Rising leaders from a diverse group of nations in transition, including China, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Iran, Iraq,
Pakistan, Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Nigeria arrived on campus on July 25 for a three-week seminar as Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and
Development. Initiated by FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule
of Law (CDDRL) six years ago, the program has created a network of some 139
leaders from 62 transitioning countries.
This year's exceptional class of
23 fellows includes a deputy minister of Ukraine, current and former members of parliament (including a deputy speaker), leading attorneys and rule
of law experts, civic activists, journalists, international
development practitioners, and founders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). (One fellow needed to withdraw because he was named to the Cabinet of the new Philippine president, Noynoy Aquino).
Draper Hills Summer Fellows are innovative, courageous, and
committed leaders, who strive to improve governance, enhance civic
participation, and invigorate development under very challenging
circumstances"
- Larry Diamond"Draper Hills Summer Fellows are innovative, courageous, and
committed leaders, who strive to improve governance, enhance civic
participation, and invigorate development under very challenging
circumstances," says CDDRL Director Larry Diamond. "This year's fellows are
an inspiring group. They have come here to learn from us, but even more so from one another. And we will learn much from them, about
the progress they are making and the obstacles they confront as they work to build democracy, improve government
accountability, strengthen the rule of law, energize civil society, and enhance
the institutional environment for broadly shared economic growth."
The three-week
seminar is taught by an interdisciplinary team of leading Stanford faculty. In
addition to Diamond, faculty include FSI Senior Fellow and CDDRL Deputy
Director Kathryn Stoner; Stanford President Emeritus Gerhard Casper; FSI
Deputy Director and political science Professor Stephen D. Krasner; Olivier
Nomellini Senior Fellow Francis Fukuyama; professor of political science,
philosophy, and law Joshua Cohen; professor of pediatrics and Stanford Health
Policy core faculty Paul H. Wise; visiting associate professor Beth van Schaack;
FSI Senior Fellow Helen Stacy; Walter P. Falcon, deputy director, Program on Food
Security and the Environment; Erik Jensen, co-director of the Stanford Law School's Rule of Law Program; Avner Greif,
professor of economics; Rick Aubry, lecturer in management, Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Nicholas Hope, director,
Stanford Center on International Development.
Other leading experts who will engage the fellows include
President of the National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman, United States
Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Rymer, International Center on Nonviolent
Conflict founding chair Peter Ackerman, Omidyar Network partner Matt Halprin,
Conservation International's Olivier Langrand, executives of leading Silicon
Valley companies, such as Google and Facebook, and media and nonprofit organizations in the
Bay Area. Michael McFaul, a
Stanford political science professor and former CDDRL director, who now serves
on the National Security Council as President Obama's chief advisor on Russia,
will come to campus to teach a session on U.S. foreign policy in the Obama
administration.
The demanding, but compelling curriculum will devote the first
week of the seminar to defining the fundamentals of democracy, good governance, economic development, and the rule of
law. In the second week, faculty
will turn to democratic and economic transitions and the feedback mechanisms between democracy,
development, and a predictable rule of law. This week will include offerings
on liberation technology, social entrepreneurship, and issues raised by
development and the environment.
The third week will turn to the critical - and often controversial -
role of international assistance to foster and support democracy, judicial
reform, and economic development, including the proper role of foreign aid.
Our program helps to create a broader community of
global activists and practitioners, intent on sharing experiences to bring
positive change to some of the world's most troubled countries and regions"
- Kathryn Stoner-Weiss The fellows themselves also lead discussions, focused on the
concrete challenges they face in their ongoing work in political and economic
development. "Fellows come to realize that they are often engaged in solving
similar problems - such as endemic corruption in different country contexts,"
says Kathryn Stoner-Weiss. "Our program helps to create a broader community of
global activists and practitioners, intent on sharing experiences to bring
positive change to some of the world's most troubled countries and regions."
The program has received generous gifts from donors William
Draper III and Ingrid Hills. Bill
Draper made his gift in honor of his father, Maj. Gen. William H. Draper, Jr.,
a chief advisor to Gen. George Marshall and chief diplomatic administrator of
the Marshall Plan in Germany, who confronted challenges comparable to those
faced by Draper Hills Summer Fellows in building democracy, a market economy,
and a rule of law, often in post-conflict conditions. Ingrid von Mangoldt
Hills, made her gift in honor of her husband, Reuben Hills, president and
chairman of Hills Bros. Coffee and a leading philanthropist. The Hills project
they ran for 12 years improved the lives of inner city children and Ingrid saw
in the Summer Fellows Program a promising opportunity to improve the lives of
so many people in developing countries.
Thanking the program's benefactors, Larry Diamond says, "The benefit to
CDDRL faculty and researchers is incalculable, and we are deeply grateful for the vision and generosity of Bill Draper and Ingrid Hills." As he and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss
state, "The Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program allows us to interact with a highly,
talented group of emerging leaders in political and economic development from diverse countries and regions. They
benefit from exposure to the faculty's cutting edge work, while we benefit from
a cycle of feedback on whether these ideas work in the field." Like CDDRL, which bridges academic
theory and policy, the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, they note, "is an
ideal marriage between democratic and development theory and practice."
For
additional details on the program or to request permission to attend a session,
please contact program coordinator Audrey McGowan, audrey.mcgowan@stanford.edu.
