Stanford Global Studies

SGS Celebrates Global Internships

with Economics Seminar in Beijing

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

sgs.stanford.edusgs.information@stanford.edu

Vol. 3, Issue 1

SGS PROGRAMS & CENTERS:

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES

CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN STUDIES

CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

CENTER FOR RUSSIAN, EAST EUROPEAN AND EURASIAN STUDIES

CENTER FOR SOUTH ASIA

THE EUROPE CENTER

FORD DORSEY PROGRAM IN INTERNATIONAL POLICY STUDIES

FRANCE-STANFORD CENTER FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

GLOBAL STUDIES INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

HAMID AND CHRISTINA MOGHADAM PROGRAM IN IRANIAN STUDIES

INNER ASIA @ STANFORD

MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES FORUM

PROGRAM IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

SOHAIB AND SARA ABBASI PROGRAM IN ISLAMIC STUDIES

THE STANFORD HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

TAUBE CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES

WSD HANDA CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

Stanford Global Studies commemorated the 10th anniversary of its summer internship program with a dynamic and engaging seminar on China’s economy in the newly built Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU).

The audience was fi lled with current and former program interns and Beijing-based Stanford alumni from all fi elds. Hosted by Prof. Jean Oi, the Faculty Director of both SCPKU and the Stanford China Program, the seminar on July 19 focused on “Challenges and Opportunities in China’s Changing Economy” and featured four of the most prominent names in China’s technology and media worlds.

Hurst Lin is the General Partner at DCM China, one of the country’s leading venture capital fi rms. He is best known for co-founding SINA, a web giant whose Weibo micro-blog service transformed the online public sphere in China.

Lin told the audience the story of SINA’s founding. Using a handful of servers in the Stanford Firehouse when Lin was an MBA student at the Graduate School of Business, SINA began as a tool for overseas Chinese college students like him to exchange information. It later successfully expanded into the Chinese markets.

Lin’s views on the future of China’s economy are colored by his entrepreneurial experience. He said China’s youngest generations have a newfound self-confi dence, a feeling that “they can make a diff erence on their own” and help the country’s economy. continued on page 2

by James Bradbury, Linguistics, BA ’16

2

James Chen is the chairman of Hollyhigh International Capital, an investment company that specializes in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in China, including the rapidly growing market in cross-border deals. He, too, has spent time at Stanford. Chen was a visiting scholar in 2012-2013 at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, a part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Chen said that his office at Stanford was a stone’s throw from two Secretaries of State. He joked that the concept of China-U.S. relations as akin to a married couple—a metaphor used in a speech by Vice Premier Wang Yang—was his idea, the result of a conversation with Condoleezza Rice.

Echoing Lin, Chen said that those born after 1990 are the “best generation in Chinese history” due to their strong belief that they can help solve China’s problems and help the country’s economic rise. Chen added that they are also the luckiest, having opportunities open to them that didn’t exist just a decade or two ago.

Many of those opportunities are “cross-Pacific opportunities,” he said, especially at companies that combine American technology expertise with Chinese capital and market access.

Kaiser Kuo is the international spokesperson for Baidu, China’s leading search engine and one of its biggest Internet companies, but he said he doubts the technology industry alone can solve the country’s most pressing challenges.

“Building an app isn’t addressing the fundamental problems in the Chinese economy, or getting to the heart of what the Internet can do for China,” he said.

Kuo also had a unique take on the frequent claims, made most prominently in speeches by Vice President Biden, that Chinese entrepreneurs are less innovative than their American counterparts.

He said that expecting investors to take high-risk gambles on innovative ideas when the country is still half rural and good returns can be made with tried-and-true investments like a shoe factory “defies the way capital works—but there are people doing it anyway.”

Among those bold investors is Baidu itself, which announced plans for a Silicon Valley research center. With plans to focus on neuroscience and natural language processing, Baidu hired Stanford computer-science professor and artificial intelligence expert Andrew Ng as its founding director.

Hu Shuli is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caixin Media, one of the most respected sources of financial and economic news in China. She was at Stanford from 1994 to 1995 as a John S. Knight Fellow, where her mentor told her to consider

staying in the U.S. because “Chinese journalism will never be a part of the international journalism mainstream.”

Hu told the audience that she knew returning to China had paid off when she met then-New York Times editor Bill Keller a few years after she founded Caijing, her first media firm. Keller surprised her by saying he thought her magazine “had the same standards as the Times,” she said.

Hu is one of the winners of the Magsaysay Award this year for the groundbreaking investigative reporting in China. The award is often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize. Hu has been hosting Stanford interns since the program’s inception.

This year, thirty-six students in the Global Studies Internship Program participated in summer internships in China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Brazil and Nicaragua. Visit the Global Studies Internship Program website for more information about the program or contact Program Manager Denise Chu (denise.chu@stanford.edu). Students interested in interning during summer 2015 are invited to attend the first information session in October. ]

SGS Internship Program in Beijing (continued from page 1)

SGS Welcomes Executive Director

Kate Kuhns Back to Int'l Studies

Stanford Global Studies is pleased to welcome our new executive director, Kate Kuhns.

Kate worked for eight years at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies as Director of their Initiative on Distance Learning. She most recently was Director of Program Development at the Silicon Valley Innovation Center (SVIC), a local startup

focused on promoting the spirit of technological and entrepreneurial innovation. Kate has an M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in international relations and international economics, as well as a Ph.D. from the Stanford School of Education in international and comparative education. Kate has particular area expertise in Russia and Central Asia and knows Kazakh as well as Russian.

Please join SGS in welcoming Kate back to the world of international studies and the greater community here at Stanford University. ]

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IPS Students Observe Argentinian Policy In Action

During spring break, students in the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies (IPS) had the opportunity to visit Argentina to meet with a number of elected officials, NGOs, think tanks, and journalists to help them understand the current political climate of the country and get a better idea of how policy affects the population as a whole.

This student-led study trip was conceived and coordinated by second-year students Emmanuel Ferrario, Jessica Brunner, and Matthew Levy, in order to provide seventeen first-year master’s students with an opportunity to apply information learned in the classroom, and to further hone their career trajectories. Students were joined by faculty leader Professor Francis Fukuyama, a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, who shared his expertise, addressed questions, and led discussions throughout the trip.

“We crafted the study trip agenda with a desire to give the students a holistic approach to Argentina. We met with the most relevant stakeholders of the policy-making process in the country, and learned a lot from them (even me, a 100% Argentine),” said Ferrario, IPS ’14.

“After having participated in last year’s study trip to Rwanda, all three of us study trip leaders were keenly aware of the unique insights policy students can get from being on the ground and meeting with politicians, civil society, and industry,” added Brunner, IPS ’14. “We wanted to give that same perspective to the first-year students.”

Students wrote extensively about the trip and share some highlights below.

Sumia Ahmad: "It was a great opportunity to put into practice topics we had studied during the Autumn and Winter Quarters, as well as an opportunity to learn more about Argentinian politics, institutions, and culture."

Jessie Bullock: "The image the government projects in the media (especially in a country with such a large bureaucracy) is quite different from what I observed. During my week in Argentina, I saw for the first time on-the-ground “job creation” and social programs. Seeing workers standing around to operate an automated machine and dozens of workers doing manual labor to create swimming pools in the middle of nowhere (all while wearing Evita T-Shirts) inspired a lot of curiosity for my future research about political loyalty and the

ties between job creation and/or social programs and voting behavior. It was such a worthwhile part of the trip."

Erin Connors: "The trip allowed me to apply a lot of what I learned in our international economics series to a critical examination of the shortcomings of Peronism (despite the propaganda touting its success). Furthermore, for a DDRL student who has largely focused on sub-Saharan Africa, Argentina’s transition to democracy presented an extremely interesting comparative case study."

Fatima Faizaa: "Meeting policy leaders from the Kirchner government, opposition leaders, think tanks, and other non-governmental advocates gave us a wide range of perspectives and contrasts that helped us better understand the holistic nature of Argentinian politics."

David Lee: "What surprised me most on the trip was the rosy picture painted by most high-level practitioners, who ascribed many problems in the country to “unfinished work.” I took this to mean that the situation in Argentina would be subject to a continuing trend, as opposed to the implementation of drastic changes in policy. Moreover, I felt that the higher a person was in his or her position, the less I would learn from him or her about the country."

Kathleen Mellor: "One highlight was meeting with Congresswoman Laura Alonzo. Her frankness and passion for transparent and accountable governance was truly inspiring, and provided a telling counterpoint to our meetings with members of the ruling party."

continued on page 4

Stanford Global Studies Division650.725.9317 • sgs.information@stanford.edu • 417 Galvez Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-6045

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C O N T A C T S G S :

NORMAN NAIMARKTHE SAKURAKO AND WILLIAM FISHER FAMILY DIRECTOR OF THE STANFORD GLOBAL STUDIES DIVISION

KATE KUHNSEXECUTIVE DIRECTORKKUHNS@STANFORD.EDU

JANE STAHLOFFICE MANAGERJSTAHL2@STANFORD.EDU

JOANNE CAMANTIGUEFINANCIAL ASSISTANTJCAMANTI@STANFORD.EDU

MARK RAPACZCOMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR MRRAPACZ@STANFORD.EDU

KATHERINE WELSHPROGRAM ADMINISTRATORKWELSH@STANFORD.EDU

Kenrin Nishimura: "Argentina seems to have great potential for economic growth. However, at the same time, the country struggles with structural problems, which are a negative legacy from the past and a serious impediment to stable growth. Even though every stakeholder I met on the trip seemed honest and sincere, none seemed to have any clear-cut plans to tackle structural reforms."

Katherine Tice: "Professor Fukuyama made all the diff erence. Having a seminar each night over dinner was one of the best interactive, academic, and international learning experiences I’ve ever participated in."

Laura Toh: "In terms of learning, the trip confi rmed my suspicion that I am not interested in politics, high-level policy or academic theory, and that my interests lie more in the practical. I would rather be on the ground getting things done than in a conference room hashing out legislation and balancing power."

David Webb: "Meetings with various members of Argentine society provided an excellent perspective on the current situation in Argentina. Discussions with politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs, think tanks, business leaders, and journalists enabled each member of the trip to develop salient concepts of Argentina’s history, challenges, and opportunities."

Michael Woolslayer: "Argentina did not disappoint: the beauty of Buenos Aires, the friendliness of the Argentines we met, and the opportunity to explore the culture and cuisine and gain fi rst-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities the country faces made this an immensely rewarding experience. A particular highlight of this trip was our involvement in the 23 de Marzo remembrances, celebrating the transition to democracy in the 1980s and remembering the victims of the dictatorship."

Lucas Beard: "We concluded our trip with a visit to Argentina’s Supreme Court and a meeting with the President of the court, Dr. Ricardo Lorenzetti. He told us yet another frightening tale of presidential overreach. In a sustained battle for judicial independence, Dr. Lorenzetti conceded that the Supreme Court has lost its battle for the independence of the lower courts. These lower courts are now strongly infl uenced by local political movements stretching from Buenos Aires, and are no longer considered a dependable form of justice. With sad, defi ant eyes, the Chief Justice suggested that with no control over the lower courts, and an uncertain future for the Supreme Court, the entirety of Argentina’s judicial independence was at stake."

Soh Young In: "We were deeply inspired by the discussions led by Professor Fukuyama. In particular, I was struck by our visit to the Kirchner government’s mega-scale leisure park site, which is part of Argentina’s social development plan. Knowing the worsening economic situation, we were all skeptical of the project. At dinner that evening, Professor Fukuyama explained that growing populism in Argentina and Latin America had led to the irony of such a large-scale development project being launched in a diff icult economy. From that point, we were better able to understand Argentina’s political challenges."

The Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies (IPS) is a multidisciplinary master’s program dedicated to the study and analysis of the international system. Contact ips-information@stanford.edu for more information. ]

IPS Students in Argentina (continued from page 3)

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Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Stanford Global Studies’ 2014-15 academic year! During the coming year, SGS and its centers will provide a rich offering of conferences, lectures, discussions, research trips, cultural events and many other activities as we continue to sponsor the high-level programming our community has come to expect and enjoy.

I am very pleased to announce that Kate Kuhns will be joining us as the new Executive Director of SGS. Kate worked for eight years at FSI as Director of their Initiative on Distance Learning, and later was the Director of Program Development at a local Silicon Valley startup. I’m sure you will all extend a warm welcome to her in the weeks to come. We want to wish former executive director Kim Rapp (and husband Sean Hanretta) happy days in Evanston and thank them again for their years of service to SGS.

We are grateful to Richard Roberts of the History Department and Grant Parker of Classics for assuming the Co-Directorship of the Center for African Studies. Also, we want to welcome Charlotte Fonrobert of Religious Studies as the new Director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies. Outstanding faculty leadership at our centers is crucial for our continuing success.

We are also excited about our new center at SGS: the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice, headed by Director David Cohen and Associate Director Penelope Van Tuyl. Already, the Center has involved a number of our students in monitoring international criminal tribunals in Cambodia. We look to the Handa Center to help us coordinate an H&S-wide human rights curricular program.

Recent gifts have made two of SGS’s major goals a reality: 1) sending our masters students abroad for research, and 2) expanding our overseas internship programs. Over the summer, our first group of nine masters students received the Global Perspectives Award, made possible through a generous gift from the Friends of Stanford University Foundation in Taiwan. The award allowed these students to travel abroad and work on their research projects. Under the leadership of Denise Chu, our Global Studies Internship Program has now opened up to most areas of the world. The number of students interested in interning abroad is expanding, so we urge you to bring new internships to our attention and encourage students to apply.

Finally, we have just heard that the designations of the Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies as Title VI centers have been renewed by the Department of Education. Congratulations to them, and to the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies, which has instituted a new dual degree program with the Graduate School of Business.

The vitality and success of SGS are directly attributable to the involvement, commitment, and hard work of faculty, staff, students, and friends. Our collective efforts have paid off in the excellence of our programs and the growth in international opportunities for our faculty and students. We look forward to another exciting year at SGS.

Best,

Norman Naimark The Sakurako and William Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division

Welcome to the Stanford Global Studies’

2014—15 Academic Year

6Events & Announcements

RE-WRITING THE RUSSIAN CONQUEST OF CENTRAL ASIAOCTOBER 21, 2014 - 5:30 PM

a lecture by ALEXANDER MORRISON

HISTORY CORNER, ROOM 002RSVP requested: http://goo.gl/MefGiR

Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

I’LL BE RIGHT THEREOCTOBER 29, 2014, 4:15 PM

a reading by novelist KYUNG-SOOK SHIN

LATHROP EAST ASIA LIBRARY, ROOM 224RSVP requested: http://ceas.stanford.edu/events/rsvp.php

Center for East Asian Studies

THE FICTION OF FACE-FINDING: MODI & GODHRAOCTOBER 9, 2014, 5:30 PM

a lecture by MANOJ MITTA

STANFORD LAW SCHOOL

Center for South Asia

SEVENTH ANNUAL BITA PRIZE FOR PERSIAN ARTSNOVEMBER 7, 2014, 7:00 PM

award recipient IRAJ PEZESHKZAD

MCCAW HALL, FRANCES C. ARRILLAGA ALUMNI CENTER**event is free and open to the public**

Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies

Stanford Global Studies Division650.725.9317 • sgs.information@stanford.edu • 417 Galvez Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-6045

© Stanford University