Time: Saturday, March 8, 3:10 pm - 4:25 pm

Asian-pacific nowadays is the fastest growing economy. It is attracting largest share of FDI and venture capital investers and entrepreneurs from across the world. People from business hemisphere are generally optimistic towards future of East-Asia economy. However, viewed from the geo-political perspective, we see a very different scinario: states are still obsessed with nationalist ideology, trapped in numerous tensions and facing potential conflicts: territorial disputes, national unification issues, threat of nuclear proliferation, arm controls, terrorism etc.

How will international international and transnational politics interact with economy and business in Asia? will economic interdependence defuse potential conflict, or the other way around, business transactions and inevitable frictions deteriorate international security senario?

Thomas Berger

Associate Professor of International Relations, Boston University

Professor Berger joined the Department of International Relations in 2001. Previously he had taught for seven years at the Johns Hopkins Department of Political Science in Baltimore. He is the author of Cultures of Antimilitarism: National Security in Germany and Japan and his articles and essays have appeared in numerous edited volumes and journals, including International Security, Review of International Studies, German Politics and World Affairs Quarterly.

Kent Calder

Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of East Asian Studies, Director of Japan and Korea Studies, and Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies

Professor Calder has taught for 20 years at Princeton University (1983-2003) and also at Harvard University; served as former Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, special adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and special adviser to the assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; was associate editor of World Politics and served on the editorial board of Asian Security; Ph.D. in government from Harvard University. His publications includes: Pacific Defense (1996), Strategic Capitalism (1993) and Crisis and Compensation (1988); co-author of The Eastasia Edge (1982); numerous articles on Asian regional politics, Japanese and Korean politics, economic reform and energy security.

Andrew S. Erickson

Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies, Strategic Research Department, U.S. Naval War College

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Assistant Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a founding member of the department's China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). Proficient in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, he received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College. His research, which focuses on East Asian defense, foreign policy, and technology issues, has been published in Orbis, Journal of Strategic Studies, Comparative Strategy, China Security, Naval War College Review, Undersea Warfare, Space Policy, Geopolitics of Energy, Pacific Focus and Joint Force Quarterly (forthcoming). Erickson is coeditor of China's Energy Strategy (Naval Institute Press, forthcoming), China's Future Nuclear Submarine Force (Naval Institute Press, 2007) and China's Nuclear Modernization. He is a member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), and can be reached at andrew.erickson [at] nwc.navy.mil.

David Kang

Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business

David Kang is Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business. Kang is author of China Rising: Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines, and Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies. Kang is also a regular consultant for both multinational corporations and U.S. government agencies, such as the CIA, National Intelligence Council, and the State Department.Professor Kang has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, Yale University, and Korea University. He received an A.B. with honors from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Berkeley.

Ezra F. Vogel (Moderator)

Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Emeritus, Harvard University

Ezra F. Vogel is the Henry Ford II Research Professor at Harvard. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1950 and serving two years in the U.S. Army, he studied sociology in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958. Vogel served as the second Director (1972-1977) of Harvard's East Asian Research Center and Chairman of the Council for East Asian Studies (1977-1980). He was Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at the Center for International Affairs (1980-1987) and, since 1987, Honorary Director. He was Chairman of the undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies from its inception in 1972 until 1991. He was Director of the Fairbank Center (1995-1999) and the first Director of the Asia Center (1997-1999). Vogel was Chairman of the Harvard Committee to Welcome President Jiang Zemin (1998). He has also served as Co-director of the Asia Foundation Task Force on East Asian Policy Recommendations for the New Administration (2001).