Since 2022, graduate students from Princeton University and the University of Tokyo have met annually at the latter institution to present and discuss their research. The fourth annual workshop, examining the role of alliances in the turbulent world of U.S.-China competition, took place in early June and marked the conclusion of a year’s worth of Princeton SPIA programming and research with a special focus on Asia.

“Princeton University, and our own School of Public and International Affairs, has a mission of preparing our students to be citizens of the world and global problem solvers,” said workshop organizer G. John Ikenberry, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs and co-director of SPIA’s Center for International Security Studies (CISS). “Asia is a major — and growing — part of world politics. Japan and Korea are important like-minded partners in a world where liberal democracy is under threat. China has become a superpower. One way or another, it’s impossible to be a scholar of international relations without engaging Asia.”

The School’s immersion in the continent took many forms, including published scholarship, international trips, and guest speakers.

The Dean’s Leadership Series (DLS) – Princeton SPIA’s signature lecture and discussion program – welcomed to campus the head of a nonprofit dedicated to educating the world about Asia and an Asian head of state.

In her remarks, Kyung-wha Kang, the president and chief executive officer of the Asia Society and South Korea’s first female former minister of foreign affairs, discussed political happenings in her country as well as the need to see China in the proper context.

“Perceptions are what we act upon — what we decide upon,” she said. “I think policymakers, therefore, really have to go the extra mile to make that perception [of China] as close to reality as possible. And I feel that’s not happening in the political decision-making process. You have to really get a factual, ground-based analysis of where China is going.”

President Mohamed Muizzu of the Republic of Maldives evoked the School’s mission as he called for a more just world.

“Princeton University and its School of Public and International Affairs are a beacon of the principles of governance and society admired around the world — principles of equality, justice, and respect for basic human rights,” he said. “In these dark days of war, the suppression of human rights, the normalization of violence against civilians, even children, it is vital U.S. institutions continue to uphold these principles themselves.”

Additionally, DLS speaker Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent with The New York Times, was at Princeton SPIA discuss his new book “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China,” about his family’s ties to the country.

International trips took Princeton SPIA faculty and students across the continent to offer briefings, conduct research, and observe high-level meetings. For example, the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, and SPIA was there. Students were on hand to observe, and Navroz Dubash, a professor of public and international affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, attended and spoke on a panel hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Attendee Amana Abdurrezak MPA ’25 expressed surprise at how difficult it was for countries to come to an agreement.

"An hour goes by so quickly, especially if one country decides to take the mic for a while and talk,” she said. “I’m both incredibly impressed that anything comes together and concerned about the future of critical decisions being made on implementation with parties' positions growing farther apart.”

Elsewhere, the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance took several researchers from the School to South Korea to brief the country’s policymakers, business leaders, and scholars on critical political and economic issues in the context of U.S.-South Korea relations and the 2024 U.S. presidential election. MPA students participating in policy workshops journeyed to Saudi Arabia and Tokyo during fall break to conduct field research and meet with the various clients and partner agencies they were working with.

And the Lichtenstein Institute on Self-Determination led Princeton undergraduates on a trip to Taiwan and Singapore, where they talked with high-level officials – including current and former heads of state – international journalists, and more than 100 Princeton alumni about how changing politics in the United States could reshape the Asian Pacific.

Among Princeton SPIA researchers’ scholarly initiatives over the course of the year were numerous projects related to Asia, including an examination of how the electric vehicle transition could create unwanted air pollution hotspots in China and India.

“China needs to be thinking about how to clean up a supply chain that already exists, while India has the opportunity to build a better supply chain from the ground up,” said co-author Wei Peng, an assistant professor of public and international affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. “Both situations come with their own challenges and opportunities.”

Other projects looked at the collapse of Afghanistan’s economy using nightlights data, the role bureaucrat incentives play in reducing crop burning and child mortality in South Asia, and how the diversification and decarbonization of heat sources for district heating systems will be crucial for China to reach its carbon neutrality goal by 2060.

Through CISS, Princeton is a member of the Five-University Research Collaboration on East Asia Security Cooperation, which includes the University of Tokyo, Peking University, Korea University, and the National University of Singapore. Princeton hosted its annual meeting in December.

The School’s outreach wasn’t limited to faculty members and students. Princeton SPIA alumni work in countries across the region, including South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, China, and more, in roles at the highest levels of government and with different international organizations such as the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank. Students in the Tokyo workshop gathered with more than 75 alumni from the last seven decades for a large-scale alumni event hosted by Dean Amaney Jamal, Ikenberry, and Steven Petric, assistant dean for global outreach, admissions, and alumni relations. Additional alumni engagement took place in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, where James Raymond Vreeland, a professor of politics and international affairs, was conducting research.

The School’s SPIA D.C. Center hosted a gathering of ambassadors and senior diplomats from the Asia-Pacific region as part of its Diplomatic Corps Dinner Series. It also hosted SPIA graduate students for a full day of conversations with former government officials, top thinktank experts, and Chinese diplomats in Washington.

An admissions webinar focused on Asia included participants from more than 20 countries, and an in-person admissions effort in Indonesia to build bridges make connections resulted in the successful recruitment of a student for the incoming MPA class.

“The series of meetings we had were an incredible complement to what I’ve been learning in the classroom in Princeton,” said MPA2 student Lauren D. Piper. “Most importantly, they offered a firsthand look at how academic theories I have studied throughout my time at Princeton, like balance of power, deterrence, and perception, play out in real-world policymaking. Engaging with experts on U.S. grand strategy and visiting the Chinese embassy also provided tangible examples of how these concepts shape diplomatic interactions and strategic decision-making.”

With the start of the new academic year in September, the School will train its lens on Europe even as it continues its numerous activities all across the globe.

In June 2025, graduate students from Princeton University and the University of Tokyo met to present and discuss their research, examining the role of alliances in the turbulent world of U.S.-China competition.

Photo courtesy of Staughton Lewis