The monthly Shaken social science PhD kenkyuukai will meet a week earlier than usual, on July 16; once again we are not in our usual spot but in room 222 of the main Shaken Building*. We will hear from Matthew Brummer, who has a master's from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and is starting his PhD dissertation research in international relations at Todai.

Mathew begins from the question of "Why are some states more technologically advanced than others?" The usual hypotheses see domestic institutions - democracy, free-market, governance structure, etc - as explaining national rates of innovation, but this orthodoxy does not seem to account for many cases, particularly high innovators in Asia. And while international relations scholars often see technology as a cause of relational or absolute power, they don't often reverse the argument to ask whether international factors such as alliances and military cooperation might be an important explanation of national variation in technological innovation.

Mathew's approaches, at this early stage, include statistical analysis, network analysis, and case studies of Asian nations. He welcomes discussion and suggestions about the overall topic as well as his specific ideas.

No reservations needed but I appreciate hearing if you are coming.

John Campbell

*Meetings of the Institute of Social Science PhD Kenkyuukai start at 12 pm on Thursdays and go to 1:30 and sometimes beyond. The Shaken provides coffee and tea and you are welcome to bring lunch. The location in June and July is room 222 on the 2nd floor of the main Shaken building. Walk straight from Akamon and then turn left; first entrance on left. It is Bldg 131 on this map:

http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/400020145.pdf