and Japanese roles in multilateral financial institutions today.