Event Recap: 2/7/2019 Prof. Phillip Lipscy (Stanford) public lecture on Japan’s foreign policy

On Thursday, February 7th, the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI*) hosted Phillip Lipscy as the first visitor in its Spring 2019 “Japan Politics & Society” interdisciplinary public speaker series. Dr. Lipscy was visiting Bloomington from Stanford University, where he is an assistant professor of political science and the Thomas Rohlen Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Inclement weather made Dr. Lipscy’s first-ever visit to Bloomington and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (HLS) more dramatic than usual, with torrential rains, flash floods, a tornado warning, and class cancellations threatening his campus engagement! Nevertheless, our speaker—and campus—was undeterred. Dr. Lipscy’s public talk, entitled “Defender of the International Order? Japan’s Foreign Policy in the Trump Era,” attracted 55 brave students, faculty, and members of the community. After being introduced by 21JPSI Director Adam Liff, Dr. Lipscy recounted the exciting events of the day, including when he and Dr. Liff “got to hideout in a stairwell during the tornado warning.” He then shifted to his expert analysis of the close relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and its implications for U.S.-Japan relations. The talk then turned to an examination of current U.S.-Japan bilateral trade negotiations and the role Japan has played in reforming international institutions—past, present, and possibly future. After concluding his 45-minute talk, Dr. Lipscy answered questions from the audience for roughly thirty minutes.

While the 4pm talk was the public highlight of Dr. Lipscy’s visit to IU, 21JPSI also cosponsored a morning workshop for him with Professor William Winecoff and the World Politics Research Seminar (Political Science Department). An interdisciplinary group of 14 faculty and graduate students from across the campus discussed a working paper Dr. Lipscy has written on “Democracy and the Volatility of Economic Growth.” Soon after the workshop, Dr. Lipscy and Dr. Liff also attended a lunchtime seminar hosted at HLS by the Department of International Studies (IU).

21JPSI’s Spring 2019 speaker series will continue on February 26, with a public talk by Emma Chanlett-Avery, a specialist with the U.S. Congressional Research Service, entitled “The United States, Japan, and the U.S. Alliance System in Asia” (2:30pm, GA 1118). After Spring Break, Dr. Joylon Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania will visit HLS to present his research on “Religious Freedom in U.S.-Occupied Japan and Its Contemporary Legacies” (April 11, 4pm, GA 1118).