Michael McFaul discusses President Obama's July 6 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 6 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 Dimitri 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.

Research & News Highlights

Gerhard Casper and James Sheehan awarded Germany's Great Cross of the Order of Merit with Star

Stanford President Emeritus Gerhard Casper, the Peter and Helen Bing Professor in Undergraduate Education, professor of law, and FSI senior fellow, and James Sheehan, Dickason Professor in the Humanities and professor of history (emeritus), have been awarded the Great Cross of the Order of Merit with Star, among the highest tributes paid to individuals for service to the Federal Republic of Germany. German President Horst Köhler personally bestowed the award in a ceremony in Berlin in early June.

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.

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.

What's Up with Southeast Asian Studies at Stanford? Recap, Prospect, Controversy

The 2008-09 academic year was a busy time for the Southeast Asia Forum (SEAF). A dozen on-campus lectures by Southeast Asianists from Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, and the United States ranged from country-specific topics such as labor resistance in Vietnam, political opposition in Malaysia, and the 2009 elections in Indonesia, to broader-brush treatments of Southeast Asian identities and modernities, regional repercussions of the global economic slowdown, and the wellsprings of "late democratization" across East Asia.

May 20, 2009
McGill University bestows honorary degree on Walter Falcon for exemplary scholarship

April 29, 2009
International scholars to be in residence for pilot program

February 26, 2009
The geoengineering option

January 21, 2009
Stanford announces $100 million for energy research, PESD to collaborate with new institute