Gerald Leon Curtis
Research Interest
Modern Japanese politics, foreign policy, social change, political economy; East Asia international relations
Gerald Curtis (Ph.D., Columbia, 1968) is Burgess Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Columbia University and concurrently Distinguished Research Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. He served as Director of Columbia’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute for a total of twelve years between 1974 and 1990. Professor Curtis is the author of The Logic of Japanese Politics, The Japanese Way of Politics, Election Campaigning Japanese Style, Seiji to Sanma – Nihon to Kurashite 45 nen (Politics and Saury: 45 Years Living with Japan) and numerous other books and articles written in both English and Japanese and translated into Chinese, Korean, Thai and other languages.
Professor Curtis has held appointments at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London; the College de France, Paris; the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore; and in Tokyo at Keio, Waseda, and Tokyo Universities, the Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies, and the International Institute of Economic Studies. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Japan Society of New York, the Japan Center for International Exchange USA, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has served as Special Advisor to Newsweek for its Japanese and Korean language editions, the International Advisory Board of the Asahi Shimbun, the Advisory Council for the Center for Global Partnership of the Japan Foundation, the Trilateral Commission, the Board of Directors of the US-Japan Foundation and as Director of the U.S.-Japan Parliamentary Exchange Program.
Professor Curtis’s commentaries are published frequently in newspapers and magazines in the United States, Japan, Britain, and other countries. Fluent in Japanese, he is a frequent commentator on international affairs on Japanese television news programs.
Professor Curtis is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors including the Chunichi Shimbun Special Achievement Award, the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, the Japan Foundation Award presented in a ceremony held in the presence of the Crown Prince and Princess followed by an audience with the Emperor. He is the recipient of the Marshall Green Award of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., the Eagle on the World Award of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New York, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, by the Emperor of Japan, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Japanese government.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Gerald L. Curtis, Election Campaigning Japanese Style, Updated Edition (Columbia University Press, 2009).
Gerald L. Curtis, The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change (Columbia University Press, 1999).
Gerald L. Curtis, The Japanese Way of Politics (Columbia University Press, 1989).
NEWS
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis talks to Reuters and The Economist about the LDP’s poor showing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Election. July 4, 2017
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis is quoted in a Reuters article on Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s upcoming historic visit to Pearl Harbor. December 5, 2016
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis writes in The Australian Financial Review about the weak opposition to Japan’s LDP. September 18, 2016
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis is quoted in Reuters and The New York Times about Shinzo Abe’s Upper House election win. July 11, 2016
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis publishes op-ed on Japan’s upcoming election in The Wall Street Journal. June 26, 2016
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis discusses an important Okinawa election with Reuters. January 21, 2016
The Japan Times reports on WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis’s retirement and legacy. December 12, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis writes op-ed on Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s national security strategy in The Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses Shinzo Abe’s speech to the U.S. Congress in The Wall Street Journal. April 30, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses Shinzo Abe’s U.S. visit with NPR. April 27, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald L. Curtis writes about Shinzo Abe’s chance to recast Asian security in The Wall Street Journal. April 16, 2015
WEAI professors Gerald L. Curtis and Takatoshi Ito discuss Japan’s economy in Fortune. February 27, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses the current political situation in Japan with Reuters. January 20, 2015
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses the impact of Japan’s snap election with the Associated Press, The Washington Post, and Reuters. December 15, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses Japan’s relations with China in Financial Times. December 01, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses Japan’s early elections with The New York Times. November 18, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis talks with The Wall Street Journal about possible parliamentary elections in Japan. November 11, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis talks with Reuters about the APEC meeting between Shinzo Abe and Xi Jinping. November 11, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis discusses Abenomics in The Economist November 6, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis publishes article “Abe’s Game Plan on North Korea” for the Center for Strategic & International Studies. September 2, 2014
WEAI professor Gerald Curtis is cited in The Economist article about Abenomics June 27, 2014
WEAI Professor Gerald Curtis discusses tensions between Japan and China in Emerging Markets. May 5, 2014
Prof. Gerald Curtis is interviewed about President Obama’s visit to Japan in the Wall Street Journal. April 23, 2014
Professor Gerald Curtis discusses Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in The Economist and in Reuters. April 16, 2014
Gerald Curtis Honored by Japanese Government. December 2004