Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2018
"Are Americans Crazy? What the Trump administration means for U.S. relations with Japan, China, and Korea"
Christopher Jespersen
Dean, College of Arts & Letters, University of North Georgia

18:30‐20:00, May 16, 2018
10-301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
Donald Trump's victory in the Electoral College was the second time since 2000 that a U.S. president was chosen despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent. The anomalous nature by which the American presidency is selected means that some people have more say in who gets elected than others. This presentation will analyze the reasons Donald Trump won the presidency, where his support was located, and how he managed to win despite receiving nearly three million fewer votes than Hilary Clinton.
Having won, Donald Trump has pursued policies that can only be described as frequently ill-considered, haphazard, contradictory, and volatile. This presentation will explore the structural underpinnings of U.S. relations with Japan, China, and the two Koreas and will consider their durability in the face of a U.S. president who seems neither bound by tradition nor tethered to economic, political, or diplomatic realities. What dynamics will affect relations between these five nations in the near future, and is Donald Trump likely to achieve anything significant and lasting, or is he more inclined to be viewed as an irritant, someone to be circumscribed (if not entirely avoided) until he leaves office?
This presentation will focus on U.S. relations with Japan, China, and the two Koreas since 2001 and will consider how relations will look in 2025.
*Christopher Jespersen* is Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at the University of North Georgia. He is the author of /American Images of China, 1931-1949/ (Stanford), which was published in Chinese by Jiangsu People's Press in 2010, editor of two other books, and author of numerous articles and book chapters. He has served on the editorial boards of /Diplomatic History, Pacific Historical Review/, and was editor of /the Journal of American-East Asian Relations/.
Jespersen received his Ph.D. in History from Rutgers University, focusing on American diplomatic history with a minor in East and Southeast Asian history.
Lecture in English / No RSVP necessary
This talk is organized by David H. Slater (Professor, FLA, Sophia University).
http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/html/events/2018-2019/180516_Jespersen.pdf
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