Leif-Eric EASLEY (레이프 에릭 이슬리 / レイフ エリック イーザリ / 李雷夫) is a Professor of International Studies at Ewha University in Seoul where he teaches courses on international security and political economics.  His research focuses on national identity politics, geopolitical implications of domestic political transitions, and U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral coordination toward China and North Korea.  Dr. Easley was a postdoctoral Northeast Asian History Fellow at Stanford University and a visiting scholar at the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo.  He is involved in U.S.-Asia Track II diplomacy, including with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, and is an alumnus of leadership programs with the Pacific Forum, the Korea Foundation, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  His research appears in academic journals and volumes, supplemented by commentary in major newspapers.  He completed his B.A. in political science with a minor in mathematics at UCLA and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Department of Government.

Professor Easley’s publications offer new theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence for understanding the interaction among nationalism, security strategies, and the rules-based international order.  His research examines alliance politics, nuclear diplomacy, and Asia’s regional architecture, including articles in International Politics, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, and Asian Perspective.  Another major line of inquiry is Korea-Japan historical reconciliation, trust building, and security cooperation, published inter alia in Pacific Review and the Journal of East Asian Studies.  China’s relations with pariah states such as Myanmar and North Korea are the subject of articles in Asian Survey, Pacific Affairs, and Contemporary Security Policy, with further analyses of economic coercion and sanctions in the Journal of Strategic Studies, World Affairs, and Journal of Contemporary China.  Professor Easley has also written about cybersecurity and intelligence in Survival, detailed challenges to women’s rights in Ethics & International Affairs, and debated U.S. policy on Taiwan in International Security.  He is one of the most often-quoted scholars regarding North Korea, South Korean diplomacy, and U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and the BBC.  He takes special interest in the role of artificial intelligence in higher education and international security.

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