REDS: RETHINKING EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY

The REDS Seminar Series aims to deepen the research agenda on the new challenges facing Europe, especially on its eastern flank, and to build intellectual and institutional bridges across Stanford University, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to current global challenges.

REDS is organized by The Europe Center and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and co-sponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

Learn more about REDS and view past seminars here.

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In an era marked by rapid shifts in global power dynamics, the ascent of China as a formidable force on the world stage poses one of the most critical challenges to the international order of the 21st century. The prevailing notion that China is a revisionist power, intent on establishing a parallel international order to rival that of the United States and the West, raises pivotal questions. Is there truth to this belief? How did China and the United States lose their consensus over the desirable international order? Which elements are we satisfied or dissatisfied with? Towards what kind of order or orders are we moving?

Our upcoming webinar, "China, the US, and the International Order: Are We Moving Towards Parallel Systems?" aims to dissect the narrative of China's emergence as a power intent on sculpting a new world order—a vision that starkly contrasts with the U.S.-led system that has dominated global affairs for nearly a century. Join us on April 3 for an in-depth discussion of this critical issue with Wei Da, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University.

Wei Da is the director of the Center for International Security and Strategy  (CISS) at Tsinghua University and a professor in the Department of International Relations, School of Social Science, Tsinghua University. Dr. Da’s research expertise covers China-US relations and US security & foreign policy. He has worked in China’s academic and policy community for more than two decades. Before his current positions, Dr. Da was the assistant president of University International Relations (2017-2020) and director of the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (2013-2017). He has written hundreds of policy papers for the Chinese government and published dozens of academic papers in journals in China, the US, and other countries. He earned his BA and MA from UIR and his Ph.D. from CICIR. He was a visiting senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States from 2006 to 2007, and a visiting senior associate at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University from 2008 to 2009.

REDS: RETHINKING EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY

The REDS Seminar Series aims to deepen the research agenda on the new challenges facing Europe, especially on its eastern flank, and to build intellectual and institutional bridges across Stanford University, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to current global challenges.

REDS is organized by The Europe Center and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and co-sponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

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This event is available to in-person attendees and will not be livestreamed.

In this talk, Carlin and Hecker will discuss the answer to the question posed in their recent article Is Kim Jong Un Preparing for War? and share its background and the reactions to it.

About the Speakers:

Robert Carlin, a longtime analyst of North Korea and frequent visitor to the DPRK, is currently a non-resident scholar at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. From 2006-2022, he was a consultant at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Before that, he was a political advisor at the Korean Economic Development Organization (KEDO), a multinational consortium organized to carry out key provisions of the 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework. From 1989, Carlin was in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, concurrently taking part as an intelligence advisor in a range of negotiations with the DPRK. In various capacities, Carlin has visited North Korea over 30 times. He is the co-author with Don Oberdorfer of The Two Koreas, third edition, 2014. 

Siegfried Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security. He is currently a professor of practice at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. Hecker served at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 34 years, including 12 years as director from 1986 through 1997. He was affiliated with Stanford University for 17 years, including 6 years as co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). At Stanford, he was a professor (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow at CISAC. Dr. Hecker is the editor of Doomed to Cooperate (2016), two volumes documenting the history of Russian-U.S. laboratory-to-laboratory cooperation, and Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea’s Nuclear Program (2023) written with Elliot Serbin.

All media representatives interested in covering the event or accessing the event site should contact aparc-communications@stanford.edu by 5 PM Pacific Time, Tuesday, March 5.

Directions and Parking > 

A related event by the speakers held at APARC in 2020 is available to view at https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/experts-korea-discuss-future-north-korea-amidst-escalations.

In this talk, Professor Victor Cha will discuss historical behavioral patterns of North Korean missile tests, military provocations, and weapons demonstrations, and what all these might mean for security on the Korean peninsula in 2024.

About the Speaker:

Victor Cha is Distinguished University Professor, D.S. Song-KF Chair, and Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is also Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. He is the author of seven books including Korea: A New History of South Korea and North (Yale University Press, 2023) with Ramon Pacheco Pardo. Black Box: Methods and Data in the Study of Korean Unification and North Korea (Columbia University Press, 2024) is forthcoming.

Professor Cha was appointed in 2021 by Biden administration to serve on the Defense Policy Board in an advisory role to the Secretary of Defense. He formerly served on the White House National Security Council where he was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean peninsula, Australia/New Zealand and Pacific Island affairs. He was also the Deputy Head of Delegation for the United States at the Six Party Talks in Beijing, and received two Outstanding Service Commendations during his tenure at the NSC.

Directions and Parking

This event is open only to Stanford faculty, staff, fellows, and students.

Bio:

Allison Macfarlane is Professor and Director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts, the University of British Columbia.  Dr. Macfarlane has held both academic and government positions in the field of energy and environmental policy, especially nuclear policy.  The first geologist (and the third woman) to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2012-2014, Dr. Macfarlane holds a doctorate in earth science from MIT and a bachelor's of science from the University of Rochester.  She has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, MIT, Stanford, and Harvard Universities, and she has been on the faculty at Georgia Tech in Earth Science and International Affairs, at George Mason University in Environmental Science and Policy, and in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.  From 2010 to 2012 Dr. Macfarlane served on the White House Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. Dr. Macfarlane’s research has focused on technical, social, and policy aspects of nuclear energy production and nuclear waste management and disposal as well as regulation, nuclear nonproliferation, and energy policy.  

Abstract:

New nuclear reactors, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactors, have been touted in the media recently as the best way to transition off fossil fuels. Reactor proponents claim that they will be cheaper, safer, and produce less waste than existing large light water reactors.   But are these claims realistic? This talk will examine the challenges facing these new nuclear technologies and will attempt to address whether new nuclear power will help us move quickly to a low-carbon future.

 All CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone.