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States and their Nationals Abroad

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In a novel contribution to the field of comparative foreign policy analysis, this book, edited by Klaus Brummer (Katholische Universiteit Eichstätt, Germany) and Šumit Ganguly (Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California), carefully delineates how states, regardless of regime, have formulated policies to deal with their national communities aboard. Some states, depending on their domestic political ideologies, cultures and capabilities, have extensive institutional mechanisms in place for coming to the aid of their nationals abroad. Others, however, have also used these capabilities in adverse ways. Chapters focusing on individual countries explore the rationale behind state policies that differentiate treatment for distinct groups, such as tourists, migrants, and diasporas. Amongst the intriguing findings is the fact that state capacity alone does not explain the ability or willingness of states to assist their nationals abroad in times of need. Furthermore, in some cases, communities abroad can also actively mobilize against their home state, thus play key roles in conflict and even regime change.
 

REVIEWS

 

‘As migration reshapes the world, this pioneering study sheds light on the vital issue of how states engage with their nationals abroad. Brummer and Ganguly show how a host of political and economic factors lead states to support or repress their overseas citizens. This fascinating volume is an essential guide to understanding a key dimension of international relations.'

Jack A. Goldstone - Hazel Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University

‘This uniquely focused and masterfully designed collection examines the intricate relations between states and their nationals abroad from a comparative and global perspective. It sheds significant light on interdisciplinary studies in foreign policy, comparative government, diaspora, and migration. An essential reading for understanding world politics amidst the dynamics of globalization.'

Kai He - Professor of International Relations, Griffith University, Australia

‘An excellent comparative and global expedition of a significant, yet understudied aspect of international relations. The focus on state strategies for engaging national communities abroad is highly original and the cases, by an impressive group of experts, offer in-depth understanding of foreign policies in this domain.'

Juliet Kaarbo - Professor of Foreign Policy, University of Edinburgh

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Support, Co-Opt, Repress

Authors
Klaus Brummer
Sumit Ganguly
Book Publisher
Cambridge University Press

Jia Li

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Visiting Student Researcher, Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions
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Li Jia is a visiting graduate student at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) and a Ph.D. candidate in business administration at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Her research interests are social innovation and social enterprise, with a particular focus on addressing social issues through innovative business models. Her work explores solutions such as providing tourism services for people with disabilities in challenging institutional environments. She also conducts research on social innovation programs related to children's reading education and mental health support for students in rural China.

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Shilin Jia

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Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia, 2024-2025
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Ph.D.

Shilin Jia joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia for the 2024-2025 academic year.  He was previously a postdoctoral teaching fellow in computational social science at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. degree in sociology. He received an M.A. degree in sociology from National Chengchi University, Taiwan and a B.A. degree in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley. His scholarly interest lies in applying computational methods to the study of political culture and organizations, with a special focus on post-reform China.

Jia has spent years analyzing job transfers of communist party elites in China. It is a project that he built up from scratch by using machines to code party elites’ CVs. His goal is to understand how the party-state has evolved through the division of labor and circulation of its elite members. He is also working on a computational content analysis project tracking ideological changes in the full text of 60 years of the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China. The aim of that project is to understand how incompatible ideas in an ideological system can be gradually reconciled and how the concept of “market” was unfettered in that process. More recently, He has started a new project building word-embedding models based on multiple languages of Google N-grams and studying identity formation across language communities.

At APARC, while continuing to work on his existing projects, Jia will begin a book manuscript that provides a comprehensive analysis of the changing career patterns of CCP elites over 30 years of China’s economic reform. 

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Meredith Weiss

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Visiting Scholar at APARC, 2024-2025
Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Fellow on Southeast Asia, Fall 2024
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Ph.D.

Meredith L. Weiss joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as 2024-2025 Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Fellow on Southeast Asia for the 2024 fall quarter. She is Professor of Political Science in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). In several books—most recently, The Roots of Resilience: Party Machines and Grassroots Politics in Southeast Asia (Cornell, 2020), and the co-authored Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2022)—numerous articles, and over a dozen edited or co-edited volumes, she addresses issues of social mobilization, civil society, and collective identity; electoral politics and parties; and governance, regime change, and institutional reform in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Singapore. She has conducted years of fieldwork in those two countries, along with shorter periods in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Timor-Leste, and has held visiting fellowships or professorships in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and the US. Weiss is the founding Director of the SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium (SEAC) and co-edits the Cambridge Elements series, Politics & Society in Southeast Asia. As a Lee Kong Chian NUS–Stanford fellow, she will be working primarily on a book manuscript on Malaysian sociopolitical development.

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Gillian Slee

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Gerhard Casper Postdoctoral Fellow in Rule of Law, 2024-25
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Gillian Slee is the Gerhard Casper Fellow in Rule of Law at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University. Her work focuses on understanding and ameliorating inequality in American state processes. To this end, she has studied institutions with far-reaching consequences: public defense, child protective services, and parole. With each of her projects, Gillian aims to humanize key state processes and, in so doing, demonstrate how institutions’ relational dynamics shape inequality. She uses a range of methods — ethnography, in-depth interviews, and statistics — and has published her work in Theory and Society, Social Service Review, Politics & Society, and Journal of Marriage and Family.

Gillian completed her Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy at Princeton University in 2024. She earned her M.Phil. in Criminology at the University of Cambridge, where she was a Herchel Smith Harvard Scholar. Gillian graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Social Studies and a minor in Psychology. Her research has been recognized with Centennial, Charlotte Elizabeth Procter, Marion J. Levy, Jr., and P.E.O. Scholar fellowships.

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Georgia's Democratic Struggle: The Anti-Foreign Agent Law and Uncertain European Future

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Nora Sulots
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In May 2024, Georgia's president, Salome Zourabichvili, vetoed the Parliament's contentious anti-foreign agent law, but called her act "symbolic," as the majority Georgian Dream party promised to override the veto at their next session.

In a talk hosted by The Europe Center on May 28, Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), explored Georgia's democratic aspirations within the context of the law, dissecting its potential ramifications for civil society, political freedoms, and Georgia's European integration ambitions.

Professor Stoner, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2016 from Iliad State University in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, also discussed the politics and complexities of the recent law and its implications for Georgia's future.

A recording of the talk can be viewed below:

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Tbilisi, Georgia
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Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director of CDDRL, discussed the politics and complexities of the anti-foreign agent law and its implications for Georgia's future.

Stanford Scholar Issues Call to Action to Protect and Reform the U.S. Civil Service

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Nora Sulots
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Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, is leading an effort to protect and reform the U.S. public service. He has organized a Working Group to Protect and Reform the Civil Service in response to plans elaborated in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 to strip civil service protections from all federal workers and replace them with political loyalists in a future administration.

The Need for Reform


A group of nonpartisan experts and scholars recently convened at the National Academy of Public Administration to discuss civil service reform. This discussion is critical in light of plans to revive "Schedule F," an executive order that would reclassify many federal positions, remove civil service protections, and allow political loyalty to dictate hiring and firing.

A Better Vision


The Working Group proposes an alternative vision for a more effective federal workforce based on five principles:

  1. Agility: Modernizing outdated systems to adapt to technological, economic, and social changes.

  2. Accountability: Ensuring federal employees remain loyal to the Constitution while being responsive to elected officials.

  3. Collaboration: Leveraging skills and knowledge across various sectors, including private industries and universities.

  4. Outcomes: Focusing on producing real-world results valued by the public and simplifying government procedures.

  5. Capacity: Providing federal workers with the skills, training, and education needed to fulfill their missions effectively.
     

Risks of “Schedule F”


Reviving “Schedule F” would undermine these goals, promoting politicization over merit-based results. Government workers might avoid necessary risks and innovation if judged on political loyalty. The Working Group plans to detail further how the federal government can evolve to meet these challenges and become a 21st-century government.

Fukuyama and the Working Group call for support in protecting and reforming the civil service to ensure a competent, non-partisan, and effective federal workforce. Click here to read their statement in full.

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Solving Public Policy Problems
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Reimagining Public Policy Education at Stanford and Beyond

The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is proud to announce the launch of a new free massive open online course aimed at providing participants with a foundational knowledge of the best means for enacting effective policy change in their home countries.
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A new working group led by Francis Fukuyama seeks to protect and reform the U.S. civil service by promoting nonpartisan, effective, and adaptable workforce practices while opposing politicization efforts like "Schedule F."

Second Annual Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue Convenes in Mongolia to Expedite Efforts Toward Promoting Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

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Noa Ronkin
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The State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia, along with co-hosts Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future, announced today the convening of the second annual Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue to stimulate cooperative action toward achieving the United Nations-adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on April 25-26, 2024, this gathering will focus on expediting action advancing peace, justice, and strong institutions — the vision captured in Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) of the Agenda’s underlying 17 SDGs.

The Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue is a subregional convening of the Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue, a joint initiative of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation and Shorenstein APARC held annually to scale action on the SDGs by activating new research and policy partnerships between experts from the United States and Asia and between governments and non-state actors. This year’s second annual Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue builds on networks and partnerships established at the June 2023 inaugural subregional Dialogue, which focused on promoting gender equality (SDG 5). This year, the subregional convening aims to provide a substantive platform for engagement on SDG 16, facilitating the exchange of best practices and policies to strengthen the capacity of local, state, and global institutions to reduce conflict and inequalities, enhance justice accessibility, and promote fair governance.

The vision encompassed in SDG 16 is at the core of the 2030 Agenda: that of a world anchored in commitments to promote more peaceful societies, provide access to justice for all, and build accountable, inclusive institutions at all levels. The embedding of SDG 16 in the 2030 Agenda acknowledges that peace, justice, and inclusion are necessary conditions for global development. Nevertheless, having crossed the midway point in the implementation period of the 2030 Agenda, none of the targets of SDG 16 are on track. Available data disconcertingly show stagnation, or even reversal of gains on SDG 16 targets related to violence reduction, access to justice, inclusive governance, and peaceful societies.

That is why the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue sets out to tackle the imperative to share successful actionable approaches to achieving SDG 16 indicators and identify strategies to propel its implementation forward over the next seven years.

The first day of the gathering, held at the State Palace of the Parliament of Mongolia, will consist of multiple panels featuring government officials, academics, civil society experts, and industry leaders from the United States and across Asia. Keynote speakers and panelists will discuss lessons learned from initiatives addressing structural social injustices; evaluate strategies for building accountable and inclusive institutions for sustainable development; consider opportunities for strengthening the participation of developing countries in global governance through digitalization; and examine the role of international organizations in achieving SDG 16.

The Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue offers the multi-stakeholder convening force needed to identify which SDG 16 targets resonate most in a regional context and can drive advancements across national constituencies.
Gi-Wook Shin
APARC Director

Headliners include Ban Ki-moon, the 8th secretary-general of the United Nations and chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future; Zandanshatar Gombojav, chairman of Mongolia’s Parliament; Nurlanbek Shakiev, speaker of the Kyrgyz Republic’s Parliament; Lezsák Sándor, deputy speaker of Hungary’s National Assembly; Rakhmetova Assem Kalashbaeva, member of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan; and Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea at Stanford and director of APARC. Panelists hail from the United States and multiple regions across Asia, including Azerbaijan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

“Indeed, Goal 16 is the golden thread that weaves through the whole fabric of the SDGs. As such, attaining Goal 16 requires a genuinely inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership where everyone participates, works, and shares the benefits together,” notes Mr. Ban Ki-moon. “In this regard, I believe this event of the Second Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue will contribute to resonating with the essential spirit of SDGs; inclusiveness.”

“As we look to galvanize the resources needed to expedite action on SDG 16, the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue offers the multi-stakeholder convening force needed to identify which SDG 16 targets resonate most in a regional context and can drive advancements across national constituencies,” says Gi-Wook Shin. “We are pleased to see this convening, the result of our broader Sustainability Dialogue initiative, establishing itself as a thriving subregional platform for implementing a global development agenda and  excited for our continued collaboration with the Ban Ki-moon Foundation and our partners in Mongolia.”

Recognizing the role of subregional frameworks and networks in translating development policies into concrete actions at the national level, the first day of the convening will also include parallel sessions that will delve into strategies for promoting peace, justice, and inclusions through Altai Studies. These sessions will address issues including Central Asian and Mongolian perspectives of democratic transition and current trends in the studies of Altai history, languages, and culture. The second day of the dialogue will be dedicated to a field excursion and cultural events designed to foster a dynamic and inclusive atmosphere conducive to stimulating brainstorming and ideas sharing for future collaborations.

Please visit the Mongolian Parliament’s website and Facebook page for more information about the conference and live updates.

About the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) addresses critical issues affecting the countries of Asia, their regional and global affairs, and U.S.-Asia relations. As Stanford University’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia, APARC produces policy-relevant research, provides education and training to students, scholars, and practitioners, and strengthens dialogue and cooperation between counterparts in the Asia-Pacific and the United States. Founded in 1983, APARC is home to a community of distinguished academics and practitioners in government, business, and civil society specializing in cross-Asia-Pacific trends. For more, visit aparc.stanford.edu.

About the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future
The Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future follows and further develops the achievement and philosophy of Ban Ki-moon, the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations through upholding the values of unification, communication and co-existence, and dedication. It promotes three pillars of the UN including peace and security, development, and human rights, and contributes to making a better future devoid of conflict and deficiency. In particular, the Ban Ki-moon Foundation actively collaborates with the UN, international organizations, and stakeholders toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 2050 carbon net-zero of all state parties of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. For more, visit eng.bf4bf.or.kr/.

Media Contact
Journalists interested in covering the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue should contact Enkh-Undram Bayartogtokh, Chief of Staff for the Chairman of The State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia, at enkhundram@parliament.mn. For further information on the convening, please contact Cheryll Alipio, Shorenstein APARC’s Associate Director for Program and Policy at calipio@stanford.edu.

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Decoding Japan's Pulse: Insights from the Stanford Japan Barometer

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The Parliament of Mongolia is convening the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue on April 25-26, 2024, along with Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future as co-hosts. The forum will bring together experts across academia, civil society, and government from the United States and Asia to share policy pathways and best practices to strengthen the capacity of institutions to achieve the targets for Sustainable Development Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Hikaru Yamagishi

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Japan Program Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2024
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Ph.D.

Hikaru Yamagishi joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as Japan Program Postdoctoral Fellow for part of the 2023-2024 academic year. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2022, and most recently was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Her research focuses on democratic institutions and electoral competition, with a special interest in the case of Japan.

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2024 Shorenstein Journalism Award Open to Nomination Entries

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Noa Ronkin
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The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University’s hub for interdisciplinary research, education, and engagement on contemporary Asia, invites nominations for the 2024 Shorenstein Journalism Award. The award recognizes outstanding journalists who have spent their careers helping audiences worldwide understand the complexities of the Asia-Pacific region. The 2024 award will honor a recipient whose work has primarily appeared in American news media. APARC invites award nomination submissions from news editors, publishers, scholars, journalism associations, and entities focused on researching and interpreting the Asia-Pacific region. Submissions are due by Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Sponsored by APARC, the award carries a cash prize of US $10,000. It rotates between recipients whose primary body of work has been featured in Asian news media and those whose primary body of work has been featured in American news media. The 2024 award will recognize a recipient from the latter category.

For the purpose of the award, the Asia-Pacific region is defined broadly to include Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia and Australasia. Both individual journalists with a considerable body of work and journalism organizations are eligible for the award. Nominees’ work may be in traditional forms of print or broadcast journalism and/or in new forms of multimedia journalism. The Award Selection Committee, whose members are experts in journalism and Asia research and policy, presides over the judging of nominees and is responsible for the selection of honorees.

An annual tradition since 2002, the award honors the legacy of APARC benefactor, Mr. Walter H. Shorenstein, and his twin passions for promoting excellence in journalism and understanding of Asia. Throughout its history, the award has recognized world-class journalists who push the boundaries of coverage of the Asia-Pacific region and help advance mutual understanding between audiences in the United States and their Asian counterparts.

Recent honorees include India’s magazine of long-form journalism The Caravan; NPR's Beijing Correspondent Emily Feng; Burmese journalist and human rights defender Swe Win; former Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Tom Wright; and the internationally esteemed champion of press freedom Maria Ressa, CEO of the Philippine news platform Rappler and winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Award nominations are accepted electronically through Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 11:59 PM PST. For information about the nomination procedures and to submit an entry please visit the award nomination entry page. APARC will announce the winner by April 2024 and present the award at a public ceremony at Stanford in the autumn quarter of 2024.

Please direct all inquiries to aparc-communications@stanford.edu.

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Sponsored by Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the annual award recognizes outstanding journalists and journalism organizations for excellence in covering the Asia-Pacific region. News editors, publishers, scholars, and organizations focused on Asia research and analysis are invited to submit nominations for the 2024 award through February 15.

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