Japan’s New Security Strategy and the Changing Geopolitics in the Indo Pacific

Major changes that have occurred in the global political economy and in international politics in recent years have had a profound impact on nations all around the world. This is nowhere more evident than in the countries in the Indo-Pacific region and especially Japan. This conversation will address Japan’s evolving foreign policy and its impact in the IndoPacific.

SPEAKER:  Sheila Smith is John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy, she is the author of Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power, Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China (released in Japanese as 日中 親愛なる宿敵: 変容する日本政治と対中政策), and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance. She is also the author of the CFR interactive guide Constitutional Change in Japan. Smith is a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound and a frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and Asia. Dr. Smith Smith earned her MA and PhD in political science at Columbia University.

MODERATED BY:  Gerald L. Curtis is Burgess Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Columbia University and concurrently Distinguished Research Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. He served as Director of Columbia’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute for a total of twelve years between 1974 and 1990. Professor Curtis is the author of The Logic of Japanese Politics, The Japanese Way of Politics, Election Campaigning Japanese Style, Seiji to Sanma – Nihon to Kurashite 45 nen (Politics and Saury: 45 Years Living with Japan) and numerous other books and articles written in both English and Japanese and translated into Chinese, Korean, Thai and other languages. Professor Curtis received his PhD in political science from Columbia University.

This event is the offical launch for WEAI’s new Japan Research Program, directed by Professor Gerald Curtis, and focused on Japan’s evolving foreign policy strategy. The Japan Research Program incorporates and builds on activities that were previously sponsored by the Institute’s Toyota Research Program.