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November 17th, 2009

Next steps in Afghanistan

As President Obama confers with his military and diplomatic advisors about increasing U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, the political and military situation on the ground is seen as dire by many. CDDRL Director Larry Diamond joins KQED's Michael Krasny and a group of experts assessing U.S. policy options, strategic interests, and objectives in Afghanistan.

• » KQED: Next Steps in Afghanistan

October 30th, 2009

The Next Hardware Revolution - You Build it Yourself - Liberation Technology Summary

Summary for the October 22nd class. Peter Semmelhack, founder of BugLabs,spoke about his company’s goal to make hardware as malleable as software, freeing people to create the devices that meet their needs and improve quality of life. While the Open Source movement has enabled rapid progress in the field of software in recent years, hardware innovation lags behind. The way that hardware products come to market is time consuming and expensive for all. A number of factors mean that only big multinational players tend to be able to survive in this space: Read more »

October 29th, 2009

Authoritarian Governments in Cyberspace - Liberation Technology Summary

Summary of the October 8th class. Evgeny Morozov's ,Yahoo! fellow at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, presentation sought to challenge a number of assumptions that are often made about the relationship between the web, nation states and democracy. Read more »

October 28th, 2009

Minds for Sale - Liberation Technology Summary

Summary of the September 24th class Jonathan Zitrain's presentation raised a number of concerns about current trends in online behavior. He suggested that these developments may undermine the practice of ‘civic technologies’, where unconnected individuals voluntarily come together to achieve something they could not do individually. paper available
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October 16th, 2009

Program on Human Rights launched at Stanford

In a new Stanford endeavor, FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law has joined with the Bowen H. McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society to launch an interdisciplinary Program on Human Rights. Introducing its latest program, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond noted that "today's human rights interact with a number of other urgent global issues including climate change, immigration, security, women's rights, poverty, and child soldiers" to name but a few. The campus-wide Human Rights Program builds on the work of CDDRL's Program on Global Justice by bridging the normative and the empirical. Audio & Video transcripts available 5 transcripts, paper available
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October 15th, 2009

Tapan Parikh: Giving Farmers a Voice - Liberation Technology Summary

Summary of the October 15th class. Tapan Parikh, of UC Berkeley School of Information, spoke about a number of projects that are using mobile phone based technology to give small businesses the information they need to improve productivity. He argued that voice technology has distinct advantages over text, because it overcomes challenges of illiteracy while responding to a strong need people feel to be heard. Read more »

October 13th, 2009

Kathryn Stoner-Weiss comments on re-set of U.S.-Russia relations

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a host of issues were on the table: a new treaty to reduce nuclear arms, efforts to halt nuclear proliferation, and how to address Iran's nuclear program effectively. CDDRL Deputy Director Kathryn Stoner-Weiss provides the context for a re-set of relations with Russia and identifies the areas where we might see stepped-up cooperation.

• » The World: Oct 13 Audio program

October 1st, 2009

Lucky Gunasekara and Tom Wiltzius - FrontlineSMS:Medic - Liberation Technology Summary

Summary of the October 1st class. Lucky Gunasekara, a student at Stanford's School of Medicine, and Tom Wiltzius, a student in Stanford's Computer Science program, took us through the rationale behind working with mobile phones and the content of their project working with health workers in Malawi. Read more »

September 24th, 2009

New books released by CDDRL faculty

Seven new books have been released by CDDRL affiliated faculty members Joshua Cohen, James Fishkin, Michael McFaul, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Joshua Teitelbaum, and Jeremy Weinstein. Read more »

September 8th, 2009

CDDRL launches new Program on Good Governance and Political Reform in the Arab World

FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law has launched a new Program on Good Governance and Political Reform in the Arab World, the result of a generous gift from the Foundation for Reform and Development in the Middle East, in Geneva, Switzerland. The program will examine the social and political dynamics within Arab societies and the evolution of political systems, with an eye on the prospects, conditions, and pathways for political reform. Thanking the Foundation, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond said, "This gift puts Stanford on the map in contemporary Arab studies and will make CDDRL one of the most important academic sites for studying these issues." Read more »

Stanford Africa expert to work for National Security Council

Jeremy Weinstein, an associate professor of political science, has been appointed Director for Democracy at the National Security Council (NSC). He will be responsible for democracy and governance-related issues and formulate broader U.S. government policies on global development. Read more »

August 31st, 2009

Back to the future: the Arab nationalist tradition and the political imagination of today

"The Arab and Muslim world is indeed in crisis," CDDRL Visiting Scholar Hicham Ben Abdallah of Morocco writes in an article for the August 2009 edition of Le Monde Diplomatique ("Retour vers le futur dans le monde arabe"). The crisis, he notes, may "give us a new opportunity to reclaim our fate from foreign powers, local autocrats, and religious fanatics." To do so, he adds, "we can benefit from recuperating the best elements from our great tradition of Arab nationalism." Read more »

August 27th, 2009

Two APSA dissertation awards for CDDRL faculty Lisa Blaydes and Hewlett Fellow Mark Massoud

Lisa Blaydes, CDDRL Affiliated Faculty, will receive the Gabriel A. Almond Award for her dissertation titled "Competition Without Democracy: Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak's Egypt." Mark Massoud, CDDRL Hewlett Fellow 2008-09, will receive the Edward S. Corwin Award for his dissertation titled "Who Rules the Law? How Government, Civil Society, and Aid Agencies Manipulate Law in Sudan."  The awards will be given out at the upcoming 2009 APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto.

August 18th, 2009

Rising international stars complete training as Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development

Rising leaders from some of the world's most complex nations, including China, Russia, Ukraine, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, recently completed a three-week seminar at Stanford as Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development. This year's extraordinary fellows included members of parliament, government advisors, civic activists, jurists, journalists, international development experts and founders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The program, now in its fifth year, seeks to foster linkages among democracy, economic development, human rights, and the rule of law, and has received generous gifts from William Draper III and Ingrid von Mangoldt Hills. Read more »

July 31st, 2009

President Alejandro Toledo on restoring trust in democratic institutions in Latin America

"We have seen a trend in a number of our Latin American countries for the executive to bypass the legislature and judiciary by calling for popular referenda that seek to constitutionally eradicate term limits. These 'legal' circumventions of the checks and balances of power become an auto-immune-like disease of the democratic system," Alejandro Toledo, former President of Peru and current Visiting Scholar at CDDRL, stated in an op-ed in the Miami Herald. "With unlimited term limits, even a leader who was at first democratically elected can consolidate enough power to manipulate future elections, thereby undermining the original legitimacy of democracy." Read more »

July 22nd, 2009

CDDRL Visiting Fellow Sumit Ganguly in Forbes

Professor Sumit Ganguly, currently a Visiting Fellow at CDDRL, comments in Forbes on Secretary Clinton's recent visit to India. Read more »

July 20th, 2009

Michael McFaul and Vladislav Surkov to head new working group on civil society

Michael McFaul, former CDDRL director and current special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia and Eurasia on the National Security Council, and Vladislav Surkov have been named to head a new working group on civil society, one of 13 groups set up as part of a new U.S.-Russian Bilateral Presidential Commission agreed to by Presidents Medvedev and Obama during President Obama's July trip to Moscow. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will coordinate the commission's work, which will address, inter alia, nuclear energy and security, arms control, fighting terrorism, economic relations, health, energy, and the environment, and civil society.

• » The Moscow Times
• » Russia Profile

Former Hewlett Fellow Greg Domber wins Betty M. Unterberger Prize

Gregory Domber, 2007-2008 Hewlett Fellow, received the 2009 Betty M. Unterberger Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) for his dissertation "Supporting the Revolution: America, Democracy, and the End of the Cold War in Poland, 1981-1989." He is currently teaching at teaching at the University of Northern Florida.

July 10th, 2009

Let's hear from the democracies on Iran, Larry Diamond and Abbas Milani argue in the New York Times

As the presidential electoral turmoil in Iran continues, pitting supporters of challenger Mir Hussein Moussavi against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Obama has gotten it right, Larry Diamond and Milani say, "by signaling America's support for peaceful protest, human rights, and the rule of law." More explicit language, or action, would only play into the hands of Iran's conservative elements. But the world has more than 100 other democracies, Diamond and Milani note, arguing "It is time that their voices were heard and their actions felt in Tehran." Read more »

July 7th, 2009

Kathryn Stoner-Weiss comments on U.S.-Russian talks on NPR's "The World"

CDDRL Deputy Director Kathryn Stoner-Weiss commented on NPR's The World on key issues as U.S. President Barack Obama meets in Moscow with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as part of a broad U.S. effort to re-set U.S. Russian relations. Noting that the U.S. president had no choice but to meet with Putin, who still holds significant power, Stoner-Weiss pointed to a number of gains, including bilateral agreement to reduce nuclear warheads, cooperate on the war in Afghanistan, and address the risks posed by North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs.

• » The World: "When Mr. Obama met Mr. Medvedev"

July 2nd, 2009

Michael McFaul discusses President Obama's July trip to Russia, Italy, and Ghana

Presidential advisor Michael McFaul, senior director for Russia and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council, and former FSI deputy director and director of CDDRL, joined other Obama administration officials to preview the president's July trip to Russia, Italy, and Ghana. In a July 1 conference call from Washington, D.C., McFaul, along with Deputy National Security Advisors Denis McDonough and Michael Froman, outlined major issues President Obama will address with Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, including a more substantive U.S. relationship with the Russian government and Russian society, a follow-on agreement to the START Treaty, energy issues, NATO expansion and missile defense. Read more »

June 30th, 2009

Peter Henry appointed by President Obama to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships

Peter Henry, the Matsushita Professor of International Economics at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and CDDRL affiliated faculty member, has been appointed by President Obama to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. This distinguished, diverse group of 28 is responsible for recommending an exceptional group of men and women to the President for selection as White House Fellows, America's most prestigious program for leadership and public service. Read more »

June 19th, 2009

CDDRL Visiting Scholar Olena Nikolayenko Analyzes Post-Soviet Youth Movements

Thousands of youths in the post-communist region applied nonviolent resistance methods to protest large-scale electoral fraud. Olena Nikolayenko's post-doctoral project at CDDRL examines why some youth movements were more successful than others in mobilizing populations against repressive regimes. Political learning of autocratic incumbents, her research finds, is contributing to the diminishing power of similar youth movements.
Read more »

June 4th, 2009

World renowned expert on democracy and development Francis Fukuyama to join FSI

Francis Fukuyama, a prominent expert on democracy, development, and governance, is joining FSI as the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, effective July 2010. He will reside in FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and fully engage in the center's research, teaching, and policy missions, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond announced. Currently, Fukuyama is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, and director of the International Development Program at SAIS. He is also chairman of the editorial board of the magazine, The American Interest. Read more »

May 28th, 2009

After America: How Iraq can ensure stability and achieve reconciliation

As the date of the American withdrawal from Iraq approaches, there are four key imperatives that must be addressed and important goals to be achieved to help assure that recent progress will not be reversed once the American withdrawal takes place, CDDRL Director and FSI Senior Fellow Larry Diamond argues in a recent op ed in the Arabic magazine, The Majalla. Read more »