Adam P. Liff

Adam P. Liff is a Professor of East Asian International Relations at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (HLSGIS), where he also serves as the Founding Director of the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) and organizer of the “East Asia and the World” Speaker Series. He holds affiliations as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an Associate-in-Research at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. His research focuses on Japanese foreign policy, the U.S.-Japan alliance, and East Asian security dynamics, with a particular emphasis on U.S.-Japan-China relations and regional stability.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics (Princeton University), B.A. in East Asian Studies and Psychology (Stanford University, with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa honor).
• Previous Affiliations: Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics at Georgetown University, University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, and visiting scholar positions at Waseda University, Peking University, and others.

His scholarship bridges academia and policy, addressing contemporary challenges such as regional security, defense spending, and crisis management in the Indo-Pacific. His work has been published in journals like International Security, Asian Survey, and Journal of Japanese Studies, and cited widely in outlets like Foreign Affairs, Wall Street Journal, and Nikkei Shimbun.

Awards include the 2018 Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award and the 2024 Trustees Teaching Award. He has contributed to think tanks like CSIS and the Wilson Center, and frequently comments on geopolitical issues in media.