American University School of International Service
Faculty Profiles
Comparative & Regional Studies - Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific Focus
The Asia-Pacific region
covers approximately 25
countries and all major subregions including East Asia,
South Asia (including
Afghanistan) and Southeast
Asia as well as Australia and
New Zealand. By examining
Asia as a broad geographic
region centered around the
Pacific and Indian Oceans,
students are able to engage
with an array of issues
ranging from
democratization, migration
and trafficking, and human
rights to regional
governance, international
security, and great power
relations. The course
offerings focus on the
foreign policy of major
actors within Asia-Pacific,
including China, Japan,
Korea, and the United
States, as well as
governance and security
issues within Asia.
Amitav Acharya
Professor Acharya is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational
Challenges and Governance and Professor of International
Relations at the School of International Service, and the Chair of
its ASEAN Studies Initiative. He is author of Whose Ideas
Matter? (Cornell 2009), The Making of Southeast Asia (Cornell
2013), Rethinking Power, Institutions and Ideas in World Politics
(Routledge 2013) and The End of American World Order (Polity
2014, Oxford 2015). He was a Fellow of the Asia Center, Harvard
University, and a Fellow of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government. He is the first nonWestern scholar to be elected as the
President (for 2014-15) of the
International Studies Association (ISA),
the largest and most well-known
scholarly association in international
studies worldwide. Contact him at
acharya@american.edu .
Adam Auerbach
Professor Auerbach’s research and teaching interests include the
political economy of development, local governance and
representation, and comparative political institutions, with a
regional focus on South Asia and India in particular. His first
book project examines informal
community governance and
development in India’s urban slums.
His research has been supported by the
Social Science Research Council,
Fulbright-Hays, and the National
Science Foundation. Contact him at
aauerba@american.edu . Department of Comparative and Regional Studies
crs@american.edu
American University School of International Service
Faculty Profiles
Sample Courses
Pek Koon Heng
SIS 655: East Asia in
Transition
Professor Pek Koon Heng teaches courses on International
Relations and International Political Economy in Southeast and
East Asia. She also directs SIS’s summer graduate program on
“Globalization and Regionalism in East Asia” in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. In addition, she runs the Insular Southeast Asia
Advanced Area Studies Program at the
State Department Foreign Service
Institute (as a contractor), which
prepares US Foreign Service Officers
for assignments in the region. Contact
her at pheng-b@american.edu .
- The course familiarizes
students with the basic
settings and general
trends in the Asia-Pacific
region including major
powers and local powers,
focusing on the
economic and political
transitions, and
international relations in
the region.
SIS 676: U.S.-China
Relations
- This course begins with
an overview of U.S.-China
relations from historical
and theoretical
perspectives, providing
the background
necessary to
comprehend the
domestic foundations of
foreign policy.
SIS 676: Southeast Asia,
U.S. & Regional Powers
-This course examines the
roles and impact of the
United States, Japan and
China, and other regional
powers on the
transformation of security
and economic frameworks
in East and Southeast Asia
from the end of the Second
World War to the present.
Ji-Young Lee
Professor Ji-Young Lee’s research focuses on East Asian
international relations, security, and diplomatic history. Her first
book examines Chinese hegemony in early modern East Asia.
Her second project investigates how China’s rise impacts the
American-led international order,
specifically through the lens of the U.S.ROK alliance and China. Currently, she
is a Korea Foundation-Mansfield
Foundation scholar of the U.S.-Korea
Scholar-Policymaker Nexus program.
Contact her at jiyoung@american.edu .
Quansheng Zhao
Professor Quansheng Zhao is Professor of international relations
and served as Director of the Division of Comparative and
Regional Studies for three terms
(1999-2008). A specialist in
international relations and comparative
politics focusing on East Asia, Dr. Zhao
is the author of Interpreting Chinese
Foreign Policy and Japanese Policymaking.
Contact him at zaho@american.edu .
Department of Comparative and Regional Studies
crs@american.edu