Larry Diamond in Southeast Asia

Professor Larry Diamond, ’74, MA ’78, PHD ’80, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). At FSI, he is a core faculty member and former director of the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. A professor by courtesy of political science and sociology, Diamond teaches courses on global democratic development. His latest book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Democracy (Penguin Press, 2019), builds upon four decades of democracy research, including numerous visits to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

“I was an undergraduate during the final years of the Vietnam War, or what they call in Vietnam ‘The American War,’ and I have had a keen interest in Vietnam ever since then. However, I did not finally visit there until I led this very same trip in 2012. Vietnam is a vibrant, welcoming, beautiful country with a rich culture and a painful history of war and confrontation with the West. Laos and Cambodia, as well, are mesmerizingly beautiful and share in much of this history. This was a trip I hoped someday to repeat.”   

During this trip, Diamond will discuss the implications of Vietnam's rapid economic and social development, and the political past and present of these three countries and the dynamic region that is Southeast Asia.

• At Stanford: professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology, since 1990; senior fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, since 2002; former director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, 6+ years; senior fellow since 2001 and fellow since 1985, Hoover Institution

• Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, visiting lecturer in sociology, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, 1982–83

• Recipient: Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for Exceptional Service to Stanford University, 2016; Richard W. Lyman Award, Stanford Alumni Association, 2014; and Teacher of the Year Award, Associated Students of Stanford University, 2007

• BS, political organization and behavior, 1974; MA, Food Research Institute, 1978; PhD, sociology, 1980—all Stanford University