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I am a Professor of political science in the Department of Government and Law at Lafayette College and currently serving as the Department Head. I specialize in East Asian international relations and global security history, with a focus on issues of national identity, sovereignty, military alliances, and regionalism as well as immigration and refugee politics. My current research examines the proliferation of military violence among state and nonstate actors in late nineteenth century East Asia; race, empire, and transnational identity politics in interwar Asia; and the politics of immigration and refugee rights in East Asian democracies. My previous works include Sovereignty and Status in East Asian International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2017; now available in paperback), a theoretical and empirical analysis of a key concept in East Asian security debates, sovereign autonomy, and how it reproduces hierarchical order in the region. In addition, I have published in journals such as International Relations, Review of International Studies, International Studies Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Asian Perspective, Chinese Journal of International Politics, and Strategic Studies Quarterly. I received my Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University in 2009 and have held visiting researcher positions at Yonsei University and the University of Tokyo. In addition, I worked as a research fellow at the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center (where I was also an instructor in the Korea Studies Program) at Stanford University and a predoctoral fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). In AY 2019-2020, I was an Academic Associate in the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.

 

Contact info:

100 Kirby Hall
Department of Government & Law
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042

Phone: (610) 330-5412
Email: parksh (at) lafayette.edu

 

Last updated on July 1, 2025