People

Introduction

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University.  My research and teaching interests focus on international relations.  In particular, I am interested in the international relations of East Asia, regionalization, identity politics, and Chinese, Japanese, and Korean foreign policies.

At Harvard, I am a graduate student associate at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.  I've held visiting research positions at multiple institutions during my graduate years: The University of Tokyo and Keio University (Japan), Peking University (China), East Asia Institute and Seoul National University (Korea), RSIS, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Malaysia), and Center for Strategic and International Studies (Indonesia).

Dissertation

At a time when the world is increasingly regionalized, it is crucial to understand the different patterns of regional interactions and the underlying causes for regional variation.  One key aspect of regional interactions concerns how regional states manage intra-regional security issues.  The dissertation focuses on the contrasting trends of intra-regional interstate disputes in Northeast and Southeast Asia since 1980. 

The comparison of the two regions suggests that what I term "identity-relationship" among the regional countries is the key variable in explaining the divergent patterns of intra-regional conflict. The identity-relationship consists of two parts: the salience of the ingroup identity and the identity-distance between groups i.e. the degree to which members of the ingroup perceive the ingroup to be different from outgroup(s).  I adopt two methods: elite surveys in five different countries and content analyze newspaper editorials of six different countries.  The analysis of the surveys reveals that both the salience of the ingroup identity and the identity-distance are correlated with mutual threat perception, perception of the regional strategic environment, and willingness to settle disputes.  The content analysis of the newspaper traces the evolution of the identity-relationship since 1980.

According to the identity theory advanced by this work, in a region where the identity-relationship deteriorates, intra-regional conflict would be more frequent, especially over highly symbolic issues of nationalism.  In a region where the identity-relationship improves, ingroup solidarity strengthens, and intra-regional conflict would be less frequent, and the regional countries seek to resolve their disputes.

Other research

I have published works in Asian Survey and Korean Journal of Defense Analysis.  In addition to my dissertation, I am currently working on Sino-Japanese relations and how threat perception emerges.