FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.
They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.
FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.
FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
LAD Course: Strathmore Business School 2015
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This is a four-and-a-half-day intensive program for a small number of mid- and high-level government officials and business leaders, exploring how government can encourage and enable the private sector to play a larger, more constructive role as a force for economic growth and development. The process includes small team interactions, with case studies drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Major themes are 1) Industry promotion 2) Investment promotion 3) Public private partnerships in infrastructure, and 4) Access to finance. This program is designed to reinforce and illustrate three critically important hypotheses about the role of public policy in private sector development.
Case studies for this course are available here.
Strathmore Business School
Nairobi, Kenya
Workshops
LAD Course: University of Cape Town 2011
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This is a 4-day, intensive programme for a small number of high level government officials and business leaders, exploring how government can encourage and enable the private sector to play a larger role in economic growth and development. The process includes small team interactions, with case studies drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Major themes are 1) Industry promotion 2) Investment promotion 3) Public private partnerships in infrastructure and 4) Access to finance.
The course will be offered in Cape Town, at the University of Cape Town.
The course is presented by Professors Francis Fukuyama and Roger Leeds of the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD). The mission of LAD is to provide future leaders working in the public and private sectors in developing countries with relevant training about specific government policies designed to encourage the private sector to play a more productive role in economic growth and development.
Case studies for this course are available here.
Syllabus
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University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
Workshops
CDDRL welcomes its newest cohort of pre- and postdoctoral fellows
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Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) is proud to announce our four incoming 2015-2016 fellows who will be joining the CDDRL research community this fall to develop their research, engage with faculty and tap into our diverse scholarly community.
From crime and governance reform in Latin America to election integrity in Sub-Saharan Africa to corruption in higher education in India, this year’s fellows are advancing original research to improve governance and development outcomes around the world.
Selected from a competitive pool of over 100 applicants, our four incoming fellows hail from Princeton University; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Oxford; and the University of Texas at Austin.
The pre- and postdoctoral program will provide fellows the time to focus more introspectively on research and data analysis as they work to finalize and publish their dissertation research, while connecting with resident faculty and research staff at CDDRL during their nine-month residency.
CDDRL’s broad array of scholarly events and conferences will provide fellows the opportunity to connect to these forums and network with leading academics in the field. Fellows will also present their original research to the Stanford community for feedback at CDDRL’s weekly Research Seminar Series.
Previous fellows have gone on to secure professorships at renowned academic institutions, while others have pursued more policy and practice-based career pathways, working for think tanks, government and international organizations.
Read the Q&A below to learn more about our incoming fellows, their research and what attracted them to CDDRL.
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CDDRL Post-Doctoral Fellow
Academic Institution:
University of Texas at Austin
Discipline and expected date of graduation:
Ph.D. Government, Summer 2015
Research Interests:
Developing nations, governance, state capacity, models of decision-making, Latin American politics, state building
Dissertation Topic/Title:
When Democracies Deliver: Governance Reform in Latin America
What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program?
CDDRL is an ideal place to develop my book manuscript on governance in developing democracies and to refine my thinking on the causes and consequences of state capacity and political autonomy. I look forward to collaborating with scholars in the programs on Poverty and Governance, Liberation Technology and the Governance Project in order to understand to what extent my research on the use of information technology to enhance accountability and reduce corruption in the provision of public goods can be extended to other policy areas. Moreover, my state capacity research overlaps with the work of many scholars at CDDRL, especially those working on the Governance Project.
What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL?
I plan to prepare a book manuscript on governance reform in Latin America for submission. The manuscript will be based on my doctoral project, which draws on cognitive-psychological insights about decision-making to explain the political conditions under which democratic states are able to make progress in reform and state building. I expect to spend much of my time ascertaining the extent to which arguments advanced in my dissertation on governance reforms in Brazil and Argentina are generalizable to other types of reform and to other countries in Latin America and beyond. In addition, I intend to continue and expand my work on the State Capacity Project, which analyzes the variation of bureaucratic capacity and political autonomy within national governments and evaluates the implications of this variation for effective governance and democratic performance.
Fun fact:
Over Rio de Janeiro towers the landmark statue of Christ the Redeemer, perched at 2,309 feet atop a sheer rock face. Once upon a time, I climbed that rock.
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CDDRL Post-Doctoral Fellow
Hometown:
Atlanta, Georgia
Academic Institution:
Princeton University
Discipline and expected date of graduation:
Ph.D. in Politics, Summer of 2015
Research interests:
Governance, political economy of development, higher education, and corruption
Manuscript Topic:
I am interested in why some government institutions work well when others do not, especially when one compares institutions that focus on the same issues and work within the same geopolitical regions. In my book project, I examine why some public universities in India are among the best in the world while others suffer from serious afflictions that are widespread across institutions in the developing world: absenteeism, cronyism, and the like. I argue that institutions need to be able to develop meritocratic systems to maximize their effectiveness, and I proceed to explore the necessary conditions for meritocracy to take root.
What attracted you to the CDDRL post-doctoral program?
CDDRL brings together some of the world’s leading thinkers on issues of governance and development. I am excited to engage with these experts, and particularly with those who study governance and development beyond South Asia. I am also drawn to CDDRL because of its reputation as a collaborative and supportive environment.
What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL?
I plan to spend most of the year preparing my book manuscript for publication, wrapping up a co-edited volume on states in the developing world, and completing some journal articles.
Fun fact:
As a side project during my field research, I co-founded an artisan tea and coffee company in Delhi. It is called Jugmug Thela.
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CDDRL Pre-doctoral Fellow
Hometown:
Koforidua, Ghana
Institution:
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Discipline and Expected Date of Graduation:
Ph.D. in Political Science, expected June 2017
Research Interests:
Electoral integrity, political accountability, democratic transitions, and African politics
Dissertation Title:
Election Integrity and the Responsiveness of Legislators in Sub-Saharan Africa
What attracted you to CDDRL?
I believe my fellowship at CDDRL will offer me a unique opportunity to interact with and gain insights from renowned academics and policymakers in the field of democracy and democracy promotion that will enrich my research. My research focuses on the impact of democratic elections on the accountability of politicians in developing countries. I look forward to the events held at CDDRL, and hope my time at the Center will broaden my knowledge on the functioning of democratic institutions in parts of the world that I am less familiar with.
What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL?
While at CDDRL, I hope to complete a draft of my dissertation and revise two of my working papers (one on election fraud in transitional elections and the other on election malpractices and fraud) for publication.
Fun fact:
I love to play the trumpet!
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CDDRL Post-Doctoral Fellow
Hometown:
Ottawa, Canada
Academic Institution:
University of Oxford
Discipline & Graduation Date:
D.Phil in Socio-Legal Studies, June 2015
Research interests:
Anthropology of crime and violence; urban insecurity in Latin America; Central American gangs; ethnographic methods in high-risk research sites
Dissertation title:
Order and Insecurity under the Mara: Violence, Coping, and Community in Guatemala City
What attracted you to the CDDRL post-doctoral program?
I have always enjoyed working in interdisciplinary settings, and CDDRL offers a rich range of geographic and substantive expertise. The Center’s Program on Poverty and Governance is producing research on crime, violence, and policing in Mexico and Brazil that connects in exciting ways with my own work on gangs and insecurity in Central America.
What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL?
I'll spend much of the year working on a book manuscript based on my doctoral dissertation - an ethnographic study of life in a Guatemala City gang territory. I also plan to prepare one article exploring how the structure of criminal economies shapes local experiences of violence and insecurity, and another examining the involvement of the Guatemalan military in urban security.
Fun fact:
I have moved across the Atlantic eight times in the last seven years. I am very good at packing.
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LAD Course: University of Cape Town 2013
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The University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice (GSDPP), in collaboration with the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD), an affiliate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), will be offering a course in May 2013 that addresses some of the challenges faced by public sector leaders as they foster economic growth in politically-charged environments.
This course, developed by Professors Francis Fukuyama and Roger Leeds, was first offered in October 2011.
The new version will also be facilitated by international and national trainers and experts.
The course is a 4-day, intensive programme for a small number of high level government officials and business leaders from South Africa and other African countries (25-30 in total). It will explore how government can encourage and enable the private sector to play a more effective, productive role in economic growth and development. The curriculum is designed to reinforce and illustrate three critically important hypotheses about the role of public policy in private sector development:
Case studies for this course are available here.
Townhouse Hotel
Cape Town, South Africa
Workshops
FSI faculty advise Firestone winners
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Just as they were marking the end of their undergraduate careers, 33 graduating seniors had something else to celebrate. They were recipients of the 2015 Firestone and Robert M. Golden medals and the David M. Kennedy Honors Thesis Prize.
Four of the Firestone winners had FSI scholars as their advisers, and one of those students was also awarded the Kennedy honor.
The Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizes theses written in the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering and applied sciences. The medalists each received an engraved bronze medal, citation and a monetary award at a ceremony in June, hosted by Harry J. Elam Jr., vice provost for undergraduate education.
The Kennedy Thesis Prize is awarded annually to the single best thesis in each of the four divisions of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering and applied sciences. Recipients of this award have accomplished significantly advanced research in the field and have shown strong potential for publication in peer-reviewed scholarly works.
The prize was established in 2008 in recognition of David M. Kennedy, professor emeritus of history, well known for mentoring undergraduate writers. Each Kennedy winner received an engraved plaque and a monetary award, and the historian was on hand to present the prizes.
Jeremy Majerovitz was advised by Pascaline Dupas, an FSI senior fellow, for "Does Ethnic Fractionalization Matter for Development?"
Taylor Grossman was advised by Amy Zegart, an FSI senior fellow and co-director of CISAC, for "The Problem of Warning: Homeland Security and the Evolution of Terrorism Advisory Systems."
Stefan Norgaard, was advised by Larry Diamond and Francis Fukuyama for "Rainbow Junction: South Africa's Born Free Generation and the Future of Democracy." Both are FSI senior fellows, and Fukuyama is soon to take Diamond’s place as director of CDDRL. James Campbell, a history professor, also advised Norgaard.
Sanjana Parikh was advised by Phillip Lipscy, a center fellow at APARC, for "Constitutional Promises and Environmental Protection: An Assessment of National Legal Rights to Nature," international relations; advised by Phillip Lipscy, assistant professor of political science.
Laurie Rumker was advised by David Relman, an FSI senior fellow and co-director of CISAC for "Before and After the Flood: Stability and Resilience of the Human Gut Microbiota." Rumker was also advised by Stanley Falkow, professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology; and Les Dethlefsen, research associate in microbiology and immunology.
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