Dr. Brian Blankenship ( Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami)

Moderator: Dr. Takuya Matsuda (Project Researcher RCAST at the University of Tokyo)

Date/Time: November 30, 2023, 10:00-11:00 am (JST UTC+9); November 29, 2023, 20:00-21:00 (EST UTC -5)

Format: Zoom Webinar 

Language: English

Registration: Free of Charge.
Please register through this link. 
You can also register through this link as well. (Japanese only) 

Burden-sharing is central to the function of military alliances. U.S. allies have often been criticized as “free-riders”, especially under the Trump administration. However, in fact, the issue over burden-sharing is not unique to the Trump administration but has also been raised under the Obama administration. This issue concerning burden-sharing therefore deserves particular attention, especially for U.S. allies such as Japan. 

Dr. Brian Blankenship, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami has recently published a new book, The Burden-Sharing Dilemma: Coercive Diplomacy in US Alliance Politics that addresses these important topics with growing relevance to Japanese foreign policy. His new book explores the conditions under which the United States encourages its allies to assume more responsibility for their own defense as well as the conditions under which these efforts succeed or fail. During this book launch webinar, Dr. Blankenship will introduce the main argument of his book and discuss its numerous policy implications for  contemporary alliances politics. 

Please find more details about Dr. Blankenship’s new book in the link below. 

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Brian Blankenship is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. His research focuses on international security, international cooperation, and U.S. foreign policy. Dr. Blankenship was previously a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security Fellow at Dartmouth College's Dickey Center for International Understanding. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.