Stanford University

International Relations

FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.

FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.

Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.

South China Sea: What China is really saying

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Writing recently for the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), Stanford scholar Donald Emmerson analyzed China’s stance on the South China Sea in the context of remarks given by Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi at a bilateral dialogue in Washington, D.C. on June 24.

In the past year, China has unsettled many countries with its island-building campaign in the disputed South China Sea, an area that has multiple claimants and whose waters are heavily used for international trade and commerce. Johnson South Reef, for example, is being enlarged and turned into what could be a military base. At the same time, China’s leaders continue to disregard rising demands to clarify their intentions in the South China Sea.

In the CSIS article, Emmerson offered an “edited" version of Yang’s statement to provide one reading of its “useful ambiguity” for China.

Emmerson said China’s participation is inevitably required to resolve the maritime disputes. But his reading of Yang’s remarks is not encouraging in that respect, as China behaves more and more as if it were part of the problem not the solution.

The full article is accessible on the CSIS blog, http://cogitasia.com/?s=emmerson.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi delivers remarks at the Strategic Track Oceans Meeting in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2015.
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Eikenberry joins AAAS commission on language education

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Karl Eikenberry, a distinguished fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, will serve on the Commission on Language Learning at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). The new commission is part of a national effort to examine the state of American language education.

The commission will work with scholarly and professional organizations to gather research about the benefits of language instruction and to initiate a national conversation about language training and international education.

Eikenberry joins eight other commissioners, including: Martha Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; Nicholas Dirks, chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley; and Diane Wood, chief judge, of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The group is led by Paul LeClerc, director of Columbia University’s Global Center in Paris.

Eikenberry, who is also a member of the AAAS Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences, contributed to “The Heart of the Matter,” a 2013 report that aims to advance dialogue on the importance of humanities and social sciences for the future of the United States.

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Groundbreaking Stanford economist Masahiko Aoki dies at 77

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Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

 

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Hoshi noted, "Masa was the first scholar to apply rigorous theoretical tools in modern economics to study of the Japanese economy." This led Aoki to develop, along with his Stanford colleagues, the framework behind comparative institutional analysis, which can be applied to any economic system, he added.

For Hoshi, Aoki was the "biggest reason why I decided to focus on the study of the Japanese economy in my career almost 30 years ago, and why I moved to Stanford a couple of years ago to be the director of the Japan Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center."

Aoki was the inaugural director of the Japanese Studies Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) when it was re-established in 2011.

John Shoven, the director of the Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said Aoki was both an accomplished scholar and institution builder.

"He is widely respected all over the world, and was able to span the worlds of economic theory and applied economic policy. We have lost both a friend and one of the world's leading economists," Shoven said.

Aoki's passing represents "a loss to economics, to Stanford and to me personally," said Stanford economist Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

"His most important contributions were to the analysis and understanding of organizational forms in economic life. Aoki particularly studied the contrasting forms of economic organization in the United States and Japanese economies. His work was informed by a deep understanding of economic theory," said Arrow, the Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research, emeritus.

Leadership roles

In his 2001 work, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, Aoki developed a new approach to analyze how institutions evolve, why institutional structures are diverse across economies, and what factors lead to institutional change or inflexibility.

Aoki's most recent book Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions, was published in 2010.

Aoki was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in 1938. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with bachelor's and master's degrees in economics, in 1962 and 1964, respectively, and a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1967. In addition to his Stanford career, he held visiting positions at academic institutions in China, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Aoki was president of the International Economic Association from 2008 to 2011, and served as president of the Japanese Economic Association. He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1990 and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998.

He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, and also founded the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution at the Tokyo Foundation. He was involved in the establishment of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University.

Aoki is survived by his wife, Reiko, of Stanford, and two daughters, Maki, of Boston, and Kyoko, and granddaughter Yuma, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Hoshi noted, "Masa was the first scholar to apply rigorous theoretical tools in modern economics to study of the Japanese economy." This led Aoki to develop, along with his Stanford colleagues, the framework behind comparative institutional analysis, which can be applied to any economic system, he added.

For Hoshi, Aoki was the "biggest reason why I decided to focus on the study of the Japanese economy in my career almost 30 years ago, and why I moved to Stanford a couple of years ago to be the director of the Japan Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center."

Aoki was the inaugural director of the Japanese Studies Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) when it was re-established in 2011.

John Shoven, the director of the Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said Aoki was both an accomplished scholar and institution builder.

"He is widely respected all over the world, and was able to span the worlds of economic theory and applied economic policy. We have lost both a friend and one of the world's leading economists," Shoven said.

Aoki's passing represents "a loss to economics, to Stanford and to me personally," said Stanford economist Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

"His most important contributions were to the analysis and understanding of organizational forms in economic life. Aoki particularly studied the contrasting forms of economic organization in the United States and Japanese economies. His work was informed by a deep understanding of economic theory," said Arrow, the Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research, emeritus.

Leadership roles

In his 2001 work, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, Aoki developed a new approach to analyze how institutions evolve, why institutional structures are diverse across economies, and what factors lead to institutional change or inflexibility.

Aoki's most recent book Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions, was published in 2010.

Aoki was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in 1938. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with bachelor's and master's degrees in economics, in 1962 and 1964, respectively, and a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1967. In addition to his Stanford career, he held visiting positions at academic institutions in China, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Aoki was president of the International Economic Association from 2008 to 2011, and served as president of the Japanese Economic Association. He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1990 and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998.

He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, and also founded the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution at the Tokyo Foundation. He was involved in the establishment of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University.

Aoki is survived by his wife, Reiko, of Stanford, and two daughters, Maki, of Boston, and Kyoko, and granddaughter Yuma, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Hoshi noted, "Masa was the first scholar to apply rigorous theoretical tools in modern economics to study of the Japanese economy." This led Aoki to develop, along with his Stanford colleagues, the framework behind comparative institutional analysis, which can be applied to any economic system, he added.

For Hoshi, Aoki was the "biggest reason why I decided to focus on the study of the Japanese economy in my career almost 30 years ago, and why I moved to Stanford a couple of years ago to be the director of the Japan Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center."

Aoki was the inaugural director of the Japanese Studies Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) when it was re-established in 2011.

John Shoven, the director of the Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said Aoki was both an accomplished scholar and institution builder.

"He is widely respected all over the world, and was able to span the worlds of economic theory and applied economic policy. We have lost both a friend and one of the world's leading economists," Shoven said.

Aoki's passing represents "a loss to economics, to Stanford and to me personally," said Stanford economist Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

"His most important contributions were to the analysis and understanding of organizational forms in economic life. Aoki particularly studied the contrasting forms of economic organization in the United States and Japanese economies. His work was informed by a deep understanding of economic theory," said Arrow, the Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research, emeritus.

Leadership roles

In his 2001 work, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, Aoki developed a new approach to analyze how institutions evolve, why institutional structures are diverse across economies, and what factors lead to institutional change or inflexibility.

Aoki's most recent book Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions, was published in 2010.

Aoki was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in 1938. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with bachelor's and master's degrees in economics, in 1962 and 1964, respectively, and a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1967. In addition to his Stanford career, he held visiting positions at academic institutions in China, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Aoki was president of the International Economic Association from 2008 to 2011, and served as president of the Japanese Economic Association. He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1990 and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998.

He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, and also founded the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution at the Tokyo Foundation. He was involved in the establishment of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University.

Aoki is survived by his wife, Reiko, of Stanford, and two daughters, Maki, of Boston, and Kyoko, and granddaughter Yuma, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

- See more at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/masahiko-aoki-obituary-071715.h…

Masahiko Aoki, a Stanford economist who forged new ways of thinking about organizations, institutions and East Asian economies, died in Palo Alto on July 15. He was 77, and recently had been hospitalized for lung disease.

Aoki was a founder of comparative institutional analysis, which explores issues, perspectives and models of institutions within the economy. He studied economic systems, corporate governance and East Asian economies, and developed the "theory of the firm" to compare organizational structures in the corporate world.

Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, and also had appointments at Harvard University and at Kyoto University in Japan. Aoki retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.

Scholar, institution builder

Aoki's colleague, Stanford economist Takeo Hoshi, described him as a prolific and dedicated scholar. "Even at the hospital, he worked on revising his most recent paper that examines institutional development in China and Japan from the late 19th century to the early 20th century," said Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Hoshi noted, "Masa was the first scholar to apply rigorous theoretical tools in modern economics to study of the Japanese economy." This led Aoki to develop, along with his Stanford colleagues, the framework behind comparative institutional analysis, which can be applied to any economic system, he added.

For Hoshi, Aoki was the "biggest reason why I decided to focus on the study of the Japanese economy in my career almost 30 years ago, and why I moved to Stanford a couple of years ago to be the director of the Japan Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center."

Aoki was the inaugural director of the Japanese Studies Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) when it was re-established in 2011.

John Shoven, the director of the Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said Aoki was both an accomplished scholar and institution builder.

"He is widely respected all over the world, and was able to span the worlds of economic theory and applied economic policy. We have lost both a friend and one of the world's leading economists," Shoven said.

Aoki's passing represents "a loss to economics, to Stanford and to me personally," said Stanford economist Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

"His most important contributions were to the analysis and understanding of organizational forms in economic life. Aoki particularly studied the contrasting forms of economic organization in the United States and Japanese economies. His work was informed by a deep understanding of economic theory," said Arrow, the Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research, emeritus.

Leadership roles

In his 2001 work, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, Aoki developed a new approach to analyze how institutions evolve, why institutional structures are diverse across economies, and what factors lead to institutional change or inflexibility.

Aoki's most recent book Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions, was published in 2010.

Aoki was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in 1938. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with bachelor's and master's degrees in economics, in 1962 and 1964, respectively, and a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1967. In addition to his Stanford career, he held visiting positions at academic institutions in China, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Aoki was president of the International Economic Association from 2008 to 2011, and served as president of the Japanese Economic Association. He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1990 and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998.

He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, and also founded the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution at the Tokyo Foundation. He was involved in the establishment of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University.

Aoki is survived by his wife, Reiko, of Stanford, and two daughters, Maki, of Boston, and Kyoko, and granddaughter Yuma, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Clifton Parker is a writer for the Stanford News Service.

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"Crossing Heaven's Border" reviewed in "The Washington Post"

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The Washington Post's Anna Fifield reviewed Crossing Heaven's Border (Shorenstein APARC, 2015), a book by author and journalist Hark Joon Lee. The book details the challenges facing North Korean defectors -- their perilous escapes, the repressive regime that they seek to flee from, and for some, what life looks like on the other side.

"Lee’s book is compelling because it offers a fresh perspective on the puzzle that is North Korea. He writes about the challenges he faced in reporting on this story and the ethical questions he encountered, and the toll it took on him as a person," Fifield writes.

Sensationalist stories about North Korea often swirl in news headlines, but Lee chronicles their hardships as a firsthand witness who embedded with defectors from 2007 to 2011. 

Lee, reporting for the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, initially published the stories as articles, and later as a documentary on the Public Broadcasting Service in 2009. Lee's account focuses on the lives of ordinary North Koreans.

"He writes about the tenderness he sees between a middle-aged couple from different social backgrounds who fled so they could be together; Soo-ryun, who had a difficult escape but found love and had a baby, only to be struck down by stomach cancer; pretty Young-mi, who dreamed of going to the United States but then found she couldn’t even understand the English that South Koreans use," Fifield writes.

The review and a Q&A with Lee is available on the Washington Post website.

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Kim Young Mi looks from China over to North Korea.
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Dynasty

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dynasty final front

Scholar and senior journalist Kim Hakjoon provides a timely analysis of the rise of the Kim Il Sung family dynasty and the politics of leadership succession in Pyongyang, including Kim Jong Il’s death and the advent of his son Kim Jong Un. Drawing on official North Korean statements and leaked confidential documents, journalistic accounts, and defector reports, the book synthesizes virtually all that is known about the secretive family and how it operates within a bizarre governing system. Particularly valuable for a Western audience is the author’s extensive use of South Korean studies of the Kim family, many of which have not been translated into English. Dynasty is insightful reading for officials, journalists, scholars, and students interested in the Korean Peninsula and its prospects.

‌Kim Hakjoon is president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, a state-sponsored research institute on international relations and historical issues among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, and the United States. Kim previously served as the president of the University of Incheon and president of the Korean Political Science Association. He has written extensively on North Korea and South Korean politics. He is currently on leave as the endowed chair professor of Korean studies at DanKook University, South Korea.

Desk, examination, or review copies can be requested through Stanford University Press.

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The Hereditary Succession Politics of North Korea

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Training the Party: Party Adaptation and Elite Training in Reform-era China

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Charlotte P. Lee considers organizational changes taking place within the contemporary Chinese Communist Party (CCP), examining the party's renewed emphasis on an understudied but core set of organizations: party-managed training academies or 'party schools'. This national network of organizations enables party authorities to exert political control over the knowledge, skills, and careers of officials. Drawing on in-depth field research and novel datasets, Lee finds that the party school system has not been immune to broader market-based reforms but instead has incorporated many of the same strategies as actors in China's hybrid, state-led private sector. In the search for revenue and status, schools have updated training content and become more entrepreneurial as they compete and collaborate with domestic and international actors. This book draws attention to surprising dynamism located within the party, in political organizations thought immune to change, and the transformative effect of the market on China's political system.

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Japan's 'lost decade' provides lessons for the US, Europe

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The United States and European countries can take steps to avoid making the same economic mistakes that Japan committed during the latter's "lost decade," a Stanford economist wrote in a new paper.

The study, published in the IMF Economic Review, describes the reasons Japan was not able to pull out of its long recession in the 1990s, offering some lessons for U.S. and European leaders in the wake of the 2007-09 meltdown.

In particular, the delay in bank recapitalization and the lack of structural reforms in the economic sphere kept Japan from realizing a full recovery, wrote Takeo Hoshi, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

"Bank recapitalization" refers to a governmental reorganization of failing banks, often involving the use of public money to keep them solvent. "Structural reforms" describes how a government might overhaul its economic structures to increase business competition – such as deregulation to cut costs for firms.

The shortcomings in these two policy areas "retarded Japan's recovery from the crisis and were responsible for its stagnant post-crisis growth," said Hoshi, whose co-author was Anil K. Kashyap, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Risky bank lending

Japan's "lost decade" originally referred to the 1990s, though the country has still not regained the economic power it enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s. Some say Japan has actually experienced two lost decades if the 2000s are counted as well.

Faced with a huge financial crisis at the dawn of its lost decade, Japan had to navigate challenges that other advanced economies had not confronted since the Great Depression, Hoshi and Kashyap wrote.

However, government leaders made mistakes, Hoshi said. One was failure to rehabilitate the banks and another was to misunderstand the nature of the problems afflicting the Japanese economy. For example, much like the United States in 2007-09, the Japanese banks had made many dubious loans to risky customers.

"Instead of recognizing that major structural adjustments were needed, much of the policy response was calibrated under the assumption that Japan faced a simple cyclical problem that could be addressed with indiscriminate fiscal stimulus," wrote Hoshi, the director of the Japan Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

For example, on the demand side, monetary policy was not as expansionary as it could have been, he said. Deflation persisted for a long time. And fiscal stimulus packages – such as tax cuts – were inconsistent. Meanwhile, much of Japan's fiscal spending took the form of public works projects that had low productivity.

As for structural reforms, the Japanese government lacked a sense of urgency. For example, even in the reform-minded administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, only eight of the proposed 35 reform initiatives would have directly boosted growth. Of the others, 16 might have indirectly supported growth and 11 would have had no effect on growth, Hoshi said.

Drastic change needed

Unfortunately, some European nations seem to be following Japan's lead, Hoshi said.

"In France, Italy and Spain, bank recapitalization has been delayed and the structural reforms have been slow. Without drastic changes, they are likely to follow Japan's path to long economic stagnation," Hoshi and Kashyap wrote.

The problems that held back Japan seem to be less serious in the U.S., Hoshi said: "Employment protection is low in the United States and the labor market shows high mobility. The regulatory advantage for incumbent firms is smaller than in Europe or Japan and starting new business is relatively easy."

As the researchers noted, the United States and Germany are in a bit better economic shape, partly due to the fact that they did undertake structural reforms sooner rather than later. The U.S. was able to recapitalize its banks more quickly, for example.

Still, five years after the failure of the Lehman Brothers investment bank left the world's financial markets in chaos, the U.S. and Europe are not yet back to what had looked normal before the crisis, according to the research. For instance, employment levels have not reached the levels seen before the 2007-09 crash.

"The U.S. recovery has been tepid despite a number of extraordinary macroeconomic policies (at least in the traditional sense). This suggests that the U.S. economy also has problems, but they are just different from those in Japan and in Europe," Hoshi said.

In the years leading up to the financial crisis, the researchers wrote, U.S. growth was fueled by a consumption boom from rapid housing price increases and rising debt levels.

"In a broad sense, the U.S. economy before the crisis was similar to the Japanese or Spanish economies," noted Hoshi, adding that in Japan, the speculative investment boom in the late 1980s masked structural problems.

Clifton Parker is a writer for the Stanford News Service.

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An onlooker examines a stock board, Tokyo, Japan.
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At Stanford, UN leader calls for global action

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The United Nations has thus far fulfilled its charter to prevent a third world war, but with 60 million refugees, continued bloodshed with unresolved civil conflicts and terrorism spreading like cancer, the world's leading peacekeeping organization must spearhead global action, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday at Stanford on the 70th anniversary of the international organization.

Ban, the U.N.'s eighth secretary-general, did not rest on any laurels during his speech at a public event sponsored by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). "I humbly accept criticism that the U.N. is not doing enough," he said. 

However, the situation could have been worse if not for the United Nations, he continued. "Without peacekeepers, or without the U.N.'s continued humanitarian assistance and advocacy of human rights, I'm afraid to tell you that this world would have been poorer, more dangerous and even bloodier without the United Nations."

Ban's visit to Stanford – his second to the university in less than three years – was part of a trip to the Bay Area to commemorate the signing of the U.N. charter. In 1945, representatives from 50 nations gathered in San Francisco to create the United Nations – an international organization aimed at saving future generations from the "scourge of war."

Today, the United Nations has grown to 193 member nations. Its challenges – from climate change and poverty to civil wars and terrorism – have never been greater, Ban said.

"This is a critical year; 2015 is a year of global action," he said. "The U.N. cannot do it alone. We need strong solidarity among government, business communities and civil societies, from each and every citizen."

The fact that so many young people around the globe are drawn to violent narratives is worrisome, Ban said. "Violent terrorism is spreading like cancer around the world."

The rise in terrorist activities stems from "a failure of leadership," he said. That's why the United Nations needs to develop a comprehensive plan of action to address extremism, he maintained.

The U.N.'s 70th anniversary coincidentally fell on a momentous day of tragedy and celebration around the world. Dozens were killed when terrorists launched horrific attacks across three continents – in France, Tunisia and Kuwait – fueling anger, sadness and fear of more violence.

But in the United States, celebrations rang out in response to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalizes same-sex marriages nationwide.

Ban, who has long advocated for equality and last year pushed the United Nations to recognize same-sex marriages of its staff, drew a round of applause when he heralded the court ruling as "a great step forward for human rights."

The June 26 event was co-sponsored by Shorenstein APARC and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, with promotional co-sponsors Asia Society, Asia Foundation and the World Affairs Council of Northern California. 

May Wong is a freelance writer for the Stanford News Service.

Coverage and related multimedia links:

Remarks at Stanford University by Ban Ki-moon (U.N. News Centre, 6/26/15)

Photos of Ban Ki-moon at Stanford University (U.N. Photo, 6/26/15)

At Stanford University, Ban says U.N. ready to build a better future for all (U.N. News Centre, 6/27/2015)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomes growing engagement of India, China (NDTV, 6/27/2015)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at Stanford, celebrates U.N.'s 70th anniversary (Stanford Daily, 6/29/15)

Hoover archival photographs featured at lecture delivered by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Hoover Institution, 6/29/2015)

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Ban Ki-moon, the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations, urged the audience to see 2015 as a year of global action.
UN/Mark Garten
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China’s Place in U.S. Foreign Policy

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China has amassed great power over the past 35 years, leaving many to query: how should America evaluate the risks that China poses to its interests? Miscalculating China’s ambitions and capabilities could leave the United States strategically vulnerable. Eikenberry argues that useful analysis derives from a deep understanding of China’s current position in both regional and international affairs, and of the internal and external constraints it faces. An effective U.S.-China policy must be grounded in a thorough assessment of the context in which Sino-American relations operate.

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The American Interest
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6
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