The emergence of global information society changes the nature of the relationship between society, knowledge, and technology. This affects in a fundamental way the role of ICTs (Information and Communication Technology) for the distribution of knowledge, the development of network economies, networks of social innovation and networks of co-development. Knowledge networking is seen here in terms of creating cross-cultural alliances among the university, enterprise, and the media, through creating symbiotic relationships between local and global knowledge resources. The focus is on promoting a culture of shared communication, values and knowledge, seeking cooperation through valorization of diversity, social cohesion and subsidiarity. This focus is informed by the human centered vision of Information Society, which moves the digital divide discourse beyond the technocentric agenda toward a human centered agenda that recognizes the purpose of ICT as promoter of social cohesion in which shared communication and shared knowledge drive cohesion, and cohesion generates shared communication and an increase in shared knowledge. The discussion will be illustrated by an example of the European - India Cross Cultural Innovation Network, a unique project of the European Commission that promotes cross-cultural cooperation, action research and knowledge networking.

Four months into Megawati Sukarnoputri's presidency, many of the same ills continue to plague Indonesia Ð economic and legal reforms are at a standstill, corruption is rampant and Indonesia's 220 million still lack the democratic freedoms promised when Suharto stepped down three years ago. Home to the world's largest Muslim population, Indonesia, as much as or more than Pakistan, is subject to serious destablization in light of the events of September 11th and October 7th. Please join us for a timely and informative briefing on the current political, economic and social situation in Indonesia today.

Indonesian poet, essayist and journalist Goenawan Mohamad is the former editor of Tempo, the weekly news magazine once banned by Suharto because of its penetrating articles and expos?s. He has long been known for his reasoned, articulate criticism of government policies and as an advocate of democracy and free speech in Indonesia. He has spent the last semester as a Visiting Fellow at UCLA. Donald Emmerson is a leading authority on the politics and international relations of Southeast Asia, with particular concentration on Indonesia. He is currently a senior fellow in Stanford University's Institute for International Studies, where he also heads the Asia/Pacific Research Center's Southeast Asia Forum. Prior to this, Dr. Emmerson was a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Political Science. In June 1999, he helped monitor the Indonesian election for the National Democratic Institute and the Carter Center.

How has the largely American war in Afghanistan--the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the counterattack that began on 7 October, and the retreat of Taliban forces since 13 November--affected the foreign policy environment now facing Northeast and Southeast Asian states? Is this the beginning of Cold War II? Has terrorism replaced communism as the enemy of a new and enduring global alliance led by the United States? How do East Asian governments see themselves in relation to this anti-terrorist coalition? As enthusiasts eager to defend or promote democracy in politics and moderation in religion? As joiners hoping to elicit American support for the repression of "terrorism" inside their own countries, e.g., in Tibet, Aceh, and the Sulu archipelago? As bystanders skeptical of American motives and resentful of American influence, but resigned to their inability to curb American hegemony? As balancers eager to organize East Asia into a region able to defend itself against unchecked American power? Matters relevant to the answering of such questions include: disappointing economic trends in much of East Asia; the likely impact of the compromises reaching at the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Qatar; the status and implications of the proposed free trade area between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); changing affinities and tensions among ASEAN members; military progress or failure in the effort to destroy Al Qaeda; and the possible involvement of East Asian contingents in a UN-brokered arrangement for the stabilization of Afghanistan. Simon SC Tay teaches international law at the National University of Singapore. He was selected for three terms as a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament. His many publications include A New ASEAN in a New Millennium (2000); Preventive Diplomacy and the ASEAN Regional Forum (1999); and "Towards a Singaporean Civil Society," in Southeast Asian Affairs 1998. He also writes stories and poems; his 1991 book, Stand Alone, was short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize. In 2000 the World Economic Forum named him a "global leader of tomorrow."

Mr. Clark has over ten years of telecoms and technology financing and consulting experience. He has seven years of experience in China's telecom market and has been involved in the Internet in China since its commercial inception in 1995. He is the founder and managing director of BDA (China), a telecommunications and technology consulting and research firm focused on China. Duncan has leveraged his understanding of finance, telecoms and technology to build BDA into a leading Internet and telecoms consultancy in China. He speaks at a variety of industry, academic, and government events and is a technology columnist for The South China Morning Post.

Korea achieved national health insurance coverage for the entire population in 1989, thirteen years after Korea adopted a national health insurance policy. Its success drew a lot of attention from other countries, including the US. This talk will explain the secrets of its success and also critique the pitfall of its national health insurance system. However, more recently, Korea has faced challenges from most parts of its health care system. The national health insurance corporation has been showing financial deficits. Also, the health care delivery sector has experienced a series of political battles among professional groups: physician vs. pharmacist, and oriental medical doctors vs. pharmacists. The seminar will analyze the reasons for these challenges, and discuss the direction for Korea's health care reforms. Those who have interests in the Korean national health insurance systems, please refer to Gerard Anderson (1989) "Universal Health Care Coverage in Korea." Health Affairs, Summer ,24-35. Miron Stano (1990) "Comparing US and Korean Health Care." Health Affairs, Summer, 237-238. Those who have interests in the political battles among professional groups, please refer to Hoy-Je Cho, (2000) "Traditional Medicine, Professional Monopoly and Structural Interests: a Korean Case." Social Science & Medicine, Vol 50, Issue 1, 123-135. These articles can be downloaded from the Stanford e-journal lists. This program is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP before noon on Wednesday, Novermber 28 to Okky Choi. Tel: (650) 724-8271 or Email: okkychoi@stanford.edu

This program is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP before noon on Wednesday, November 14 to Okky Choi. Tel: (650) 724-8271 or Email: okkychoi@stanford.edu

Lunch will be served. RSVPs must be received no later than noon, 10/17/01.

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.

As China is gradually integrated into the international economic, security, and politics system, the tension between technological self-reliance and the need to build its technological enhancement on what is available in international market, will inevitably increase. Reflecting this tension, China's encryption policy was thrust into the international limelight in late 1999 and the first half of 2000. The early encryption regulations were announced and later were clarified. A wide range of international media has covered controversies related to the encryption policy. For every nation in the world, encryption's multifaceted nature requires a painstaking effort balancing potentially competing interests. It is even more so for China, the country which will officially join the WTO at the end of 2001. The concerns of multiple stakeholders about the future of encryption technology and its impact have raised policy questions about the management and control of encryption technology. Among the questions Chinese decision makers face are the following: --How to evaluate China's current encryption policy from an international perspective? --How to justify the toughness of the original encryption regulations and the relaxation afterwards in China's complex and rapidly changing domestic and international context? The purpose of Dr. Yuan's study is to assist Chinese policymakers in analyzing the status quo of the policy, objectives, and factors affecting encryption policymaking and to offer suggestions for the future. It provides an integrated assessment of how encryption policy decisions can and might affect diverse military, commercial, and political interests in China and suggests how those interests might be balanced most effectively.

Topics to be covered: 1. Case Studies of different ventures undertaken by the speaker for different projects in China, looking at reasons for the organization structure, access to local capital, technology and talent, infrastructure availability and government relations; and outcomes relative to expectations. 2. Comparative view of India 3. Summary of how capitalism is managed in China versus India. Mr. Vivek Ragavan, who has more than twenty years of executive management experience in the telecommunications industry, was most recently president and CEO of Redback Networks. Before that he was president and CEO of Siara Systems, which merged with Redback in March 2000. Prior to Siara, Ragavan was president of the Residential Broadband Group of ADC Telecommunications, Inc., where he was responsible for ADC's telecommunication equipment businesses, focused on the broadband communication access and transport markets. Earlier, Ragavan was vice president of Engineering at General Instrument where he led the development of that company's leading digital video transport system. He has a BSEE from Northwestern University and an MSEE from Cornell University.