A leading national expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy will discuss U.S.-Japan relations under the Trump administration during a free lecture at Drake University this month.
Sheila Smith, senior fellow of Japan studies at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, will deliver the lecture titled “Challenges and Opportunities for US-Japan Relations Under the New Trump Administration” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, in Sussman Theater of Drake’s Olmsted Center, 2875 University Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
Smith is author of “Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China” (Columbia University Press, 2015) and “Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance” (Council on Foreign Relations, 2014). Her current research focuses on how geostrategic change in Asia is shaping Japan’s strategic choices, as well as on Northeast Asian Nationalisms and Alliance Management. Smith is a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound, and frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and Asia. She teaches as an adjunct professor at the Asian Studies Department of Georgetown University and serves on the board of its Journal of Asian Affairs. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the department of political science at Columbia University.
Smith will also meet with Drake students who are interested in foreign policy and East Asia during her visit to campus, and will meet with faculty members for a conversation about Asian nationalism. The visit caps the inaugural year of Drake’s academic minor in East Asian Studies, and is made possible through a grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.