YCAPS and The Sasakawa Peace Foundation are thrilled to announce our next event in Fussa. This event will feature Dr. Takuya Matsuda, who will lead us in a discussion about Alliance Politics in an Age of Great Power Rivalry. We will also be joined by Mr. James Angelus of ISIC Japan who has kindly offered to give several remarks after Dr. Matsuda’s presentation.
From Europe to East Asia, the U.S. alliance system has been going through major transformation in the past few years. In order to reconcile the challenges for great power rivalry and eroding military dominance, the creation of military power and strategy has increasingly become the central concern in alliance politics. The U.S.-Japan alliance is no exception. Japan unveiled three new security documents in December 2022, including the nation’s first National Defense Strategy that defines Tokyo’s security policy for the coming decade. The seminar will unpack the new documents to illustrate how they focus on enhancing the overall military effectiveness of the alliance by pursuing an integrated and resilient force structure between the two nations. Moreover, it illuminates how Japan’s updated security policy has broader implications on debates over the role of alliances in U.S. grand strategy while also touching upon some of the potential challenges in its implementation.
All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.
Please use this link to register for the event.
Schedule:
Speaker:
Dr. Takuya Matsuda holds a Ph.D. from the War Studies Department at King’s College London. He is a Grand Strategy in Asia Research Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS) and concurrently, a non-resident visiting fellow at George Washington University’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies. He was also formerly a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center through 2021/22. His research focuses primarily on alliance politics, great power relations, international relations theory, and U.S. grand strategy. His work on international security affairs has been published both in scholarly and policy outlets such as the Australian Journal of International Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, War on the Rocks, Foreign Policy, and the Diplomat. Takuya received his MA from Johns Hopkin University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and BA from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.
Discussant:
Mr. James Angelus One of four sons of an USAF pilot and aeronautical engineer assigned to Aerojet General, now Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Space Systems Division, now Space and Missile Systems Center near Los Angeles. He completed studies at the University of New Mexico in International Relations in 1985. Mr. Angelus has been involved in security and defense policies throughout his career as journalist, consultant and global business development specialist. He was a producer for Radio America in Washington D.C on geopolitical issues in 1986, and he produced the first Spanish-language news program for Gannett’s USA Today. Thereafter he co-founded Panamerica Inc. with former Ambassador of Panama to the U.S., Juan Sosa, followed by a National Forum Foundation assignment to Polish National Television in Kraków in 1992. In 1996 he founded USI Capital Corporation in Washington D.C. to focus on energy and security in the former Soviet bloc. In the last decade Mr. Angelus engaged in reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, based in the UAE, facilitating teaming arrangements between local firms and foreign partners. In 2008 he was the architect of the “Athens Summit – Global Climate and Energy Security” in Greece in association with the Andreas Papandreou family.In Saudi Arabia he facilitated joint venture introductions for infrastructure projects in 2009 on behalf of Al-Khodari Sons company. He also laid the foundation in 2010 for the Pan-Africa New Community Development Initiative (PAN-CDI) based on affordable housing in association with the family of President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi. In 2012 Angelus co-organized the Independent Refineries China Summit in Qingdao in its first campaign to attract foreign speakers and international sponsors such as the World Refining Association. He was speaker on several other occasions — the Iraq Reconstruction Conference in Jordan in 2005, Global Arab Business in the UAE in 2011, and Downstream Asia in Singapore in 2012.Angelus established Japan Associates to assist in the development of Japan’s defense industrial base in concert with Admiral Zumwalt Associates in Washington DC, to facilitate collaboration between Japanese companies and foreign partners.
Event Cost: Free of charge
Location: Fussa Shimin Kaiken (Fussa Citizen’s Hall) 2f 〒197-0011 Tokyo, Fussa, 2455−2455 福生市民会館
Google Maps: Here
Moderator: Jeff Mazziotta
Registration: Required via this link.
