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Why do some revolutions fail and succumb to counterrevolutions, whereas others go on to establish durable rule? Marshalling original data on counterrevolutions worldwide since 1900 and new evidence from the reversal of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, Killian Clarke explains both why counterrevolutions emerge and when they are likely to succeed. He forwards a movement-centric argument that emphasizes the strategies revolutionary leaders embrace both during their opposition campaigns and after they seize power. Movements that wage violent resistance and espouse radical ideologies establish regimes that are very difficult to overthrow. By contrast, democratic revolutions like Egypt’s are more vulnerable, though Clarke also identifies a path by which they too can avoid counterrevolution. By preserving their elite coalitions and broad popular support, these movements can return to mass mobilization to thwart counterrevolutionary threats. In an era of resurgent authoritarianism worldwide, Return of Tyranny sheds light on one particularly violent form of reactionary politics.

You can participate in this event in-person or virtually. The event is open to the public and the media.

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Japan is a liminal power, straddling contrasting identities in terms of its power status—from small power to great power—shaped by shifts in material capabilities, international standing, and overlapping social and geographic affiliations (e.g. Western, modern, and Asian). Using a historical institutionalist approach, this book traces the evolution of Japan’s grand strategy from the Meiji period (1868) to the 2020s. Drawing on selected chapters, this talk focuses on the contemporary era, examining how Japan has constructed its Indo-Pacific grand strategy around the concept of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” It argues that major shifts in the strategic environment created windows of opportunity that enabled Japan’s core decision-makers to construct—and reconstruct—its grand strategy. To learn more about the book, visit Oxford University Press's website.

About the Speakers

Saori N. Katada is Professor of International Relations and the Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California. She served as the vice president of the International Studies Association and on the editorial team of Review of International Political Economy. Her single-authored book, Japan's New Regional Reality: Geoeconomic Strategy in the Asia-Pacific, was published by Columbia University Press in 2020, and her co-authored book, Japan’s Grand Strategy: Liminal Power in an Uncertain World, with Kei Koga, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press in March 2026. Her other single-authored book Banking on Stability: Japan and the Cross-Pacific Dynamics of International Financial Crisis Management (University of Michigan Press, 2001) received the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Book Award. Her research covers geoeconomics, international political economy of trade and finance, monetary policy, and Japanese foreign policy. Her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.A. is from Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo). Katada is a research fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Japan Institute of International Affairs, and she has received prestigious awards and grants, including the Center for Global Partnerships, Intellectual Exchange Grant, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.

Kei Koga is Associate Professor/ Head of Division at the Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Concurrently, he is a Nonresident Fellow at The National Bureau of Asia Research (NBR), the United States, and a member of RIPS Research Committee, the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Japan. His research focuses on International Security, International/Regional Institutions (particularly ASEAN), and East Asian/Indo-Pacific security. Previously, he was Japan Scholar at the Wilson Center in 2022; visiting fellow at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2017; a Japan-U.S. Partnership Fellow at the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Tokyo, in 2012-2014; Postdoctoral Fellow in the International Studies Program, The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, in 2012-2013; a Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS in 2009–2010; and RSIS-MacArthur visiting associate fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), NTU in 2010. He received his Ph.D. in International Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He has published on topics that include East Asian/Indo-Pacific security, U.S. and Japanese foreign policies, the U.S.-Japan alliance, and ASEAN.

About the Moderator

Kuniko Ashizawa is a professorial lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She also teaches international relations at the School of International Service, American University. Her research interests include Japan’s foreign policy, regional institution-building in Asia, and global governance, for which she has published various academic journal articles and book chapters, including in International Studies Review, Pacific Affairs, the Pacific Review, and Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Her book, Japan, the U.S. and Regional Institution-Building in the New Asia: When Identity Matters (Palgrave McMillan, 2013), received the 2015 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. She received her PhD in international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

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In “The Doom Loop,” economist Eswar Prasad argues that the very forces that we long believed could stabilize the world order are fueling its destabilization. Rather than promoting shared prosperity, globalization has instead deepened economic inequality, stoked political backlash, and prompted escalating trade wars. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, founded to foster international cooperation, have failed to adapt to twenty-first-century realities. The rise of “middle power” countries like India, Brazil, and Indonesia once suggested a stable multipolar future, but today, such nations are increasingly forced to pick sides as the United States and China fight for global dominance.

Prasad argues that we are caught in a destructive feedback loop between economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics. “The Doom Loop” offers a clear-eyed and bracing account of a world spiraling into disorder, and makes it clear that old solutions cannot pull us out—we need radically new solutions to solve the world’s problems.

You can purchase “The Doom Loop” here.

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Join GFI on Tuesday, April 7, from 6:30–8:00 PM at the Elliott School City View Room (1957 E Street NW, 7th Floor) for a student event exploring career pathways in food and agriculture policy.

Hosted by the Global Food Institute, Food Policy Pathways, and partners across the George Washington University, this event will feature a panel of changemakers working at the city and federal levels in Washington, DC, who are shaping the future of food systems through public service. Learn about job opportunities in food policy, gain access to FREE career preparation resources and mentorship with experienced policy leaders, and connect with professionals and fellow students over a post-event reception. Dinner will be provided!

Don’t miss this exciting chance to discover your path in food policy.

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