Open lecture on East Asia in the world system

Pekka Korhonen, Professor Emeritus of World Politics at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), is the keynote speaker of the 19th Annual Conference of the Nordic Association for the Study of Contemporary Japanese Society (NAJS), which will be held at the University of Iceland on May 22-23, 2025. The lecture takes place in Auðarsalur in Veröld on May 22 (Thursday), 15:00-16:15.

Short bio

I work as professor emeritus of world politics at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Besides trying to understand the political processes of the whole global system, I have for long been interested in East Asia, especially in Japan, both Koreas, and China. I have lived and worked in all of them on several occasions over the decades. I studied at Tokyo University in the 1980s, worked as visiting associate professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies in Kyoto during the turn of the millennium, and as distinguished visiting professor at Kyoto University in 2019. I have written on international theory, Pacific integration, East Asian geopolitics, conceptual history of Asia, and Japan’s international position in the current world.

See more information about research and recent publications: https://www.jyu.fi/en/people/pekka-korhonen-0 

Keynote title: On Being an Ally of the United States in Cold War II

The world has evolved into a new cold war after a long period of comparatively peaceful globalization. This is combined with crumbling of the capabilities and prestige of the United States, which forces its allies to reconsider their own positions in the world system. This is felt strongly in Japan and South Korea, the main US allies in Asia, and it is felt strongly also in Europe. The lecture is an attempt at understanding conceptually what is going on.