The Asian Studies Program at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service is pleased to welcome Dr. Adam Liff, an expert on Japan and East Asian security affairs, as the Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy. In addition to teaching and advising students in the M.A. in Asian Studies (MASIA), Professor Liff will also direct a new public event series at SFS exploring Japan’s contemporary foreign relations, entitled Japan and the World. This autumn, he is co-teaching MASIA’s core “Theory and Policy in Asia” course. In Spring 2024, he will launch a new course exploring U.S.-Japan-China trilateral relations.
Professor Liff’s research examines international security and contemporary foreign policy challenges in East Asia—with a particular focus on Japan’s security policy and the U.S.-Japan alliance; Japan-U.S.-China relations; and U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy. In addition to his ongoing research on Japan’s national security strategy, he is currently writing two book manuscripts: a study of major U.S. democratic treaty allies’ variable policies vis-à-vis Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, and a history of Japan-Taiwan relations after 1945.
“I have crossed paths with many SFS alums over the years, and it is really a thrill to join the amazing Georgetown faculty,” said Dr. Liff. Regarding the new Japan and the World event series, he added, “There is no more indispensable ally and partner for the United States than Japan, which plays a hugely important role in almost every major regional and global issue area, from security to trade to global health. I really hope students from across campus—and not just those focusing on Japan—will join us for these public events, starting with our kickoff event on US-Japan relations on September 26th, titled The 2nd Annual Abe Lecture on U.S.-Japan Relations: Good Problems to Have: An Agenda for the U.S.-Japan Alliance (4pm; HSFC Social Room). Students are not only welcome; this series is designed for them!”
Beyond Georgetown, Professor Liff is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, as well as an Associate-in-Research at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. He is currently on leave from Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where he is Associate Professor of East Asian International Relations and Founding Director of the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative. Professor Liff’s past academic and policy research affiliations include the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Japan Chair, the Wilson Center, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Peking University, Princeton University, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, and the Wilson Center. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics from Princeton University, a postgraduate research certificate in international politics from the University of Tokyo, and a B.A. from Stanford University.
More information, including links to Dr. Liff’s past publications, is available on his research website, linked here.