About the Speaker
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Professor Donald K. EmmersonDirector, Southeast Asia Forum |
Professor Donald K. Emmerson heads the Southeast Asia Forum in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he is also a faculty affiliate of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, an affiliated scholar with the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, and a senior fellow (emeritus) in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
In 2010 Professor Emmerson was honoured by the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Woodow Wilson International Center for Scholars with a two-year research associateship awarded to “top scholars from across the United States” who “have successfully bridged the gap between the academy and policy.” Earlier awards include many competitive fellowships and a campus-wide prize for excellence in teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Professor Emmerson’s recent publications include: In 2011: “Answering Keynes: Themes and Choices in Indonesian Political Studies” in The State of Indonesian Studies (forthcoming); commissioned essays on “black swans” and Indonesian-ASEAN relations; and media pieces on the Muslim world and Arab reform. In 2010: a monograph on Asian Regionalism and U.S. Policy: The Case for Creative Adaptation; a co-authored book on Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political Islam; a co-consulted report on Current Realities and Future Possibilities in Burma: Options for U.S. Policy;and media pieces on Obama’s trip to Indonesia, China’s “frown diplomacy” in Southeast Asia, and the resignation of Indonesian finance minster Sri Mulyani. In 2009: an edited book, Hard Choices: Security, Democracy, and Regionalism in Southeast Asia; chapters in Indonesia 2025: Geopolitical and Security Challenges; The Philippines and Japan in East and the World: Interests, Identity and Roles; Energi Positif: Opinini 100 Tokoh mengenai Indonesia di Era SBY; and Refreshing U.S.-Thai Relations; and several media pieces. Earlier writings span more than a dozen books or monographs and over two hundred other items—journal articles, book chapters, policy reports, Congressional testimony, and media pieces.
Emmerson serves on the editorial boards of the Contemporary Southeast Asia, Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, and TRaNS: Trans-Regional and –National Studies of Southeast Asia. Organizations in which he holds advisory positions include the CIMB ASEAN Research Institute, the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the Japan Policy Research Institute, the Southeast Asia Research Centre of the City University of Hong Kong, and the Yale Indonesia Forum. In 2011 he will join other specialists in Canberra at a conference to examine the foreign policy of democratic Indonesia. In 2010 he advised Appleseed Entertainment on the filming of a documentary on Indonesian democracy.
Emmerson’s lecture venues in 2009-2011 have included Berkeley, Honolulu, Ithaca, Jakarta, Kyoto, London, Los Angeles, Manila, New York, Oxford, Paris, Philadelphia, Singapore, Vienna, and Washington DC. He has been interviewed in 2009-2011 by TheAtlantic.com, Al Jazeera English, the BBC, Bloomberg, CQ Global Researcher, CSPAN3, The Economist, MSNBC.com, The National Journal, National Public Radio, Newsweek, The New York Times, Public Radio International, Radio Australia, The Straits Times,the Voice of America, and TheWallStreetJournal.com, among other media.
Emmerson has a PhD in political science from Yale University and a BA in international affairs from Princeton University. His doctoral dissertation was published as Indonesia’s Elite: Political Culture and Cultural Politics. He is fluent in Indonesian, was fluent in French, and has lectured and written in both languages.
Professor Emmerson met his wife Carolyn in high school in Lebanon. They have two children. He was born in Tokyo the son of US Foreign Service Officer John K. Emmerson, who wrote The Japanese Thread among other books.
