Initiated in 2006, the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) now offers a track within the International Relations Honors Program.

CDDRL’s Honors Program provides Stanford students majoring in International Relations the opportunity to conduct an independent research project focused on issues of democracy, development, and the rule of law under CDDRL faculty guidance.

Our Center’s task is to apply high-quality research to concrete policy problems. Part of this is creating a community at Stanford actively engaged in the issues of democracy promotion, economic development and the establishment of the rule of law in countries where such things are in short supply. Our objective with the Honors Program is to include interested and motivated undergraduates in our growing community of scholars. We hope to build a cohort of Stanford graduates with the knowledge, capacity and ambition to advance democracy, economic development, good governance, and the rule of law in the developing world. We seek to arm students with the intellectual tools and the policy knowledge to do so effectively.

Students interested in the CDDRL Honors Program consult with prospective honors advisers in their junior year and have to submit their honors thesis proposal in the spring quarter of that year. The program requires a high degree of initiative and dedication, significant amounts of time and energy, and demonstrated skills in research and writing. Honors students present a formal defense of their theses in mid-May of their senior year.

Choosing courses that provide academic background in an applicant's area of inquiry and demonstrating an ability to conduct independent research are prerequisites for the program, as are a 3.5 grade-point average and a strong overall academic record. Required coursework includes INTNL REL199, an honors research seminar that focuses on democracy, development, and the rule of law in developing countries, as well as IR/PS 114D Democracy, Development, and the Rule, CDDRL’s flagship undergraduate lecture course taught every fall quarter. Deputy Director and Senior Research Scholar, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, and Center Director, Larry Diamond meet bi weekly with our honors students in the winter and spring quarters of their senior year as they complete their theses. Students present their theses projects in these meetings, and get peer and faculty feedback on their research.

We encourage students to do field work abroad in the summer before their senior year in support of their thesis work. We also require them to attend Honors College in September before fall quarter classes begin. Finally, honors students are folded into our regular Wednesday seminar where they are exposed to scholars and practitioners engaged in analyzing democracy, economic development and the rule of law in varied contexts. At the end of the Honors program, participating students present their theses to CDDRL faculty and affiliated scholars. We also aspire, in future, to offer a prize to the author of the best thesis in the CDDRL program.

2009-10 CDDRL Honors Students