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Governance

FSI's research on the origins, character and consequences of government institutions spans continents and academic disciplines. The institute’s senior fellows and their colleagues across Stanford examine the principles of public administration and implementation. Their work focuses on how maternal health care is delivered in rural China, how public action can create wealth and eliminate poverty, and why U.S. immigration reform keeps stalling. 

FSI’s work includes comparative studies of how institutions help resolve policy and societal issues. Scholars aim to clearly define and make sense of the rule of law, examining how it is invoked and applied around the world. 

FSI researchers also investigate government services – trying to understand and measure how they work, whom they serve and how good they are. They assess energy services aimed at helping the poorest people around the world and explore public opinion on torture policies. The Children in Crisis project addresses how child health interventions interact with political reform. Specific research on governance, organizations and security capitalizes on FSI's longstanding interests and looks at how governance and organizational issues affect a nation’s ability to address security and international cooperation.

Rebellion and Repression in China, 1966–1971

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In the first five years after the onset of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, one of the largest political upheavals of the twentieth century paralyzed a highly centralized party state, leading to a harsh regime of military control. Despite a wave of post-Mao revelations in the 1980s, knowledge about the nationwide impact of this insurgency and its suppression remains selective and impressionistic, based primarily on a handful of local accounts. Employing a data set drawn from historical narratives published in 2,213 county and city annals, this article charts the temporal and geographic spread of a mass insurgency, its evolution through time, and the repression through which militarized state structures were rebuilt. Comparisons of published figures with internal investigation reports and statistical estimates from sample selection models yield estimates that range from 1.1 to 1.6 million deaths and 22 to 30 million direct victims of some form of political persecution. The vast majority of casualties were due to repression by authorities, not the actions of insurgents. Despite the large overall death toll, per capita death rates were considerably lower than a range of comparable cases, including the Soviet purges at the height of Stalinist terror in the late 1930s.

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Social Science History
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Andrew G. Walder

Capitalist Maturity and South Korea’s Development Conundrum

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Korea’s economic development trajectory is well known. From an impoverished war-torn nation, the country has progressed on all fronts. In the 1950s the country’s per capita income was estimated to be lower than India’s. Today the income difference is fifteen-fold in favor of Korea. It stands out internationally when it comes to education. Politically it has moved away from authoritarian to more spirited, people-driven democratic system. This presentation will shift the debate to the question what does a country do after it has achieved prosperity. Using the concept of capitalist maturity, do we look for answers in the OECD experience or should we treat Korea on its own terms? What are the development challenges for Korea in the post-development era? Given that there are both external and internal issues that merit appropriate responses, the presentation focuses on Korea’s regional (Asian) economy, business and institutional responses to expanding Asia, and the societal adjustment issues to increasing flows of Asian students, professionals, and unskilled workers. The presentation concludes by briefly indicating the many unfinished domestic reforms at multiple levels, which could reinforce Korea’s external engagement and potentially resolve the development conundrum arising from capitalist maturity.

anthony dcosta
Anthony P. D’Costa is Chair and Professor of Contemporary Indian Studies, Development Studies at the University of Melbourne. He was the A.P. Møller Mærsk Foundation Professor of Indian Studies, Copenhagen Business School and Professor of Comparative International Development for 18 years at the University of Washington. He also taught at National University of Singapore, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and Bordeaux École de Management. He has published widely on the political economy of development, global capitalism, labor, and industrial restructuring using the steel, auto, and IT sectors. His most recent book is International Mobility, Global Capitalism, and Changing Structures of Accumulation: Transforming the Japan-India IT Relationship (2016). His edited books include Transformation and Development: The Political Economy of Transition in India and China (2012), Globalization and Economic Nationalism in Asia (2012), After-Development Dynamics: South Korea's Contemporary Engagements with Asia (2015), and The Land Question in India: State, Dispossession, and Capitalist Transition (2017), all by Oxford University Press. He edits Dynamics of Asian Development book series and has held several fellowships: Fulbright-Hays, American Institute of Indian Studies, Korea Foundation, Abe - Japan Foundation, and POSCO at the East West Center.

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Anthony P. D’Costa <i>Chair and Professor of Contemporary Indian Studies, University of Melbourne</i>
Seminars
Korean Studies Colloquium Series

Call for papers: Koret Workshop on Korea's Migrants: From Homogeneity to Diversity

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The Korea Program at Stanford’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center is soliciting papers for the Koret Workshop entitled “Korea’s Migrants: From Homogeneity to Diversity” held at Stanford University on April 21, 2017.

This ninth annual conference seeks to examine major issues related to recent migrants in Korea. Korea has long promoted a sense of ethnic unity but in recent years has seen an influx of ethnic and non-ethnic Koreans, making the country more diverse. The government has promoted multiculturalism to deal with such diversity; however, migrants, either permanent or temporary, continue to face discrimination. New approaches are needed to create better social cohesion.

We are looking for empirical papers that address the following questions for one of the following groups of migrants: North Korean refugees, Chosonjok, foreign brides, migrant labor (skilled or unskilled), and Korean returnees.

  • What are the real and perceived contributions of this group to Korean society?
  • What are the remaining challenges and concerns associated with this group as a migrant living in Korea? Have these challenges worsened or improved over time?
  • How have Korean perceptions of your migrant group changed over time, if at all? Why or why not?
  • Do you think this particular group has been more or less discriminated against compared to other migrant groups? Is there any change over time?
  • Based on your study, do you think that boundaries between various migrant groups are blurring, remaining distinct, or becoming more salient?
  • Based on your study, what is the most important barrier to social integration in Korean society? Is it ethnicity, citizenship, class, or something else?
  • Has multiculturalism as a policy and social discourse adequately addressed the concerns of your migrant group?  If not, then do we need a new framework? What would you suggest?
  • Do you think the influx of your migrant group can lessen the looming demographic crisis that will reduce the working-age population?
  • In recent years, there has been growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States and Europe. Do you think this will be an issue in Korea as well?
  • Based on your study of your migrant group, do you think Korea is ready for large-scale mass migration? Why or why not? If not, what would be an alternative to migration?

Submission for the conference
Upload papers in PDF (6,000-8,000 words) here. Inquiries can be made to Dr. Yong Suk Lee at yongslee@stanford.edu. The submission deadline is Dec. 31, 2016.

The authors of the accepted papers will be invited to and asked to present their studies at the conference. After the workshop, selected papers will be published as a special issue at a top Asian studies journal and/or as an edited volume. Travel (domestic or international economy class) and accommodation costs for the presenters will be reimbursed.

About the Koret Workshop
The Koret Workshop is organized by the Korea Program to bring together an international panel of experts in Korean affairs. The Korea Program established the Koret Fellowship in 2008 with generous funding from the Koret Foundation.

 
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Reflections and Observations on American Foreign Policy: Stephen Bosworth’s Legacy

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Three-time U.S. Ambassador (Korea, Philippines, Tunisia), former North Korea Special Envoy, and Fletcher School Dean Emeritus, Stephen Bosworth, was the 2014 Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University.  During his Stanford appointment, he gave three lectures, drawing lessons from his own diplomatic career, examining efforts to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and discussing the role of U.S. alliances in Asia. Ambassador Bosworth also actively engaged with students and colleagues throughout the Stanford community, sharing his wisdom, wit, and experience.  We mourn his passing earlier this year.

The panel, all of whom knew and worked closely with Ambassador Bosworth – and in who succeeded him in several of his postings – will carry forward a discussion of the themes from Bosworth’s Payne lectures, including the challenges facing U.S. diplomacy, particularly in East Asia, and how to address them.

 

Panelists:

 

Ambassador Sung Kim

U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Korea

Ambassador-designate to Philippines

 

Ambassador Michael Armacost

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Philippines

 

Ambassador Kathleen Stephens

Former U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Korea

 

Ambassador Bosworth’s Payne Lecture transcripts are available for free download from our website

 

Panel Discussions

16th Korea-U.S West Coast Strategic Forum

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In this sixteenth session of the Strategic Forum, former senior American and South Korean government officials and other leading experts will discuss current developments in the Korean Peninsula and North Korea policy, the future of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, and a strategic vision for Northeast Asia. The session is hosted by the Korea Program in association with The Sejong Institute, a top South Korean think tank.

Workshops
Korea-U.S. West Coast Strategic Forum

Huan Yang

616 Serra StreetEncina Hall E301Stanford, CA 94305-6055
(650) 723-9741 (650) 723-6530
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huan_yang.jpg Ph.D.

Huan Yang joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for the 2016-17 year as a visiting scholar from Southwest Jiaotong University, where he serves as a lecturer.

His research interests include local governance, community construction.

Huan Yang obtained his Ph.D. at Central China Normal University in 2014, focusing on Political Space Theory.

Visiting Scholar

Kanjiro Onishi

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Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellow, 2016-17
kanjiro_onishi.jpg MA

Kanjiro Onishi is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2016-17.  Onishi has served as a government officer of the Ministry of Finance, Japan for more than 10 years, and has held various positions, such as a financial attaché of Mission Japan to the EU and a representative of the Washington, D.C. office of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.  Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he supervised several Official Development Assistance projects of the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry, including the policy finance projects in Myanmar and Lao PDR.

 

 

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Parting Observations on American Foreign Policy

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In 2014 Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth was a Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) in the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) of International Studies at Stanford University. Bosworth, who passed away in January 2016, was a three-time U.S. ambassador, served in numerous academic and government posts, and had an extensive career in the United States Foreign Service.
 
To commemorate his career in public service as well as his contributions to the center and to FSI, Shorenstein APARC has published his three lectures in this book. The content ranges from Bosworth's diplomatic career and his thoughts on the promotion of democracy, to the North Korean nuclear issue, to the overall state of the U.S. alliances in Asia.
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Stephen W. Bosworth
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978-1-931368-44-5

Failed Democratization in Prewar Japan: Breakdown of a Hybrid Regime

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Failed Democratization in Prewar Japan presents a compelling case study on change in political regimes through its exploration of Japan's transition to democracy. Within a broad-ranging examination of Japan's "semi-democratic" political system from 1918 to 1932, when political parties tended to dominate the government, the book analyzes in detail why this system collapsed in 1932 and discusses the implications of the failure.

By reference to comparable cases—prewar Argentina, prewar Germany, postwar Brazil, and 1980s Thailand—Harukata Takenaka reveals that the factors responsible for the breakdown of the Taisho democracy in Japan replicated those that precipitated the collapse of democracy in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere in Asia.

While most literature on these transitions focuses on successful cases, Takenaka explores democratic failure to answer questions about how and why political parties and their leaders can behave in ways that undermine the democratic institutions that serve as the basis for their formal authority.

This book is part of the Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center series at Stanford University Press.

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Stanford University Press
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Harukata Takanaka

Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War

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No nation is free from the charge that it has a less-than-complete view of the past. History is not simply about recording past events—it is often contested, negotiated, and reshaped over time. The debate over the history of World War II in Asia remains surprisingly intense, and Divergent Memories examines the opinions of powerful individuals to pinpoint the sources of conflict: from Japanese colonialism in Korea and atrocities in China to the American decision to use atomic weapons against Japan.

Rather than labeling others' views as "distorted" or ignoring dissenting voices to create a monolithic historical account, Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel Sneider pursue a more fruitful approach: analyzing how historical memory has developed, been formulated, and even been challenged in each country. By identifying key factors responsible for these differences, Divergent Memories provides the tools for readers to both approach their own national histories with reflection and to be more understanding of others.

"A well-written investigation on the legacy of World War II in Asia, greatly contributes to the field of cultural and military history.” —Mel Vasquez, H-War

"This book is an important counterweight to prevailing tendencies that promote uncritical nationalism and is thus an invaluable resource for this generation’s Asian and American youth to gain a critical understanding of their national histories...[T]he authors’ non-judgmental approach, coupled with persistence in pursuing the multiple interpretations and experiences of these traumatic events, provoke a reconsideration of our notions of justice, equality, and humanity within our nationalist thinking."—Grace Huang, Journal of American-East Asian Relations, Vol. 26.2

This book is part of the Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center series at Stanford University Press.

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Stanford University Press
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Gi-Wook Shin
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