Media
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In the context of authoritarian states the internet has always been viewed as an unambiguous force for good, allowing citizens of such states to mobilise around particular political and social issues, and gain access to previously banned materials. However, many authoritarian governments are now actively exploiting cyberspace for their own purposes; some of them appear to be succeeding in subverting the internet's democratising potential. Have we overestimated the internet's ability to bring democratic change and underestimated? Drawing on numerous recent examples from Russia, China, and Iran, the talk will illustrate the darker side the use of social media in these countries.

Evgeny Morozov is a leading thinker and commentator on the political implications of the Internet. He is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy and runs the magazine's influential and widely-quoted "Net Effect" blog about the Internet's impact on global politics (neteffect.foreignpolicy.com). Morozov is currently a Yahoo! fellow at Georgetown University's E.A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Prior to his appointment to Georgetown, he was a fellow at George Soros's Open Society Institute, where he remains on the board of the Information Program (one of the leading and most experimental funders for technology projects that have an impact on open society and human rights). Before moving to the US, Morozov was based in Berlin and Prague, where he was Director of New Media at Transitions Online.

Wallenberg Theater

Program on Liberation Technology
616 Serra Street E108
Stanford, California 94305

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Evgeny Morozov is a visiting scholar in the Liberation Technology Program at Stanford University and a Scwhartz fellow at the New America Foundation. He is also a blogger and contributing editor to Foreign Policy Magazine. He is a former Yahoo fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University and a former fellow at the Open Society Institute, where he remains on the board of the Information Program. His book The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom was published by PublicAffairs in January 2011.

Evgeny Morozov Yahoo fellow Speaker Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University
Seminars
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Lowell Feld is founder and editor of Raising Kaine, the largest progressive blog in Virginia. In 2003, Feld was heavily involved in the Draft Wesley Clark movement, running two grassroots websites — Environmentalists for Clark and Hispanics for Clark. In early 2006, Feld co-founded the Draft James Webb movement, gathering 1,000 signatures and $40,000 in pledges for a Webb candidacy in just a few weeks. In July 2006, Feld joined the Webb for Senate campaign as its netroots coordinator, helping to raise more than $4 million online (out of about $8 million total).  In 2008, Feld consulted for the South Dakota Democratic Party and the Judy Feder for Congress campaign. He is co-author of the book, “Netroots Rising: How a Citizen Army of Progressive Bloggers and Online Activists is Changing American Politics.” In addition, Feld has 17+ years of experience in world oil markets as an analyst and team leader with the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Nate Wilcox is an award-winning political consultant with over 10 years of experience at the nexus of traditional political communications and the internet. He has worked on more than 36 campaigns including serving as Online Communications Director for Mark Warner’s Forward Together PAC. In 2004 he ran Richard Morrison’s historic challenge to Tom DeLay which was the first congressional campaign to raise more than $500,000 online and was the first campaign endorsed by DailyKos.com and Democracy for America. Morrison’s unexpectedly stiff challenge to DeLay helped precipitate the downfall of the powerful majority leader in 2005/2006. In the 1990s, Wilcox was the first Director of Internet and New Media for Public Strategies, Inc. the powerhouse public affairs firm from Texas where he worked worked for former Texas Governor Ann Richards, future Bush advisors Matthew Dowd and Mark McKinnon, as well as Clinton Staffers Paul Begala and Jeff Eller. He is currently a Senior Advisor at Jerome Armstrong’s WebStrong Group where he advises clients such as Mark Warner and John Kerry.

CISAC Conference Room

Lowell Feld Founder Editor Speaker Raising Kaine
Nate Wilcox Award Winning Political Consultant Speaker The Nexus of Traditional Political Communications and the Internet
Seminars
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Kim Cranston is C.E.O. and Chair of the Board of TransparentDemocracy, Chair of the Board of the Global Security Institute, a member of the Board of the Los Altos Community Foundation, and a member of the Human Rights Watch California Committee North. Born in San Francisco, Kim graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and from Hastings College of the Law. Kim has worked previously as director of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Transparent Commerce Initiative for One Cosmos Network, a new media company; as President of the Social Venture Network, a network of socially conscious business and social entrepreneurs and investors; as a consultant to the State of the World Forum; as Chief of Staff to California Lieutenant Governor Leo T. McCarthy; as Vice President of Business Affairs for Platypus Productions, Inc., a cable television production company; as a lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Terry J. Hatter; and in several political campaigns, including as Chair, Cranston for Senate, 1986. Kim has served as a board member and volunteer to organizations addressing issues affecting the environment, civic participation, and the nonprofit sector.

CISAC Conference Room

Kim Cranston CEO and co-founder Speaker TransparentDemocracy.org
Seminars

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(202) 421-5184
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Visiting Scholar
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Ray Salvatore Jennings is a practitioner scholar with extensive experience within war to peace transitions in over 20 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Peru, and Sierra Leone. Over the last twenty years, he has served as country director and senior consultant with the United States Institute of Peace, the United Nations, the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and many non-governmental organizations. He has served as a Senior Fellow with the United States Institute of Peace, and as a Public Policy Scholar and an Eastern European Research Scholar with the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. He is currently conducting research with the Stanford University Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law on comparative cases of democratic breakthrough, teaching post-conflict reconstruction and transitional development at Georgetown and Syracuse Universities and is a social development consultant to the World Bank on Middle East and North African affairs. He is the author of numerous articles and is co-authoring a book on democratic breakthrough with Michael McFaul. His media appearances include CNN, CSPAN, NPR and the BBC.

Stanford University
Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

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Visiting Scholar 2007-2008
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Academic

Pontifical University Comillas, Madrid, Spain (www.upco.es): Degree in Law (1987).

Pontifical University Comillas, Madrid, Spain: Degree in Economics (1988).

Collège d'Europe, Bruges, Belgium (www.coleurop.be): LLM in Hautes Etudes Européennes, 1989.

Professor of Corporate Law, Law School, Pontifical University Comillas.

National Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 2007-08.

Visiting Scholar, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Stanford University, 2007-08.

Rock Center Fellow, Stanford University, 2007-08.

Has published articles as author, co-author or co-editor in newspapers, legal reviews and books (see exhibit).

Professional

Member of the Madrid Bar Association since 1987 (www.icam.es).

Laureate lawyer of the European Commission (open competition Com A/638).

Has wide-ranging corporate and M&A experience, and specialises in private equity, antitrust, litigation and arbitration.

Partner of Ashurst (www.ashurst.com).

Founded the Spanish office of Ashurst in 2001.

Head of the Ashurst Corporate and Litigation and Arbitration departments of the Ashurst Madrid office.

Has worked in corporate, finance and contentious matters for companies like Apax Partners, Coller Capital, TA Associates, Mercapital, Barclays Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland, Stada Arzneimittel, Conserve Italia, Bank of Scotland, ING, ONCE, Anschutz Investments, QXL Ricardo, ACS Dragados, Wella, Rothschild, Cerberus, Morgan Stanley, Candover, Citigroup, TetraPak, Castle Harlan, Ferrovial, etc.

Prior to joining Ashurst, he was a partner at Melchor de las Heras (now, CMS' Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo).

He was also Secretary General of the Spanish State owned TV and radio group Radio Televisión Española (www.rtve.es), the largest media group in Spain.

Mentioned as recommended or leading lawyer in Spain in M&A, Corporate, Restructuring and Insolvency, Private Equity and Media by Chambers Global, Who's Who Legal, Global Counsel 3000, European Legal Experts, Experts Guides Euromoney, Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook, etc.

Member of the following arbitration courts:

  • CIMA, Civil and Commercial Arbitration Court of Madrid (www.cima-arbitraje.com).
  • Arbitration Court of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Navigation (www.camaras.org).
  • Arbitration Court of the Madrid Bar Association (www.icam.com).
  • Spanish-Moroccan Arbitration Court.

Has also acted as arbitrator in the Swiss Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Member of the "Círculo de Empresarios" (www.circulodeempresarios.org), a non-profit, non-partisan and private Spanish association formed by around 200 Spanish business leaders whose companies together employ over 715,000 workers and who share an interest in the major issues affecting the country's economic and social well-being.

Other

Member of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (www.bvca.co.uk)

Born in Madrid, on January 21, 1964. Married. Four children.

Speaks Spanish, English and French.

Publications

  • "Culpable Insolvency", International Corporate Rescue, Kluwer Law International, Volume 3, Issue 6, London, 2006.
  • "Subordination of claims under the New Insolvency Law", International Corporate Rescue, Kluwer Law International, Volume 3, Issue 5, London, 2006.
  • "Understanding the New Insolvency Law", International Corporate Rescue, Kluwer Law International, Volume 3, Issue 2, London, 2006.
  • "El libro blanco de la competencia española", Expansión, Madrid, May 31, 2005.
  • "Brief Analysis of the new Spanish Insolvency Code", International Corporate Rescue, Kluwer Law International, Volume 2, Issue 4, London, 2005.
  • "Comparing civil litigation procedures across Europe", Ashurst, London, 2004.
  • "Principios generales y principales novedades de la Nueva Ley Concursal", Ashurst, Madrid, 2004
  • "Study on the conditions of claims for damages in case of infringement of the EC competition rules", European Commission, Brussels, August, 2004.
  • "Principales novedades de la Ley de Arbitraje", Madrid, June, 2004.
  • "Public to Privates in Spain", Ashurst, Madrid, Abril, 2004.
  • "A guide to investing in Europe. Spain", BVCA, London, 2004.
  • "La polémica modificación de la ley de propiedad intelectual", Expansión, Madrid, April 16, 2003.
  • "Derechos audiovisuales de los partidos de fútbol", Expansión, Madrid, January 11, 2003.
  • "Nuevo Derecho de las Infraestructuras", Revista del Derecho de las Telecomunicaciones e Infraestructuras en Red (REDETI), Madrid, 2001.
  • "Móviles", REDETI, Madrid, April 2001.
  • "Liberalizaciones 2000", Fundación de Estudios de Regulación & Editorial Comares, Granada, 2000.
  • "Algunas ideas sobre las empresas de Internet y el control de las concentraciones económicas", REDETI, Madrid, October, 2000.
  • "Control de fusiones y participaciones empresariales", Expansión, August 2, 2000.

not in residence

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Visiting Scholar (Iraq) 2007-2008

Huda Ahmed is an Iraqi journalist. She had a joint fellowship for the 2007-2008 academic year at CISAC and CDDRL. In 2006-2007 she held the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, sponsored by the International Women's Media Foundation, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Ahmed's interests include international relations, ethnic politics and peace, democracy and religion of the West versus the East, and human rights reporting. She is interested in exploring current issues in Iraq related to politics, the status of democracy conflicts, violence, and the impact of war on Iraq.

Prior to her studies in the United States, Ahmed was a reporter for McClatchy Newspapers (formerly Knight Ridder Newspapers) in Baghdad. Beginning in July 2004, she assisted in coverage and translation for a wide range of breaking news and feature stories including the bloody siege of Najaf, Iraq's historic elections, and corruption in the new Iraqi security forces.

She was recognized by Knight Ridder's Washington bureau for extraordinary bravery in covering combat during the siege of Najaf in Southern Iraq.

Ahmed served as a reporter and translator for The Washington Post in Baghdad, where she assisted in covering the search for weapons of mass destruction, looting after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the secret massacre of students during Hussein's reign, and the abuse of women in the Islamic world among other stories.

Her journalism career began in 1992 when she served as a translator for The Daily Baghdad Observer and Al Jumhurriya Daily, in Baghdad. Earlier in her career, she worked as a translator and a high school teacher in U.A.E, Tunisia, and Libya.

Ahmed, along with 5 other Iraqi journalists from McClatchy's Baghdad bureau, received the Courage in Journalism Award for 2007 from the International Women's Media Foundation.

Paragraphs

This coming July, Mexicans will not only have the chance to democratically elect a president, but more importantly, they will have the opportunity to endorse democracy. On July of 2000, Mexico had its first democratic elections after being ruled by a single party - PRI - for seventy one years. The question is not whether Mexico has transited to democracy, but rather, whether Mexicans - the government, the politicians, the media, civil society, and the citizens in general can sustain and consolidate the new democratic system.

With the intent of shedding some light on this question, Mexicanos at Stanford University, the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists, and Yost House organized the conference "2006 Mexican Elections: A Challenge for Democracy." The event took place on Saturday March 11, 2006 in Stanford's Kresge auditorium.

The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, The Charles F. Riddell Fund - Yost House, the Center for Latin American Studies, VPUE/DOSA - New Student Initiatives, Bechtel International Center, El Guiding Concilio - El Centro Chicano, Camacho Fund, ASSU Speakers Bureau, and United Airlines were co-sponsors of the conference.

The 2006 Mexican Elections conference proved to be wonderfully enriching for anyone with an interest in Mexican politics and/or in democratic consolidation. The conference consisted of three sections: a) a roundtable that discussed the role of the media in the 2006 electoral process; b) a keynote address given by one of the most respected figures in Mexican academia, the historian and essayist Enrique Krauze, on the progress that Mexico has achieved in the political arena in the last decade, and on the challenges that Mexicans will face in the coming 2006 presidential election; and, c) a political debate between representatives of the three main political parties in Mexico - PRI, PAN and PRD.

This report provides a brief summary of the main arguments addressed by each speaker, the most important themes and points of discussion that arose in each panel, a brief analysis of each section, and a conclusion.

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In one and a half days of academic workshops, scholars from multiple disciplines and across the country and Europe discussed the issue of information incompleteness, and the role in this of the media, and possible media bias. Corporate performance and the media were also discussed.

Oksenberg Conference Room

Workshops
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