At Temple University Japan Room 312

2 April 2025 12:15: Mark Davidson: The Death of Pax Americana: Implications for Japan and the Indo-Pacific

Brown bag lunch 

Contact/RSVP: robert.dujarric@tuj.temple.edu

 Temple University Japan room 312

1-14-29 Taishido, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

東京都世田谷区太子堂1-14-29

      

The first weeks of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term of office have sent a shock wave through the international system. Since 1945, the United States, as global hegemon, had unilaterally provided the public goods undergirding a rules-based international order. The eight-decade Pax Americana - the "American Peace'' - had helped prevent a third world war and ensured a period of relative peace, stability, and prosperity. Now, the United States under Donald Trump is no longer willing to provide global leadership and has pivoted to an "America First" style of transactional diplomacy seemingly more aligned with illiberal autocracies than with liberal democracies. The global system has entered a new stage of uncertainty." What is the background to this epochal shift, and what are the implications for Japan and the Indo-Pacific region of an international system newly characterized as VUCA - volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous?

Mark Davidson is adjunct assistant professor at Temple University's Japan campus. He previously taught Grand Strategy and U.S.-Japan Relations at the U.S. National Defense University, Washington, DC. For over three decades, he has worked in and on the Indo-Pacific region as a diplomat, congressional staffer, business executive, and academic. As a U.S. foreign service officer, Davidson served four times in Japan, including as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs. In Washington, he managed Asia issues on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee and directed global public diplomacy planning, policy, and resources. He also served in Caracas, Madrid, Asuncion, and Islamabad. He achieved the State Department rank of Minister-Counselor, equivalent to a two-star general in the military. Davidson holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University. He has lectured widely, published book chapters, articles, and op-eds in three languages, and appeared live in multiple media outlets analyzing U.S. politics and foreign policy, including NHK TV's prime time news.

Moderator:

Robert Dujarric, Temple University Japan.

Contact/RSVP: robert.dujarric@tuj.temple.edu