home > the cfr think tank > experts > sheila a. smith
Senior Fellow for Japan Studies
Contact Info:
E-mail: ssmith@cfr.org
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
One-page bio (PDF, 56K)
Expert on Japan and Asian international relations. Currently directing the New Regional Security Architecture for Asia program.
Expertise:Japanese domestic politics and foreign policy; Northeast Asia regional security; international relations of the Asia Pacific.
Experience:Research Fellow, Politics, Governance and Security, East-West Center (2001-2007); Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Boston University (1994-2000); Visiting Associate Professor, International Institute for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan (1998-1999); Visiting Research Fellow, College of Law and Letters, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan (1998); Research Fellow (1993-1994) and Japan Fellow (1991-1992), East Asian Institute, Columbia University.
Languages:Japanese (fluent), French (reading).
Selected Publications:“Shifting Terrain: The Domestic Politics of the U.S. Military in Asia,” East-West Center Special Report No. 8 (East-WestCenter, 2006), “A Place Apart: Okinawa in Japan’s Postwar Peace” in Partnership: The United States and Japan, 1951-2001 (Kodansha International, 2001); Local Voices, National Issues: Local Initiative in Japanese Policymaking (University of Michigan Press, 2000).
Current Research Projects
June 1, 2008
Op-Ed
Far Eastern Economic Review
Issues such as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the growing relationship between the US and China have strained the US-Japanese alliance, writes Sheila Smith.
See more in Japan
May 16, 2008
Op-Ed
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Moving beyond decades of hostility, Chinese and Japanese leaders are starting a new trend of goodwill between the two countries. This new attitude includes a move towards cooperating on issues such as climate change and security in Korean peninsula, writes Sheila Smith.
See more in China, Japan, Diplomacy
September 24, 2007
Interview
Sheila A. Smith, a CFR adjunct senior fellow who lives in Tokyo, says Yasuo Fukuda, the new Japanese prime minister, is likely to be a moderate force in Japanese politics.
See more in Japan, Elections, Society and Culture
July 30, 2007
Interview
Smith, a Japan political expert living in Tokyo, says even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not have to resign, there is “intense pressure” on him to do so from within his own party.
July 25, 2007
Interview
Sheila A. Smith, a leading expert on Japanese politics, says the mood in Japan just ahead of parliamentary elections is “disgruntlement” with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
March 2006
Must Read
This East-West Centre report analyzes how and why the presence of U.S. forces in Asia is affected by domestic political change, and suggests how alliance policies can better address citizen concerns.
See more in East Asia, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Strategy and Politics
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
In this report, CFR Fellow Brad W. Setser recommends addressing the U.S. current account deficit in order to strengthen the United States’ position abroad.
This report, written by CFR Senior Fellow Daniel Markey, outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
