Richard Samuels (samuels)

Richard Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies. He is also the Founding Director of the MIT Japan Program. In 2005 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Samuels served as Head of the MIT Department of Political Science between 1992-1997 and as Chairman of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission from 2001-2007. Grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Abe Fellowship Fund, the National Science Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation have supported ten years of field research in Japan. Professor Samuels' book, Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, was published in 2007 by Cornell University Press. His previous books include Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, a comparative political and economic history of political leadership in Italy and Japan, "Rich Nation, Strong Army": National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan, The Business of the Japanese State: Energy Markets in Comparative and Historical Perspective, and Politics of Regional Policy in Japan. His articles have appeared in International Organization, Foreign Affairs, International Security, The Journal of Modern Italian Studies, The Journal of Japanese Studies, Daedalus, The Washington Quarterly, and other scholarly journals. Professor Samuels received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980.