Democracy
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The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) will be accepting applications from eligible juniors on who are interested in writing their senior thesis on a subject touching upon democracy, economic development, and rule of law (DDRL) from any university department.  The application period opens on January 10, 2022 and runs through February 11, 2022.   For more information on the Fisher Family CDDRL Honors Program, please click here.

Join us online via Zoom on Friday, January 21st at 12:00pm (PST) to learn more! 

REGISTER NOW

CDDRL faculty and current honors students will be present to discuss the program and answer any questions.

 

Online via zoom. REGISTER HERE.

CDDRL
Encina Hall, C152
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science
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Stephen Stedman is a Freeman Spogli senior fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law and FSI, an affiliated faculty member at CISAC, and professor of political science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. 

In 2011-12 Professor Stedman served as the Director for the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy, and Security, a body of eminent persons tasked with developing recommendations on promoting and protecting the integrity of elections and international electoral assistance. The Commission is a joint project of the Kofi Annan Foundation and International IDEA, an intergovernmental organization that works on international democracy and electoral assistance. In 2003-04 Professor Stedman was Research Director of the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change and was a principal drafter of the Panel’s report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility. In 2005 he served as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary- General of the United Nations, with responsibility for working with governments to adopt the Panel’s recommendations for strengthening collective security and for implementing changes within the United Nations Secretariat, including the creation of a Peacebuilding Support Office, a Counter Terrorism Task Force, and a Policy Committee to act as a cabinet to the Secretary-General.  His most recent book, with Bruce Jones and Carlos Pascual, is Power and Responsibility: Creating International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2009).

Affiliated faculty at the Center for International Security and Cooperation
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Encina Hall, C150
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305

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Center Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. She is a scholar of comparative politics with a focus on democratization, corruption and clientelism, political parties and institutions, and political reform. She is the author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) and Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy: the rise of programmatic politics in the United States and Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

She has been at Stanford since 2013 as the manager of the Program on American Democracy in Comparative Perspective and is co-director of the Fisher Family Honors Program at CDDRL. She was an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America and is a non-resident fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received a PhD in political science from Harvard University, an MSc in Economic and Social History from Oxford University, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a BA from Emory University.

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Nora Sulots
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The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is deeply saddened by the loss of beloved Draper Hills alumnus José Luis Martín C. (“Chito”) Gascón, who passed away after a short battle with COVID-19 on October 9, 2021, at the age of 57.

A Filipino lawyer, human rights activist, and civil organizer, Gascón served as the Chair of the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights from 2015 to 2021, having been appointed by President Benigno S. Aquino III. Prior to this, he also served as a member of the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board and as a member of the Philippine Congress, where he helped to pass monumental legislation to promote the prevention of human rights abuses. He contributed to the founding of the International Center for Innovation, Transformation, and Excellence in Governance; the Institute for Leadership, Empowerment, and Democracy; and the Asian Policy Network. Gascón’s career also included teaching law and political science at Ateneo de Manila University and De la Salle University.

Reacting to the news of Chito's death on Twitter, FSI Director Michael McFaul called him “a true hero for human rights.” Larry Diamond also paid tribute, noting that “he was eloquent, fearless, humble, and deeply devoted to democracy” and one of the Philippines’ “great civil society leaders.”

In 2005, Chito was a member of the first class of CDDRL's Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, which trains global leaders working on the front lines of democratic change. Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director of CDDRL, noted that he was "a pioneer with us and with all that he did."

In addition to his time as a Draper Hills Summer Fellow, Chito Gascón was a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in 2007. Former NED president and frequent Draper Hills contributor Carl Gershman shared that “Chito was a brilliant and dedicated democracy activist, a gentle personality with a tough inner core and immense courage. He will be sorely missed by countless friends, myself included, and by people around the world who are fighting for democracy and human dignity.”

Draper Hills class of 2005 on Encina Hall stairs 2005 Draper Hills Summer Fellows cohort. Chito is pictured in the back row between Kathryn Stoner and Larry Diamond.
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A member of the inaugural Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program cohort in 2005, Chito died from COVID-19 on October 9, 2021.

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The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University is pleased to announce that former Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk is the new Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at FSI.

The Liautaud Fellowship was established to bring former heads of state or senior policymakers to Stanford, with the goal of promoting meaningful dialogue on the challenges world leaders face in crafting policy solutions for pressing global problems. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former President of Estonia, was the inaugural Liautaud Fellow in 2017, followed by H.R. McMaster in 2018.

Ukraine is on the frontlines of the struggle between democratic and authoritarian governments. While it has faced challenges, Ukraine serves as a positive example of how other countries in the region can transition to a government ruled by the people. During his time at Stanford, former Prime Minister Honcharuk will focus on examining what Western allies can do to support Ukraine in its struggle to thrive as a democracy in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet era.

"Ukraine's success as a democracy is critical to the continued development of democracies worldwide,” said FSI Director Michael McFaul. “I'm honored that Mr. Honcharuk is able to join us at Stanford and I look forward to his contributions to our vibrant intellectual community."

Ukraine's success as a democracy is critical to the continued development of democracies worldwide. I'm honored that Mr. Honcharuk is able to join us at Stanford and I look forward to his contributions to our vibrant intellectual community.
Michael McFaul
FSI Director

As prime minister, Mr. Honcharuk introduced important policy initiatives in Ukraine including the institution of business privatization processes, efforts to combat black markets, and the launch of the Anti-Raider Office to respond to cases of illegal property seizures.

“I want to thank Ambassador McFaul for the invitation to be a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute, as well as my other colleagues – Kathryn Stoner, Larry Diamond, and Francis Fukuyama – for a very warm welcome.

“Stanford is the best place to rethink Ukraine's past and plan the future, and that's why I am especially happy to be here and add my expertise and experience to this important process.”

Prior to serving as prime minister, Honcharuk was deputy head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine and was a member of the National Reforms Council under the President of Ukraine.

As a visiting fellow at FSI, Honcharuk will also work closely with scholars in the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), which runs practitioner training programs for democracy activists in Ukraine, such as the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program.

"I am delighted to welcome Mr. Honcharuk to Stanford,” shared Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director of CDDRL. “His appointment as the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow continues a long tradition of FSI's and CDDRL's engagement in Ukraine. We are fortunate to have a visiting fellow who brings such a breadth of experience and expertise to our campus community and our growing network of Ukrainian leaders."

We are fortunate to have a visiting fellow who brings such a breadth of experience and expertise to our campus community and our growing network of Ukrainian leaders.
Kathryn Stoner
Mosbacher Director of CDDRL

Please join us on Tuesday, November 16, at 4:00 pm for a lecture given by former Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at FSI. Learn More & Register

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Honcharuk, formerly the prime minister of Ukraine, will focus on examining what Western allies can do to support Ukraine in its struggle to thrive as a democracy in Eastern Europe while at Stanford.

Shorenstein APARC

Encina Hall

Stanford University

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APARC Predoctoral Fellow, 2021-2022
Stanford Internet Observatory Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2023
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Tongtong Zhang joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as APARC Predoctoral Fellow for the 2021-2022 academic year. She is a Ph.D candidate at the department of Political Science at Stanford University. Her research focuses on authoritarian deliberation and responsiveness in China.

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For Fall Quarter 2021, CDDRL will be hosting hybrid events. Many events will be open to the public online via Zoom, and limited-capacity in-person attendance for Stanford affiliates may be available in accordance with Stanford’s health and safety guidelines.

Register for Zoom

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Stanford affiliates only

Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law invites you to a special event on October 26 to celebrate the arrival of our third cohort of Ukrainian Emerging Leaders at Stanford – Yulia Bezvershenko, Denis Gutenko, and Nariman Ustaiev – who will join us for a conversation about their work and Ukraine's political development. 

The three fellows were selected for their outstanding contributions to Ukraine's political, economic and social development. They have arrived at Stanford this September to start the fellowship program, which combines academic and project-based work. The event will be followed by a light outdoor reception.

The Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program and this event are possible thanks to the generous support of our donors, which include: the Astem Foundation, Tomas Fiala, Victor and Iryna Ivanchyk, MacPaw, Omidyar Network, Parimatch, Slava Vakarchuk and Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF). The program was founded in 2016 by the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute together with Oleksandr Akymenko and Kateryna Akymenko (Stanford John S. Knight fellows) as an initiative to address development challenges in Ukraine and across the broader region.

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Photo of Nariman Ustaiev, Yulia Bezvershenko, and Denis Gutenko

ABOUT THE FELLOWS

Yulia Bezvershenko is Director General of Directorate for Science and Innovation at the Ministry of Education and Science. The Directorate was created for policy development and implementation in the research, development and innovation sector.

Denis Gutenko joins CDDRL after most recently serving as the head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. Holding this position from 2019-20 he was responsible for dismantling the large-scale State Fiscal Service into three accountable units: Tax Administration, Customs and Tax police.

Nariman Ustaiev is co-founder and Director at Gasprinski Institute for Geostrategy. He is also an external advisor for the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 

This event has both an in-person and Zoom component.

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CDDRL Visiting UELP Scholar, 2021-22
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Yulia Bezvershenko is the former Director General of Directorate for Science and Innovation at the Ministry of Education and Science. The Directorate was created for policy development and implementation in the research, development and innovation sector.

Since the Revolution of Dignity, Bezvershenko has been deeply involved in the reform of science development and implementation process. Her mission is to build knowledge-based Ukraine as economy and society based on knowledge, science and innovation. She has contributed to the Law on Science, which was adopted by Parliament in 2015. In cooperation with scientists and reformers she developed and actively participated in the creation of two new institutions, the National Council on Science and Technology and the National Science Fund. Bezvershenko currently works both on implementation of the aforementioned law and on its future iterations.

Bezvershenko holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics (National Academy of Science of Ukraine) and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Governance from the Kyiv School of Economics. She has diverse experience in the research and development sector, having worked as a researcher at the Bogolyubov Institute as well as a senior lecturer on quantum theory at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Until 2019, Yulia was a Deputy Head of Young Scientists Council of National Academy of Science of Ukraine and Vice-President of NGO "Unia Scientifica" aimed to promote science and to advocate reform of science in Ukraine.

 

Lectures
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This panel will examine the evolving political conflicts in Tunisia since the July 25 power grab executed by President Kais Saied that has been widely characterized as a step toward cementing authoritarian rule. Our panelists will examine the challenges recent developments have posed to Tunisia’s struggling democracy and the prospects for building consensus around an inclusive process of political reform.
 

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SPEAKER BIOS
 

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Achraf Aouadi
Achraf Aouadi is a Tunisian activist and academic that founded the watchdog organization I WATCH after the Tunisian Revolution in 2011. The organization is committed to fighting corruption and enhancing transparency. Aouadi is a holder of a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Birmingham. He is a former CDDRL Draper Hills fellow.

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Saida Ounissi
Saida Ounissi is a member of the Tunisian Assembly of People’s Representatives and previously served as Minister for Employment and Vocational Training. She represents Tunisians living in the North of France for the Ennahdha Party and was first elected in October 2014 and reelected in October 2019. In 1993, her family fled the dictatorship of Ben-Ali for France where she completed all her schooling. In 2005, she joined the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne for a double degree in History and Political Science. She obtained her master’s degree at the Institute for the Study of Economic and Social Development and completed her studies with an internship at the African Development Bank in Tunis. In 2016, she was recruited by Prime Minister Youssef Chahed to join his Cabinet as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, charged with vocational training and private initiative. In 2018, she was promoted as the Minister for Employment and Vocational Training, becoming the youngest minister in Tunisia.

This event is co-sponsored by the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at CDDRL, Stanford University's Center for African Studies, and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.

Online, via Zoom: REGISTER

Achraf Aouadi
Saida Ounissi
Seminars
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There is an ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. It is not a war solely for territories, resources, or people — it's an ideological war, indicative of the battle between authoritarianism and democracy. What is the real nature of this conflict and who are the parties involved? What tools does the Kremlin use to control the narrative and what can be done to stop it? And why is Ukraine the cornerstone of democracy in the region? Join former Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk, the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at FSI, to discuss.


The Liautaud Fellowship was established to bring former heads of state or senior policymakers to Stanford, with the goal of promoting meaningful dialogue on the challenges world leaders face in crafting policy solutions for pressing global problems. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former President of Estonia, was the inaugural Liautaud Fellow in 2017, followed by H.R. McMaster in 2018.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

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Oleksiy Honchaurk

Oleksiy Honchaurk was Ukraine’s 17th Prime Minister (August 2019 – March 2020). In just 5 months Mr. Honcharuk initiated important changes that other Ukrainian politicians had not dared to do for years (launched of large and small privatization processes, started of land market implementation, conducted Naftogaz unbundling, started combating shade markets – illegal gambling houses and petrol stations were closed, launched of Anti-Raider (illegal seizure of business or property) Office that would react within just 24 hours to any cases of such illegal seizure, etc).

Before he served as a Deputy Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine and was a member of the National Reforms Council under the President of Ukraine. Previously for more than ten years, Mr. Honcharuk has been working in the legal sphere. He has established a reputation as a strong professional and qualified specialist. Mr. Honcharuk is also known as a strong fighter for business community rights. 2005-2008, he worked as a lawyer at PRIOR-Invest investment company and later on headed its legal department. 2008-2015, he worked as an arbitration manager and managing partner at Constructive Lawyers, a law firm he had founded, which provided legal services in the field of investment and financing real estate construction.

From 2015-2019, Oleksiy Honcharuk headed Better Regulation Delivery Office non-governmental organization (BRDO). Among his achievements as the head of the BRDO was the cancellation of around 1000 Government acts and adoption of more than 50 decisions, facilitating activity of business in Ukraine. Oleksiy Honcharuk also served as an external advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine. He has a degree in law from Interregional Academy of Personal Management and in Public Administration from National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. He was born on July 7, 1984, in Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia region.

Hybrid event: Online via Zoom, and in-person in Bechtel Conference Center

616 Jane Stanford Way,

Encina Hall,

Stanford, CA 94305-6055

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Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow, 2021
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Ukraine’s 17th Prime Minister (August 2019 – March 2020). In just 5 months Mr. Honcharuk initiated important changes that other Ukrainian politicians had not dared to do for years (launched of large and small privatization processes, started of land market implementation, conducted Naftogaz unbundling, started combating shade markets –– illegal gambling houses and petrol stations were closed, launched of Anti-Raider (illegal seizure of business or property) Office that would react within just 24 hours to any cases of such illegal seizure, etc).

Before he served as a Deputy Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine and was a member of the National Reforms Council under the President of Ukraine. Previously for more than ten years, Mr. Honcharuk has been working in the legal sphere. He has established a reputation as a strong professional and qualified specialist. Mr. Honcharuk is also known as a strong fighter for business community rights. 2005-2008, he worked as a lawyer at PRIOR-Invest investment company and later on headed its legal department. During 2008-2015, he worked as an arbitration manager and managing partner at Constructive Lawyers, a law firm he had founded, which provided legal services in the field of investment and financing real estate construction.

From 2015-2019, Oleksiy Honcharuk headed Better Regulation Delivery Office non-governmental organization (BRDO). Among his achievements as the head of the BRDO was the cancellation of around 1000 Government acts and adoption of more than 50 decisions, facilitating activity of business in Ukraine. Oleksiy Honcharuk also served as an external advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

Oleksiy Honcharuk has a degree in law from Interregional Academy of Personal Management and in Public Administration from National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. He was born on July 7, 1984, in Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia region.

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Former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at FSI

FSI
Stanford University
Encina Hall C140
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 736-1820 (650) 724-2996
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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MA, PhD

Kathryn Stoner is the Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and a Senior Fellow at CDDRL and the Center on International Security and Cooperation at FSI. From 2017 to 2021, she served as FSI's Deputy Director. She is Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford and she teaches in the Department of Political Science, and in the Program on International Relations, as well as in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Program. She is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution.

Prior to coming to Stanford in 2004, she was on the faculty at Princeton University for nine years, jointly appointed to the Department of Politics and the Princeton School for International and Public Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School). At Princeton she received the Ralph O. Glendinning Preceptorship awarded to outstanding junior faculty. She also served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at McGill University. She has held fellowships at Harvard University as well as the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. 

In addition to many articles and book chapters on contemporary Russia, she is the author or co-editor of six books: "Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective," written and edited with Michael A. McFaul (Johns Hopkins 2013);  "Autocracy and Democracy in the Post-Communist World," co-edited with Valerie Bunce and Michael A. McFaul (Cambridge, 2010);  "Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia" (Cambridge, 2006); "After the Collapse of Communism: Comparative Lessons of Transitions" (Cambridge, 2004), coedited with Michael McFaul; and "Local Heroes: The Political Economy of Russian Regional" Governance (Princeton, 1997); and "Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order" (Oxford University Press, 2021).

She received a BA (1988) and MA (1989) in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Government from Harvard University (1995). In 2016 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Iliad State University, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

Download full-resolution headshot; photo credit: Rod Searcey.

Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford
Senior Fellow (by courtesy), Hoover Institution
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Mosbacher Director of CDDRL
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The Turkish Republic was founded simultaneously on the ideal of universal citizenship and on acts of extraordinary exclusionary violence. Today, nearly a century later, the claims of minority communities and the politics of pluralism continue to ignite explosive debate. The Reckoning of Pluralism centers on the case of Turkey's Alevi community, a sizeable Muslim minority in a Sunni majority state. Alevis have seen their loyalty to the state questioned and experienced sectarian hostility, and yet their community is also championed by state ideologues as bearers of the nation's folkloric heritage. Kabir Tambar offers a critical appraisal of the tensions of democratic pluralism. Rather than portraying pluralism as a governing ideal that loosens restrictions on minorities, he focuses on the forms of social inequality that it perpetuates and on the political vulnerabilities to which minority communities are thereby exposed. Alevis today are often summoned by political officials to publicly display their religious traditions, but pluralist tolerance extends only so far as these performances will validate rather than disturb historical ideologies of national governance and identity. Focused on the inherent ambivalence of this form of political incorporation, Tambar ultimately explores the intimate coupling of modern political belonging and violence, of political inclusion and domination, contained within the practices of pluralism.
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Kabir Tambar
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Michael Breger
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On September 17, 2021, APARC hosted a delegation from the Mongolian Parliament including speaker Gombojav Zandanshatar, who addressed a joint panel of parliament members and Stanford scholars. Zandanshatar, an alumnus at the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, instituted a program of deliberative democracy in Mongolia, and reflected on the outcomes and challenges that still affect the nation.

Zandanshatar’s work with Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy has impacted political reform processes in Mongolia, and he underscored the potential for academic exchange and policy research to improve overall governance and civic participation.

Sign up for APARC newsletters to receive our experts' analysis and commentary. 


A partnership years in the making

Following Zandanshatar’s initial time as a visiting scholar at CDDRL in 2015, he returned to Mongolia, where he promoted concepts of deliberative democracy. In 2017, the Mongolian government adopted the deliberative polling method developed by Stanford communications professor James Fishkin.

Other places around the world have looked seriously at what you are doing in Mongolia.
James Fishkin
Janet M Peck Chair of International Communication, Stanford

The deliberative method that analyzes public opinion was put in place to garner public input before the Mongolian constitution could be amended. Fishkin, who devised the deliberative polling process more than 30 years ago, sat on the panel and mentioned that "other places around the world have looked seriously at what you are doing in Mongolia." 

Member of Parliament Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar also addressed the panel, discussing the country’s path towards benefiting from democracy and a market economy. Bulgantuya shared statistics of recent economic and industrial outputs, and enumerated the many challenges facing the maturing democracy. Despite Mongolia's improvements in governance, the economy, the health sector, and access to education, the poverty rate in the country remains high (28.4%), there is a serious budget deficit, and the quality of education needs improvement, said Bulgantuya.

While many are optimistic about Mongolia’s ability to remain democratic in its current geostrategic context, Zandanshatar cited professor Larry Diamond's concept of democratic recession. Zandanshatar and Bulgantuya responded to questions from Diamond and CDDRL Director Kathryn Stoner on how Mongolia is dealing with the challenges to its democracy, especially against the rise of Russia and China, two authoritarian competitors on which its economy is heavily dependent. According to the delegatiuon, "Democracy is the only way Mongolia can stay alive as a nation."  These results of the panel suggest that autocratic pressure poses an important challenge to democratic integrity.

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Talking Democracy: A Symposium on Asia

On a panel discussion hosted by the political quarterly 'Democracy,' Donald K. Emmerson joins experts to assess how the Biden administration is navigating the U.S. relationships in Asia.
Talking Democracy: A Symposium on Asia
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Lessons from Mongolia’s COVID-19 Containment Strategy

Dr. Gendengarjaa Baigalimaa, an oncologist at a hospital in Mongolia’s capital and former postdoctoral fellow with APARC’s Asia Health Policy Program, explains how decisive preventative measures have helped the country prevail in the fight against COVID-19.
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Stanford fellow addresses burden of cervical cancer in Mongolia

Stanford fellow addresses burden of cervical cancer in Mongolia
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At an in-person address to a panel of parliament members and Stanford scholars, Speaker Gombojav Zandanshatar assessed the nation's experiment in deliberative democracy and offered reflections on the challenges that face maturing democracies.

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This event is available through livestream only. Please register in advance to receive a personalized link to watch the webinar:  https://bit.ly/3tNN7wG

Myanmar Back into Darkness: 2021 Shorenstein Journalism Award Recipient Swe Win to Headline Award Panel Discussion

The military coup in February 2021 put an abrupt end to hopes of democracy and liberty in Myanmar.  With every form of free speech now brutally suppressed, one of the major victims of the coup has been the independent press. Newsrooms were raided and dozens of journalists have been arrested. Several publications, including Myanmar Now, had their operating licenses revoked and their websites blocked. Most of the staff of the news outlets targets by the junta were forced to flee to territories along the country's border areas controlled by ethnic armed organizations. From there, they continue their professional work despite the threats to their lives and logistical difficulties.  
 

Join APARC as we honor Burmese investigative journalist Swe Win, editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now and winner of the 2021 Shorenstein Journalism Award. In his award keynote address, Swe Win will speak about journalism under threat in Myanmar, what it is like to report on the crisis in the country from outside while in exile, and Myanmar’s future.

The keynote will be followed by a conversation with Swe Win and two experts: Scot Marciel, a career diplomat, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, and currently a visiting practitioner fellow on Southeast Asia at APARC, and Eileen Donahoe, executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford.

The event will conclude with an audience Q&A session moderated by Donald K. EmmersonDirector of the Southeast Asia Program at APARC.

Follow us on Twitter and use the hashtag #SJA21 to join the conversation.

Speakers:

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Photo of Swe Win, winner of 2021 Shorenstein Journalism Award
Swe Win is a Burmese journalist, human rights defender, and the chief editor of Yangon-based news outlet Myanmar Now. He has survived an assassination attempt and detention by his own government. Now he leads Myanmar Now from exile and his newsroom is in hiding.

Swe Win has written extensively on human rights cases that involve physical injury or death, unlawful detention or miscarriage of justice in Myanmar. He is the recipient of the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, which is regarded as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the 2017 European Union’s Schuman Award for Human Rights, and the 2016 Presidential Certificate of Honor for Social Service through Journalism from the Myanmar Ministry of Information for his groundbreaking investigation into years-long abuse of domestic workers at a Yangon tailor shop.

Previously, he worked as a senior reporter for the Irrawaddy Magazine and freelanced for international publications such as the New York Times. From 1998 to 2005, he spent seven years in jail for distributing anti-junta material.

Photograph: Thet Htoo for the Mekong Review - https://mekongreview.com/cause-and-karma

 

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Photo of Eileen Donahoe
Eileen Donahoe is the executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPI) at the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. GDPI is a global multi-stakeholder collaboration hub for development of policies that reinforce human rights and democratic values in digitized society. Areas of current research include AI and human rights, combating digital disinformation, and governance of digital platforms.

Donahoe served in the Obama administration as the first U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, at a time of significant institutional reform and innovation. After leaving government, she joined Human Rights Watch as director of global affairs, where she represented the organization worldwide on human rights foreign policy, with special emphasis on digital rights, cybersecurity, and internet governance. Earlier in her career, she was a technology litigator at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley.

She serves on the National Endowment for Democracy Board of Directors; the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity; the World Economic Forum Future Council on the Digital Economy; University of Essex Advisory Board on Human Rights, Big Data and Technology; NDI Designing for Democracy Advisory Board; Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network; and Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.

 

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Photo of Scot Marciel
Scot Marciel is a career diplomat with 35 years of experience in Asia and around the world. He is currently a visiting practitioner fellow on Southeast Asia at Shorenstein APARC.

Mr. Marciel served as U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar from March 2016 through May 2020, leading a mission of 500 employees during the difficult Rohingya crisis and a challenging time for both Myanmar’s democratic transition and the United States-Myanmar relationship. Prior to serving in Myanmar, Ambassador Marciel served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, where he oversaw U.S. relations with Southeast Asia.

In previous roles, he served as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, the first U.S. ambassador for ASEAN Affairs, deputy assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, at U.S. missions in Turkey, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Brazil and the Philippines, and at the State Department in Washington in multiple positions.

 


About the Shorenstein Journalism Award:

The Shorenstein Journalism Award, which carries a cash prize of US $10,000, recognizes outstanding journalists who have spent their careers helping audiences around the world understand the complexities of the Asia-Pacific region, defined broadly to include Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia and Australasia. Award recipients are veteran journalists with a distinguished body of work. News organizations are also eligible for the award.

The award is sponsored and presented by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) at Stanford University. It honors the legacy of the Center’s benefactor, Mr. Walter H. Shorenstein, and his twin passions for promoting excellence in journalism and understanding of Asia. It also symbolizes the Center’s commitment to journalism that persistently and courageously seeks accuracy, deep reporting, and nuanced coverage in an age when attacks are regularly launched on the independent news media, on fact-based truth, and on those who tell it.

An annual tradition, the Shorenstein Journalism Award alternates between recipients whose work has mostly been conveyed through American news media and recipients whose work has mostly been conveyed through news media in one or more parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Included among the latter candidates are journalists who are from the region and work there, and who, in addition to their recognized excellence, may have helped defend and encourage free media in one or more countries in the region.

Learn more at https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/events/shorenstein-journalism-award.

Virtual Webinar Via Zoom

Register at: https://bit.ly/3tNN7wG

Swe Win <br><i>Editor-in-Chief, Myanmar Now; 2021 Shorenstein Journalism Award Winner </i><br><br>
Eileen Donahoe <br><i> Executive Director, Global Digital Policy Incubator, Stanford University </i><br><br>
Scot Marciel <br><i> Career Diplomat, Former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar; Visiting Practitioner Fellow on Southeast Asia, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University </i><br><br>
Panel Discussions
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