July 23rd, 2008

Video blog: Cohen, Loury take another look at presidential politics

PGJ Director Joshua Cohen talks to Glenn Loury of Brown University about which presidential candidate would be more likely to bring Bush to justice, what to do if Iran gets nukes, and how we might define the "genetics of social mobility." Read more »

PESD Work on the Role of Carbon Offsets in Climate Change Mitigation Attracts International Attention

Michael Wara and David Victor's recent work "A Realistic Policy on International Carbon Offsets" addresses problems with the world's largest offset program, the UN's Clean Development Mechanism. Wara and Victor argue that much of the CDM investment doesn't actually meet the UN's crucial additionality standards, and they outline ways to fix the problem.

• » A Realistic Policy on International Carbon Offsets
• » Wall Street Journal
• » Science Magazine
• » Wall Street Journal

Korean Studies Program welcomes visiting fellows and scholars for 2008-2009 academic year

Korean Studies Program at Asia-Pacific Research Center welcomes Pantech Fellow, Koret Fellow, POSCO NGO Fellows, and visiting scholars from diverse backgrounds and experiences for 2008-2009 academic year. Read more »

David Victor Discusses Climate Policy, Offsets, and Incentives in the Wall Street Journal

Income from carbon offsets has become French chemical manufacturer Rhodia SA's most profitable business. The WSJ estimates payouts to the firm from projects in Brazil and South Korea could total $1 billion over seven years, raising questions about the incentive structure of the CDM. David Victor argues that carbon markets are not sending the appropriate signals to the developing world.

• » Wall Street Journal

July 22nd, 2008

Book Review: The Gunslinger

FSI senior fellow Stephen Stedman reviews John Bolton's book, Surrender Is not an Option, in the July/August issue of the Boston Review. "The memoir reads like an international relations primer done in the style of a modern morality tale," he writes. "Imagine Kenneth Waltz's classic Man, the State, and War as written by Ayn Rand." Read more »

July 18th, 2008

Besieged South Korean president needs to make a fresh start

Shorenstein APARC director Gi-Wook Shin says that President Lee still has time to recover from the diplomatic missteps that have characterized his first months in office. He urges Lee to focus his U.S. policy on establishing a strong relationship with the incoming American president. Article in Korean. Read more »

July 17th, 2008

Comparative pharmaceutical policy and "prescribing cultures"

The July/August issue of Health Affairs, the leading U.S. health policy journal, focuses on China and India. The special issue includes an article on China's pharmaceutical policy by five contributors to "Prescribing Cultures and Pharmaceutical Policy in the Asia-Pacific," a book forthcoming in 2009 from the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center series with Brookings Institution Press.
Read more »

July 16th, 2008

Does it matter how you pay doctors and hospitals? Evidence from the Asia Pacific

The organizing committee of the "Provider Payment Incentives in the Asia Pacific" conference -- including health economists from Shorenstein APARC, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Seoul National University -- reviewed submissions in June 2008 and accepted sixteen. The conference papers cover payment issues in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Tajikistan, the Philippines, and the US, examined from a range of disciplines (e.g., economics, health services research/health policy, public health, medicine, and ethics). Read more »

July 15th, 2008

India continues its rise as local governments produce needed infrastructure changes

While in London, Senior Research Scholar Rafiq Dossani spent time discussing the reasons behind India's continued rise and his recent bookIndia Arriving: How This Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business with CNBC's Europe Tonight host Guy Johnson.

• » CNBC - Europe Tonight

PESD Releases Case Study of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

In a region popularly associated with monolithic states controlling secretive but effective national oil companies, Kuwait presents a surprising picture of bitterly divided government and a chaotic and fragmented oil sector. PESD affiliate Paul Stevens dissects the historical legacies and tangled webs of interaction with government that explain the current performance and erratic strategy of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

• » Kuwait Petroleum Corporation: Searching for Strategy in a Fragmented Oil Sector

Pyongyang expected to sign Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Is membership in the East Asia Summit next?

South East Asia Forum Director, Donald Emmerson discusses what impact, if any, there will b e on US-North Korean relations and ASEAN-North Korean relations once Pyongyang signs the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation at next week's Southeast Asian regional security meeting in Singapore. Read more »

July 11th, 2008

David Victor Comments on G-8 Climate Talks

Leaders of the Group of Eight nations agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions but divisions remain. David Victor was quoted in New York Times and PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer about the agreements.

• » New York Times
• » PBS NewsHour

July 10th, 2008

Democracy in Taiwan program releases first book, edited by Diamond and Gilley

In Political Change in China: Comparisons with Taiwan, CDDRL's Democracy in Taiwan program marshals commentary from leading experts on what lessons, if any, Taiwan's experience of democratization might hold for China's future. The volume was co-edited by Larry Diamond and includes a chapter by Weitseng Chen, one of CDDRL's 2007-08 Hewlett Fellows.
Read more »

July 9th, 2008

Op-ed: Shultz's engagement with Soviets offers lessons today for Iran, says McFaul

When George Shultz became Secretary of State in 1982, writes Michael McFaul in DemocracyArsenal.org, he began to challenge the Reagan administration's policy of disengagement, arguing that the United States needed to engage both the Soviet leaders but also Soviet society. Shultz's approach toward engaging the Soviets offers profound lessons for today's Iran debate: not just engagement, but also an expanded agenda that includes human rights and democracy. Read more »

July 8th, 2008

National War Powers Commission recommends War Powers Consultation Act of 2009

The National War Powers Commission, co-chaired by former Secretaries of State James A. Baker, III and Warren Christopher, today recommended that Congress repeal the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and substitute a new statute that would provide for more meaningful consultation between the president and Congress on matters of war. FSI is one of five partnering institutions to the Commission.
Read more »

Another Look at Renewables on India's Sagar Island

India's Sagar Island is renowned among Hindu devotees for its pilgrimage sites and in the renewable energy community for its locally-managed solar and wind projects. Field work by PESD Researcher Sam Shrank corroborates some of the benefits of these off-grid electricity generators but suggests that the business model for running them is not as sustainable or replicable as the literature implies.

• » Another Look at Renewables on India's Sagar Island

July 3rd, 2008

In wake of Yongbyon explosion, Sneider is still critical of deal with Pyongyang

Center's Associate Director for Research Daniel Sneider and former Pantech fellow Scott Snyder both criticize the agreement made with Kim Jong Il's government. "As always with North Korea, it's disappointing and frustrating" says Snyder.

• » Daniel C. Sneider
• » Scott Snyder

Read more »

Taiwan should be included in joint talks on developing resources of the South China Sea says Shorenstein APARC Visiting Scholar Song Yann-huei

"Taiwan has territorial rights, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over islands in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, as well as, developmental and managerial rights to important resources in these areas," says Dr. Song "it will be difficult for the South China Sea and the East China Sea to become truly peaceful and cooperative maritime areas" if Taiwan were not included in talks about developing the resources of these areas. Read more »

July 2nd, 2008

Jojarth proposes conditional distribution of oil revenues scheme for petrostates like Kazakhstan

In Caspian oil giant Kazakhstan there are two types of cranes--the idle ones and the busy ones, writes Christine Jojarth in FSI In The World, a new faculty blog for the Freeman Spogli Institute. The idle and the busy cranes both stand for different answers to petrostates' most burning policy question--how to best use the ballooning governmental revenues from the thriving oil and gas sector. Save or spend?--is the 500 billion dollar question. Read more »

Former Summer Fellow interviews Desmond Tutu and Mugabe spokesperson

SW Radio Africa journalist and 2006 Draper Hills Summer Fellow Violet Gonda speaks to two individuals on the program Hot Seat this week--and the contrast between them couldn't be more pronounced. The first is an attempt at an interview with Robert Mugabe's press Secretary, George Charamba, who replied with threats, insults, and accusations. Violet then spoke with one of the most respected men in the world, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who restores some hope for Zimbabweans. Read more »

McFaul, Diamond call for 'New Way' in foreign assistance, to include development

In a report released on June 10, a high-impact group of development experts including CDDRL Director Michael McFaul and FSI senior fellow Larry Diamond call on Congress and the president to modernize U.S. foreign assistance by including development as a key component.
Read more »

New offering from Stanford education program puts students on 'Road to Beijing'

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) has taken on world religions, Russian leaders and Aztec history. Now it's boiling down the glory and controversy of China's history, culture and politics in time for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Read more »

Video: Toledo discusses poverty in Latin America

Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru and FSI Distinguished Visiting Payne Lecturer, discusses poverty in Latin America on Link TV. Read more »

Newsweek International Special Reports

PESD scholars Burton Richter and David Victor have pieces in the International Edition of Newsweek. Richter explains why France's nuclear power program puts it in the catbird seat on tackling global warming. Victor laments that high food prices have created an opportunity for governments to cut harmful farm subsidies--and governments are, for the most part, doing the opposite.

• » Newsweek: The Nuclear Option
• » Newsweek: Putting Rich Farmers First

Q&A: Inside Yongbyon nuclear plant

CISAC Co-Director Siegfried Hecker talks to Al Jazeera about being one of the few outsiders to have visited North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility, what he saw on his visits to the plant, and how likely he thinks it is that North Korea will give up its nuclear program. Read more »