"Japan: The Indispensable Ally, Except in U.S. Academia…" by CWP alum Adam Liff

Over the past decade, it has become increasingly common in U.S. foreign policy circles to refer to Japan as America’s “indispensable ally.” From the urgent, shared need to counter-balance an increasingly assertive China and deter a nuclear-armed North Korea to ensuring resilient semiconductor supply chains, across a diverse array of issues Japan is now widely seen as America’s most important partner in Asia, if not the world.

For longstanding advocates of a robust and comprehensive U.S.-Japan partnership, this is welcome (and long overdue) news. With Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set to make a historic state visit to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (April 10, 2024), there is much to celebrate.

Japan: The Indispensable Ally, Except in U.S. Academia… A quiet but looming crisis in U.S-Japan relations and call for action (and funding) –Adam P. Liff (April 8, 2024)¹ 

日米関係の未来(下)　日本外交専門家を育成せよ アダム・リッフ ジョージタウン大学ビジティング・ジャパン・チェア - 経済教室 2024年4月5日 2:00 [会員限定記事]

岸田文雄首相は4月10日にバイデン米大統領と会談する。中国の台頭、経済安全保障など外交政策上の課題が山積する中で、ワシントンでは日本はインド太平洋における米国の最も重要なパートナーとして見られている。外交政策に関わる人たちから「日本は米国の不可欠な同盟国」と聞くことも珍しくない。経済的な結びつきも強い（図参照）。

しかし米国の学界の過去十数年を振り返ると、正反対の傾向が見られる。教員の世代交代や...

Note: An earlier, shorter version of this piece was published for a Japanese audience (in Japanese) in the Nikkei Shimbun on April 5, 2024. (アダム・リッフ：日米関係の未来(下)　日本外交専門家を育成せよ（日本経済新聞；2024年4月5日）https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO79785600U4A400C2KE8000)

Adam Liff is the Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Beyond Georgetown, I am a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, as well as an Associate-in-Research at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

I am currently on leave from Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where I am Associate Professor of East Asian International Relations (with tenure), Founding Director of its 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (“21JPSI”), and founding organizer of its “East Asia and the World” Speaker Series.

My research examines international security and contemporary foreign policy challenges in East Asia—with a particular focus on the politics and evolution of Japan’s foreign (esp. security) policy and the U.S.-Japan alliance; Japan-U.S.-China relations; U.S. treaty allies and Taiwan, and U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy.

He hold 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. in East Asian Studies and Psychology from Stanford University (with Distinction; with Honors; and Phi Beta Kappa). In recognition of my research, teaching, and service contributions to Indiana University, in 2018 I was awarded the university’s campus-wide Outstanding Junior Faculty Award.

Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/users/9418974-9418974/