Stephan Haggard

Stephan Haggard is a research professor, Lawrence and Sallye Krause Distinguished Professor Emeritus and serves as the Director Emeritus for the Korea-Pacific Program, and Research Director for Global Governance at the University of California Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). He teaches courses on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific and Korean peninsula at GPS covering political economy as well as security issues. He has done extensive research on North Korea in particular. In addition, he has a long-standing interest in transitions to and from democratic rule and the current phenomenon of democratic backsliding.

His most recent books include “Developmental States” (2018) on the rapid growth of East Asia. His work on North Korea includes three books with Marcus Noland: “Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid and Reform” (2007), “Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea” (2011) and “Hard Target: Sanctions, Inducements and the Case of North Korea” (2017). His work on transitions to and from democratic rule includes “Dictators and Democrats: Masses, Elites and Regime Change” (2016) and “Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World” (2021).

He has provided commentary for major news outlets, such as CNN International and writes for the Korea Economic Institute's Peninsula blog. He is editor emeritus of the Journal of East Asian Studies. 

Education and CV

Ph.D., Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1983
M.A., Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1977
B.A., Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1976
CV

GPS Spotlight

Publications of Note

Haggard has written on East Asia's economic growth, the Latin American and East Asian financial crises, democratization and federalism. His books include “Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries” (1990), “The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions” (1995, with Robert Kaufman), “Developing Nations and the Politics of Global Integration” (1995), and most recently, “The Political Economy of the Asian Financial Crisis” (2000) and “From Silicon Valley to Singapore: Location and Competitive Advantage in the Hard Disk Drive Industry” (2000).
 

Recent Publications

Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea – Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland (PIIE). Peterson Institute for International Economics (2011)

Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland's Blog on North Korea

Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform - Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland. Columbia University Press (2007). 

Recent Papers

Integration in the Absence of Institutions: China–North Korea Cross-Border Exchange
Abstract: Theory tells us that weak rule of law and institutions deter cross-border integration, deter investment relative to trade, and inhibit trade finance. Drawing on a survey of more than 300 Chinese enterprises that are doing or have done business in North Korea, we consider how informal institutions have addressed these problems in a setting in which rule of law and institutions are particularly weak. Given the apparent reliance on hedging strategies, the rapid growth in exchange witnessed in recent years may prove self-limiting, as the effectiveness of informal institutions erode and the risk premium rises. Institutional improvement could have significant welfare implications, affecting the volume, composition and financial terms of cross-border exchange.
 
On Benchmarks
Abstract: Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. has sought to encourage institutional developments in Iraq that would contribute to national reconciliation and mitigate sectarian and insurgent violence. In these reform efforts, including recent "benchmarks," the Bush administration has drawn on power-sharing and federalist models. The purpose of these efforts is to overcome the political dilemmas associated with the relative shift in power among the Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities, and to blunt the majoritarian features of the political system in particular. A review of the theoretical and empirical literature suggests that the record of these institutional reforms in mitigating violence and ending civil wars is not encouraging. A detailed history of institutional reform efforts in Iraq shows that proposed institutional reforms have not constituted an endogenous political equilibrium, have not been credible, or have had perverse consequences. These findings suggest the limits on institutional reform and the importance of alternative means of restraining violence.
 
North Korea’s External Economic Relations
Abstract: North Korea’s international transactions have grown since the 1990s famine period. Illicit transactions appear to account for a declining share of trade. Direct investment is rising, but the county remains significantly dependent on aid to finance imports. Interdependence with South Korea and China is rising, but the nature of integration with these two partners is very different: China’s interaction with North Korea appears to be increasingly on market-oriented terms, while South Korea’s involvement has a growing noncommercial or aid component. These patterns have implications for North Korea’s development, the effectiveness of UN sanctions, and its bargaining behavior in nuclear negotiations.

Member, Council on Foreign Relations

Elected member, Faculty Council, Harvard University, 1986 – 1989

Director of Student Programs and member of the Executive Board, Center for International Affairs, Harvard, 1984 – 1989

Chairman, SSRC Working Group on East Asian Regional Research, 1992 – 1995

Program chair, International Political Economy Section, American Political Science Association Convention, 1989

Member, SSRC Joint Committee on Korean Studies, 1988 – 1993; Editorial Board, World Politics, 1990 –1996

Program co-chair, International Studies Association Convention, 1996

Editorial Board, Ethics and International Affairs, 1988 – 1998

External Examiner, National University of Singapore, 1994 – 1998

Editorial Board, International Studies Quarterly, 1994 – 1999

Associate Editor, Pacific Focus, 1987 – present

Editorial Board, International Trade Journal, 1987 – present

Editorial Board, International Organization, 1993 – 1999; 2000 – present; member, Executive Committee, 1995 – 1999; book review editor, 1996 – present

Editorial Board, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 2000 – present

Editorial Board, Korean Journal of Policy Studies, 2000 – present

Advisory Board, Journal of Asian Business, 1994 – present

"Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea"
Stephan Haggard (UC San Diego) and Marcus Noland (PIIE)
Peterson Institute for International Economics (2011)

"U.S. Policy Toward the Korean Peninsula"
Stephan Haggard (UC San Diego) and Susan Shirk (UC San Diego)
Council on Foreign Relations (2010)

"Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe"
Stephan Haggard (UC San Diego) and Robert R. Kaufman (Rutgers)
Princeton University Press (2008)

"Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform"
Stephan Haggard (UC San Diego) and Marcus Noland (PIIE)
Columbia University Press (2007)